Sintra(!): Go to There

August 2013, we went for a long weekend to Portugal.

Now, Portugal wasn't ever on our list of top trips, so when we had a chance to get there for real cheap, I have to say that my expectations were pretty low and I had a kind of, "Meh, sure.  It will be interesting at least...don't know much about Portugal" attitude.

And, in my rankings of European capitals, Lisbon is a solid C+, I'd say.  Interestin' places to see though, get to all that later, but overall it was kind of just a big, hot city as far as we got to in our first two days.   

But, then, on a recommendation from a friend who had just visited, we decided one day to take a train further toward the west coast to Sintra and Sintra was AWESOME.

First off, the second we got off the train, I was sold because suddenly everything was lush and green and ten degrees cooler (way different from the more scrubby, Mediterranean look closer to Lisbon).  We walked down a little street toward the city center lined with tiny cafes and got some lemonade - something which has just not existed in Northern Europe, at least not enough to find easily.  And after our little break found ourselves in this beautiful little town full of palaces and Moorish fountains and gardens and hilltop castles and it was just lovely.

 Our first stop was to the royal family's Summer Palace, full of all kinds of beautiful ceilings, weird animal head soup tureens, tiled walls, and paintings of saints in negligees (yes, that actually is the plural form there).  One of my favorites were the corn-motif tiles, made right when the age of exploration was really kicking off.

  Then, we found the (very, very necessary) bus that drove to the top of the hill nearby to the insaaaaane Pena Palace.  It's kind of like the Neuschwanstein of Portugal - a castle built with all kinds of crazy styles all mashed together to look "fairytale"ish.  The end result here, though, was just a little...uh...wild.

And finally, we ended our day a little lower on the hill to see the old Moorish fortress and look out over the city before hiking back down and in search of dinner.

Dinner, by the way, was unbelievable.  Some kind of shellfish stew that exploded my understanding of the universe.

And you know what was super awesome about Sintra, even after we left?  Two things.  1) The Amazing Race went to Sintra right around the same time we did (woo!  one step closer to fame!) and 2) The NYT highlighted it as a new hotspot for those who are hip and cool a whole year after we went ourselves.  So #trendsetting.

Takeaway message is Sintra, go to there.