Sintra, Portugal - November 4

Sintra was awesome. Based on the location and topography, you can see how it became an important strategic position for centuries. The hills seem to continue climbing and from the top you can see the ocean a good 10 miles away.

Sintra is a UNESCO World Heritage Sight and has a huge amount of sights packed into a tiny area. For a day trip though, there are three that stand out: The National Palace, the Moorish Castle, and the Pena Palace. Unfortunately, I can't read British guidebooks and was unaware that the National Palace was closed on Wednesdays until we arrived (Really Lonely Planet? Open Wed-Mon. You couldn't just write Closed on Tuesdays.). I was kind of bummed, but the two other sights turned out to be impressive enough.

First we went to the Moorish Palace which is actually a reconstructed fortress in the hills. The pictures don't really do it justice. It was very hilly.



I didn't spend any time at all pouting about the National Palace being closed (that's it in the background).





We climbed all the way to the top which was exhausting because of the uneven steps. It's just as far as it looks.



But after we reached what seems like the top of the world, we looked behind the hill and saw...



The Pena Palace. Built even higher in the hills. We took a surprisingly pleasant stroll down a path back to the city for lunch before heading up to the palace.

I almost didn't bring a sweater because it was so warm in Lisbon, but Ali made me think better of it. It might have been the best decision I made on the entire trip because it was extremely cold and windy, especially at the top of the hill. It led to some interesting events.




(Yes. This actually happened one time without being staged.)

After lunch we took the bus back up the windy hills to the Pena Palace. It was perhaps the most unique thing we saw on the trip. It's a whimsical building built high on the hill and as far as I'm concerned is entirely unique. It epitomizes fairy tale design. Ali even did her best princess pose.



The colors are bright...



There are some odd design decisions...



and there's even a walkway that goes around the outside of the palace that makes you feel like you are standing over the edge of a cliff.



In the background behind us in the picture below you can see the ocean off in the distance and the top of the Moorish Castle.



The whole place just makes you feel kind of goofy.





Pictures weren't allowed inside the palace, but that's probably for the best because this post would be way too long otherwise (not that it isn't too long already).

What palace would be complete without a huge, elaborate garden? We took some time walking around and getting different perspectives of the castle.



Somebody even found a place to relax for a few.



Any doubts about the over-the-topness of the palace is immediately removed upon seeing the duck castles. Sure there were probably people starving in the streets, but at least the ducks were comfy.



So basically, Sintra is awesome. Even if you are only in Lisbon for a few days, Sintra is worth a day. And since the National Palace was closed, we have an excuse to go back.

Lisboa, Portugal - November 2-6 (Part I)

I will admit to being naive about Portugal before we arrived. I really didn't know what to expect from the people or the food and had no idea about the sights. I didn't expect it to be like Spain, but I wasn't quite prepared for the differences either. Obviously the language is a major difference. Despite looking similar to Spanish, it sounds Slavic, and because we were so close to done I didn't even exert the effort to learn the language that I had in other countries. All that ignorance made what we found even more surprising. Lisbon is an amazing city and even after 4 nights we weren't anywhere near being sick of it.

First, Lisbon is hilly...very hilly. We got an excellent workout marching all over the city. The main commercial area is in a sort of valley between the hills and an old castle complex towers over the city.



Because of the hills and narrow streets, the main mode of public transportation through the old part of town are awesome old trams. On our first day we took Tram #28 through pretty much all of the touristy sights (the cathedral, the castle, the lookout points). It took a while to figure out where to buy day passes and how to explain what we wanted in Portuguese, but everything else was easy.



From the viewpoints and the castle we were able to get some great views of the town and the bay.







The Golden Gate Bridge replica completes the San Francisco feel of the city.

Our great B&B, Casa de Bairro, was in the Bairro Alto area of town. One of the few remaining funiculars was just around the corner and we took a ride on it our last afternoon for kicks.



