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Published: March 26th 2006
Driving in Lisbon
Very nice roads, bus some can drive a bit crazy7 a.m: Wake up! Breakfast. Bus to the airport!
9.a.m: Picking up the rental car. We had booked one in advance, since our travel agent had a good deal. We strongly recommend renting a car from the airport because 1) it is very easy to go from the airport to the highways out of Lisbon, and 2) unless you have no fear at all you don't want to drive around in central Lisbon in a car that is not yours.
10.a.m: Arriving Sintra, an old village some 30 kms northwest of Lisbon. Since this was a Sunday, we were accompanied by about half of Lisbon's population (Sintra seems to be a very popular Sunday destination for the Portuguese...).
The small town of Sintra is built up by small, pittoresque houses, narrow streets, and older buildings (neo-gothic). We had a look around in the village before forcing our rented Daihatsu Sirion to go up the steep hills nearby. It is also possible to walk up here, if you are in good shape, and if you have good shoes and a bottle of water with you. On top of the hills, the majestic Palacio da Pena is located; a giant marshmallow-looking royal
Sintra pastry
First stop! A pastelaria! palace built a few hundred years ago. From the queen's terrace you can see practically half of Portugal, and the palace is surrounded by Parque da Pena, a quiet park with ancient trees and lovely vegetation.
Sintra is obviously one of the
must see
-places if you are in Lisbon for a few days! You can take the train from Lisbon to Sintra, if you are sceptic to the car driving in Portugal.
The weather was excellent, about 20 degrees!
From Sintra we moved on to the small coastal town Ericeira. Please view separate entry for more information (you should, since Ericeira is a stragihtforward fantastic place!)
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