Sintra: An Undiscovered Beauty

• Where are you going? she asks us in a sing-song English.
• We would like to go to Sintra, but we don't understand, he's asking us how many zones we want to cover, not the arrival station. All in a pseudo Portuguese heavily inspired by Spanish.
• Ah, then you need to go here, here, here...

Barely awake, we throw on our backpacks and head to Rossio Station to catch the train to our next destination: Sintra. Upon arriving at the station, the line at the ticket counter is endless, we're going to miss our train! Right next door, the automated machine is incomprehensible; other tourists have already given up before us. We risk it anyway; besides, the elderly Portuguese couple at the counter seems to be solving the world's problems with the ticket clerk. No, we won't get our train this way. Little did we know, the kindness of the Portuguese was ready to step in. Also, a female commuter seeing us struggle through the menu mazes comes to our rescue.

She navigates through the menus to find the answer to our question. Bingo! Sintra is 4 zones. It's also the terminus for all trains departing from our station; we've seen simpler systems!

Great, the tickets are loaded onto our magnetic cards, we run, we hear a bell, we hop on the train and... nothing! The train departs three minutes late.

Arriving in Sintra, we are greeted by Teresa from the tourism office. She found us guides who speak English for our two days of touring in the city.

We start with the National Palace of Sintra, located in the main square of the city. The palace has an astonishing feature: two large chimneys rising more than 30 meters stand out against the landscape. As often in history, it was about showing who had the biggest, and by building these two large chimneys, Queen Maria got a significant head start!

The palace was built in several eras, featuring very different architectural and decorative styles. A grand banquet hall surprises us with its ceiling: swans wearing an upside-down crown along their necks. If there is a legend dating back to the Romantic era that explains this choice of decoration, it is sadly most likely false.

Other rooms follow, some in an Arabic style, others adorned with the famous azuléjos (white tiles forming a mosaic image, originally painted in blue). One last room catches our attention again for its ceiling: that of the Galleys. The shape of the ceiling instantly resembles that of a boat hull, but upside down. You can see paintings depicting naval battles between different nations.

Carla, our guide in Sintra, begins the tour of the Montserrate park with a question:

Surprised by the question, Amandine and I glance at each other, unsure of how to respond.

In reality, he did not build a chapel, but rather destroyed what he thought was an abandoned one. He didn't hold back: with a good sledgehammer, he smashed the gothic doors and windows. The result is both funny and sad; it doesn't resemble a ruin but looks like an elephant that has passed through doors and windows too narrow.

On the other hand, more remarkably, a fig tree has taken possession of the walls of the building: a vibe of a lost temple in the Cambodian jungle in Portugal!

After winding through paths surrounded by walls and flowers more beautiful than the last (Amandine has taken the opportunity to photograph almost every species encountered), we arrive at my favorite spot in Sintra: the Palace of Montserrate.

Like many constructions from the 19th century, there is an abundance of influences from distant cultures in the interior and exterior decoration of the palace. I find myself captivated by this palace with Arabic and Indian touches. It's a favorite even before entering: the palace, resembling a small luxury pavilion, shines with colors, surrounded by a blooming garden.

This palace was left abandoned for dozens of years: it has suffered greatly from time, a turret and several ceilings have even collapsed. The site is under full restoration and was only opened to the public in 2010. Historical photos show the titanic work of the restorers. The palace is gradually regaining its former glory, with very few unrenovated rooms left.

An interactive computer in Portuguese, Spanish, and English is located in one of the rooms. I choose Spanish!

I couldn't believe it; it perfectly understood the question, and like a modern voice assistant, I was given the correct answer immediately. I asked it a few more questions, still in Spanish, trying to stump it: no way, it's strong!

What surprised us the most in this palace was the electricity: it was installed right from the beginning of the construction in 1856. There was even a dumbwaiter between the kitchen in the basement and the ground floor.

The back hall, used for parties and banquets, is sumptuous. But the most impressive work remains that of the library. Before/after photos upstairs show the state in which the room was... a true disaster! Today, you wouldn't suspect it could have been in such a state.

The last visit of the day is the Castle of the Moors (Castelo dos Mouros). Here, the history is surprising: the Moors used this fortress to guard against invading forces from the sea. What they did not anticipate was that the invaders would be Portuguese, and therefore they would arrive from inland. Once defeated on land, the Moors of the fortress surrendered without a fight.

The difference in mentality between the Portuguese and the Spaniards is quite large: rather than massacre the Moors or drive them away, they decided to coexist, using their know-how, as seen with the azuléjos (which can be found in the National Palace of Sintra).

The weather isn't looking good; a fog is slowly settling in, and a light rain makes the visit less enjoyable. We note the rainwater reservoir, immense, and the treachery door, tiny. The latter, created to escape secretly from an invader, is usually well hidden and consists of a network of galleries. Here, however, it's a mere 1.5 meters long and about 50 centimeters high. It's also not discreet at all, nor practical: you'd have to crawl through the main courtyard to reach a secondary entrance just a few meters away!

The rain intensifies; we had planned a zip line descent to end the visit beautifully, but since the rain has made the cable slippery and we are not sturdier than trees, we had to cancel the activity. Too bad, as the view of the castle seems unbeatable.

The day has been long; it's time to go to bed. Tomorrow a big day awaits us.

If I say London, I think the first image that comes to mind is a city under rain and shrouded in fog. Well, arriving in the morning at Pena Castle, we immediately made the connection with London, with similar conditions awaiting us.

Built on the ruins of a 16th-century monastery, it reflects the idea of Romanticism with ruins, hidden benches carved into the garden rock... Once at the platform serving as the base for the palace, a giant triton stares at us. Arabic engravings on one side, Indian decorations on the other; globalization certainly isn't a recent phenomenon!

The fog thickens, and I can hardly distinguish the columns of the palace, which are not even 10 meters away. We enter the chapel where the fog gradually settles. A stained glass window (less than a meter wide) stands behind me at eye level: the work is meticulous; I've never seen such attention to detail before. Behind King Fernando II, a barely visible ship hides tone on tone.

It's worth mentioning that the king was a huge fan of stained glass and would bring back painted glass souvenirs from his travels around the world. One of the last rooms on the tour, very special, built like a tree supporting the ceiling, showcases a collection of some of these stained glass windows he brought back.

The tour comes to an end, and we bid farewell to our guide Carla. After a well-deserved meal, we arrive at Quinta da Regaleira.

This place impressed us so much with its titanic work and its different levels of symbolic interpretation that I will leave it to Amandine to talk about it in a dedicated article.

Before setting off for Lisbon, we sample local pastries: Queijadas and Traveisseros. The former are cheese pastries, and the latter, served warm, are almond pastries. Pure delight!

Arriving at the station, the automated ticket machine does not recognize our €10 bill. A Portuguese woman offers to cheat and help us get past the turnstiles. We politely decline the offer and find another ticket machine a bit further away that will accept our bill. Just as we board, the conductor comes by to check our tickets, long live Karma!

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