A day trip to Sintra

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Hi Friends and Family,

We were going on a day trip to Sintra. Sintra is the former summer residence of Portuguese royalty and a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1995. It boasts two extraordinary palaces, a semi-tropical garden and a Moorish castle with views over Lisbon!

We took a train from the Rossio station in Lisbon and 45 minutes later, we were in Sintra. Apparantly, its a common commuter route as trains leave every 15-20 minutes! We bought a Day Rover ticket for €9 as we wanted to go to a few places including the famous Caba da Roca.

We waited for bus 403 as this was the bus that would take us to Caba da Roca or Cape of Rock. Caba da Roca is a coastal resort and is the most westerly point of mainland Europe! "The Berliner-in" had been there before and highly recommended that we go there too. I wanted to go to the castles, so we did both.

It was such a beautiful day. Sintra is so different from Lisbon and was filled with lovely big houses with flourishing gardens. The bus was a 40 minute ride from the main train station.

The Atlantic Sea around Cabo da Roco was a little rough and it was really rather windy. We had to put our hoods and scarfs on. I even wore my gloves as they weren't joking about being on the edge of the mainland!

We walked about and along the windswept cliff area as we were protected from the roughness of the wind and one could face the sun and take in the beautiful view of the sea on one side and the fields on the other. Indeed, the fields reminded me of Ireland!

I chatted with a couple of Asian girls who were afraid to come down to our side of the cliff, only one of the young girls dared to venture.

At the local tourist office you could be issued with a certificate attesting that you had visited the point and so I bought one for €5!

We took the bus back to the town centre and had lunch of a bowl of soup, bread and butter and a glass of wine all for a comfortable price of €2! After our "break", we took bus 434 which goes to the Historical City of Sintra. Again, we put on our walking shoes and strolled all around the city and to the Sintra National Palace. Disappointingly, we only glimpsed the Castelo do Mouros ( The Moorish Castle ) as it would have taken about an hour to walk up there and it was already going on 5 p.m.

We walked through the tiny streets to the Fonte Mourisca ( The Moorish Fountain ) and the Camara Municipal ( The Town Hall ). We walked from the Historic Centre back to the railway station which returned us to Lisbon.

We were starving and opted to go to the fish restaurant that we saw the night before. We debated going back to the hostel first as we were a bit sandy and a little dirty but with a 40 minute train journey, shower and walk to the Barrito Alto, we were looking at 9 p.m., so we decided to go straight there. Just outside the restaurant, we took off our dirty jackets and smoothed our hair before going in......!


The Retaurant was just as we expected packed full to the brim with local middle-class Portuguese and a sprinkling of tourist ( mainly German! ). The menu was in Portuguese so we asked the the Head Waiter to make a choice for us, he choose grilled fish.

In Portugal, traditional meals are served with a starter of bread and other "little things" called a "couvert". In our case, it was butter, a sort of fish paste, herbed butter and goat cheese! I asked for a glass of red wine and got a whole jug-full instead! I mean, I'm not complaining or anything but thank goodness, the wine was light and not full-bodied otherwise, I would have been floating down the hill rather than walking!

The fish was a huge affair and came with boiled potatoes, a side salad and lemons. At first I thought, is that it, not a lot of veggies here but the fish was quite filling along with the basket of bread and believe it or not, I didn't even finish my fish!

As I said earlier, the restaurant was popular and had lots of tables and was decorated with photographs of an artist who happened to be one of the older waiters and had even got awards over the years! There was also a bar which people could sit at too, and further beyond was a huge slab of meat in which thin slices of ham was being slivered. I was facing the front door so could see the various punters that frequented the restaurant. Many of the tourists were sent away..... but at about 10 p.m, a lady dressed all in black came through the door. I noticed that the staff seemed to know her and she didn't request anything, food just appeared in front of her.......I suspected that she might be a Fado singer and "The Berliner-in" encouraged me to go over to her. I did and indeed, she was.

Fado is a bittersweet music that is traditional and melancholic. It is a type of Portuguese folk music that expresses fatalism and frustration about things that cannot be changed, and remains very nostalgic and in certain parts, conservative. This Fado lady singer worked at the Cafe Luso in the Bairro Alto. the Head Waiter was also a Fado singer in another establishment, but we were not fortunate to be able to go and see one.

A reason to come back perhaps?

It was time to go and not a moment too soon as we slowly beginning to get a little exhausted and I was slowly falling asleep at the table.

I blame the wine!

See ya!!

PS.
The Adego de S. Rogue (Portuguese Traditional Cuisine, Shellfishes and Fishes of the Sea) Restaurant is situated on the Rua da Misericordia, 120. 1200-273 LISBOA. Telephone: [phone].

Try it out. Its quite nice.

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