Tuesday 9th June 2009
We were really looking forward to going to Sintra, having seen all its lush greenery and cobbled streets on a channel 5 program earlier this year. We were therefore a bit disappointed when we arrived amid the hordes of touists and coaches to a small square where the (quite frankly) boring looking National Palace stood. However, we gamely paid our entrance fee and started to shuffle our way through various rooms followng the snaking queue of French, German, Spanish, Portugese and American tourists taking endless photos of things that they would forget the name of. After about an hour of trying to make our way out of various tour groups we decided that we hadn’t come to Sintra for this and left for some lunch.
Climbing up through the cobbled streets, past the many tourist shops, we finally found somewhere to have a cheese and ham toastie (another staple of the travelling diet and apparently available all over the world - we’ll see about SE Asia). On examining our tourist map over lunch, we decided that we would rather see more of the Palace gardens rather than the palaces themselves and that the Regaleira Palace and Gardens was the ideal place to start.
This palace with its gardens full of folly-like, fantasy, romantic architecture such as towers, grottos and hidden tunnels was much more what we had expected from Sintra. We climbed spiral stairways to the top of towers and down to underground caverns that led from one part of the garden to another, always a surprise at every turn.
After a few hours exploring we returned to the centre of Sintra for a delicious national Portuguese cake (like a custard tart but nicer!) before heading off to Pena Palace on the top of the hill (wisely taking the car because it seems like a long and difficult climb on foot and the Portuguese drive a lot like the Cypriots!)
We entered the Pena Palace gardens at the bottom of the hill near the lakes (complete with two duck houses to rival any Tory MP’s!!) and undertook the long and arduous climb to the very top of the park to the view point at the Cruz Alta (or High Cross). Wonderful views right across to the coast and Lisbon. Then we began winding our way throught the forest before back up the other side to the Palace itself with its moorish inspired architecture and many gargoyles. We walked along the Palace walls with more views of Lisbon and even managed to spot the Christ monument in Lisbon very faintly in the distance. 
A long day with a lot of walking, but very enjoyable with some relaxing strolls amongst some striking scenary, topped off with a few glasses of wine in the Library Bar at the Westin Hotel while we availed ourselves of their interweb :)