Sintra - Day 1

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This morning it was time to get ourselves - and all our luggage - to Sintra … on the train! We re-packed our bags and left our ‘home’ of the last nine nights about 9.30am. It was easy enough to wheel our cases to our local station and then ride the escalator down to the level where we knew there was a lift down to the platforms. But, of course, the lift wasn’t working was it!! Plan B, lug our suitcases down the stairs and onto the platform.

We needed to catch two trains to Sete Rios again, the station where we caught the train to Évora. We knew there was no lift where we had to change lines at the Jardim Zoologica Station so we were prepared to heave our cases down the short flight of stairs there. At Sete Rios we had to haul our cases up two flights of stairs because the escalators weren’t operating. Groan. At least for the last flight we were able to coast up the escalator and then for the final leg onto the platform there was a lift. Yay!

We topped up our travel cards yesterday believing that they would be OK to get us to Sintra. Tomás told us on Monday that people commute daily between Sintra and Lisbon so it must be a local trip right? We attempted to touch-on, but the machine said bee-baw and displayed a red cross. Oh, that must be because we’re already scanned on and haven’t left the station so we should be good to go!

The train arrived just about right on time and we boarded successfully. Us and our cases and our hand luggage all on the train! As it is a local train there is no designated place for luggage, but we managed to find some seats where we could sit down and get our suitcases relatively out of the way. Our trip to Sintra took less than an hour and it seemed we were hauling everything off the train again in no time at all.

We waited until most people had cleared the station before attempting the ticket barrier. We didn’t want to clog everyone up with us negotiating the two screen barrier with our luggage. That gave us plenty of time to watch how other people were negotiating the barrier. Press a button to pass the first barrier and you end up in a holding pen between the two barriers. Then you swipe your travel card to exit the second barrier. Ahem, that is how it is supposed to work. Bernie went first and got into the pen, but then the reader would not accept his travel card. It was bee-baw, red cross again at this station. Oops, we just might have travelled illegally?? Thank goodness we had let all the other passengers go ahead of us. That made the experience slightly less embarrassing.

Thank goodness for the lovely young man on the outside of the barrier who handed over his card to Bernie to let him out. Then it was my turn to enter the holding pen. My ticket also failed to open the second barrier!! Said lovely young man and all round wonderful human being handed me his card, but it wouldn’t work for me. I gave it back to him, he walked to the barrier over the other side, swiped on (we presume?) then brought the card back for me to finally swipe off and get out of the holding pen and into the station. While all of this was going on no station official arrived to berate us for travelling on the wrong tickets. Lucky!!

Finally in Sintra and out of the station we started looking for a taxi. Our B&B is not far away from the station, but it’s all uphill over cobblestones!! The first taxi driver was on smoko, so waved us on to the second cab on the rank. We (well, Bernie) loaded our suitcases into the boot and we piled into the taxi. Because of the hill that Sintra perches upon there is a ridiculously circuitous route to get where you need to go in the historic centre. Just as well we knew this, or we might have thought that the taxi driver was taking the long way around just to rip us off.

For a moment it looked like we were going to have to negotiate the last bit of foot because a driver had left his van illegally parked in the entrance to the street our B&B is located in. The driver was very apologetic, but assured us it wasn’t far, just down the hill. Just as we were about to clamber out of the car, the van driver reappeared and moved his vehicle out of the way. Thank goodness our €12.00 got us dropped off right at the door.

Even though it was only about 11.30am our room was ready for us, so we were able to check-in at 1012 Boutique Guest House and go straight to our room. We had anticipated having to just drop our luggage off and complete check-in later on after a bit of sightseeing, so it was great to have access to our room immediately. And a beautiful room it is too. Obviously not the on the scale of the apartment we have been in, but a really great size for a B&B. Very well selected on Bernie’s part.

Sans luggage we popped just up the street to Talhus Restaurant that had been recommended to us for lunch. We shared an antipasto plate for a light lunch before taking ourselves off to Quinta da Regaleira.

