Day 5 Monday - Pena Palace and Castel dos Mouros
Breakfast was included in our stay here at Espaco Edla, which was as prettily arranged as the cafe itself, ham cheese and bread served afternoon tea style with a beautiful fruit flan on the side.
After breakfast we went out in search of a tuk-tuk to take us up to Pena Palace but none were in sight, however we instead managed to jump on the first palace bus of the day, which wound through the hills to take us to the entrance in time for opening. As we'd booked in advance, we were one of the first in, which was great to see this colourful kitsch castle before it was swarmed by visitors.
This crazy looking castle, located on a rock high above Sintra, started as a Heironymite monastery in the 14th Century which fell to ruins after the 1755 earthquake, then was reconstructed as a palace by King Ferdinand, in an eclectic mix of medieval, renaissance, islamic and manueline architectural styles.
guess who knocked their camera onto the wrong setting for many of these photos :-/
The inside was as impressive as the outside with some stunning moorish/islamic design ceilings and trompe l'oeil walls.
incredibly realistic trompe l'oeil painting
The tour ended at an outdoor terrace cafe - Rob didn't see me for dust as I ran to grab a vacated table with a view!
finally continued exploring the palace terraces and chapel
We examined the map for the gardens to plan our next visit, Rob spotting the peak with a cross on top, facing the castle, so it was there we had to go next! It was an easy footpath to the summit, but still steep and tiring on a sunny day, however the views made up for it at the top!
After sitting on a rock to enjoy the sun and views for a while we headed back down and continued along the path to the Countess of Edla's Cottage.
My, these grounds were huge! Our feet were pretty exhausted by the time we reached the cottage.
The cottage was so cute though, the exterior made of cork and the inside saw every surface ornately covered in decoration, all made from panels of timber, cork and plaster - a little artificial, as if Lawrence Llewellyn Bowen had been at work here, but utterly charming (the decor was pretty much all a modern reconstruction of the original, after it was destroyed in a fire in the 1990's).
Continued our circuit of the grounds to the Valley of the Lakes, with its giant Gothic duck houses. This took us to an exit of course the palace near to our next destination Castel do Mouros.
Believe it or not ;-) there are more photos of the Palace- which can be viewed in this gallery
I was pretty exhausted and the climb up to Castel do Mouros looked scary, so we took a quick break in the little cafe in the castle grounds before starting our exploration. More a battlement on a mountain top than an actual castle, preserved as a romantic ruin by King Frederic, it was nevertheless a stunning place and captured my imagination way more than San Jorge castle in Lisbon. The climb up the steep steps with amazing sweeping views on one side and a disconcertingly low wall on the other, was frankly quite terrifying but it was amazing to get to the top, where we sat for a while enjoying the sun and the views.
From the castle, there was a footpath which took us back down to the historic centre of town.
We had planned to visit the National Palace of Sintra but we too tired to do it justice, so instead stopped for an alfresco drink in the square in front of the palace - a bit of a tourist trap but it was one of the only cafe with seating in the sun as the shadows of late afternoon had already started to creep across the square.
We spent some time wandering around the shops and took an early dinner at a little tapas restaurant which had good reviews online.
Rob lucked out with a yummy local dish Bacalhau a Bras - matchstick thin chips fried up with cod and egg - I think he was expecting fish and chips but was happily surprised. Mine didn't work out quite so well. Not the fault of the chef, as it was all good, just the wrong choices made due to not realising that Portuguese tapas is considerably more substantial than its Spanish equivalent, particularly given the price! Resulting in three heavy dishes that I couldn't finish. The first, blood sausage with pineapple relish was amazing! A local sausage, more like chorizo than our black pudding equivalent, served hot with a slightly spicy pineapple relish. Second was mixed fried seafood - a massive platter of cod, squid rings, baby squid and octopus, all in a salty batter (one downside of the cuisine in this country is that it does tend to be salty) - it was lovely when fresh and hot but I could only manage half the plate and Rob wouldn't help me out. My “salad” dish I picked to balance this out turned out to be a bowl of chickpeas mixed with salted cod and a sprinkling of coriander. So three heavy dishes and I felt guilty leaving so much behind.
Rob had a chocolate mousse for dessert but I could manage no more than a coffee, however the waiter insisted I have a spoon to try Robs, and came back to check that I did!
We went back to our hotel to pack, then went out for a drink at a bar near our hotel, a surprisingly youthful place with a surfing theme, but then there was a youth hostel next door, so I guess it was linked to that.
The bar staff were incredibly friendly, recommending a cocktail for me - Caipi Black, a cairipirinha made with black vodka. Very nice but so sweet! Was rather amused that he wrote “ nice couple” on our bar tab to identify which table we were for the waiter. :-) it was unfortunately rather cold in there though, i think Sintra gets chillier at night than Lisbon, so we only stayed for one driink before calling it a night.
Part two of this day's gallery (Castel do Mouros and Sintra at night_ is here)
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