Today’s plan was a day trip to Sintra (Seen-tra) so we got up with the chickens and headed to the Rossio train station to catch the urban train to Sintra. Trains leave every 20 minutes and you can just purchase the ticket at the station before you hop on. It’s about a 45 minute ride from Lisbon to Sintra and then when you arrive be prepared to be accosted by tour companies asking you if you want to take a tour. Bypass these folks (politely saying “no thank you”) and make a right out of the station. About 50 feet away, you’ll find the #434 bus which will take you to the foot of the hill to Pena Palace for about $5. Of course, if you are feeling ambitious, you can hike 45 minutes up a very winding, narrow road that it is used by cars and buses.
The #434 does stop first at the Moorish Castle but we had a game plan to only see one of the three major sites today so as not to be completely exhausted. While we are at the end of tourist season, Sintra is a popular excursion for the cruise ships that come in to Lisbon so it was still pretty crowded. We’re not ones to try to see and do everything when we go on holiday (always good to save something to give you an excuse to return) and highly recommend picking one (two at max) of the sites at Sintra especially if you do go during season.
At the foot of the hill leading up to Pena Palace, you can purchase your tickets as well as a ticket for a little trolley that takes you up the hill to the foot of the palace (you still have to hike up a little but it is nothing compared to the hill) for about $4. Trust me it is the best $4 you will ever spend as the hill is about .4 of a mile at a 14% grade…people were dying when they got to the top and it was a cool breezy day.
Legend has it that the palace was started in the Middle Ages as a dedication to Our Lady of Pena. Later in the 16th century, King Manuel I had a monastery built and for a couple hundred years, it was a quite place for monks. The 1755 earthquake destroyed the monastery with the exception of the chapel. In the mid-1800’s, King Ferdinand starting the process of turning what remained into the summer residence for the Portuguese royal family. Over the next century, kings and queens added to the palace and in 1995 was classified as a UNESCO World Hertiage Site.
After we toured the palace, we took a crazy Tuk Tuk ride back down the winding hill to city center and had a nice lunch. The city was really hopping today and we could not imagine what it was like during season. We made our way back to the train station and along the way there were all sorts of vendors selling their crafts (and some typical tourist tchotchke). Our timing was perfect as we arrived 3 minutes before the next train back to Lisbon (trains run until midnight).
We were so beat after we got back to our apartment that we tried out UberEats. Thank goodness for Google Translate as it helped us translate the German restaurant menu from Portuguese to English. It was actually quite good and we were glad to be able to relax while we had dinner.
Boa Noite!
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