Scintillating Sintra + Captivating Cascais

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Mama and I woke at the crack of dawn today to board our bus to Sintra, a town about 14 miles from Lisbon, to the northwest. The town is home to at least five major palaces, and other small castles and royal chalets. We went in pursuit of Pena Palace, which our wonderful guide Bruno told us was constructed by King Ferdinand in 1838 for his wife, who tragically died in childbirth before she could ever lay eyes on it.


What a sight it was to behold. We'd truly never seen anything like it in our lives, straight out of a Disney movie with the dreamy Portuguese countryside in the background. The vegetation around the approach of the castle was unique and evocative, transporting us to another time, in tandem with the petulant mist settling over the mountains as we ascended.

Mama and I made our way through a tour of the inside of the palace, and when I constantly got separated from the tour group I found myself scampering through other groups whispering "excuse me, pardon, obrigada, sorry," and squeezing through already narrow passages made narrower by tourists, trying to get by. (Apparently, this behavior made me quite well known among the visitors of the day: as we left the property I heard a tour guide point at me and say, "Look, it's the girl in black who was always running late!" An apt description of me at most times, to be sure.

Sintra

For lunch, we retreated to the charming town of Sintra itself, to have a bite at Cafe Paris, browse Portuguese-made lace stores, and sample ginja served in dark chocolate cups (it tastes delightful and I hope I'm able to have it again).

Cabo da Roca

After lunch, we zoomed to Cabo da Roca, which forms the westernmost part of continental Europe! What could be more American than going as close as possible to New York while still being on the Eurasian landmass? You tell me. 


Cascais

Next, we drove to Cascais, a cute municipality with a population of 200,000 where Portuguese nobility used to build their summer homes. Cristiano Ronaldo is continuing the tradition by building his 20 million-Euro house there too! We surprisingly didn't run into him as we perused a local museum and popped some pão de queijo into our mouths over the marina.


The day's route is well illustrated by this cute lil treasure map I found online: what a privilege to spend so much of the day on the coast!


o fim.

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