Blogs from Sintra, Portugal, Europe - page 2

The city of Sintra is 18 miles northwest of Lisbon. It is inland and therefore has a sub-micro climate that can be entirely different from Lisbon. When we left Lisbon, it was a bright sunny day. Upon arriving in Sintra it was a cloudy cool day, still humid, but cool. The mountain top which is where the Moorish castle and the Pena Palace are located were actually fogged in. Pedro did advise that this is usually the case, but most days the fog will burn off so it was best to do the top of the mountain last. Sintra is on the slopes of the Serra de Sintra (Sintra Mountains) and has been inhabited in one form or the other since prehistoric times. The Moors were the first to build a castle and Sintra later became ... read more

For our 2nd day in Lisbon, we went to Sintra early morning. We talked about our plan to go there to our host and he kindly offered us to take us there in the morning, as he was only working in late afternoon on that day. This was great because he knew where to go and it was much quicker than bus!! For breakfast, we went to a pastry shop, which is famous in Sintra. We ate there a pastry called "travesseiros", which is made of sugar cane cream wrapped in pastry. I have to say that the 1st bite I thought ok that's really tasty but after some bites, it was really too "heavy" for me with all this sugar and butter. But, well, it was nice to taste it once. After breakfast, we walked ... read more

On the cruise up to Portugal we ran into some swells and 20ft waves. Or as Captain McNeill said: “We encountered the odd bump during the night.” Cruising into Lisbon is really neat. The long ride up the river to town passes many interesting and historical spots linked especially to the Voyages of Discovery where some of the greatest navigators left on their journeys around the world. We had a private car and went with Lani and Bert out into the countryside on our own discovery tour. We visited Estoril which is a famous beach town. Because of Portugal’s neutrality during WWII and the mild climate, Estoril was a place of great intrigue, filled with spies and royalty. The Casino there inspired Ian Fleming’s novel “Casino Royale.” From there we motored up the mountains to Sintra. ... read more

Estremadura (Park and Palace of Pena, Park and Palace of Monserrate)... read more

Hi there again! I've been really busy with school and conferences everyday and haven't had much time to blog... I've completed the spoken and written Rusian basic level and started with basic Chinese (spoken and written too) - hope I can move forward in both languages. I'm also planning my summer journey to Rusia, Israel, Jordan, Beirut and Warsow (Poland) - any tip is really welcome! (please!) =) I've also made some sort of "rebrand" in my page and uploaded some photos and stories in my Backpack Yourself facebook page, please take a look and feel free to share your experiences - http://www.facebook.com/backpack-yourself (I'm also on twitter - #BackpackYourslf) Hope to write you soon about new destinations! Cheers, JM... read more