June 1, Private Tour to Sintra
June 1st, after a very busy first day in Lisbon, we had booked a private tour to Sintra to see the Palace of Peña and many things on the way to and from.
We waited outside our Lisbon apartment at 9:00am. Good thing as our tour guide, Sebastian had almost as much trouble finding it as we did. He was a wonderful guide and he gave us even more information about Lisbon as he drove us though it to get on the road to Sintra. We headed west and a bit north to the Atlantic Ocean. We went to an overlook called Cabo Da Roca. It is a light house with rocks below it. It was very windy there with beautiful views. We then headed East to Sintra. Lots of winding, hilly roads before we got near and then more one way curvy, hilly roads next to historic houses as well as beautiful gardens and plants. Lots of traffic going to see the Peña Palace, one of the most popular places to see in Portugal. We had tickets to take a bus up the last steep windy hill. Worth it for us. Many just walked up and back. We were happy to save some wear and tear on our feet as there was plenty of hills, standing in line to get in and stair climbing.
We had already had tickets for our entrance fee and we only had to wait in line for our 11:30am entrance time. Our guide had parked the car and was walking with us through this. He even saved our place in line so we would look at the outside of the palace instead of just waiting. Only 1 floor is open so we had to climb stairs to get to the palace and then climb one set of stairs to get to that level but then we were done with the stairs. We saw bedroom furniture, the dining room set up with all the dishes, the main room with a beautiful chandelier. We saw the Queen’s terrace off her bedroom with a view of the outside of the castle, Lisbon on a clear day and some of the wonderful garden. We then saw the chapel and came down to a terrace that was being used for tourists to buy and eat food. Inside of that, was the kitchen with lots of pots, dishes etc from back in the day. A wonderful display.
We then took the bus back down and Sebastian went to get the car to pick us up on his way down the one way road. Only guides, tour vans etc. can drive that close and park. He then drove us to a very cool local restaurant for lunch in a historic house (added on to for seating for the customers) with a garden, He then dropped us in Sintra to get 3 special kind of Portuguese pastries to take home as we were full from lunch. We saw the outside of another Castle before we started the drive back to Lisbon.
We went to a marina in a town with a small beach, lots of people sunbathing and a few in the water. We then drove back next to the ocean and saw many forts and beaches along the way. A beautiful drive. A long but very interesting day. We left at 9 and got back to the apartment at 6.
