Part 3: Sintra and Lisbon – castles and colors

The last 3 days of our vacation. With many colors. From Pena Palace in Sintra to the brightly colored trams and graffiti in Lisbon. It is perhaps one of the most beautiful European capitals, not expensive at all, with cool people and delicious food.

Find below our itinerary:

Day 8 – Sintra: Quinta da Regaleira, Castelo dos Mouros, Pena Palace; Cabo da Roca
Day 9 – Lisbon: Placa Dom Pedro IV, Santa Justa Elevator, Carmo Convent, Arco da Rua Augusta, Placa do Comercio, Lisbon Cathedral (Se), Sao Jorge Castle, Miradouro de Santa Luzia, Miradouro des Portas do sol; Sunset at – Jeronimos Monastery & Belem Tower
Day 10 – Lisbon: Sao Roque Church, Pink Street, Time out Market, Tram 28, Ocenario do Lisbon, for sunset: Miradouro da Senhora do Monte

Other recommendations:

Bookstores – Bertrand, Ler Devagar
Fado music – A Baiuca Fado Vadio

Accommodation: Le primier Lisabon Suites

Day 8:

Sintra

Quinta da Regaleira
Castelo dos Mouros
Pena Palace

I wanted to visit this place for such a long time. I had heard that there are a lot of castles in Sintra and I always wondered what’s the history behind it. Well, it’s not exactly how I imagined, that a famous king of Portugal built these castles and did great deeds :)) The castles are on private property and each has a different story.

What not to do when you arrive in Sintra?

What we thought when we left Lisbon, obviously to put on GPS directly Pena Palace and surely there is a parking lot there, we thought. I had read before through other articles, as alternative options, that you can take a train directly from the capital and then through Sintra a bus with a circular route, which leaves you at each castle. What I have NOT read before or at least I have not found, is that, to get to the castles, it is NOT POSSIBLE WITH YOUR OWN CAR. As I said above, that they are located on private property and access by car is forbidden.

Imagine the following scene: it was raining really bad outside, we tried on Maps or on Waze how to get to Pena Palace and at one point, it recommended us to go through a forest by car, totally chaotic :)) The funny part continues because we tried to see if we can get to Quinta da Regaleira. In the end, we parked a 15 minute walk from Quinta, in an inappropriate place and after that, I found out that, TO VISIT THE CASTLE, YOU CAN DO IT, ONLY BY BUS 434, WHICH COSTS 7 EUROS FOR ALL DAY. Here you can find the map with the route

A recommendation would be, if you have a car, leave it at the train station in Sintra, and from there take the bus.

Quinta da Regaleira

I don’t know which one is the perfect way to visit Sintra, but Quinta da Regaleira was the first one we saw. This place belonged to many owners, from various portuguese merchants to foreign owners. In 1997 it was sold to the Sintra City Council, and in ’98 it was opened to the general public. Besides the palace and the chapel, here is a large park, with fountains, caves and lakes.

A ticket is 10 euros and if you want a map with directions and an audio guide, the price is 3 euros extra. For the site map, you can find a good reference here.

Castelo dos Mouros

Next, we took the bus to Castelo dos Mouros / Castle of the Moors (8 euros/ticket). If your feet tell you it’s too much for a day, to go to all 3 castles, leave this one in 3rd place and after visiting Pena and Quinta, just decide if you can visit this one too.

During the muslim iberian period, between the 8th and 9th centuries, this castle was built by the Moors and later conquered by the Christians in the 12th century. It is located on a hill, and once you climb the stairs to the top, you will be able to see, on the other side Pena Palace.

Pena Palace

Oh, the internet is already full of pictures of Pena Palace, beautifully colored with sun light. So the weather said, there must be some more in the rain, fog and wind. I resigned to this thought and I said to myself: me still going to Pena Palace! )

History says that a chapel was built here after the appearance of the Virgin Mary in the Middle Ages. For years it was a small place housing monks. After the earthquake of 1755, only ruins remained, but King Ferdinand II decided to turn the ruins of the chapel into a palace. In 1910 it was declared a national monument, in 1995 it enters the UNESCO patrimony and we find it in the 7 wonders of Portugal.

In today’s plan, we had Cabo da Roca for the evening, but the rain started again, we were tired after a whole day of Sintra, so to the westernmost point of Europe, we promised it that next time we will not miss it.

