Monday, February 3, 2014

Sintra

On Saturday, Karin, Stephanie, and I got up early-ish and got ready to go on a day trip to Sintra. Sintra is a town that is a little northwest of Lisbon. It is a quaint little town and I loved it. So here it goes, our day in and around Sintra. Paulo, our host, and Bruno accompanied us to Sintra and I am so happy they did because we got to see so much more than we would have seen without them. When we first arrived in Sintra, we got breakfast at a place called La Piriquita and ordered once again another pastry famous in Portugal, specifically in Sintra. And again, it was delicious.
Travesseiros..yum
After breakfast, we briefly walked the streets of Sintra and then got in the car and took the windy roads to Quinta da Regaleira, a beautiful estate that is in Sintra. It is included as a World Heritage Site under "Cultural Landscape of Sintra" and really, the landscape was beautiful and you can see a lot of castles and estates along the hillsides. I was really happy we chose to go there, because not only was it really pretty, but also, Bruno and Paulo had never been there before so they were interested in it, too. The palace and gardens were owned by Carvalho Monteiro, a millionaire and entomologist. The millionaire hired Luigi Manini, an Italian architect to design and build the palace and gardens and the entire place has many symbols throughout related to alchemy, Masonry, the Knights Templar, and the Rosicrucians, don't ask me what all those are or what all the symbols are on the estate, but I still think it's interesting. On the estate there is a palace, chapel, park, wells, tunnels, and lakes. Here are some pictures from exploring the estate. We were there for around three and a half hours.
Sintra downtown
The palace
The chapel
The inside of the chapel had great acoustics and for some reason, Stephanie, Karin, and I decided to sing. And what better song than The Doxology. I'm not sure why we sang it, but to be honest, it felt good to be in a church singing a simple little hymn. :)
Inside of the palace in the dining room
Awesome library with mirrors on the edges
It really messes with your head.
Want this library!
Fun fact about the library, the books were cut so that they all fit perfectly into the bookcases just for show.
The gardens
Castle on the hill

Initiatic Well--symbolic of the trip between death and resurrection
After visiting Quinta da Regaleira, we took a quick stop at Sintra National Park-Cascais to see the views to Lisbon. Unfortunately, it was kind of overcast so you couldn't see it too clearly, but it was still awesome. After the stop at the park, we stopped for lunch/dinner in Azóia and I had an amazing ham and cheese panini and then we went to the most western point of continental Europe. I had no idea that it was even in Portugal, let alone that we were close to it, so I'm so happy that Paulo and Bruno took us there. It's pretty cool to say that I've visited there.

Cabo da Roca

Most western point of continental Europe
After that stop, we drove along the coast all the way back to Lisbon. It was nice to see the water and Paulo and Bruno told us many times that we need to go back during the summer. I don't know if that will ever happen for me, but it might. I loved Sintra more than Lisbon, but I also don't think that Lisbon got a good chance with me. So, if I ever do go back, I plan to be there for longer and I would want to get to know the city more.

Once back in the city, we grab our bags and headed to the bus station. We got some snacks and then boarded another night bus back to Madrid. I slept the whole entire way. I mean I woke up now and then, but I didn't even put my head up long enough to look at the clock. I just laid my head back and fell right back to sleep. It was amazing and the bus was more comfortable than the first and I had two seats again. Yay. Read the next blog to find out what I did once back in Madrid



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