Blogs from Sintra, Lisbon & Tagus Valley, Portugal, Europe - page 3

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

Went to Sintra yesterday. A 35 Mins train journey from the Rossio station took me to the Sintra station. From the Sintra station we took a 2 way hop ticket for the bus #434, which took us to the Pena park and palace. The palace is on a hill and park around the palace. After visiting the palace we had long walk inside the park. The map given at the entrance was helpful. You just need to follow the map. The walk inside the park is so good. Lot of trees and quite surroundings. You can have perfect romantic walk. The usual tourist crowd comes to the palace and goes back. After an hour of walk we reached other entrance of the park. The entrance to the Moors castle is few meters away from this gate ... read more

After the rugged walk through the Moorish Castle we get to the fairyland atmosphere of the Palace of Pena! The artist king consort Don Fernando II completed contruction of this fanciful palace around 1852, on the site of monastery. Convent of Our Lady of Pena 1503. Earthquake of 1755 did serious damage to the monastery and it falls into decline, Don Fernando purchases it and it becomes the beautiful palace it is today. Royal families lived here from Fernando's reign thru Don Manuel II in 1910. The rooms are furnished as they were at that time. Cozy arched ceilings, rooms with Persian rugs, carved furniture, paintings, some done by Fernando, and beautiful luxurious fabrics on the windows and beds. Courtyards and niches covered in colorful tiles! The forest surrounding the palace was installed by Don Fernando. ... read more

SINTRA-UNESCO'S SECRET GARDEN I've always wanted to go to Portugal...I don't know why, but something always drew me to this country. Maybe it's because of it's heritage and history, of all the travellers that have gone through it, maybe it's the combination and just perfect mixture or cultures and races, maybe all of the above, anyway I always knew I'll find in Lisbon a home away from home. The first thing that gained my attention was similarity. Of all the places I've been to and all the people I met, the Portuguese are the most similar and compatible to Greeks. Easygoing, friendly, very hospitable, passionate, crazy, good food lovers with a great appreciation for life and its small pleasures, the Portuguese are simply so easy to absolutely love. Even if you don't speak the language, Portugal ... read more