Day 9:

Lisbon

Placa Dom Pedro IV,
Santa Justa Elevator,
Carmo Convent,
Arco da Rua Augusta,
Placa do Comercio,
Lisbon Cathedral (Se),
Sao Jorge Castle,
Miradouro de Santa Luzia, Miradouro des Portas do sol;
Sunset at – Jeronimos Monastery & Belem Tower

I was talking in the previous article in Porto about how much we enjoyed the experience with a Free Tour Guide. So we thought of repeating it in Lisbon. Shame, shame, shame! we did not arrive at the meeting place in time, but it is more funny why we did not arrive at the meeting place. We calculated from the hotel, that it is about 20 minutes to Placa Dom Pedro. We took the subway from S.Sebastiao, from where we were staying and went to Baixa-Chiado station.

(I take this opportunity to mention that a rechargeable card costs 2 euros, and the trip 1.4 euros. Advantageous from my point of view is to take a card for the whole day, which costs 7 euros, valid for subway, tram or bus Surely you will want to walk several times, with tram 28 through the city.)

Back to the story. In Baixa-Chiado we took the wrong exit. Would you say, what can be so serious? There are 20 minutes between subway exits. We were surprised too. This subway station is well known as a shortcut used by locals. It has many escalators and if you want to be close to Placa Dom Petro IV or Chiado, you have to take the exit: Rua do Crucifixo, Largo do Chiado. You can find some extra information here .

Arriving in Dom Pedro IV Square, late obviously, we decided to reconfigure the day a bit and the next stop was at Santa Justa Elevator, which unfortunately was closed due to the pandemic, and then to Convento do Carmo. Most of the buildings and squares were demolished during the earthquake and later rebuilt, but Convento do Carmo is a monastery, where only the walls survived, while the roof fell completely; and the Lisboners never tried to rebuild it, keeping it in ruins, as a sign of the 1755 disaster.

Arco da Rua Augusta was originally built for the purpose of a bell tower, and later became an arch. Passing through it, you reach the Placa do Comercio. I have heard some stories that in this square, King Manuel I, arranges a fight between a rhino (considered a mythical beast at the time) received from India and an elephant, to test their limits. It is one of their largest squares, and in the center is the statue of Joseph I of Portugal.

Se de Lisboa – the most famous and oldest church in Lisbon, built somewhere in the 1100s.

How to get to Sao Jorge Castle?

Well, you have about 4 variants:

Obviously to walk, if you are not tired; bus 737; with the uber because it is very cheap or the option with free elevators in the city:

The locals use various shortcuts to get there faster and one such example is at Sao Jorge Castle, where you can use 2 elevators: the first is Elevator do Baixa, for 3 floors, and then if you walk 2 minutes, you will find ” Castelo Elevator ”- you can enter through the Pingo Doce Chão do Loureiro store, for 7 floors. You can go up the stairs only a few floors, where there is a parking with graffiti on each floor.

The cost of the ticket here is 10 euros / adult, and the best panorama of the city can be seen from here.

Miradouros. It will become your favorite word, because in Lisbon there are many places with great views. If you are still in Alfama, some of the most beautiful are: Miradouro de Santa Luzia and Miradouro des Portas do sol.

#FOOD ALERT

Some recommendations of places, received from a local guide are in the picture below or here in a beautifully organized map.

Trobadores is a medieval place, where the waiters are dressed in clothes for other centuries and for a beer and a chorizo is all you need. We got there, when Portugal played at the Euro and for every goal, you received a beer for free. And that’s how he laughed a lot in this place :))

The Jeronimos Monastery and the Belem Tower were the last stops of this day. If in case you are not tired of their specific cake, here is the version of Pasteis de Belem

Day 10:

Lisbon:

Sao Roque Church,
Pink Street,
Time out Market
Ocenario do Lisbon,
Tram 28
for sunset: Miradouro da Senhora do Monte

If the previous day in Lisbon was a little crazy and we didn’t stay for a moment, today the batteries are gone. Maybe because it was the last day of vacation and that final nostalgia came.

Biserica Sao Roque. Here we started our day; on Sunday. I heard it is the church with the most gold in Portugal. We admired its interior, we stayed for a few minutes listening the music and then we walked through the Bairro Alto neighborhood. Pink Street, as the name suggests, is an “instagrammable” street with cafes, colorful buildings and a well-known spot for photos.

We then took a bus to the Ocenarium. It is one of the largest and most beautiful in Europe, here you can find from penguins, sharks, octopuses, devil-fish and sunfish. The Ocenarium is structured in areas and you will walk through the Atlantic Ocean, then the Pacific, Arctic and Indian. The ticket costs 19 euros / adult and if you want to visit it, it would be advisable to buy an online ticket in advance, to avoid standing in line.

The trams in Lisbon are beautiful and colorful, without a doubt. The only minus, obviously, is that they are crowded and if you want to sit down, it would be better to be at the first stations. If now in this pandemic period it is crowded, I don’t even want to think how it wasn’t in other years. Besides the famous 28, the 12 or 22 trams are just as beautiful.