Sintra, Portugal

We took a day trip from Lisbon to the town of Sintra.  Sintra is a mix of natural and man made beauty: fantasy castles, exotic tropical plants, and lush green valleys.  Sintra was the summer escape for Portugal's kings, and by using our Lisboa cards, our train rides were free so we had to check it out!

Welcome to Sintra!

What are those ruins on top of the hill? Keep reading...

We took the bus up to the Palácio de Pena.  The ride was a little scary because the roads are so narrow that only one car, let alone bus, can fit.  We were warned that with the strong winds we should pay to take the bus a quarter of a mile up the hill to the palace.  But there was no wind in sight (yet), and thus we walked!

The Pena Palace was made for the German-born Portuguese Price Ferdinand who happened to be the cousin of King Ludwig who built Neuschwanstein. The castle is a mix of Gothic towers, Renaissance domes, Moorish minarets, Manueline carving and Disney playfullness. Sounds like he didn't know what he wanted!

I like to colors he chose, definitely German (the houses in our neighborhood are the same colors)

Such good photo-ops from here

Cool Moorish archway with what looks like alligator decor, and whose that stud?!

Fancy dining room, I like the ship!

The bedroom of the Queen.  Check out her portrait, a bit of an eyesore

Kings bedroom, with really cool walls

The kitchen, its so abundant which reminds me of Downton Abbey 

This room was our favorite, the parlor

After finishing the Palace tour we walked down the windy road, along the outskirts of the palace park, to see the Moorish Castle ruins.   The park was beautiful, take a look

When we got to the ruins we were warned again about the weather conditions, and they recommended that we come back when the weather was "better".  We had come all this way so a little rain and wind wasn't going to stopping us.  The ruins would make a great place for kids to climb, and play hide and seek.

 The ruins are over a thousand years old, and anything over a thousand years old is hard to preserve.  We saw a quaint little cemetery.

As we climbed up the walls conditions started to change a bit...but the views were gorgeous!

A little windy, and I just love my hair

We went on a tour of the Palácio Nacional. The 15th century rooms are very nicely preserved and it is the oldest surviving royal palace in Portugal.

Our favorite room was the Stag Room.  This room is the westernmost room of the westernmost palace on the European continent. 

The ceiling is richly decorated in the coats of arms of the king's nobility, but if you look closely there is one square missing.  It is blank because the noble family that revolted against the king was cast out, and thus an open space.  

After Palace hopping we were pretty hungry.  The best place to find local delicious restaurants is to look where the lines are long, and no one is speaking English, in Sintra you can take a number and wait your turn at Piriquita Bakery-and it's worth it. 

What everyone waits in line for is their famous pastry called: Travesseiro de Sintra.  It is a puff pastry made with almonds and sugar. Go there, have a travesseiro (or if you're like us, have four) and you'll be forever happy!

Our last stop in Sintra was the icing on the cake-the Quinta da Regaleira.    I had seen amazing pictures of it on Instagram, and luckily it was only a 10 mintue walk.  It's totally worth seeing, and don't skip out on it. It was SO cool, I think while we were there I must have said that 1,000+ times.  Imagine this being your backyard.

We had so much fun because the 1912 mansion and garden is a mystical playground! 

So many cool passageways to check out

And if you like exploring caves this is up your alley.  We had so much fun, and were in awe the entire time.  There were so many caves to go in and explore!

 Jordan was ready, so I let him lead the way.

 We had rope lights to lead the way, but some caves we went in were pitch black, and we had to rely on our cellphone flashlights.

One cave led us into a very cool well, here's the view from the bottom

We climbed the windy stairs all the way to the top

and took a look in...

Jordan found a secret door at the top

One really dark cave led us to this beautiful open patio area with beautiful fountains

Must explore more. Must explore more, but wait let me take a SELFIE. 

We hopped over rocks in a pond.  I couldn't get a photo of Jordan here because I was concentrating on not falling into the swampy water

...and through another cave into another well.

We didn't have too much time to explore the mansion before it got too dark and they were shutting down.  Which leaves us something to look forward to seeing if we ever come back to Sintra.  We caught the train back to Lisbon that night.  It was a good thing that Jordan was paying attention to our stops while I slept on the train, because we almost ended up in another city!  I was in such a panic waking up and running off the train that I walked into the glass wall.  

Luckily I ran out before I could see everyones reaction, and I had a nice little bump to remind me to pay attention!   The bump was well worth the trip, and we had a wonderful time.  I cant wait to go on our next adventure together.