Timeless Journey - Portugal Part2

The other dishes pictured above were from our second night in Lisbon. The lower left is actually a banana ceviche which was surprisingly good, while certainly different. The lower right picture is a more traditional dish of linguine with clams. The twist on this was they added some mustard to the sauce which gave it a nice little extra kick of flavor. I might also add, from my experiences eating in Italy and Spain, I notice the clams are quite small. I also notice they are always so tender and almost sweet. Absolutely delicious.

Moving forward in Lisbon into our first evening, hungry, as we often find ourselves, but without a reservation or plan, as we also often find ourselves, we meandered into town. The great thing about many of these european cities is that the amount of restaurants and cafes to choose from always leaves you with a place to find a good meal. Sometimes you're lucky and stumble into a great meal. Of course, there are the rare exceptions when you hit upon a dud. I must say in all my travels, I don't remember that happening much, if at all.

While it may be a roll of the dice, to Edmi and I this is one of the fun surprise elements of traveling without a tour group. It's your choice win or lose.

So after peeking into a few windows of restaurants and viewing some menus, as well as looking for a place with an available table, we ducked into what looked like an old school Lisboa restaurant. The person at the door was welcoming and seated us quickly. Just as quickly came a spread of olives and local cheeses with some delicious fresh bread.

I don't know about you, but nothing makes me happier than when the minute you sit down at the table, a little something is there for you to nibble on before you start drinking a glass of wine or any cocktail.

Over the years my taste buds have broadened dramatically, although I'm still not the biggest fan of very strong tasting or oily type of fish. With that, I've avoided sardines all of my life. Apparently the sardines in Portugal are super fresh and allegedly therefore not so fishy tasting. I ordered the fried sardine appetizer to share. Did it change my opinion? Well, the needle moved a little, but I wouldn't say I couldn't wait to order them again. I think my face tells the story.

So we woke fairly early our second day in Lisbon. We needed to catch a train to meet our tour guide who we were to spend the day. We booked the tour with Viator.com, who we've used with great success on past journeys.

We like small groups if possible, and this tour, called Private Getaway in Sintra - Through the Hills to the Coast, was just that. The max would be 4 people, but as it turned out, it was just me and Edmi. Perfect. Cost was about $200 for both.

Plenty of other options exist, or you could try and venture on your own. When time is of the essence for us, we prefer to have someone get us around who knows the lay of the land. This is one of those experiences that aimlessly wandering about would just take away too much time from what we wanted to see.

We took an Uber to the local train station in Lisbon. From there we caught the train to Sintra to meet our guide. The train ride was about 40 minutes. Outside the station we grabbed a coffee and croissant as we awaited our guides arrival.

I should add,it's best to purchase your train tickets online at least the day before if not sooner. You could wait until the day of, but you may find it a bit tricky to navigate this rather busy train terminal. In addition, finding someone who speaks English seemed a bit more challenging here.

Our driver Nuno met us at the cafe and we immediately worked our way into Sintra. One of the first places he quickly stopped, was an old historic Moorish fountain. Due to the dry conditions this summer, the fountain had sadly run dry. Just another sign of climate change.

To give some background to Sintra, it's located in the foothills of Portugal's Sintra Mountains. There is a strong influence from the Moorish and Manueline style in much of the architecture you will see along the way. It's a forested area, where large villas and palaces are embedded. It was what is now referred to as a royal sanctuary to escape the bigger cities. Many palaces are surrounded by acres and acres of park-like woods. We were off to see one of the most famous, Pena Palace and Park.

Along the way our driver took us to a few other more modest homes. Keep in mind everything is relative. While we didn't enter any of these homes, it was interesting just to view them and the grounds surrounding them. One such stop took us to the home shown in the image below. It was used in a scene in a Johnny Depp movie called The Ninth Gate. It's called Chalet Biester. If we had more time it would have been worth purchasing tickets to take the tour of this beautiful home and grounds.

Another thing to note. If you book one of these tours, determine beforehand if tickets for entry into some of the sites are included. We booked our tickets for the Pena Palace and Park separately on their website, www.penapalacetickets.com. It was also important to book a time that worked well with the rest of the tour. Our guide recommended 11AM several days before the actual tour date. This gave us a bit of time for him to take us around to see a few interesting spots before lining up for the tour at the palace.

The drive toward the Pena Palace was beautiful as you make your way on winding roads through the forest, occasionally coming upon uniquely designed homes that take you back in time. Below, are just a couple of views, including looking up at the wall of a castle atop the hill

Upon arrival to the castle the driver dropped us at the gate instructing us where to line up for entry. He told us to take our time and after the tour of the palace, to spend a little time walking through the grounds surrounding this huge structure.

As you climb up the hill in which the palace is built upon, you start to realize the enormity. Apparently additions were added over time and it just became this massive spread out structure atop the hill.

The next thing that strikes you, are the brilliant colors of the castle exterior. You can purchase tickets for just a walking tour of the outside of the palace and its grounds, or one that also includes walking through the interior of the castle. Edmi and I are both castle fans and intrigued by seeing the way rooms were designed and decorated hundreds of years ago. Of note, some of the castles in this area are empty inside. The Pena Palace is one that is still fully furnished.

Once you are in line, you begin your journey up toward the palace entrance. You will pass through two beautiful entry arches. The one thing about Portugal, is its elaborate tile work embedded in almost every element of their architecture.

It's a trek..........

But well worth it!!!

