May 10 - day trip to Sintra

Another nasty storm last night, rain, wind.... and basically finished by morning. 

View from our room window...

You guessed it, another great breakfast...would love to wake up every morning to this. 

Quick 30 minute drive to Sintra, parking close to the centre was pretty easy to get. 

The weather is indifferent today and as rain was expected, we took Bolt up to Pena Palace. There are quite a few castles and palaces to see here, but we decided, if we would only see one, Pena was the place. Glad we took Bolt as the roads are steep and narrow and if you miss a quick turn it could take you 10-15 minutes to get back with the one way roads. Well worth the $6.00 cdn to get up there.

Scored big time when someone could not make their tour time and give us their tickets, worth $40.00 euro. After a teenie lie at the front gate, we got in with our gifted tickets!!!

What better palace to visit than one that looks like a fairy tale one!

This is a view down towards Moorish Castle

So we decided not to wait for our inside tour, considering it cost us $0.00, the lineup was crazy and the rains were coming.... so time to call Bolt to get back to the car.

This was our route, as unfortunately one turn was missed as her GPS failed, so back around an extra 15 minutes and a do over.... and still only $6.00 euro....yup, well worth the $5.00 euro tip!!

Made it back to the car.... then we heard music coming from above. We followed the sound....few wrong turns...yes, down crazy winding streets, and voila! Old downtown Sintra!

and the music was coming from above mobile stage...

Sintra mobile music

So more stairs, more alleyways, more shops and more bistro and tapas bars...until we found ours...

We now have a whole new respect for every step we take in Portugal!

Ahhhhh

Decided on a cold beer and a fresh sandwich, and now I know what they mean by the meat here....sooo good!  This was where the ham came from....can't wait for more!!!

This guy was making bikes out of wire for 2 euro, took him about 5 minutes, so as cool as it was to watch....didn't need a wire bike!

Little garden walk and then back through the maze towards home...after 20 or so circles...we were home!

And thanks to the great guy at Pena who gave us his tickets...followed by a little lie.... our day in Sintra was FREE TO US!!!

And of course Lucy update....I think she is the QUEEN!

Listening to the GPS give us directions... she's literally non-stop talking, between the roundabouts and the length of the names of the streets....oh boy!