UADarthMaul #8- Back in Sintra. Palace hotel and a helicopter.

This morning we woke up to a beautiful fog surrounding the castle.

We picked Stephanie up from the airport and went back to Sintra.  I stupidly picked an expensive palace hotel because I thought it would be a cool experience.  Instead, we are too far out of town, the internet is terrible, the people are snooty, people rearranged our furniture when we were out, and a helicopter noisily landed on our lawn.

The palace hotel-


Yes, we went out for the day, came back, and the desk was moved from one wall to another, Miles' bed was moved, and the lights were off.  Super creepy.  I normally ask for there to be no maid service for the duration of my stay, including cruises.  I didn't think I needed to say anything here, since we are only staying one night.  This was a wrong assumption.  According to them, this is what they do in "5 star hotels."  In the time it took to write this paragraph, the internet has been so slow that the 3 pictures I posted above have still not uploaded.  5 stars my arse.  Fancy places generally weird me out, but having my furniture rearranged while I am gone takes the cake.  Additionally, when we were coming back to the room, I overheard a woman asking if someone had made it in time for the helicopter.  When we were in the room, a few minutes later, a helicopter landed in the middle of the lawn right in front of our room, with all the noise that you would expect.



So, we decided that the best things to see in Sintra, for Stephanie, was the Moorish castle, Pena Palace, and Regaleira.  Regaleira will be tomorrow morning.  We walked to town before hiking back up the mountain in beautiful, sunny weather in the low 70s.  This time, we saw rock climbers climbing the rock face below the castle, which according to the pamphlets, is commonplace.


At the top, Miles attempted to befriend a cat who was having none of that.

We are now back in our oddly and annoyingly rearranged room.  We are planning to relax and play some boardgames and go to sleep early.

While waiting for the pictures to upload, I used the bathroom.  The door will not latch closed.  5 star palace hotels!