Sintra and Cascais

[Thu 5/18 - Sat 5/20] 

We left Sagres around 11am and hustled north through Lisbon then west to Sintra. It's about a 4-hour drive and we had tickets for 4pm entry to the main attraction in town - Pena Palace. Sintra is a UNESCO World Heritage site nestled in the hills about 30 minutes west of Lisbon. It dates back to the 8th century and is home to some of Portugal's oldest castles and attractions. We checked in to our hotel, Chalet Saudade, a beautiful converted century home. Parked the car and, at the hotel's recommendation, called an Uber to take us to the palace. It's a 30+ minute steep climb to the top of the tallest hill, through busy, incredibly narrow, winding streets up to the Palace gates. From there, it's 10 minute uphill walk to a 2nd gate where we joined the already-long line for the 4pm tour. 

We waited a while for the line to start moving, then shuffled to the palace entrance, eventually realizing that the entire tour was a slow-moving, snaking line of tourists following a specific path through the palace - not what we were expecting, but we made the most of it. It's a unique, colorful palace - reminiscent of something you'd see at Disneyland (the long line of tourists reinforces that association). It was commissioned as a royal retreat in the 19th century by King Ferdinand II on the site of a former monastery.

Pena Palace from below, while waiting in the '4pm entry' line

Colorful spires and turrets

Dining room

After touring the main palace the tour empties to a courtyard where we were (finally) free to wander and explore a bit. 

Great views in every direction

Vibrant stained glass

After the tour, we decided to walk about 20-minutes to the Moorish Castle, only to find that 'closes at 6:30pm' means 'closes at 6pm'. We continued walking down the hill, through a lovely park with winding trails, eventually ending up in the historic center of Sintra. We wandered a bit then found a restaurant, Becco de Sintra, with outdoor seating and local fare.

Walk down from Moorish Castle

Inspecting the armaments of the outer castle wall

Dining al fresco at Becco de Sintra

After dinner, we hustled back to the hotel to catch the sunset from the rooftop deck of our room.

Walk back to the hotel - that's the Moorish Castle at the top of the hill

Entrance to our hotel - Chalet Saudade

Sunset over the Atlantic from our rooftop deck

We got a reasonably-early start on Friday, hoping to explore 2 or 3 more castles. We started at the Palacio Nacional de Sintra, a mish-mash castle initially built by the Moors in the 10th or 11th century, then expanded and remodeled by various kings and queens over the next several centuries. It was beautiful and interesting and, best of all, not too crowded. We enjoyed wandering around.

Approaching the National Palace - those towers are the chimneys of the palace kitchen(!)

The main entrance

Several rooms had painted ceilings that gave them their name, e.g., Swan Room

Mermaid Room

(A portion of) the kitchen - under the 2 massive towers

After exploring the castle, we wandered in the gardens a bit, then walked to our next stop, Quinta da Regleira, a 19th century castle known for its surrounding park and gardens.

Quinta da Regleira

Fountain with mosaic stonework

A cool attraction in the gardens is the Initiation Well, also known as the 'Inverted Castle'. It consists of 2 spiral staircases that descend 90 feet below ground level. It's believed to have been built for initiation ceremonies and/or self-discovery, but its origins aren't fully known. There's a series of tunnels at the bottom that add to the mystique.

Starting our descent

Took a while to realize there were 2 separate staircases

The bottom

Looking up

Tunnels below

The Quinta

After touring the gardens, we briefly walked through the castle before heading out to find some lunch. Thomas and Caroline found a cafe while Karri and I stopped at a shop to buy fresh berries, bread and cheese for lunch on our deck.

Mmmm

After lunch, we climbed up the hill again to the Moorish Castle, which dates to the 10th century when the area was controlled by Moors. There's no 'castle' per se, just stone walls and towers with spectacular views of the area. Really cool.

Castle walls

Impressive views

Pena Palace (slightly) above

We walked back down to the town center, had a nice dinner on the square, then headed back to the hotel and to bed. Saturday we had breakfast, then packed up and drove about 20 minutes to the beautiful coastal town of Cascais for a quick look-around before continuing on to Lisbon.

Coast at Cascais with daring fishermen dotting the rocks

Boca de Inferno (mouth of Hell)