Sintra

Where do I begin.  What a sweet surprise Sintra was.  I've decided that If I ever return to Lisbon it would be delightful to stay in this little town for a weekend.  We came to see the Pena Palace and were treated to so much more!  Luckily we weren't there during high season.  We basically had the place to ourselves.  As we drove into town we saw a flea market going on, so we parked and dove right in.

The entire town is full of charming homes, hills, huge wooded areas and unique buildings.  It is like you've gone into another country.  The town and it's buildings just don't belong...it was enchanting!

The ride up to the Pena Palace was winding and narrow and steep.  The kids thought they were on a carnival ride.

We had to walk about 1/4 of a mile up to the palace entrance.  The kids were less than thrilled, and it was hot.  It wasn't the most pleasant part of the day.

Our first views of the palace...enchanting!

The Pena Palace:  King Ferdinand commissioned the German amateur architect Baron Wilhelm Ludwig von Eschwege to build the medieval fairytale inspired castle.

You can see the old Moorish Castle ruins from the palace.

The kids pretending they're shooting arrows

The use of color and detail throughout the palace was fantastic!

The Moorish King's Castle

View of the palace

From Sintra, we headed out to the coast to Cabo da Roca.  This lighthouse marks the Western most point to mainland Portugal and continental Europe.

*Here, where the land ends and the sea begins...

                                                         --Luis de Camoes, Portuguese poet

Next we drove to the beach and went swimming.  It was very windy, so we didn't bring cameras and held onto the kids tightly.  The waves were enormous and the water freezing cold!  The kids didn't last too long and soon kept themselves busy exploring the rocks.  The adults spent an hour or so getting pelted by the waves and blasted by the sand.  I only went body surfing a few times.  I'm not a fan of getting pummeled by the waves and frankly it scares me.  I did go a few times and so did Lyndsee.  It was her first time too.  She did really well.  She was a bit scared, but she went for it.  After we were sufficiently salty and had sand in places...no, in every nook and cranny of our bodies down to the roots of our hair follicles, we packed it up and headed back to the hotel.

And then disaster struck......I won't go into detail because it's an unpleasant memory, but here are the key words:

• Questionable neighborhood after dark.  
• One Taxi.  
• 5 people.  
• Arguing.  
• Swearing.  
• Police. 
• Anger
• Escape.  
• Stress.  
• Lost ipod touch.
• Crying.
• Sadness. 

All of that adds up to leaving for home a day early.