Spain Pilgrimage and Bike Tour: Sintra Sightseeing

June 11, 2016

Our agenda today was to do some sightseeing in Sintra, a small town outside Lisbon where Portuguese kings and royalty built magnificent palaces and homes as summer getaways. The town of Sintra itself sprawls at the base of a hill, while two of the town's major attractions, the Pena Palace and the ruins of a Moorish castle, sit at the top of the hill. This hilltop was our destination for the day.

But first, we had to find a pharmacy, as Becky woke up with a sore throat this morning. According to our proprietress there was only one pharmacy in town, near the train station. She gave us directions (which sounded very simple) and we were on our way (albeit what turned out to be the wrong way). Becky and I obviously didn't fully understand her directions, because we ended up on the outskirts of town and had to walk all the way around the hill along a set of railroad tracks to get back into town (at least 2 miles). The entire time we were listening for the distant sounds of a train rumbling down the track. When we did finally reach the pharmacy, it was quite busy and Becky had to patiently wait her turn to buy her throat lozenges. Everyone kept cutting in front of her (love these European queues) and she finally gave up in disgust. By this time it was after 11:00, so we caught a taxi to take us to the Pena Palace. From there, we would walk to the Moorish castle and then back to town.

Walking the rails

Our taxi dropped us at the ticket booth, but it was still a long, steep climb up to the palace itself. The Pena Palace was like something straight out of Disneyland, with Gothic towers, Renaissance domes and Moorish minarets, all painted different colors. Built in the 1800's by Portugal's King Ferdinand, it's a mix of German and Portuguese styles, with Moorish elements thrown in. In contrast, the Moorish castle down the hill reflected a much simpler style, being a typical medieval fortress, built of stone. After a quick tour of the castle ruins, we followed a steep path back to town for a much needed lunch and refreshment.