Soaking wet in Sintra

 

We knew the forecast for the day was rain, but we decided to stick to our plan and go to Sintra anyway.  But first we stopped and fueled up on more pastel de nata for breakfast.

 

Sintra is about a 45 minute train ride from Lisbon and we'd only heard amazing things about the castles there.

 

When we arrived at the train station in Sintra we could have opted to take the roundtrip tourist bus, but financially it made more sense for us to take two taxis.  We headed to Pena Palace which is at the highest elevation we wanted to visit that day, with the idea that we would walk back down to the Moorish Castle afterwards and then either take taxis or just walk back down into town.  At this point it was lightly raining, but we had our umbrellas and jackets, and everyone was ready for a good hike.

 

This is Pena Palace through the mist and drizzle.  They say that on a clear day you can see it from Lisbon... but we could barely see it when standing just in front of it.

 

That said, we did think the colorful walls, Portuguese tiles, and turrets were really cool and different than any other castle we have been to.  (I do love castles.)

 

This tree's branches are supported from underneath to make a canopy over this stone bench.  We took a little break here before getting in the very short line to enter the palace.  One benefit of a rainy day is that the crowds were super small. 

 

Here is a photo I pulled from the internet so we can imagine what it would have looked like on a sunny day.

 

Just as we were about to enter the palace, it began to POUR. We were so glad that we got an early start and hoped that the rain would dissipate while we toured the interior.  There have been structures on this site for a long, long time, but the current palace dates from the 1800s when Ferdinand II decided to renovate the old monastery that was here into a royal residence.

 

The details inside the palace are pretty amazing and different from other places we have visited.  Many rooms are fully tiled, and this room's walls are completely covered by this raised geometric pattern. It almost looked like the negative space had been carved out, but I didn't see any information about how it was done.  It was really intricate though.

 

Jacob asked me if this is what I mean by "door knob." We only have door handles in Germany. and the kids think that round door knobs are hilarious.

 

I don't know what this room is called either, but I could have totally cozied up on one of these couches with a book and some hot cocoa on this rainy day.

 

All of the royal details were present in this palace, though maybe not on as grand of a scale as the major French castles.

 

And the 1800s era kitchen had everything a chef might need.  I could make some serious soup in one of those giant pots.

 

When we had exhausted the indoor sights, it was still raining quite hard so we popped in the restaurant for some soup, salad, fruit, and of course, pastel de nata.  Next we perused the gift shop and bought a postcard or two.  But finally we had to face the fact that the rain would not be stopping, and we'd have to go out in it.  We decided not to visit the Moorish Castle, as that would be outdoors, slippery, and dangerous with the little ones. 

So we looked for a taxi, or tuk tuk... but there were none.  At the bus stop there was a line at least three bus loads long.  So we began to walk downhill thinking maybe we would meet a cab along the way. We did not.  At one point we saw a trailhead that pointed toward town, so we tried that route, but ended up going the wrong direction, and parts of the trail were like raging rivers, so we returned to the road which seemed like the safer choice.  We walked for about 30 minutes and were completely drenched. I didn't take any photos as I was trying to keep kids in good moods and didn't want to ruin my phone in the water.  

We had only made it about half way back to town in this time, but then a tuk tuk driver stopped for us!  He could only seat four, but let us all get in out of the rain and got a second tuk tuk to meet him and take two of us.  So in this way we finally made it back to the Sintra train station!  However, the next train to Lisbon didn't leave for 45 minutes.  So we went across the street and all warmed up with mugs of hot cocoa.

 

When we finally made it back to Lisbon, we were all ready for a big comforting meal.  We found an Indian restaurant not far from our hotel, and sat down for a delicious dinner.  Once everyone's bellies were full we went back to the apartment and had everyone take hot showers and get into dry jammies.  In retrospect, we probably shouldn't have even tried going to Sintra in that weather, but I'm glad that we got to visit Pena Palace and it was amazing to see the kids tough it out with no meltdowns.  Rob and I were both really impressed by their determination and positive attitudes.

 

I wish we'd had one more day in Lisbon, but I am thankful that we had the opportunity to go at all.  It is a pretty unique city and we felt like we were just getting the hang of it when it was time to head home. You never know, maybe someday we'll be back again.

Lisbon and Belem

 

As our time in Germany winds down, we are trying to squeeze in a few more quick trips to places we've wanted to visit and haven't made it to yet, and also to revisit a few favorite haunts. In order to afford that, we have caved in and used Ryanair again. We have a love/hate relationship with Ryaniar. Yes, they offer fairs as low as 20 Euros roundtrip on occasion. However, you have to pay for every single itty bitty extra (reserved seats, luggage, a water bottle,) and their flights seem to be almost always delayed.  On short trips though we can get by with a backpack each and it works out okay. 

 

Anyway, we made it to Lisbon late Friday afternoon and our airbnb hadn't been cleaned yet, so we set out on a walk downtown.  I was totally in love with these trees! If you look at the cars parked just behind it, that will give you some scale for how big this tree was. It had some sort of vines hanging from it which reminded us of the Live Oaks with Spanish moss in Savannah, Ga.

 

Mandatory playground stop.

 

We had no destination in mind this first evening, so we just wandered.  These roosters were a complete surprise. Later on we would see rooster themed stuff in a lot of gift shops, but we never saw any other free ranging poultry, so I have no idea.