At this point I am going to tell the story mainly with images from the tour. I find at times it captures the moment and the grandeur of seeing something like Pena Palace much more effectively than words. I will also attach a link to where you can read more about Pena Palace. Hope you enjoy the pictures.

https://www.parquesdesintra.pt/en/parks-monuments/park-and-national-palace-of-pena/history/

Below you will find some of the intricate designs of the interior of the Pena palace. It always amazes me to see the detailed work done in a time when the technological tools we have today did not exist. Incredible craftsmanship on a humongous scale.

The view from above is stunning........and the palace isn't too bad either.

After going through the exterior and interior tour, which takes approximately 90 minutes or so, depending on length of lines, we made our way back down into the garden grounds. Keep in mind this is not a small garden that can be seen in an hour. It's more like a forest, with different areas featuring various elements of nature. It covers nearly 500 acres. If nature is your thing and you have the time, I'm sure it's worth hiking and exploring more than we did. Below are just a few shots of what you might see.

For more information on Pena Palace and Park click on the link below.

At this point, with the hills and palace part of the tour completed, it was time to head to the coast of Portugal. Not just any spot on the west coast, but the most western location into the Atlantic for all of Europe. Being a bit of a geography geek, I love saying I visited these locations. I posted a picture of us at Cape Hope in Africa at the southern most tip of that continent somewhere on this website. This was just another box to check on unique geographic locations to visit.

So we hopped back in the car with Nuno to head to Cabo Da Roca. This journey takes you back downhill a bit and heading west to the ocean. Along the way the drive contains some magnificent views which helps the time pass by more quickly. The drive was about an hour, but seemed shorter.

At Cabo da Roca there is a beautiful lighthouse and a monument marking the location for being the closest point to the Americas from Europe.

If you do take this trip, be prepared for some very strong winds. There's nothing between the east coast of the U.S. and this spot to slow down the wind. Yes, even my hair was a mess. That being said, the views are spectacular, the water, while very chilly, is a blend of azure blue & emerald green color. It's a nice spot to grab some pictures and stroll around a bit for the various perspectives.

In addition, there is a café on the grounds serving some great coffee and local Portuguese snacks, also quite good as we sampled a couple.

Our final stop on the tour was something the driver suggested we do as it was close to the Sintra train station. As we drove through the heart of this quaint Portuguese town he posed a question you seem to get asked anywhere you go in Portugal. "Did you try the pasteis or pastel de nata ? We said, "of course", but just as expected he came back with, "but you never tried the ones from Sintra and the oldest bakery since 1756." So with that, he dropped us off on the street of the pastry shop. In the picture below you can see how this town looks like a movie set. Even the old facades, while worn and weathered, perfectly set the scene.

Of course we ordered the pasteis. While I am far from an expert, at that point, those were the best we had tasted. Perfectly crisp outer shell and firm but not too sweet filling. If you're looking for the shop it's called Fabrica Das Verdadeiras Queijadas Da Sapa. I think the locals just refer to it as Sapa. If you get to Sintra it's worth checking out.

The tour is advertised as taking approximately 7 hours and came in just about on time. There are other tours that stop at Cascais, another favorite for tourists, but our early exit the next morning for a several hour train ride limited us a bit.

We hopped back on the train and were back in the heart of Lisbon by 6PM. Knowing we were heading to the Algarve area of Portugal the next morning, Edmi being Edmi suggested we check out another area nearby called Belém as our remaining time in Lisbon was dwindling.

Whenever we saw videos of Portugal on Youtube, they always showed this beautiful monument on the waterfront(Tagus river estuary). It's known as the Monument of the Discoveries (Padrão dos Descobrimentos). I would repeatedly say I had to see that monument if I ever go to Portugal. I was always fascinated with learning about these explorers as a child in school and this 170ft. tall majestic statue was a must see for me.

With sunset not until around 8:30, we quickly freshened up back at the hotel and then grabbed an Uber to Belem. It was about a 15-20 minute drive. We were dropped off on the waterfront of the Tagus River. Due to the traffic pattern, the driver had to drop us off a bit down the road from the Explorers Monument. This left us steps away from the majestic Belém Tower. It's officially known as the Tower of Saint Vincent. It's where many of the Portuguese explorers would come and go using it as the gateway to Lisbon. It was completed in the 16th century in what was known as the Manueline style of architecture. Features of both the Middle Ages and modern Renaissance can be found in the structure.

It is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site. With our late arrival, entry was not possible, but we were told it's $6.50 per person during the day. We were still able to walk around and get close as the tide was low. It's an impressive structure. With it being sunset time, the pictures were quite impressive.

In the distance along the river I could see the towering sculpture of the explorers. We looked at each other and said, "we're here...let's go get close." On our stroll over we saw quite a few sailboats drifting slowly up stream. We later found out that you could take a paid excursion giving you the perspective from the riverside via boat. Again, up to you, but in general, unless necessary, we stick to walking and being in control of the time.

Needless to say, when we approached the Monument of the Discoverers, the views and perspective became more impressive. There is also a small museum associated with the monument, but much like the Belém Tower, it to was closed by 6PM. Below, I've included a few shots from various angles and proximity to this impressive work of art..

After strolling around and taking various pictures, we knew we had to grab dinner as we had an early start on the train the next morning heading to Albufiera in the Algarve section of Portugal.

We grabbed a quick dinner at a small local restaurant back in the heart of Lisbon. With another great meal in our bellies we returned to our hotel to get a decent night's rest as the next day was going to be a long one, with a nearly 3 hour train ride to the south coast of Portugal.

If you've been impressed with what you've seen so far, wait until we take you to the Algarve area of Portugal in our next travel section. Until then......Sunshine Always!!!