A day trip to Sintra
We were up and out of our hotel by 8.00am this morning as we wanted to catch an early train, 30km North-West to Sintra. We made our way towards Rossio train station, the streets were fairly quiet except for the occasional rumble of a passing tram.
The sun was shining and Lisbon was looking particularly stunning. We were both feeling hungry but nowhere we passed was open yet so we went straight to Rossio station.
Only one small cafe was open at the station so we ordered a coffee and croissant at the very reasonable price of €1!
If you're reading this and also planning a trip to Sintra then here's a top tip. Don't join the long queue of tourists at the train station ticket office. Go to the machines which have an English language option on the screen. Purchase a Viva Viagem card for 50 cents (It's just like an Oyster card) and top it up with 2 four zone journeys. You will now have enough credit for the return journey and it can be done in a matter of minutes. The Viva Viagem card can be used on trains, metro, trams and buses. You simply scan it when going through the station barriers or when boarding buses or trams.
We boarded the 8.41am train to Sintra, the journey took about 50 minutes and the return trip costs just €5.50.
Sintra is known for its many 19th-century Romantic architectural monuments, which has resulted in its classification as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We were keen to fit in as much as possible here, our first port of call was the historic centre of Sintra.
The small winding streets here are just as hilly as they are they are in Lisbon and we'd heard that eating in the historical centre wasn't a wise plan as the prices are hiked up for tourists.
We were really hungry though and didn't want to start our trek up the hills on an empty stomach. A small museum coffee shop seemed to have a reasonably priced menu so I ordered a Pena bagel costing 6.50, the price included a drink. The Pena bagel was rather nice, it was filled with cream cheese, a fried egg, bacon, cheese and tomato, it was served with crisps.
When you first arrive in Sintra it feels quite overwhelming and you wonder how you're ever going to find everything. Your best bet is to pick up a free map at tourist information, it helped us no end. You'll also most likely be offered to be taken in a tuk tuk which are quite expensive, my advise though is to check the whole place out on foot if you're able to as you'll see so much more.
Before heading out of the historical centre I bought a Pastel de nata, just to compare it to the one I'd tried yesterday. I can confirm it was just as good and if not slightly better!
On the edge of the town we spotted Ginjinha being served in chocolate cups for just €1. The lady serving us asked for our feedback on it, this was the only thing stopping me from popping the entire thing in my mouth. It was the best so far and had we not been about to go on such a long walk we may have been tempted to buy an entire bottle of it. The lady in the shop also directed us towards The Castelo dos Mouros, she advised us to not bother paying to enter it and instead to spend our money visiting inside the Pena National Palace. As it turns out we did the opposite which seemed like a much better plan, more on that later though.
The trail towards Castelo dos Mouros is beautiful! It gets quite steep in places and there are lots of steps but it's a satisfying hike and visually you're rewarded with stunning views along the way.
The Castelo dos Mouros (Castle of the
Moors) is a ruined
castle dating back to the 10th century. It’s called the Castle of the
Moors because it was built by the Moors. (The Moors were African Muslims
who conquered and controlled parts of Spain and Portugal for almost 700
years.) We were advised to not bother going inside but I would have been gutted to have missed out on this so be sure to buy a ticket and check it out for yourself. We bought a ticket to visit the grounds of Pena Palace at the same time as it saved queueing again later and buying them together gave us a small discount.
You can walk along the walls of the castle which retains the charm of an ancient ruin and offers breathtaking views across Sintra.
In the distance we could see the Pena Palace where we would be walking to next.
Pena Palace is one of the finest tourist attractions of
Portugal and exemplifies the 19th century Romanticism style of
architecture. The palace is a mix of vividly painted
terraces, decorative battlements and mythological statues, all of which
stand at stark contrast to the lush greens of the forests that encircle
Pena.
Our ticket only allowed us access to the gardens and outside areas. It's also possible to go inside the palace but the long winding queues to get in made us quite relieved that we weren't going inside.
On top of Pena Palace is a rooftop cafe, they seemed to sell only pies and drinks. This duck pie was exceptionally delicious with a really flaky crust.
From Pena Palace we followed the signs to Valley of the Lakes where not many tourists seemed to venture to. On the lakes were a few small buildings and some swans. This building you could go inside, it was quite eerie though and very dark. After this we walked further to some greenhouses before the long walk back to the historic centre.
On the edge of the historic centre we saw a sign for Paradise Art School. It offered food and drink at a reasonable price and stunning views over Sintra. We liked what we saw and decided to stop here for something to eat.
The prices were very reasonable!
We took in the stunning views with a €1.50 glass of wine whilst waiting for our food to arrive.
Everything here came to just €9, Lets take a closer look.
My wife ordered the vegetable tarts which were made from scratch, they were delicious.
I couldn't possibly come to Portugal without trying the Bifana sandwich.
The Bifana is a light but crusty bread roll filled with sautéed strips of pork that have been seasoned with garlic, spices, and white wine. The chap serving me said the pork was from a friends farm and I must say, the pork tasted superb.
Before leaving we shared a slice of salame de chocolate (Portuguese chocolate salami) which is made using cookies, cocoa, butter and eggs. It's not a meat product as the name suggests, the appellation "salami" simply stems from it's physical resemblance. Anyway, it's very popular in Portugal as it's so easy to make and it tastes great with a nice crumbly texture. We enjoyed it with a coffee which was when the guy serving us passed us a book with photos of Quinta da Regaleira. We'd been searching for this place all day but couldn't find it on the tourist map of Sintra. He told us it was just 10 minutes away but would be closing quite soon. We settled our bill and rushed towards Quinta da Regaleira hoping it would still be open.
Luckily we got there in time and had 2 hours until it closed, it cost just €6 to enter. The Quinta da Regaleira is a decorative 20th century residence in Sintra. The grand house is split over five
floors and has an ornate gothic façade, but the real attraction is to
the rear with the enchanting gardens. I'd seen photos of a stunning deep well here and was keen to find it as soon as possible before it started to get dark.
As we searched for the well we came across some beautiful walls with turrets which you could climb up using the spiral staircases.
Finally we found it, the Initiation Well. Apparently the well symbolises the initiation ceremony for the Knights Templar. You can descend into the well by walking down the steps around the edge.
In the well there's a concealed passage that after descending 27 meters
connects to a series of tunnels that run the length of the gardens.
The passages come out at various locations like this one below a small waterfall.
This was the most popular spot though, people were queueing up to have their photo taken on the stepping stones which cross the pond. I waited quite a long time to get this shot with nobody in it!
We finished off here by looking around the grand house and then made our way back to Lisbon on the train.
We were far too exhausted to eat out tonight so instead we stopped off at a supermarket for something to take back and eat at the hotel. I bought some hot sausages and roast chicken which I enjoyed with some bread.
My wife was really craving tomatoes!
I honestly didn't think we'd manage more floors than yesterday but we almost quadrupled it!
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