Today is our last day in Portugal and we farewell the few Tauck people who are still around in the restaurant at breakfast, before meeting up with our driver we have booked for the day, Miguel, in the foyer.
Ian and Pam Macdonald, our Aussie companions met us in the foyer and the 4 of us headed out to climb into Miguel's surprisingly roomy Fiat SUV.
The route out of Lisbon takes us along the coastline to our first stop, Cascais. the drive is very scenic, even though it is overcast this morning and there is some threat of rain. We packed our spray jackets in case. Along the way we passed many fortresses along the coast that have been converted into restaurants or hotels. There are some nice beaches, but no-one on them. It is probably too early or the weather may be a deterrent.
We had a discussion with Miguel about real estate prices and it quickly became apparent that the Chinese are buying up in Portugal, just like in Australia. Some if the incentives that are offered for investing in existing businesses also seem over the top.
As we drive into Cascais, we are most impressed. Miguel described it as the "Monaco of Portugal". The largest Casino in Portugal is also here.
The Fish Market is right on a park, right on the seashore
Nice beaches with an old fort on the point
A creative sand sculpture
There is a sizeable marina next to the fort
And a great view looking back at the town, the old building on the waterfront is now a hotel
The town itself was spotlessly clean, a bit touristy, but very nice.
We also found an exclusive little beach that only had limited access where they were setting up a bar and restaurant for customers later in the day.
Back to the car, Miguel now intends to take us to Roca de Cabo, the most Western part of Europe. The weather is getting a bit windy, and he warned us that it can be a bit unpredictable along this coast. Fortunately we have our spray jackets.
Not long out of Cascais, the landscape changes to a predominance of sand dunes and the wind has increased. The previously flat sea now has waves, and a sea fog is moving in.
By the time we reach Roca de Cabo, visibility is low and it is windy. The lookout is also busy with Chinese tourists from a couple of tour buses. Cabo de Roca was believed to be the edge of the World until the late 14th century.
The Lighthouse at Roca de Cabo
We had a walk around, but really couldn't see much, so went in the Cafe for a cup of coffee. When we re-emerged, the fog had gone and visibility was excellent.
The lighthouse 20 minutes later
Monument on the Cape inscribed "Where the Land Ends and the Sea Begins"
It is a rugged piece of coast
The weather is still variable as we now head off to Sintra. Miguel lives in the new part of Sintra, so knows all of the short cuts to get around in the mountainous old area of the town, otherwise we would have been held up for hours by buses and a lot of tourist traffic. It is a very popular tourist destination.
To give us an overview, on the way into the area we stopped at a luxury hotel (previously the Dutch Embassy, and then expanded and eventually turned into a hotel). It is now the Tivoli Hotel.
The building on the left was the Dutch Embassy, the Arch was added, and another building (a duplicate of the original was added on the right side of the arch)
We walked through the arch to a lookout and had a great overview of the new town of Sintra, located on the flat land towards the ocean. The old town is heavily fortified up in the mountains.
Sintra has a Moorish heritage and it is reflected in a lot of the architecture that we see as we approach the old town.
The traffic down into the old town is hardly moving, so Miguel took a shortcut which ended up in a narrow street above the town where he could leave his car safely parked, and we walked down a nearby stairway into the town. Once there he gave us a map and briefing on what to see and where to eat lunch and we agreed to meet up with him at an allocated place at 2.45pm.
Firstly we had a quick walk around the old town.
There are many historic sites to visit at Sintra, and it would take days to do it all. Given our short timeframe he suggested we at least visit Quinta da Regaleira, the summer residence of the Cavallho Monteiro family. It is widely thought that there is a connection with the Freemasons.
We walked up to the ticket office for the complex to find a long queue, it took 20 minutes to get our tickets (the ticket office is the old Stables building and is very impressive on its own)
The ticket office
Once inside this complex of gardens and buildings we carefully followed Miguel's instructions, and the guide map for the estate, which required a long winding walk up hill to reach the Initiatic Well ( there is some speculation this had something to do with being initiated into the Freemasons)
Once inside the walls, we followed the path
We eventually found this rock and were forewarned that the entrance to the well was concealed, so we walked around it till we found the entrance.
Once inside the "rock" we found the well and a staircase that went down to the bottom.
When you got to the bottom, there was an underground passage out to a lake and waterfall
From there, we went through another underground passage which took us back out into the gardens, and a short walk to the Regaleira Tower, which had another internal spiral staircase down to the next level of the gardens.
After we exited the tower at the lower level, we walked past Leda's Grotto to the Chapel.
Not surprisingly, in the Chapel there was a secret staircase down to another tunnel that led to the main house
The Main house
Along the way to the main house there was, of course, a cafeteria, well supported by visitors to the complex. It was an amazing place and it would be easy to believe that given all of the secret passages that it may have some deeper purpose other than the residence of a very wealthy family.
We had spent enough time just at this one attraction, so we did not go for the detailed tour of the main house, but headed back to town for lunch.
We enjoyed some local food and wine before joining up with Miguel at 2.45pm not far from the restaurant.
Our next stop is to visit the Moorish Castle further up the mountain. The fog is back and visibililty is decreasing as we climb. The traffic is also unbelievable, but somehow Miguel finds a space to park, and gave us a map and directions to the Castle. It is up to us if we wish to go inside once we get to the ticket office.
We faithfully head off up the trail with many others
Far up on the top of the hill we can just make out the castle in the fog
Once we got to the ticket office at the fortress wall we decided it was not worth going further as time was getting tight and the fog was closing in.
So back in the car, we are off to see yet another famous landmark, Pena Palace. By now the fog and crowds are too much and we take a photo of the entrance and head back to Lisbon.
Entrance to Pena Palace (can't see the Palace because of the fog)
Miguel took us back to Lisbon along the same route as this morning, along the coastline. Amazingly when we get down out of the mountains and to the coast, the fog is gone and it is bright sunshine. The previously deserted beaches are full of people.
We are back at our hotel by around 4.30pm after a thoroughly enjoyable day. It would take several days to appreciate the Sintra region, but we had a great overview.
No comments:
Post a Comment