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So I have decided that the best way to enjoy a city, at least on a trip like this, is in about 4 days or so. Its long enough where you begin to feel like home where you are staying and know the area pretty well, but not long enough where you feel you have overstayed your welcome or feel like you are stagnating. In four days you can see a decent bit of a city and still have time to make some sort of day trip to a beach or nearby town or whatever. That was my plan for today, to take the train about 30 miles northwest to Sintra. As lonelyplanet.com describes it "With richly hued palaces, mist-covered forests and the ruins of a craggy Moorish castle overlooking a sleepy village, Sintra is like a page torn from a fairy tale." The main objective was to check out the Palacia de Pena, perched on top of a mountain that overlooks the surrounding area and coastline. That ended up being my second stop as the woman working the front desk at the hostel recommended I check out Quinta da Regaleira and it was quite a recommendation. It is like a
kids playground in a way. It was the grounds and gardens of this summer estate for some nobleman in the 19th century. The place is full of tunnels, hidden paths, grottos, castle walls and secret staircases that take you higher and higher into the hillside. Pretty cool to just wander around and act like you are five years old again.
After that I began my ascension to the palace up on the mountain top about 3 km away. I keep telling myself I should just take it easy and take a bus to places like this since I walk EVERYWHERE but once again I decided to just suck it up and walk up there. As tiring as it was it was worth the effort. The road leading up winds through this beautiful forest and at a certain elevation you kind of go into this misty cloud, pretty cool ambience. I really can't explain the palace so I definitely recommend just google image search the palacia do pena. The views from the top are incredible. Spent a couple hours up there before taking the bus back to the train station for the ride back to the Oasis. Ended up doing
view
view from the top the usual here, sitting out in the back courtyard by the bar having a few beers with the others. As of now it includes another Matt (on a 15-day leave from his active duty in Iraq), a couple of American girls and my boy Bruno from Brazil. Headed over to a small nearby park that overlooks the city where just a crazy eclectic group of Portuguese sit around and drink, play guitar and all those good things. An Australian girl summed up the place perfectly a few days ago "sketchy but harmless". The group of us then headed back to the Bairro Alto for another fun night out on the town, particularly enjoyable as today is my birthday! Not sure why I ever contemplated leaving a day early and taking the night train to Madrid on my bday. I hate being all sensational saying a certain place is the best and everyone has to go but that thought does creep into your mind here in Lisbon and Portugal in general. I can see why a lot of travelers end up just staying here and getting a job at a hostel. It's really the perfect place to do it. It's a
tower
just tons of these big city but its not as crazy as London or Paris. Got awesome night life in a variety of forms, beautiful beaches, cheap food/beer/wine. Booked my hostel at the Oasis in Granada so I am hoping the south of Spain can match the fun I had in Portugal. We will see.
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