We had a bit of an uphill walk, but there were some great restaurants nearby. Our first night (after some serious lost wandering and direction asking because Lisbon is extremely confusing and a good map was hard to come by) we went to O Barrigas. There Ali found her new obsession in Bacalhau Espiritual, which is essentially a salt cod souffle.

On another night we were craving roast chicken. We left the first restaurant shortly after being seated because the waiters were too pushy. We climbed up some steps and found a little hole in the wall chicken place called El Rei D'Frango (I think that's right. Don't confuse it with Bonjardim aka Rei Dos Frangos which is the aforementioned ditched restaurant. It's more central and busier, but while the food might be good, it doesn't come close for price and service). We perused the menu and ordered chicken...before being told they were out of chicken for the night. We settled for two entrees (different kinds of pork, but I'm still not sure what) and a liter of wine. The entrees were enormous and came with rice, potatoes and salad. Everything was delicious, but we had no chance of finishing it. Somewhere through the liter of wine I decided to strike up a conversation with the cook/server/owner. Using the guidebook translator, I asked when they would have chicken and somehow made a reservation to return for the chicken three nights later. We returned three nights later not sure if they would remember us. We sat for a few minutes and still weren't acknowledged, but we saw the woman hard at work. Eventually, without speaking with us, she presented a roast chicken plate. Great stuff.

We also had our first encounter with a Portuguese pastry shop which also seems to triple as a coffee shop and diner. A ham and cheese sandwich and bowl of soup lunch special got us through Porto our last few days in Europe.

That's only half the Lisbon post, but it should give you an idea of how much we enjoyed it.

Sevilla, Spain - October 30 - November 2

Better late than never? We've got about 4 posts to finish up so I'm going to try to knock them out.

Our last stop in Spain was Sevilla. It is perhaps quintessential Spain: bullfights, flamenco, stifling heat. The weekend we were there pushed 100 degrees on all three days despite being into November.

Because there was yet another holiday, the city was surprisingly busy. We had a hard time finding accommodation and were close to settling for paying more and being farther away than we would have liked, but then I stumbled on Puerto Catedral Studios on hotels.com. For a little over $100 a night, we ended up with a recently redone, large, and immaculate studio apartment just steps from the Catedral. We had a kitchenette and air conditioning. The building even had a rooftop deck and offered access to a rooftop deck at another property around the corner which had an unimpeded view of the Catedral. A great find. (Another great find was Taberna Coloniales which was recommended to us by reception. We ate at least one meal at the bar there everyday and were never disappointed.)

Sevilla's Catedral is the third largest church in the world and the largest Gothic cathedral. It's also another example of a converted mosque as you can tell by the architecture leading to an open patio in the picture below.



We took some time to explore the large interior. Some protesters had turned the church into a staging ground and had been living there for at least six months. I'm not sure what they were protesting and they were apparently on a break while we were there, but I wish them luck.



Last we climbed the giralda (bell tower) which I remembered fro my last trip there. It was the former belltower for the mosque and rather than stairs it is ascended on a series of ramps which enabled the bell ringer to ride a horse to the top.



We learned some things on the way up:



The bells started chiming almost immediately after we got up there. Ali got a video of the bells doing full 360s. I'm not sure they are the original bells though.



The views from the top were impressive. I especially liked seeing all the rooftop patios and pools the residents use to beat the heat.



We could also see the bull ring which was out of season (I'm not sure Ali would have enjoyed it anyway).



Walking along the river one day we passed a tower. I'm not sure what exactly the tower was, but Ali wanted to climb it because it was climbable. The heat was too much for me though. I persuaded (read whined) her not to. So pictured below is the only thing in Western Europe that we didn't climb.



On our last day we went to Plaza de Espana which is a big half circle of governmental buildings with a big fountain and a moat. It was also a filming location for Star Wars Episode I (which makes it either more or less cool depending on your perspective).



The plaza also contains a little design and map for each province in Spain.



We walked around looking at the picture for each of the places we had been in Spain. We had to wake up early the next morning to move onto Portugal and we were both a bit sad to be leaving Spain behind. Spain remains my favorite country, and I think it won Ali over too.