 

The graffiti is everywhere in Lisbon!  And some of it is quite impressive. We even saw a tour group with a guide explaining different graffiti techniques and subjects.  The stairs and hills in Lisbon gave us quite a workout for the weekend as well.  Lisbon claims to be built on seven hills and I believe it!  Like in Spain, we found that most restaurants close from about 3-7 pm, and our kiddos weren't up for waiting that long for dinner.  So we ended up eating at the Hard Rock Cafe which was open. Only Charlotte has ever been to one before, so while it was loud, the kids enjoyed watching music videos, looking at the cool memorabilia, and eating off of guitar shaped plates.

 

On our way back to our apartment after dinner, we strolled up this street with many antique shops. I love poking in places like this, and we ended up buying a pair of antique binoculars as a fun souvenir from Lisbon.

 

When we arrived back, the cleaners had finally been through and we settled in to relax. We are, for sure, budget minded travelers, but the airbnb prices in Lisbon were very affordable and we ended up in a somewhat nicer place than our average.

 

There were enough beds for all of the kids, I promise.  There were also four TVs in the apartment, (we have one at home,) so the kids thought that was amazing.  Yet somehow they ended up all cuddling together watching Duck Tales in Portuguese before bedtime. 

 

In the morning we headed out to the Belem sights first thing.  A friend of mine from high school had recently been to Lisbon and she said to head there early, so we did. We stopped in a bakery for breakfast and I had my first pastel de nata and some fresh squeezed orange juice. These sweet custard tarts are THE THING to eat in Lisbon. This one was a little dark, but still super tasty.

 

We boarded a bus that took us directly to the front of the Jeronimos Monastery. We arrived about five minutes before it opened and got in line for tickets.  The line looked kinda long but moved quickly and we only waited about ten minutes total.

 

The Monastery is no longer in use, but is an example of the Portuguese late Gothic Manueline style architecture. It first opened in 1495, though the building wasn't fully completed until around 1600.

 

Our visit was mainly to the inner courtyard and adjoining chapel.  There is also an exhibit with three parallel timelines (world, monastery, and Portugal) that was interesting to look at.

 

Originally the monks that lived here provided assistance to seafarers seeking refuge in the nearby river. This they did until the 1830s when the order was dissolved and the monastery abandoned.

 

The main chapel had the most ornately decorated pillars I think we have seen anywhere in Europe. At the time we didn't look too closely at the tombs in the chapel, but I later learned among the Portuguese royals, is one for Vasco de Gama, who was the first European discoverer to link Europe to Asia by an oceanic route.

 

While we were there, the skies opened and it began to rain pretty heavily, so we were glad to be under cover and enjoy the architecture a little longer.

 

The monastery was a beautiful introduction to this ornate Portuguese style and I am glad we went early.  As we were leaving, the line had become about a block long and we were thrilled to have not been in a crowd of tourists while walking around the building.

 

Back outside, it was now drizzling, and very windy.  We walked across this park toward the Monument to the Discoveries, and stopped to take a photo of the kids with the Monastery in the background.

 

Erected in 1960, this monument celebrates the explorers that left from this point along the Tagus river to discover the world beyond Europe.  There is a giant map on the ground in front of it that shows destinations of these journeys.  

It is amazing to me that people set out in literally uncharted waters to expand trade, and with that came the expansion of knowledge. It was extremely windy by this point though and we decided to take cover for a while.

 

Just nearby was a little cafe on the waterfront so we stopped in for some sandwiches and to let the weather calm down a bit.

 

 

After lunch it was just a short walk along the river side to the Belem Tower. Built around 1500, this Tower is also in the Manueline style and was a significant fortress during the Age of Discoveries. (I love that phrase- Age of Discoveries.) Several people told us that the sparse interior is not worth the long wait in line, so we opted to enjoy the view from outside instead.

 

The sun even decided to come back out, which made our time here even more pleasant.

 

The tower was built on a small island by the river's edge, and is sometimes surrounded by water, but the tide was low and the kids were happy to explore the water's edge. The large military ship in the distance (aircraft carrier?) helped feed my imagination about Portugal's seafaring past.

 

Of course, the kiddos weren't interested in any of that, but loved the little rocks and shells they found digging in the sandy soil.

 

When we felt we had spent enough time in Belem we looked for a Tuk Tuk driver to take us across town.  These three-wheeled auto rickshaws are all over Lisbon, and the drivers also tell you about the sights as they drive. We found one that could take all six of us, and sped off over the super bumpy cobblestones.  The kids loved this!

 

Jacob is doing his best to look unimpressed for the photo, but he giggled the entire ride.

 

There were even enough seatbelts to go around!

 

After leaving the Tuk Tuk, we hiked uphill to the entrance to Castelo Sao Jorge.

 

Although they believe there were humans occupying this hilltop as far back as the 6th century BC, the Moorish castle that stands there now dates from the 1200s.

 

The views were pretty great, even on this super cloudy, overcast day.

 

I love when castles still have trees within the grounds.

 

In the late 1300s, King Ferdinand I ordered the castle structure to be enclosed and within two years the outer wall was finished and the entire citadel had 77 towers. 

 

There isn't really an interior or anything to see, but the kids loved walking the ramparts all around the castle and making Rob and I very nervous.  Neither of us is crazy about heights, and when you add in keeping an eye on four kiddos with very little in the way of guardrails, this was not my favorite activity. We all made it down safely though.

 

The peacocks all around the grounds were neat too.

After leaving here, we wound our way through the streets below the castle in the Alfama and Baixa areas.  We poked in shops and bought souvenir umbrellas for each of the kids as the next day's forecast was more rain.  And then we headed back to the apartment thinking we would rest until restaurants opened after 7pm.  However, it quickly became apparent we wouldn't get the kids back out the door again, so instead we had everyone shower and go to bed early.  No one was very hungry, it was rainy out, and it would allow us an earlier start the next day to head to Sintra.