Sintra and Cascais

We took the train to Sintra.  Along with hundreds of other people who all rushed to get on the free buses that take you on a one way tour around the town.

We however walked away from the mayhem and walked to the older part of town.  It was, of course, down a hill and then up a hill!  The town reminded me of Port Meirion somehow - which is odd as this is a Portuguese town and Port Meirion is based on Italian architecture.  My mind works oddly, obviously!

Then we got the bus back to the station and got on the bus that took us to the castle.  They have a brilliant one way system for the traffic to cope with all the tourists but it still took forever to get there.  It was really windy and there was a risk of being blown off the top of the castle walls.

We took the bus back to the station and then got another free bus that took us to the gardens of Monserrate.  The gardens were laid out by the head gardener of Kew Gardens in the early 1800s.

There was a Victorian Palace inspired by the Brighton Pavilion, with a dome modelled on the Duomo in Florence.  The inside of the palace was spectacular.

Look at these ceilings.

 There were long corridors off the domed lobby.

And everywhere there was amazing plasterwork.

The next day we took the train to Cascais.  This was a pretty little seaside place with a castle which had been turned into an hotel.

Our time in Lisbon was at an end and the next day we got the train to Coimbra.  See you there in my next blog post.

Thanks for joining me today
Bernice