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Yesterday was spent seeking the sights of Lisbon and Belem (shrines to the great Portugese Navigators). The weather was great and the sites were pretty impressive too, especially the history of the Portugese Navigators as this kind of thing has always interested me (Magellan not withstanding).

Today I acted on a tip I received at the hostel on my first night here to take a day trip to the nearby (40min via train) town of Sintra. The town has several world heritage listed sites, I only tackled two for the day as they were located at the top of a hill behind the town. The guidebooks said to take the bus to the sites, the other travellers I met said I'd be mad to walk up the hill to them.......so guess what I did? That's right I spent a fantastic day walking through a forrest (it was quiet a well signposted track) to the Palace of Pena, a 19th century playground for Portugese Royality and the ruins of a 9th century Moorish Castle situated behind the town. I won't rave on about them but lets just say I had an amazing day communing with nature on the mountain and in the Palace's extensive garden/forest and looking at some amazing architecture - its not often that I'm impressed with buildings but these were both something else. The photos I took don't really do them justice so I suggest coming to Portugal to see them for yourselves.