Today, we went to Sintra.  It’s about 40 minutes from Lisboa by train and it’s a small mountain town with amazing historic buildings.  The town is also a UNESCO World Heritage site.  We read in a guidebook that you could walk on a trail up to the first castle – the Moors Castle. That seemed like a perfect way to balance out the pork, wine and pastries we’ve eaten over the past couple of days.  But, after about 10 minutes we realized that something was clearly wrong.  We were walking up a narrow, winding road that had lots of traffic and virtually no shoulder.  Michael said “they share the road here” so we just kept walking until we reached the castle.  It took almost an hour and a half!  Our workout was expanded by walking up and around the Moors castle and along paths on the wall to get the best views of the ocean and the town of Sintra.

The real jewel of Sintra is Pena Palace.  It’s the former home of Portuguese royalty.  On the outside, it’s a patchwork of red and yellow paint, tiles and sculptures.  There are also varying styles of terraces, balconies and towers.  We were also able to walk around Pena and take in the views.  The inside has been restored with furniture and artifacts from kings and queens.

On the way down, we did find the right trail.  It was an easy walk down to the bottom.  We picked up some things, had lunch and headed back to Lisbon to recuperate with beer and Ginja – a Portuguese cherry liquor.