Sintra

Our last stop in Portugal was the same as our first--Lisbon. Since we'd done most of what we wanted to do in Lisbon, we jumped on a train for a 45-minute ride out to Sintra.

Sintra's where the royalty used to escape from the unwashed masses of the city. In the 21st century the unwashed masses struck back and the place was positively oozing with tourists. Sintra would probably be a charming place to spend the night after the day-trippers (like us) vacate the city, but we weren't in a position to do that.

There are three main sites in Sintra: the National Palace, the Moorish castle ruins, and Pena Palace which is Portugal's answer to the gaudy 19th century, faux-medieval castle Neuschwanstein in Germany. We didn't have enough time to do the Pena Palace before having to catch our flight out.

<< Back to main page