Portugal is a fantastic place to visit, weather is incredible, lots to see and do, food is great and people are friendly. What’s more if you stay away from the tourist hotspots like the Algarve, you’ll usually be able to avoid the crowds. This is a video worth watching describing how a travel blogger went to visit a place called Sintra, which when you see it will be amazed it’s not more widely known. It’s simply stunning!
It’s really early for me. I was gonna get up at six but my alarm clock didn’t go off but thankfully someone else’s did, so I am awake in time for the sunrise. Today I think I’m going to Sintra to see the Palace. I’m informed it’s not a castle it’s a palace. That’ll be that’ll be cool because that’s a train trip out, it’s a day trip it’s gonna be nice. So that’s what I’m up to how are your bagels, Tae? Hey Ashy, bagels are gooood! I’ve got eight more so yum-yum-yum taking them to work and right now I’m gonna nap. Have a fantastic time at Sintra. Byeeeee! after watching the sunrise and stopping for a quick pastel di nata it’s time to head out to Sintra Sintra is a little town 27 kilometres northwest of Lisbon city center and its most famous for picturesque landscapes and outrageous palaces and castles the best way to get there is by train which leaves from Rossio station in the historic city centre and takes about 45 minutes all up, costing two euro 25 cents in total We’re on our way. There are so many people waiting to accost you at the train station for tours and all sorts of stuff.
I’m just gonna walk around for a bit. See if I can find anything cool. I find myself in the Botanical Gardens basically just climbing. There’s a lot of climbing. Everything kind of smells like eucalyptus wait a minute after a quick google such yeah that’s the tasmanian blue gum so that’s downhill again I just had a quick look at the map I’m going the wrong way so I’m gonna turn back double back around.
Editor note: First saw Sintra in a travel program on ITV about Portugal. There’s quite a few on British TV that cover Portugal, and if you want to watch the BBC and ITV outside the UK then you can use this program – http://uktvabroad.org/itv-stream-abroad-free/
Though I am gonna take these steps because I can’t not. Do I regret that? Nah! Backtracking again. Turns out there is a palace AND a castle. I want to go to the castle. The palace is back that way. the castle’s this way. It’s a bit of fun. It’s a fair hike. Hey, there’s that little stairwell. Back where we started So Google Maps just lists these as “Catholic Church” but actually if you read the plaque they were like built out of old remnants of existing churches by the first king of Portugal in 1147 how are things that old? Anyway, I’m sufficiently impressed.
Pay attention. Castelo dos Mouros was a military fortress built around the 10th century by the Muslim occupiers of the Iberian Peninsula. It was basically a watchtower for The whole of of Lisbon. I’m expecting some awesome views. So I didn’t really do much research on this place turns out it’s huge. This is quite the hike. There’s two palaces and one castle. I think I’m gonna go check out the castley bits head up the palace This is really interesting, this is the door of betrayal and this sign has long since faded into dust, but I’m guessing this is where you go when you displease the king.
Seriously this place is terrifying and it just keeps going up and up it’s so intense That rain looks suspiciously like it’s getting closer. Yep it’s heading right this way. Here it comes! This wasn’t supposed to happen today. So story goes King Ferdinand II popped this intricately woven stone cross on the highest point of the Sintra hills, and then in 1997 it got zapped by lightning and now it’s busted so they put a replica back up. Cool story. Wow. This place is crazy. When you buy tickets to the Palace of Pena there’s two options: park and palace. What I didn’t know was the only difference is the palace tickets let you do the indoors tour.
Personally this wasn’t my thing and in hindsight I would have preferred not to spend the extra cash on the palace ticket. But you do get a 5% discount for ordering online if that’s your thing. Next stop: Cruz Alta. I’m not religious in any way but I am one for a linear narrative so being able to see the highest point of the mountains was too good a challenge to pass up it’s about a kilometre’s walk from the palace and honestly it’s a really satisfying way to end the day That is one hell of a long walk but here’s the train station. That was a good day .
Additional:
If you’re looking for something to secure and change your IP address when travelling make sure you choose carefully. The safest options is some type of secure VPN with lots of different servers, although rotating proxy services like these do change your IP they’re not generally suitable for watching video streams.