Sintra is a small Portuguese village high on a mountainous hillside, which has been historically associated with Portuguese royalty.
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Sintra Village, Sierra de Sintra |
Blanketed by large green leafy trees, a forest thick with dark moss, low lying shrub and damp earthy soil underfoot, the Sierra de Sintra landscape is a get-away paradise.
As a day trip option from Lisbon we took the chance to explore the acclaimed area.
About an hour on the commuter train we set off on our fairytale adventure early in the morning. It was beautiful and sunny with a cool breeze blowing off the ocean when we left the Portuguese capital city.
The sky was clear and a blue so light that it could be caught in the shimmer of an opal.
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Welcome to Sintra |
As the train sped through Lisbon's outer suburbs and residential areas we glimpsed a different way of life. The houses were tired, jammed together along the rails and covered the hills as far as our eyes could see.
Front patios and exterior walls were covered in worn, discoloured old tiles like something that might have been magnificent in the 1970's but now passed its hay day. When we reached Portela de Sintra it was cold, muggy and very unexpectedly: raining.
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Municipal of Sintra |
We could hardly see the hill in front of us as the rolling fog was so dense. We didn't know which way to go and touts took advantage at the situation, trying to steer us towards their tour buses. No one was willing to offer us directions anywhere and we were out of cellphone range. Shivering somewhat on the platform, a young boy insisted the fog won't be clearing today but we made a call to try our luck. We hit the road and headed left. As we moved off, taxis tried to beep us down. It was so cold, how could the weather have changed so dramatically! We didn't have adequate clothing and this certainly didn't feel like how a fairytale should start!
We found it was only about a kilometer from the train to the little village of Sintra and the walk, although cold, was pleasant enough. Had there been less fog we might have seen the village earlier but we caught ourselves walking through a spiralling mist and bush so dense you would have never heard a thing coming. Of course though, there were the taxis who beeped at us insistently.
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View across the village to the Palace |
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Close up of National Palace |
The first thing we saw in the Sintra village was the National Palace. The Palace, restored in the 1940s, is the best preserved medieval Royal Palace in Portugal and has been inhabited more or less continuously from at least the early 15th century to the late 19th century.
Its first historical reference dates from the 10th century although nothing remains from its original design.
When we first approached the building there were buses of people milling about and we didn't initially realise it was a palace.
We thought the exterior was bland and the strange dome-shaped roof was a little weird. The current blend of styles in the present palace are mainly the result of the 15th and early 16th centuries design.
With the fog surrounding the landscape it was difficult to know where anything was.
We found the tourist information centre- which thankfully had a toilet and with some guiding pointers we mapped out a route to the nearby Moorish Castle.
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Trying a ginjinha! |
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Beautiful little shops in Sintra |
We felt fit and the one hour mountain hike didn't seem all that daunting. So through the village we set off stopping momentarily to try some of the local ginjinha (cherry flavoured) liquor which is served in dark chocolate cups! The small village was small, very small but no other tourists ventured off the main road so we had the alleys to ourselves.
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Up the cobbles we go! |
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Getting into the mountain |
We began our hike up the cobbled backroads admiring the view as the fog lifted momentarily.
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Exploring the moor walls |
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Resting on a tower |
It's believed that the earliest remnants of human occupation were discovered around Sintra. Archeologists have found flints from as far back as our Early Palaeolithic ancestors. Carbon dating places them around the fifth century B.C. meaning humans were there over 7000 years ago!!
There have also been ceramic fragments found locally including many late Chalcolithic vases from the Sintra mountains suggesting that between the fourth and third millennia B.C. the region was occupied by a Neolithic/Chalcolithic settlement.
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John climbing on Moor Castle |
Trekking up the mountain side slowly we got small glimpses of stone wall. We walked through dense forest and it was peaceful and calming. We noticed large granite boulders in some areas built into the walls.
The Moor Castle, a large fortification, was built in the 8th and 9th century during the period of Muslim Iberia rule. In 1031 after the invasion from the Almoravid dynasty (also Muslim rulers coming up from Africa) the then King offered the castle to Christian King Alfonso VI of Leon and Castile in order to build alliance and protection. Nevertheless the castle was still lost to the Almoravids.
Finally defeated in 1147 the castle was taken back and in Christian control but then only used on and off for the next 500 years. The massive Lisbon earthquake of 1755 caused considerable damage to the castle and it began to fall into ruins.
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Parts of the ruins |
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Fog, fog, fog! |
After purchasing our entry tickets, we proceeded to climb around the fortified ruins. There were high towers, where we could imagine guards standing, and cascading drops off the mountain side where they might have thrown their prisoners to a gruesome death.
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Playing in the fortress |
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Peaking through the tunnels |
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So much fog! |
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Add caption |
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Panoramic of Sintra and Portugal |
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Inside the Moor Castle |
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Views of the Castle walls |
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The view towards Palacio da Pena |
Although there are little remains of any palace rooms, the Moorish castle is enormous and it's evident to see that at one time it would have been well protected.
Perched high above Sintra town with views all the way to the ocean, enemies would never have been able to approach undetected.
We continued to explore and found within the walls an underground animal holding pit, food shelters and wells.
We manoeuvred higher, as high as we could go. From there we could just make out the Palácio da Pena.
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Hiding on the castle walls |
Shrouded in white cloud, it stood defiantly on the hillside.
The palace resembles a strong rocky fortress, something that could have been ripped out of a Disney movie. With pastel colours and extravagant architecture the palace was merely a vacation home.
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Getting lost in the bush! |
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Beautiful wildflowers |
We took a small trail that was engorged with wildflowers and views to a river down below, eventually arriving at Palácio da Pena. The palace's history started in the Middle Ages when a little hilltop chapel dedicated to Our Lady of Pena was built. In 1493, King John II of Portugal made a pilgrimage to the site.
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Pena Palace (photo taken from santotoursportugal.com) |
His successor was also very fond of the sanctuary, and ordered the construction of a monastery on the site. For centuries Pena remained a small, quiet place for meditation. Disaster stuck however during the 1755 earthquakes which destroyed the Moor Castle and decimated the monastery. For many decades the ruins lay untouched. In 1838, King Ferdinand II decided to acquire the old monastery, all of the surrounding lands, the nearby Moor Castle and a few other estates in the area.
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Lunchtime! |
King Ferdinand set about transforming the remains of the monastery into a palace that would serve as a summer residence and playground for the Portuguese royal family. This included tidying up the ruins of the Moor Castle too.
By now though we were famished, and looking at the queues of tourists waiting to get tickets we made the call to head back down the mountain. Unfortunately we missed the castle and had we been in a better state of mind would have probably really enjoyed it! The exterior of the castle with all its colours is meant to be absolutely stunning. Check out this photo taken of the palace above!
Returning back into the romantic little town, we quickly scoured the many restaurants which seemed to cater for tourists at ridiculous tourist prices! We quickly decided upon a nice Italian place that was within our budget.
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Catch you later Sintra |
Finally sitting down drinking our red wine, the sun came out! Around us the small collection of painted homes and tiled cottages glistened. It was enchanting and we started to feel like maybe this was a fairytale after all.
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Old mansions on the hillside |
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Ancient medieval baths |
We walked slowly back to the train station admiring the view that we had missed earlier. We found it interesting how the weather had changed and we enjoyed our hike up Sintra.
Tot siens,
John and Kara