Palaces and Castles of Sintra, Portugal

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National Palace, Sintra

We arrived in Portugal on Feb 6th.  This really felt like a vacation before our travels (sorry if you don't understand).  We are staying with Michelle's parents in their apartment in Cascais, just West of Lisbon.  It is a short 30 minute bus ride up to the old Unesco World Heritage site of Sintra.  From the bus, we walked into the old town and were greeted with views of the National Palace with two steeples (apparently one of the travel guides describes it as looking like one of Madonna's bras).  Sunday was FREE day around the palace, so our kind of price.  This place dates back to the 15th century.  It was a good cruise around the place, but we both loved the kitchen area.  A large room with fires under each pot, fires and spits, and two big chimneys which are the 2 steeples we could see from the outside.

In front of Old Sintra in Palace archway

The old town itself was very interesting to walk around.  Cobbled streets and alleys, with some steep inclines.  The other sights of Sintra were actually high above the town, so we took a hair raising bus ride up the switchbacks to the Moorish Castle seen at the top of the hill in the picture on the left. 
The castle was built between the 9th and 10th centuries.  It is high above the town and had stunning views of the town and ocean below.  It was still preserved in quite good shape, so you can really get an idea of what things were like.....well, maybe!!  Can't really imagine actually!! 
From here, we cruised out to the Parque de Monseratte.  I was expecting this place to be quite

Moorish Castle above Sintra

run-down as the tour book said, but I guess 3 years really changes things.  This place had quite a facelift, and was close to being fully restored.  The palace was most recently owned by Sir Francis Cook, who spent a great deal of time renovating it for his family, and also creating quite the extensive garden with plants and trees from all over the world.  I can't quite imagine living at a place like this, especially in the 1800's - too lavish!!   There were actually too many palaces and impressive buildings to see in Sintra in one day, so we have to return another day.  *Stub