Our 2014 travels: Sintra

Sintra is not far outside Lisbon and towards the Atlantic at the foot of the Sintra mountains. It has an old Moorish castles and 19th century palaces, where once the Portuguese kings and queens spent the summer. It is now a UNESCO heritage site, with a constant flow of tourists, being an easy trip from Lisbon.

We had originally planned to go to Sintra on the third day of our visit, but were told that Lisbon closed on Monday, but Sintra was open, so we rapidly altered our plans and hopped on the train.

This is the town hall, close to the station.

We intended to cover three sites, the National Palace, the Pena Palace and the Moorish castle. John thought that we could walk between the sites, but Pat was doubtful. The route to the National Palace was fine, but then we saw the castle and other palace high above us, and it was clear that the bus was needed.

The moorish castle from the town.

An 'aerial' view of the National Palace from the Moorish Castle.

After lunch, we asked up the road to the National palace along a winding road. We passed this resting place on the way up to the palace.

The National Palace from the road. The two 'towers' are actually the kitchen chimneys. The current building dates from the 15th century, although there was an earlier castle that was the residence of the Moorish rulers. It continued to be used by the royal family until the 19th century.

This is the swan room, so called after the swans painted on the ceiling.

This courtyard is in the process of restoration. Wall paintings from the 16th century have been discovered and restored.

Other rooms,

The ceiling of the mermaid room

The Blason (Coat of Arms) room.

Outside the castle

We then took the bus up to the Moorish castle or at least as close as we could get by bus - we still had a good walk up.

We passed the church of St Pedro, on the way.

We reached the top of the tower, but some of the climb was a bit hairy for Pat who doesn't like narrow paths with a steep drop.

A panoramic view from the castle

Our last stop was the Pena Palace. It was once a chapel and then a monestry was added, before both were severely damaged by an earthquake in the 18th century. The buildings were restored in the 19th century as a palace by the heir apparent. If Walt Disney had been around at the time, I wouldn't be surprised.