Sintra is a day trip from Lisbon and has some romantic charm in a little hilltop town with a few big palaces. We rode the train 45 minutes from Lisbon and hopped into an Uber...thank God for public wifi hotspots so we could avoid the tourist bus! We were driven up into the forest to the high peak of Pena Palace. It is a stunning fairy tale castle with bright colours, stunning tiles and turrets of plenty. It was crawling with Tourists by 10:30 am but when you come all the way you make it worth your while. The sun baked us at 30 degrees but we got some great photos and enjoyed exploring. Our knees were knackered by the time we went through so we skipped the moorish ruins and headed for Quinta Regaliera, a beautiful garden with some unique features. There is an initiation well here which is stunning as you spiral down to the bottom 27 meters deep where a waterfall and grotto await. We believe it was once used for free masons, but there is also a palace here as well. We ventured through beautiful shady walkways with random spiral stairwells down to the next terrace. The romantic palace here was so intricate and such a beautiful place.
The little town we walked back through on the way to the train station was lively with little restauraunt and shops. I purchased a few tiles today for my art collection and as a great souvenir of our trip. We are tired from the adventures in Lisbon and look forward to a few days in the Algarve before returning home.