Sintra, Portugal

Sintra

A hop, skip, and a short train ride from Lisbon is a seriously ridiculous fairy tale village by the name of Sintra. As far as I understand it, Sintra was initially a strategic location on the southwestern coast of the Iberian peninsula watching over the entrance to Lisbon (or previous iteration of Lisbon) for the successive inhabitants of the area (starting with Moors and then Christian kings). Gradually, it moved from having more of a protective purpose to being a playground for the rich in the 19th and 20th centuries, as evident by the myriad of castles you can now visit for a pretty penny. 

Ellen and I in front of the picturesque Sintra village. 

Dessert first...los postres! Pastel de nata is a common Portuguese dessert with custard and crack in it. The other thing is the famous dessert of Sintra, the queijadas, which is some delicious concoction of almonds and eggs.  

Over the course of hundreds of years ambitious Moors (Islamic inhabitants of the Iberian Peninsula from 711-1100s), reconquering Christian kings, and ensuing inhabitants brought a botanical smorgasbord of species. In addition to the 901 native plant species, there are over 149 introduced species from the far reaches of the Portuguese empire (which was obviously extensive), including palms, succulents, redwoods, ferns, etc. I took pictures of them all, but I won't bore you with those. What you should know is that  according to almost every source we saw these tropical, sub-tropical, Mediterranean, and arid plants should not exist in the same place. But due to some perfect mix of elevation, moisture off the Atlantic, conducive soil, and magic...they do. 

Ellen and Mike hiking up the mountain to the first stop, the Castle of the Moors (Castelo dos Mouros). 

View from atop a tower at the Castle of the Moors. A quaint little rampart originally built by the Moors and then redecorated as a summer palace by the Portuguese King Ferdinand II. 

This place is stunning...couldn't take enough castle pictures. 

The view of Castle of the Moors from our hike to the next awesome Pena National Palace, Palacio Nacional da Pena (below). 

A crazy mix of architecture, Pena was a playground for various Portuguese kings who continuously added to the palace. 

Out of all the fancy rooms, the kitchen was the most interesting place by far. Pots you could use to cook small children in! This is some Downton Abbey shit up in here. 

 

Cool picture of the countryside and Atlantic from the Pena Palace. 

Countdown to when we stop taking pictures of cute little picturesque streets with cathedrals? Two weeks is the answer. You only have to deal with them for another two posts! 

Now that I got my mountain fix, the nature of marriage being compromise, I was forced to go to the beach.