Day trip to Sintra

For our first full day in Portugal we decided to take a day trip out to Sintra to visit the Peña Palace and explore the gardens!

After a rough and rainy car ride, we made it to the park. However we still needed to hike straight up hill to the castle in the rain. In case you were curious - rain and cobblestone paved hills and new air force ones do not provide the safest walking experience.

In a great show of skill, all of us made it to the top without falling on our face and in only 15 mins! Just in time for our entrance time.

We wandered the castle for a while, which was full of cool mosaics, tiled courtyards, and colorful rooms. Much more color and interesting patterns than the German castles we visited last year.

Still foggy and rainy, we grabbed a coffee and took off to the garden paths. The trees were covered in moss and the whole area felt like we were in a haunted gothic forest - very cool!

We continued the trek down to town on foot and really got in a calf workout. Whats wild is we passed some people wearing heels trekking up to the castle via forested and mountain climbing trails 😱

Finally arriving in Sintra city center we had lunch overlooking the city. The view was great, the food and service was mediocre. But we were most excited just to have a warm place to sit down.

We wrapped up our trip with a walk around the city before heading back into Lisbon for a quiet evening.Read more