Blogs from Sintra, Lisbon & Tagus Valley, Portugal, Europe

Sintra (Portuguese pronunciation: ) is a town in Sintra Municipality in Portugal, located in the Grande Lisboa subregion and the Lisbon Region. The town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site on account of its 19th century Romantic architecture. It has a population of c. 33,000 inhabitants. Sintra has become a major tourist attraction dow to the fabulous Pena Palace (19th c.) and the Castelo dos Mouros (8th or 9th century, reconstructed in the 19th century) with a breath-taking view of the Sintra-Cascais Natural Park, and the summer residence of the kings of Portugal Palácio Nacional de Sintra (largely 15th/16th century), in the town itself. The Sintra Mountain Range, one of the largest parks in the Lisbon area, (Serra de Sintra) is also a major tourist attraction. In 1809 Lord Byron wrote to his friend Francis Hodgson, ... read more

today we went to sintra. parked illegally as usual outside the town hall. we walked everywhere to find a cash machine and eventually found the biggest one ever!ha....my card was blocked so had to ring up and kick off! had some steak and a good egg. everyone got the same! we had a few games of pool with ronaldo, tried one of his chocolate cigarettes, checked our facebook then headed for almada we crossed the 2nd famous bridge in portugal and saw jesus on the other side. we drove up to him but we were about 45mins too late as it had closed at 6pm we then decided to drive to lisboa! what a lovely place lisbon turned out to be....tramps everywhere and dodgy mofo's.... tuna sarny is €8.50 toasty €3 €3 a can ....thats not ... read more

We had a much earlier start the next day. We had reserved a tour guide who could take us to Sintra and Lisbon’s western coast. Sintra is located roughly half hour northwest of Lisbon, on the slopes of the granite Serra. The town was a summer retreat for the kings of Portugal and was recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1995. Our guide, Pedro (a redhead in Portugal?) picked us up at the hotel before 9:30am. Our first destination was Palacio da Pena (the Palace of Pena), located on the peak of the Serra de Sintra. Renovated and rebuilt from 1842-54 under a German architect, the palace became a symbol of nineteenth century Portuguese Romanticism. Pedro dropped us off at the ticket booth at the entrance to the palace. Once we walked into the ... read more

"Are you with the feeling that you will return?" That's the question the receptionist asked me when I checked us out of the hotel, just outside Lisbon. My answer "yes. of course!" And that was before we had actually been into Lisbon. Before we had seen the wide Tegas River, and watched young sailors in their little boats manuver tight cirlces, while a tanker passed under the bridge. Before we walked down narrow cobbled streets passing little ladies in their bathrobes on their way to the neighborhood bath, before we had stood by the most dramatic coast line we had ever seen. Before we had been above the roof tops and taken in the view of the river meeting the sea. We had "the feeling" we wanted to return before we realized that this was a ... read more