Sintra - Pena National Palace

Do you remember the last post I did on Sintra?  How beautiful the palace and the grounds were that we visited?  Since we only were able to see that one palace the day we came, we knew we had to come back and visit at least one more palace before we left Lisbon.  On September 5th, we made our way by train through 3 transfers to Sintra.  Our goal was to visit the Pena National Palace.  The palace stands on the top of a hill, on a rocky outcropping, above Sintra. Before we headed up the mountain, we stopped for lunch at a cafe near the train station.  Amelie and Liam were making really funny faces while we waited for our food, and I just had to share with you their silliness.

We rode bus #434 to the top of the hill because the thought of walking for an hour uphill on very narrow streets did not sound appealing to me.  Thankfully, the ticket price was for all day bus use, so we didn't have to think about walking down the hill as we had originally planned on doing to save a couple of Euros. It was an excellent price for the service...well worth the 5 Euros. Bobby sat at the front of the bus and was able to capture on video the curvy, narrow roads, while the kids and I sat all the way at the back of the bus swaying and bouncing as we went. After we made the steep ascent from the ticketing booth to the actual palace we were greeted with the sight pictured below.  An English speaker we ran into described the palace as Alice and Wonderland-esque.  With all of it's vibrant colors and attention to detail, I would have to agree.

Before I start in on our day, I thought I would share about the palace's history.  The palace's history started in the Middle Ages when a chapel dedicated to Our Lady of Pena was built on the top of the hill above Sintra.  Kings and Queens were very fond of this sanctuary, and eventually the construction of a monastery was ordered. For centuries Pena was a small, quiet place for meditation, housing a maximum of eighteen monks.  The Great Lisbon Earthquake of 1755 took a heavy toll on the monastery, reducing it to ruins. Nonetheless, the chapel escaped without significant damage.  In 1838, King Ferdinand bought the monastery and 200 acres surrounding it. He set out to transform the remains of the monastery into a palace that would serve as a summer residence for the Portuguese royal family. The commission for the Romantic style rebuilding was given to Lieutenant-General and mining engineer Baron Wilhelm Ludwig von Eschwege.  Almost the entire palace stands on rock, so it took many years to build.

Liam fell asleep on the crazy bus ride to the top.  We were able to enjoy the first 30ish minutes looking up instead of looking down making sure he stayed out of trouble.  ;)

One of the entrances had a depiction of a newt, symbolizing the allegory of the creation of the world.

The entrance to the Middle Ages chapel.

Before we headed to the park, we toured in the inside of the palace.  We enjoyed seeing how the royal family lived during their summers in this palace.  Amelie and Liam enjoyed seeing things like the bathroom and the extremely large/old telephone.  Amelie loves princesses so seeing all of the "fancy" things gets her talking.  Liam loves running so he would constantly try to make beelines for different rooms as if this was such a fun game for Bobby and I.  There was a really nice cafe set up on the terrace with an incredible view where we enjoyed a chocolate cupcake snack before we headed into the park.

You can see the cities in the far distance and the Moors Castle on the adjacent hill top.

The exotic taste of Romanticism was applied to the park as it was to the palace. The king ordered trees from diverse, distant lands to be planted there. Those included North American Sequoia, Lawson's Cypress, Magnolia and Western Redcedar, Chinese Ginkgo, Japanese Cryptomeria, and a wide variety of ferns and tree ferns from Australia and New Zealand.  We loved exploring a small portion of the vast grounds.  It really was amazing being in such a diverse forest.  There were also many points of interest around the park that we walked to including a stone table for the royal family, a cave the monks carved, the Queens chair, and more.

Yes, that is Bobby perched on the rocks near the statue of the soldier.

Amelie and Liam loved being free and roaming around picking up sticks and leaves.

Amelie loves maps.  Here Bobby and Amelie are planning which route we should take next.

This is the Queen's seat carved into a rock overlooking the city and palace seen in the distance.  For some reason, I think it's really cool that the Queen was tramping through the woods to come and enjoy being outside.

One of the many fountain and oasis areas.    We actually found a lot of leeches at this one...eeewww!

Amelie walking on different paths through the Fern Gardens.

Before leaving Sintra, we ate at a local buffet.  I usually turn up my nose at such places, but it was pretty good Portuguese fare.  We were not as lucky catching our trains heading home on this night.  We missed 2 trains by just a couple of minutes which resulted in a couple of hours added to our trip home.  This was the tiresome part of the day and we were all ready to get home.  However, this is all a part of the joys of traveling and using public transit.  It was worth it.  It was a great experience!

