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Published: April 16th 2016
We are starting to wonder if the weather gods might just be planning against us when it comes to visiting the ‘big’ attractions as we awoke this morning to steady light rain and a rather grey, sullen sky.
Time first then for some administration and once breakfast was over it was time to tackle the front loader washing machine in the hope that we choose a cycle that won’t take half the day to complete.
Mila obviously had her spot inside the back door where the washing machine was when it was raining. The hot water boiler was also there and it was nice and warm as well as dry.
The only problem she is a big dog and Gretchen needed to share the space in getting the washing into the machine. While Gretchen is not a ‘dog person’ she loves animals and couldn’t think about turfing her out of her spot.
The morning ticked by and slowly as the afternoon came on the rain eased to a point where we just had to try and do some sightseeing or our time here as it was in Porto would have been in vain.
Tackling the small
centre of Sintra in the drizzle sounded a better idea than going into Lisbon for the afternoon that was left.
Sintra area is quite large as is the population but we were just interested in the historic centre up in the hills where many of the older buildings have UNESCO heritage status.
Of course we had to find a car park and as mentioned in yesterday’s blog the streets had been jammed full of cars and people when we passed through so it wasn’t going to be an easy task.
However it did turn out to be a breeze and we took 3 hours parking which should be enough even if the drizzle stopped and we were able to get around viewing the main sights.
We had spotted one of those tourist trains yesterday and now all we had to do was find out where it went from.
We walked in the direction of the historic centre and as luck would have it the train was sitting there waiting for us outside the Palicio National.
At €5 each for a 30minute round trip of the main sights we were going to keep dry and
see the sights at the same time. What a bargain and a great idea considering the drizzle was still falling.
On board and in front of us were an American couple (pleasant enough people but a bit out of touch with other parts of the world) and a Kiwi farmer.
The farmer had that’ Kiwi look’ you know the sort, rough hands, woollen jersey and weathered face, and of course the accent. We had already guessed where he was from before he explained his years of dairying on the Clutha delta to the Americans, as he rolled his ‘r’s’ like all good Southlanders do.
We sat back and didn’t say a word but did raise a smile when Mr Kiwi Farmer explained how his farm was set between bridges on the delta and at the same time had been explaining how NZ was two main islands. The American lady asked if the ‘islands’ were joined by a bridge. Somehow something got lost between the explanation of the bridges on the delta and the way to cross between the North and South Island!.
We were joined by a French family of 6 and we were on our
way bumping along on the cobbled streets with a commentary in English that gave us the names of the buildings we passed and a little date history.
What we hadn’t factored into the ride was how much heat 11 bodies give off inside a carriage and when it is moist outside how much condensation forms on the inside of a window. It was virtually impossible to open the window and not cop it from the rain and so we grinned and bore it as we bumped around the circuit losing sight of practically all the sights after the first couple.
With the drizzle falling steadily we alighted the train and walked the short distance to the Royal Palace which is open to tour through. At least the idea of keeping dry would be preserved and we would at least get to look through the history of the royals in Sintra over the years.
Human remains have been found in Sintra which date back to the Palaeolithic times or 2.6 million years ago but we were just going to check out more recent history of when the Palace of Sintra was occupied by the Portuguese royals from the
15
th century onwards.
The building started out around the 10
th century at the time the Moors ruled Portugal and the influence of the building constructed to that time was Islamic Moor which was slowly built around as Christianity ruled again.
Like at Alcobaca, the benefit of having UNESCO status has meant that the building has been substantially restored and that items can be well displayed from the various periods as they would have been seen in their originality.
Luckily our arrival later in the day resulted in less congestion as most of the bus tour parties were coming to an end, the school kids had gone and it was just the stragglers like us which more room to stand back and observe the rooms that we passed through with their history on display.
One of the striking features of the palace are the different carved and painted wooden ceilings in most of the rooms each bearing the theme of that room.
The drizzle hadn’t cleared as we might have hoped as our hour long tour of the palace came to an end so rather than get wet through trudging between sites we decided that we
had given it our best shot considering the weather and satisfied by the tour of the palace we headed back to the car and drove back to the apartment.
It was a shame we didn’t get to the Castle of the Moors on the very top of the hill but we wouldn’t have seen much of the apparently outstanding view in the drizzle anyway.
Perhaps tomorrow the weather will improve to allow us time to see and do the highlights we have set aside for Lisbon.
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Judith Regnaud
non-member comment
Wonderful blog!
I have finally discovered your blog, and am impressed by the dialogue and photos! I hope you got to visit some of the port 'vintners' in Porto - the white port is to die for!!! I am re-reading Carol Drinkwater's "The Olive Tree" where she travels around the Med seeking the oldest trees and the history. First third or more of the book is about Spain, and is very interesting as she travels along and covers a lot of historical facts etc as well as her travel experiences. Take care, and enjoy the journey. Hope the weather improves. You will love the Moorish Alhambra Palace just out of Grenada!!!