Lisbon day 2

We were up early and out the door at 7.45 to get to the meeting point for our tour of Sintra, Pina, Regaleira and Cascais. Sintra is around 40 minutes from Lisbon and we figured the logistics warranted doing a tour. We met our guide Robinson who is actually a Chilean and the other half of the bus who were doing a German language tour under their guide Manuel. Here I was thinking our motorhome was oversized for the roads in Scotland, our driver was squeezing this full sized coach up roads fit for a small motorbike. So we got to the entrance of Pina Palace, one of the Seven Wonders of Portugal and wandered around the outside then back down through the gardens whilst being educated by Robinson on the Romanticist style popular at the time of construction in the mid 1800’s. We then went into Sintra with free time and lunch before heading to Regaliera, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The property consists of a palace and chapel, and a park that features lakes, grottoes, benches, fountains and an Initiation Well, that was a feature. The palace is also known as "The Palace of Monteiro the Millionaire", which is based on the nickname of its best known former owner, António Augusto Carvalho Monteiro. The whole place was designed and constructed in the early 1900’s to reflect his interests and ideologies. Definitely a highlight of our Portugal trip. On the way home we had a stop for an hour in the coastal town of Cascais, which is supposedly the second most expensive place in Portugal after Lisbon. Had the obligatory gelato and after a ten hour day we had a meal at home of prawns and bread rolls.Read more