Portugal – Day 12 – Walking Through Sintra’s Castles and Palaces
Our last full day in Portugal
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Day 12 Itinerary
We had a wonderful room at the Sintra Boutique Hotel
Located in the center of the historic town of Sintra, we walked to all of the sites.
Breakfast buffet at the Sintra Hotel
Our hotel has a secret cave passage that goes underground for over 100 yards to the Quinta da Regaleira palace. Rumor is that the owner of Quinta da Regaleira sometimes wanted to get to the National Palace next door without anyone seeing him so he dug this tunnel.
Pena Palace
The mountain top was originally a monastery starting in the12th century which was ruined in the 1755 earthquake. The monks used it for another 100 years in its deprecated state. In the mid 1800s Portuguese royalty bought the monastary and built the palace over it. The castle sits on top of an extremely steep mountain which has views out to the Atlantic Ocean and all the way to Lisbon.
Visiting the Moorish Castle
Founded under Islamic rule, the castle was built a 1,000 years ago in the 8th and 9th century. It sits on top of a second mountain not far from the Pena Palace with a clear view and vantage point looking over the Atlantic coastline. It was a strategic position for defending both the surrounding territory and the maritime access routes to the city of Lisbon. It eventually was conquered and taken over by the Spanish around 1150.
Dinnner in downtown Sintra at Incomum restaurant.
Lauri did not want to miss out on an opportunity to eat at a restaurant where the chef has received a Michelin star so we dined at Incomum.
After perusing the menu, we created our own tasting menu for the night.
Above: Masclun salad with goat cheese grilled mushrooms with Chèvre and toasted pistachios
Below: Pumpkin ravioli with cream, truffles and spinach
Last course: Green Curry shrimp with exotic risotto with pineapple and pomegranate, and a bit of garlic.
Thoughts for the day :
Lauri :
Our exploration of Sintra palaces, gardens and castles continued to enchant me. I felt like I was traveling through fairy gardens all day-rustic wooded and garden areas were so pretty-moss covered and stonework everywhere. I am constantly amazed at Sintra’s vertical landscape!!! Food notes: We enjoyed the most gourmet local meal from a Michelin star chef at Incomum by Luis Santos. We put together our own tasting menu and could not stop praising each bite. Always stunned at the fresh salads that are ever so lightly dressed–perfection! I can’t believe we leave this paradise tomorrow.
Mark:
I loved the steep hiking for the views hundreds of miles across the Portuguese landscape. Some of these trails were built over a hundred years ago in deeply forested parks where we met fellow hikers. In the Pena park which is hundreds of acres in size, we hiked past ancient fountains, waterfalls, and interesting old structures.
As we visited these palaces I was in awe of the ornate buildings, furniture and artwork constructed hundreds of years ago. I could not help but think of the people that hauled and carved the massive stones to build the castles and palaces before mechanization of power tools. I was constantly contemplating the time consuming effort carving away at intricate wood carvings or chipping away at stone sculptures.
