Day 3 - Sintra

    I'm finally starting to feel like a human being. Maybe I'm finally relaxing after so many months of hard work and stress. Today we actually had to wake up the kids because we read that Sintra is a very popular place and it gets very crowded. We walked to the train station, the facade looks like three horseshoes. It is beautiful. I ran to get in line and Gregory ran to the machine to get the tickets. This pretty much describes how different we both get things done. His ways are normally faster so I'm not complaining. The ride to Sintra took about half an hour. There is not much to see outside of Lisbon, it actually looks like a third world country housing developments, lots of graffiti and trash. 

     When we got to Sintra, Gregory requested an uber, which of course was much cheaper than taking the bus or a local taxi. That's your first tip if you're traveling to Portugal. We went to visit the Quinta Regaleira which is an extravagant 19th-century gothic mansion that is surrounded by some of the most elaborate gardens of Sintra. The gardens are a joy to explore as they are filled with decorative fortifications, mystic religious symbols and a series of secret passages and caves. The central feature of the gardens is the "initiation well", a well that was drained, expanded and possibly used for cult ceremonies. It took us about 3 hours to visit the mansion that looked more like a palace. We spent the majority of our time exploring the amazing gardens and their grottes.

  We were so tired and hungry that I didn't care to pay a fortune to go downtown and find a restaurant. Gregory was going to call an uber, but I just walked directly to a taxi driver to ask how much she would charge to take us. She laughed and said: "it is a five-minute walk from here." Good thing women don't mind asking questions and for directions! Of course by the time we got there, I wanted to eat anywhere but my husband likes to look at the menus for the food and the prices! We finally found a quiet and nice place that served tapas. It was quite expensive. The waitress brought a tiny dish of cheese and a tiny dish of bread, which we devour immediately, only to find out later that it cost 5 euros for the cheese and another 2 euros for the bread. I was proud of Sunshine for trying new food and the specialty which was "pasta de baccalau". Daniel, on the other hand, ate very little and he has a long way to go.

     After lunch, we walked in the center of historic Sintra, saw a lot of cute streets with cute souvenir shops and somehow we found our way to the Castle of the Moors. We were tired but we decided to do it, mostly for Daniel who was very excited just to see the castle from below. What we didn't know was the hike that was waiting for us all the way up the mountain. The sight was beautiful and it reminded me of the hikes in Oregon with my friend Emily. We took several rests and many times we were ready to quit but Daniel kept pushing us to make it to the top and we did it! Of course, when you are almost at the top, you have to pay to get in and see the view. Eight euros per adult and six per child. I had forgotten how you have to pay for everything. At that point we had to do it for Daniel. Gregory and Sunshine waited outside and Daniel and I climbed to the top to see the most amazing views!


The Castelo dos Mouros was constructed by the Moors in the 9th century as a fortified observatory, with a view of the sea and the region. After the invasion of central Portugal by the Christian Crusaders in the 12th century, the importance of this viewpoint waned and the castle fell into disrepair. The castle deteriorated further after fire (from lighting) and earthquakes during the 17th and 18th centuries. The all but forgotten castle was restored during the 19th century so as to be a major feature on the grounds of the Pena Palace.

     After that, we had some coffee so we could make it down the hill, and we took an uber to the train station and got back to sunny Lisbon around 7:00pm. I took a nap on the train, I'm so lucky that I can fall asleep anywhere! We walked home and Daniel's Fitbit said that we walked 8.5 miles today! We came home and relaxed, nobody wanted to go out for dinner. I made tomato soup and fruit salad. Gregory brought gelato for dessert and then we all spent some downtime in front of our laptops.

     So far, I'm happy to say that things are going great and it very nice to see the kids getting along and excited about the next day. Since today it was Daniel day, to climb to see a Castello, tomorrow is Sunshine's turn and of course, she wants to go to the beach.