Quinta da Regaleira is an estate (quinta) located near the historic centre of Sintra and as such it forms part of the cultural landscape of the UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Quinta da Regaleira is considered to be one of the top tourist attractions of Sintra. The property consists of a neo-Gothic mansion and an extensive park that features lakes, grottoes, wells, benches, fountains and a vast array of fairytale constructions. A principal attraction within the grounds is the initiation well used by the Knights Templar. We made that our first port of call knowing that it would be the busiest part of the gardens. We had to queue up to go into the well, but the line moved quickly and we were soon entering the enigmatic well.

Down, down, down we went. We exited the well and started making our way through the caverns. It was a little bit like being in a pinball machine. Having been dropped down the hole we didn’t know quite where were were going to come out?? We took the passage signposted Eastern Grotto. We had to wait for a moment as a pretty young thing posed to have her photo taken. It turned out she was ‘striking a pose’ while some unrelated tourists took her photo. They certainly looked somewhat bemused after they handed her phone back. Exiting from the grotto we found ourselves at a point well below where we had entered the well. Right, we’ll just have to walk back up the hill to continue our exploration of the topmost parts of the gardens. We certainly weren’t ready to head back towards the entrance/exit yet!

With the initiation well ticked off we found ourselves in parts of the gardens much less populated with tourists, but still full of amazing nooks and crannies to explore. We wondered how many people come in and just do the initiation well, tick, and the palace, tick, and then leave?? There is so much else to explore once you start strolling around the rest of the estate. And the extensive gardens provide plenty of shade to explore in without getting hot and sunburnt. Bonus!

We eventually made our way back down to the palace which was designed by Italian architect Luigi Manini. Ooh, this is another bottleneck with ALL the tourists making their way through the palace!! We shuffled along single-file to have our look inside the palace. With the palace itself the last part of the estate we needed to explore we made our way to the exit and walked back down into the town to find ourselves gelato!! Since it was on the way we stopped in at 1012 to use ‘our’ toilet before hunting down our afternoon gelato o’clock treat!

After eating our ice-creams on the forecourt of the National Palace of Sintra we made our way over to the entrance. Bernie pre-purchased all of our tickets for Sintra’s attractions before we left home so we have been able to skip the ticket queues and go straight to the entrance. Not that there was a queue for tickets to the palace this late in the afternoon.

The Palácio Nacional de Sintra is the original mediaeval palace of Sintra and is considered to be Portugal’s oldest palace. It is likely that the earliest buildings of the palace date to the 10^th or 11^th century when Sintra was still under Moorish rule. Since that time buildings have been constructed, added and adapted over the course of many centuries.

At the end of the Middle Ages, the palace of Sintra was at the heart of a large territory under the care of the queens of Portugal. It was a popular destination for Portuguese monarchs because it was much cooler in summer than the capital. It also enabled the nobility to escape Lisbon during times of plague and, of course, bountiful hunting could be enjoyed in the region. Originally planning to visit this palace on our full day in Sintra we are so glad we fitted it in this afternoon while it was relatively empty. It was a relief that it was MUCH less crowded than Quinta da Regaleira!

Our host recommended Incomum by Luis Santos for dinner tonight. We have no idea who Luis Santos is, but a signature restaurant sounds expensive?? And it's down near the station so a bit of a walk when there are so many restaurants quite nearby. Oh, what the heck we haven’t had a really fancy meal yet on this holiday let’s venture on down.

The walk down to the lower part of the town was pretty gentle and much more direct than the route that our driver took this morning. The thing is the one-way system of roads doesn’t allow vehicular traffic up this side of the hill. Cars have to drive up into Sintra around the other side of the hill and can only drive down this side. The streets simply aren’t wide enough for two-way traffic!

We entered Incomum from the back door. Do you have a reservation? No. Wait and I will check. Oh no, are going to be unceremoniously refused entry to another restaurant because we haven’t booked? It took a few minutes, but the Maitre d was soon back and happily showed us through to a table. Phew. It’s not always easy to make reservations on the go. You need a phone number … and phone service!! Phone service has not been very strong here in Sintra. Anyway, we got our bums on seats and we selected the tasting menu for €47.50 per person. A bit extravagant, but sometimes it’s nice to spurge on a fancy meal.

Even walking back up the hill after our meal wasn’t too strenuous, but it was a bit chilly. Probably the coolest we have experienced so far on our trip mainly due to the breeze and some wind-chill factor! It was a relief to be back in our room and out of the wind.



Steps: 17,545 (11.38 kms)

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