portugal: sintra

there is a town called sintra, close to lisbon, that has unesco designated sights (technically i think it's the city itself that is designated as a unesco sight)...since i like to check those sights off the list when possible, i decided to do a day trip...the train ride is only about an hour, so it was easy...
i got a bit confused as to where i should go when i got off the train, but that's normal...i'm jealous of, and i wish i was one of those people who has an ingrained sense of direction...i'm good with a map once i figure out which way it goes, but before that point i go every which way...i ended up following the other tourists :)

sintra has several palaces, those are the reasons people come to the town...they're all unique looking, each for their own reasons...
i tend to forget dates and days of the week when i'm traveling, and i tend to forget holidays...i didn't give much thought to the fact that i was doing this day trip 24 december...christmas eve...when i bought the ticket that gave me entrance to the palaces, the cashier told me the palaces would all be closing early, and i had to ask why...how dumb did i feel to forget such a huge holiday? anywho...

the first palace i visited was the national palace of sintra...it is located in the middle of town, it's the first palace i saw when i walked from the train station...the palace was originally built in the 8th century, and previously used as the moorish governors palace...since then, a number of portuguese kings have renovated the palace...
my favourite aspect of this palace were the ceilings...they were all different, and most of them were really really nifty...i figured out the ceilings were worth looking at very quickly, so i spent more time walking in wavy lines because i entered every room looking up toward the ceiling...(i do not have good balance on land, even when i'm watching where i'm going...when i'm not watching where i'm going, well, that's probably rather entertaining to watch)

there were nice signs in each room, describing the decor, as well as how each room was used...
my next palace is called pena palace...it is up on top of the hill, which would normally make for a great photo...howeva, there was heavy fog up there, so i couldn't see a thing...argh...
to get from the center of town to pena palace i took a shuttle bus (not cheap, but i didn't have time to walk, which is what i normally would've done) up the hill...the road is full of switchbacks, some of them very sharp...i didn't feel so great when i got off the bus...i hate being so susceptible to motion sickness...

the pictures i had seen of pena palace showed a palace of many colours and styles of architecture on the outside...various parts of the palace were built at different times, by different rulers...howeva, due to the fog, i wasn't able to really appreciate the colours, and i didn't even see the palace until i was only 20 meters away...it was pea soup fog...so much for good photos...there are ways to walk around the outside of the palace, which would probably allow for great views over the area, if it weren't for the fog...

the inside of the palace was pretty well interpreted, there were signs here just as with the other palace i visited...the ceilings weren't nearly as interesting, but the furniture and other decorations were far more interesting...
if i remember correctly, this palace was never actually lived in by a ruling king/queen, though it was used as a vacation place, and used by family members and friends...i think...
pena palace is surrounded by huge gardens and parks...i wish i had had more time (remember, the palaces were closing) and better weather for walking and exploring...

as it was, i hopped on the last bus back to the centre of town, it was CROWDED...i wasn't the only one who waited until the last minute to get back...
listed in the guidebook was a bakery that allegedly had great egg tarts, so i headed there...it took me a bit to find, though the number of people in there should've clued me in when i walked past...ooops...the egg tarts were quite tasty:)
it was easy to walk back to the train station and catch the next train back to lisbon...