DAY 3 - LISBON DAY 2:

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I actually woke up earlier than Manoli, because I slept like a log and she apparently tossed and turned a bit, plus she had taken a slight nap earlier in the afternoon. We got down to breakfast a bit past 8am. Breakfast was okay, especially considering it was free (included in the room price, so I guess not really free!). We had coffee/cappuccino, breakfast rolls with butter and jam, yogurt, and a plate of very decent cheese and chorizo. After breakfast, we packed up for our trip to Sintra and headed out. The train leaves frequently from Rossio Train Station, down nearer the ocean, and as I stated yesterday, cost 4.90 Euros each, round trip. The train left almost as soon as we got on board and took about 30 minutes to get to Sintra, stopping at about 10 other places along the way. The scenery was okay, but mostly just small villages with a lot of apartment complexes.

When we arrived at Sintra, we both had trouble getting trip cards to work in the exit gates. Manoli finally slipped through right behind someone else, but it wouldn't open for me and kept slamming shut before I could follow anyone. I ended up finding a conductor to recheck/recharge my card until it finally worked! We'd already looked at the various options for transportation in Sintra and decided to go with the cheaper 5 Euro hop-on-hop-off local bus instead of the more expensive, more extensive Citysightseing Open-top bus at 15 Euros. We mostly wanted to make sure we saw the Moorish Castle and the Palace of Pena, both of which were on the cheaper route. The 5 Euro buses leave from right outside the train station, so we lined up, paid our 5 Euros each and away we went. After going through some rather small streets in and near Sintra, we climbed up some even narrower roads with tight turns until we reached the Castelo do Mouros (Moorish Castle) entrance. Here we opted to buy a combined ticket for the castle and the palace at 18 Euros each.

The castle is really cool, because it sits along a narrow ridge, with steep drop-offs on almost all sides. I guess there was a lot more to it back in the day, but now there are just walls with a number of watchtowers. Still quite cool and fun to climb up, along and around. From one of the bigger towers, you can see the Pena Palace across the "valley", but not well, since fog or clouds kept drifting across it. After seeing pretty much all of the castle, we walked back down to the bus stop and grabbed the next bus to the Palacio do Pena (Pena Palace). It was a pretty short ride, and there was a walking path, but it was about 3 kms and probably rather steep. Besides, we'd paid for the hop-on-hop-off bus anyways.

The Pena Palace is probably one of the coolest castles you'll ever visit. There are so many different ramps, ramparts, little watchtowers, etc all around it, on several different levels, and that's just the outside! Before walking up to the palace, we stopped in the little cafeteria near the entrance and had a couple of coffees and a tuna salad sandwich. Not bad, and not too expensive. After covering pretty much all of the outside parts, we took the tour of the inside, which was also pretty cool, with furnishings in almost all the rooms, and signs telling you whose room was whose. The Queen had a secretary's room, a lady-in-waiting room, her own bedroom, her private bath, a dressing room, a reading room, a reception room, and a family room, her own terrace, and thats just her rooms! The king, in contrast only had a small bedroom, nice bathroom and a dressing room. Some of the furnishings were amazing, and of course very expensive looking. Well worth the tour!

After the palace, we rode the bus back down to town, but got off at the wrong stop. We'd wanted to check the other busses near the train station to see about getting to the Capuchos Convent (Convento dos Capuchos), but got off in the historic center stop and had to walk. Oh well, it was a pleasant walk, and a lot of the sidewalk was filled with peddlers selling all sorts of handicrafts and souvenirs. When we reached the train station, we discovered that the "only" bus that got near the convent was the 15 Euro Citysightseeing bus. Although I really wanted to see it, since in the photos on the internet it looked a little like Hobbit Town, we decided it wasn't worth the 30 Euros just for that. In retrospect, I think we would have taken the Citysightseeing bus instead of the cheaper one.

Again, we had trouble getting the electronic turnstyles to open for us. Mine worked okay after a couple of tries, but Manoli followed someone again and almost got her backpack caught in the gate. The train back was rather uneventful, since we'd seen the sights on the way there, but it was a good rest, almost getting sleepy with the enclosed, crowded, moving train. When we got back to Lisbon, Manoli decided she was getting hungry, so we went back to the street we'd walked along the night before to find a good place to eat. We ended up at a place called A Covelense Cozinha Portuguesa, mostly because the restaurants hawker was Spanish and got Manoli interested. The menu did look okay, and not that expensive, so we sat down. Being only 6:30 or so, we were the only people eating there. Most folks in Lisbon apparently don't go out for dinner until around 8pm or so. Manoli ordered the soup of the day and a caprense style salad with mozzarella and tomatoes. I had the mixed kebabs. Manoli said her salad was about the best she'd had. My kebab was very tasty and mostly pretty tender. The french fries that came with it were very tender and tasty... meaning fresh and not over fried. The waiter gave (notice the term) us a bowl with a couple bread rolls and a small plate with butter, tuna spread (weird but Manoli liked it), and a few slices of very tasty cheese. While I was trying the bread, I made the mistake of trying a little of it with their house oil. It turned out to be quite spicy, to the point the wait staff was trying to warn me ahead of time. Oh well, live and learn. The total bill was 28 Euros, almost a third of it being the table service, and the plates of rolls and cheese, which were over 5 Euros themselves!

After dinner, we strolled back to the hostel and discovered they finally had WiFi... in the lobby area only! Oh well, I was able to post my two previous blogs. Now, if I can just find an outlet that works, I can charge my computer and send this blog too. Tomorrow, we plan on doing the Citysightseeing Hop-on-Hop-off bus tour of Lisbon for 18 Euros each. That should pretty much cover Lisbon sights, except maybe Tram 28 and the Santa Justa Elevator. See you tomorrow then.

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