Santa Maria

Once upon a time in a faraway land a green little pod on wheels drove on roads steep and winding. It was said that the pod had traveled many miles before, and that it was yet to go great distances ahead. The road it was driving went up and down, left to right, right to left… Countless pin turns were taken before the green pod came to a halt at a city between hilltops. There lies Sintra: a UNESCO World Heritage Site thanks to its romantic landscaping that has been influential to the whole rest of Europe.

The two peas popping out of the pod do so, however, in a slightly less enchanting environment. With our van we can’t get into the city centre and the three large (free of cost) parkings we drive past are all completely full - including cars that have been parked creatively outside of the formal lots. And so we end up at the paid parking of one of the train stations outside of the city, probably the least beautiful spot of Sintra, and catching an Uber into town. It is post paid parking, so fingers crossed it won’t cost us an arm and a leg…

We step out of our Uber ride at the top of one of many hills. In front of us stands a magical palace. Gracefully looking against a backdrop of blue skies, green hills, and in rays of sunlight, this palace is like no other. It doesn’t take guessing why it’s said to be inspired by the Neuschwanstein castle in Germany - which has been the inspiration of the castle of Walt Disney. The Pena Palace is painted in colours of red, yellow, blue and green and indeed looks like a castle that could come straight out of any Disney movie, with creatively shaped towers and arches that we admire while walking around. Like any proper fairytale having a dark side to the story, ours is that the place is so popular that even with our time slot based ticket to enter the interior of the palace the queue to get in has more than an hour waiting time. As I (Judith) have visited the palace before, I am able to describe to Tim what he’s missing while we decide the exterior is the best part of the palace anyway and continue to stroll through the palace’s gardens.

These gardens, carefully planted with over 2000 species from the most exotic places, are like an enchanted forest we walk through. We actually imagine ourselves meeting gnomes and fairies around every corner and behind every rock. We don’t find any though - what we do find is a statue in the middle of nowhere high on a rock. Could it be a prince, turned into stone by some evil power?

Finding our way out of the gardens, the next hill of Sintra comes with another pleasant surprise. Still able to see the palace reflecting sunlight on one side, and spot Sintra’s historical centre on the other, we find ourselves visitors of a mystical castle. Dated from the 8-12th century it is incredible to see how well it is preserved. It is the largest we have ever visited, at least in this state looking as if knights, horses and dragons could still show up at any second. Back when it was built and used it was probably used to defend the entire region, helping the Moors to look out across land and to all the way to the coastline. Conquering the wind (still 7-8 on the scale of Beaufort, pretty scary when you climb steep small and uneven steps high up) we explore the castle and enjoy the views.

The last stop in Sintra is Quinta da Regaleira, which are basically more romantic gardens. It reminds us a little of “De Efteling” (a theme park in NL based on the concept of fairy tales)! Wandering around we allow ourselves to get lost. Through gardens, up hills, inside dark caves and tunnels (yay to our smartphone flashlight!), and down a beautifully looking well… we could stay here much longer if our legs weren’t so tired from climbing all day. With some difficulty we break the spell and get ready to order an Uber car back to our van.

The first car we catch arrives, but tells us through the window that “this is going to cost a lot more than the app says it will!”. Something about the road being one direction only (we know for a fact this is untrue) and having to drive much longer to the parking lot, we tell the driver that we’ll grab another then. The problem with Uber is that we can not cancel the trip without paying in full. We wait a while for the driver to cancel on us instead but of course - and probably this was his intention the whole time - he cancels “because we didn’t show up” and he still gets our money. Annoyed we walk down the street and try again. A new driver arrives and tells us a slightly different version of the same story: he’ll only bring us if we pay more in cash, and cancels us while getting the money without driving. What evil sorcery is this? It seems like Uber drivers in town have found themselves a quick and easy way to make money out of tourists wanting to go places… not wanting to get ripped off a third time we take our tired legs for another walk up the hills of Sintra, all the way to our van.

Disappointment turns into excitement soon after we reach and buckle up to leave. The cost for our parking a full day in this touristy town? €1,50. Fairytales do exist after all!

PS: After contacting Uber’s helpdesk about the rip off we got our money back the same day. And so the peas traveled on happily ever after…Read more