Quinta da Regaleira - Sintra

Sintra is located about a 45 minute train ride away from us.  We have read wonderful things about this little town so we decided to venture out to see it for ourselves.  We had to ride 3 different trains in order to get there.  The transportation in Lisbon is different from other cities that we have visited in that there are many different companies that serve the public.  We are familiar with buying a pass and being able to have access to buses, metros, trains, etc.  In Lisbon, there are 3 different companies running the Metros, more companies running the different train services, etc.  We do have a pass that allows us to ride a train from Lisbon to Cascais, but other than that we have limited access.  Traveling to unknown places always takes a little longer the first time as we figure out where/how to buy tickets, which platforms to access, etc.  Thankfully, even with having to walk to different train stations to make the transfers we did not have to wait for the trains for very long.  We barely made it to a couple right before they pulled away which always makes us laugh!

Our host, Antonio, was the first person to direct us to Sintra.  He even recommended a pastry shop.  Once we arrived in Sintra, we had lunch at the pastry shop (who also served sandwiches).

You can see the ham and cheese sandwiches on Amelie's plate as well as the delicious pastries.  

We meandered through the streets enjoying the views of the castle on top of the mountain and the beautiful views of the large houses built into the side of the mountain.

Liam was a little worried about the shark overhead to look at the camera.

Who needs a sidewalk when you are small enough to squeeze?

Hills don't stop Liam from running.

View of the palace from the gardens.

We started with visiting a palace, Quinta da Regaleira.  It consists of a romantic palace and chapel, and a luxurious park featuring lakes, grottoes, wells, benches, fountains, and a vast array of exquisite constructions. The palace is also known as "Palace of Monteiro the Millionaire", from the nickname of its first owner, António Augusto Carvalho Monteiro.  Bobby's comment during our tour around the gardens was if he was a millionaire he would build more than just a large house, but a playground for adults.  He was referring to all of the grottoes and tunnels built throughout the grounds. It really was fun exploring through the caves.  There were benches and columns built into the rocks here and there.  It was absolutely stunning.  Some parts of the cave had "Christmas tree lights" (in Amelie's words) stretched along the wall to help see, but other parts were completely dark.  Bobby led the way with his phone's flashlight while Amelie and I (also pushing Liam in the stroller) followed.  I laugh at all of the places our poor strollers have had to venture through!

Amelie with map in hand loved leading the way.  In the background you can see the chapel. 

We were able to tour through the palace and end up on the roof.  Most of the palace is a museum to the construction of the palace and grounds, which we were not able to read because we had to keep up with a certain 1 year old who loves to run and doesn't stop.  :)

Near the opening of one of the grottoes.  There is a waterfall with a bench carved in the rocks. You can sit and watch the ducks playing.  Perfect place to read a book if you ask me!

This picture was taken with the flash but without it is completely black! 

Amelie and I inside "Leda's Cave."

Bobby and Liam at the top of one of the towers.

Liam and I were inside of a cave with a waterfall coming over the mouth.  Bobby and Amelie continued along the path and found an opening in which to walk on stepping stones to the other side of the lake.  There is also a foot bridge seen above them that we ended up walking across later that had spectacular views of the waterfall.

Inside the "Initiation Well" (sometimes referred to as the "Inverted Tower") looking up.  It is a 27 meter staircase that leads straight down underground and connects with other tunnels via underground walkways.

Liam fought going to sleep because he was having so much fun exploring, but once he was out...he was out!

Amelie and Bobby peeking through some of the openings in another well.

Once we walked around to the top of the "Initiation Well" looking down.

View from one of the towers.

There was so much to explore that we ended up not having time to do anything else in Sintra.  We are going to have to venture back so we can see other palaces and possibly the castle (if we want to walk up the mountain).

If you look close enough you can see the castle nestled on top of the mountain. ;)

We ended the day having dinner outside of a pub on the sidewalk.  We at the traditional Portuguese food of steak, eggs, and french fries...delicious!  As we walked back to the train station we happened upon some Tango dancing in front of the National Palace of Sintra while also watching the clouds descend down the mountain.

Tango dancers with a myriad of onlookers.  

You cannot see the castle any longer, but the views of the clouds approaching us was really neat.