Today we went to Sintra.  We started off kinda rough, not gonna lie. We’d initially thought we’d take an Uber, and 35 Euros didn’t sound too bad. Unfortunately, this morning, the cost was up over 100 euros. Yikes! Also unfortunately , we no longer had time to take the train – we had a timed entry, and 10:00 am was cutting it close anyway – even if we DID technically have til 10:30 to go in the palace. 

We ordered the Uber anyway, and the first one got cancelled… Thankfully, the second one didn’t. AND the price dropped to 53 Euros – much better! 

The girl driving us was awesome. At one point, there was a bus trying to make a turn it clearly couldn’t make. She yelled and backed up and went a different way. I wish so much I could understand all of Portuguese, because I’m fairly certain what was coming out of her mouth was quite colorful! 

She got us to the entrance of the Pena Palace grounds quickly, which was good. Apparently the walk from the entrance to the actual palace was 30 minutes. Our entry was 10:00-10:30, and we got dropped off at 9:52….. Either we walk really fast or they lie. It took us a whopping 8 minutes to get to the entrance, where we got to stand in line for quite a while. 

The inside of the palace was interesting. It was cool to see all the furnishings from the era, as well as the Moorish (I think?) convent part from the 1200’s (again, I think?), and then the more modern parts from the 1800’s. The ceilings, sculpted in plaster, were also out of this world. 

We rode the line ride through the palace, and then we got to explore the outside of it. The yellow and red exterior pretty much made my heart sing. It was my little inner photographer’s dream.  I must’ve taken eight thousand pictures. SO cool!

When we were satisfied, we started walking down the hill to a few other sights within the palace grounds, including some pretty cool lakes along the way. We kept making our way towards town, and decided to go visit the Moorish Castle. It cost a bit to get up to it, but it was one of those where I would have been more disappointed if we hadn’t than if we did. It was pretty cool to walk along the walls and see the views, not gonna lie. 

We continued our walk towards Sintra, eventually getting there… Where we had lunch at a cute little restaurant in an alley. I had breaded chicken, and it was delicious! I’ve been pleasantly surprised by how good the chicken is here!

After lunch, we wandered a little more and made our way to the train station, where we boarded the train back to Lisbon. Back in the city, we went to a traditional Portuguese restaurant and then out for a nightcap and pasteis de nata before going back to our hostel and to bed. 

Today is Matt’s birthday! It’s not too often you get to spend your birthday in a foreign country, lucky guy!  We started the day early-ish (we wanted to make sure we made the train with our 24 hour pass from yesterday), leaving the hostel shortly after breakfast to get to the train station. 

We made the 10:00 am train to Casçais easily, and we were on our way! We decided to wander to the furthest point first, then work our way back to the beach we wanted to hang out at. 

Our first stop was Boca do Inferno, Hell’s Mouth. It was this cool rocky formation that apparently sees big waves and splashes when the ocean is angry… It was cool to see, but the waves weren’t crashing that hard today. 

We continued our walk, and eventually came upon this funky little beach where the water came in under a bridge, and what looked like at high tide was right up to a building. Super cool, actually. 

We walked by the marina, and then found the beach we intended to go to (Praia de Rainha). Butter first, we had some lunch up above at a cute little restaurant. My tuna salad was disappointing – it looked like they took a can of tuna and dumped it over a salad. My glass of wine was good, though, and then it was beach time for a while. 

Before leaving, we stopped for a drink at the little bar on the beach, and we had the BEST sangria…! So good! 

Then it was back on the train to Lisbon, and after a shower, we were off to dinner. We went to The Couch Sports Bar, where weirdly there were a bunch of Americans and NFL on TV… Odd evening, but fun nonetheless. Then, back to the hostel and bed. 

Here’s the video: