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| Pena Palace, Sintra. |
Our last full day in Lisbon, we took a day trip out to the popular
tourist town of Sintra. Home to the Pena Palaca – previous residence of the
royal family – among other landmarks, you need to ensure to get there early to
beat the crowds. We didn’t follow our own advice, but we fared okay in this
regard. To get there, you must board the overland train from Restauradores
station; you might read that it’s Rossio, but the Rossio metro station is at
Rossio square, while the overland train leaves from Rossio main station...
where the Restauradores metro stop is... go figure! Tickets can be bought on the
machines or at the counter for a little over €2, and a return will be two
singles (no saving if you buy a return or buy them individually).
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| Epic lines to buy tickets to Sintra. |
Once you arrive at Sintra station, there’ll be a mad rush to get
through the limited exit gates, and then to the information desk inside to buy
tickets. As we had only arrived in the late morning, we opted not to try to see
everything and just got a ticket to the Park and Pena Palace for €14.
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| Entrance fees for various Sintra sights. |
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| The tourist office on arrival at Sintra could do with an organised queue! |
To get to the various places around the town, you can catch the dedicated
tourist loop bus, number 434. From the train station, exit to the street and
turn right and the bus stop is right in front of you – there may be a large
line! You can buy tickets directly on the bus for €5.50 per person, which
allows use on the entire loop.
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| Waiting to catch the 434 loop bus. |
Depending on traffic, the bus will reach Pena Palace (top of the
loop) in anywhere between 15 and 45 minutes. From the entrance gate, you can
follow the signs up to the Palace, which is a steep 500m walk. On arrival, you
will be greeted with probably the brightest coloured palace every built (though
I believe I read the colours were actually added during restoration).
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| Entrance gate to Pena Palace. |
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| Pena Palace, the most colourful palace I've ever seen! |
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| A beautifully hot day in Sintra. |
The Park only ticket will get you into the park area where you can
make your way around to various landmarks, and also explore the terraces of the
Palace. The Palace ticket will allow you to also go inside and tour through the
Palace itself. We spent some time on the terraces, fighting for photo spots with
the dozens or hundreds of other visitors, and then eventually proceeded inside.
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| Intricate gate details. |
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| This gargoyle does a good job of scaring bad folks away! |
Inside the Palace, you can learn a bit about the history of the
Portuguese royal family and how the Palace was used in those days. The rooms
have been recreated to mimic how they were used back then, with various
artefacts on display. It was quite an interesting view into royal life in the
late 1800s.
We made our way out of the Palace and back down the hill to the
crossroads. Given the late hour of the day, we chose to see only one other
landmark before making our way back to Lisbon, electing for a visit to the High
Cross. After about 20 minutes’ walk up and down hills, winding around various
paths, we made it to the top of the Cross’ hill, and the view was pretty
spectacular. The Cross itself is nice, too, but the view of Sintra and the
Palace and surrounding plains was something to behold. Definitely take a trek
up here during your visit.
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| Pena Palace, as seen from the High Cross. |
Heading back down the hill, we caught the 434 back to Sintra
station and then took the train back to Lisbon. We had already decided to
return to Tabuas for our final dinner in Lisbon, as we had been so pleased with
the dinner on the first night. We ordered a little bit extra, upgraded our
sangria to Tinta and had another delicious meal.
The next day, we made tracks for Lisbon airport on the metro for
our early afternoon flight... or rather, our short hop. Thanks, Portugal! You
were indeed quite lovely.
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