Today was the most incredible day of my life.
As usual by now, we wander out of the train station without
a map and guess the best direction to go.
Immediately, we are amazed by pretty views and spectacular vistas, and
even the cobblestone walkways were more level.
Then we reached a point where we just stopped and went “Whoa.” Through a break in the trees, we saw a gigantic
green cliff ahead, and at the very top was a castle. That’s where we wanted to go. It looked so high up, though, that I had
doubts we could even reach it.
After lunch, we saw a reliable-looking tour bus and hopped
on. As we watched the bus climb up the
cliff and take gutsy sharp turns on the winding road, we were happy we did not
choose to take on the cobblestone road by foot.
We arrived somewhere, paid an entry fee, and walked inside a gate. We kept following the signs for “Palace” and
eventually reached the magnificent and ornately-decorated palace from the
postcard. We had found Palãcio
da Pena. The palace was colorfully
decorated like a candy house adapted from a fairy tale. It was even higher up than the castle we had
seen atop the cliff, and the views in any direction were breathtaking.
We walked under a big stone arch and found ourselves in a courtyard surrounded by a wall of arches through which we could see the whole landscape of Portugal. We marveled and took photo after photo. When we could finally tear our eyes away from the view, we saw someone emerge from a small hole in the wall labeled “Wall Walk.” Naturally, we went inside. We found ourselves along a narrow path that traced the outside wall of the castle. Once again, the wall was low and had gaps. I made an obnoxious scene and kept close to the wall, but there was nothing along the stones to hold onto anyway. A million photos later, we emerged through a wall on the other side of the palace.
We complete our magical day with ice cream and
take a train home, followed by a “free” tram to the ship.
There is a tram stop directly outside the port, and by now
we have found out that we don’t have to pay for tickets. This makes me very nervous, especially with
my kind of luck, but we don’t get caught, and I noticed that it’s not just
students that hitch rides. We casually
board the tram and get off at our stop without incident. We walk to a train station we luckily found by
accident yesterday (it was by a Starbucks) and took an unbelievably cheap train
ride (4€
roundtrip!) to Sintra in search of something we saw on a postcard yesterday.
As usual by now, we wander out of the train station without
a map and guess the best direction to go.
Immediately, we are amazed by pretty views and spectacular vistas, and
even the cobblestone walkways were more level.
Then we reached a point where we just stopped and went “Whoa.” Through a break in the trees, we saw a gigantic
green cliff ahead, and at the very top was a castle. That’s where we wanted to go. It looked so high up, though, that I had
doubts we could even reach it.
We kept walking until we hit the town of Sintra, and took in
all its charm. It had all the
conveniences of city life without the nuisance of the city. We picked a cute, hilly alleyway lined with
flowers for lunch. A note about
restaurants in Portugal: whatever you order, they will bring out a sampler dish
with tempting appetizers on it. These
are not free.
After lunch, we saw a reliable-looking tour bus and hopped
on. As we watched the bus climb up the
cliff and take gutsy sharp turns on the winding road, we were happy we did not
choose to take on the cobblestone road by foot.
We arrived somewhere, paid an entry fee, and walked inside a gate. We kept following the signs for “Palace” and
eventually reached the magnificent and ornately-decorated palace from the
postcard. We had found Palãcio
da Pena. The palace was colorfully
decorated like a candy house adapted from a fairy tale. It was even higher up than the castle we had
seen atop the cliff, and the views in any direction were breathtaking.
We walked under a big stone arch and found ourselves in a courtyard surrounded by a wall of arches through which we could see the whole landscape of Portugal. We marveled and took photo after photo. When we could finally tear our eyes away from the view, we saw someone emerge from a small hole in the wall labeled “Wall Walk.” Naturally, we went inside. We found ourselves along a narrow path that traced the outside wall of the castle. Once again, the wall was low and had gaps. I made an obnoxious scene and kept close to the wall, but there was nothing along the stones to hold onto anyway. A million photos later, we emerged through a wall on the other side of the palace.
The inside of the palace was far different from what I
expected. The ceilings were low and the
rooms were small, a sharp contrast to Buckingham Palace, but there was just as
much detailing in the decorations. The
ceilings had ornate stone paneling and murals with stone relief that looked so
realistic we almost didn’t notice it was flat.
The beds looked horribly uncomfortable, but the bathrooms were luxurious
and spacious. I was shocked to find
electricity, indoor plumbing, bathtubs, showers, and bidets. The palace was rather new, built in the 1840s
and used well into the 20th century.
No comments:
Post a Comment