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!

UADarthMaul #7- Chocolate, bees, and back to the wall

Deciding that today was going to be a relaxing day, we slept in later than usual.  We briefly toured the chocolate festival, trying some of the samples.  Miles bought a big bar of something that tasted like Nestle's Crunch.  We walked through a small tent with chocolate structures that seemed to all be 53% chocolate from what the plaques indicated.  Not my thing.  For some reason, there was a group with someone holding an owl, an eagle, and a parrot, asking people to pose with them and then asking for 10 euro per picture.  No thanks!  Beautiful birds though!

We explored the lower part of town, while Miles kept pushing to go back on the wall to finish our revolution around the city.  

Since it was lower, and therefore, closer to the ground, I gave up and said I'd do it.  We went up the staircase that we came down yesterday, and finished the route.  I focused on the ground and walked slightly more at ease.  This was the case, at least, until we came across an area full of bees that were flying like a tornado, all the way from the ground up to above us on the wall. We were almost to the end, and it petered out near me, so we walked past it.  Bees generally leave you alone if you don't bother them, right?  Not this time.  One decided to latch on to the back of my head, near the bottom left skull bone.  We finished the walk, got down, and promptly iced the area. I'm fine now.  At least we completed the journey!

Miles was feeling run down, so we went back to the room for him to take a nap.  Then, we took a walk and looked in all of the remaining shops.  We bought some more small items.  I'll post a picture of everything we bought after we return, since some are still a surprise.  We also found a medieval costume rental shop with an awesome iron crown that was not for sale.  Lame!

We found an off the main street pizza place, as Miles wanted to try some pizza.  We were the only customers, but the setting was awesome. 

 

We are going to sleep early tonight, so we are just hanging out here in the hotel, going to play some boardgames, and then we will be waking up super early tomorrow to drive to the airport to pick up Stephanie.  We are heading back to Sintra for one night.  For those interested, we then have one night at the Lisbon airport, and then Monday night at 9:40 or so AM, we fly to Seville Spain.

UADarthMaul #6 Facing my fears and feeling no better for it, in Obidos

I am writing this in the castle hotel lounge room.  The wifi is sparse in the room.  Nice light jazz music is playing.  Miles is curled up on a couch with his Nexus 7 and headphones, laughing at whatever he is watching or listening to at the moment.  Let's start with last night.

We went out for a late dinner and had fairly pedestrian meal choices, but for dessert, we decided to try a Portuguese dish, a pastel de nata.  It is almost like a mini pie with a crispy crust and egg cream filling.  The one last night had cinnamon and sugar sprinkled on top.  We both surprisingly liked it, though the filling is just so so.


We woke up this morning and darted over the the Sintra Palace which was nothing with nothing, but we figured we should do it since it was part of the combination ticket that we bought for the local attractions.  We packed up our bags, very carefully navigated the car out of its parking spot, and headed out towards the westernmost point of Europe.  On the way we stopped at the Convent of the Capuchos.  We discovered why the monks left.  Too much construction on the site.  Almost all of the paths, including the cave where the monks retreated and treated as a "cell" were blocked off.  The only thing of note was the walk through of the housing which looked like it was made for small people.  I'd be a cripple if I had to go in and out of the rooms.  They were about 5 feet tall.  Apparently, I opted for a video of most of it, and didn't take any pictures of these small rooms!  This picture inside will have to suffice.


Twenty minutes later we were in Cabo da Roca, right near a cliffside village.  Cabo itself was just a lighthouse with a few buildings, and a lookout point.  We took some pictures and climbed down the path on one side that was pretty tame.  It was beautiful.  Though, he slipped and caught his hand on a prickly grass and declared the walk down to be a disaster of epic proportions.  Why, in fact, he even had a red dot on his hand because of the endeavor.  A grand mistake.  At least we got some good pictures!


We left for Obidos, stopping midway at the Palace of Queluz.  It was nothing special inside, but the outside gardens were beautiful.  We quickly walked through it.


On the drive to Obidos, I noted that there were dozens of wind turbines.  I wish the US had more of them.

We are staying at a hotel that is a castle converted into a hotel.  Only town resident and hotel guests are allowed to bring their car into town.  I kind of had a feeling that finding the entrance would be a problem, and I was absolutely correct.  The gps seemed to bring me in the vicinity of where the hotel said to come in.  Apparently, the hotel meant walk in and google maps failed me.  I was within an inch of my car on both sides and ended up in a path that brought me behind the castle, still outside the walls.  I had to call them up twice and ask 3 separate people on the streets, but I finally found my way in.  I wish I had taken pictures while driving, because it was ridiculous bringing the car right through the main, and incredibly narrow, main street, up to the castle.

The town is beautiful and small, the shops beautiful and creative, and so far one of their restaurants and one of the dessert shops are amazing.  The town is surrounded by walls, and there are a handful of places to climb the walls and then walk around the city.  This city's elevation is all over the place and it dips and climbs and bends.  The town itself is already kind of high compared to surrounding land.  Miles wanted to walk the walls.  So did I.  However, when I get to those kind of heights, with no railing, extreme fear and panic takes over.  My first time up, I said no.  The second time, in a different location, I stopped about 15 feet from the top and allowed him to go up by himself.  Then, I decided to force myself up.  I tried walking on hands and knees, but it was quite painful.  So, I forced myself to walk it, using the gaps in the wall to grab onto and kept my eyes on the ground.  Occasionally, I'd take my camera out and take a picture, keeping my eyes only in front of me, at the screen turned sideways.  We got halfway around the whole town, on the highest point, before finding another set of stairs to go down.  I had soaked through three layers of clothing in the process, as fear can cause extreme sweating.  I took off my jacket and sweater, and let my short sleeved shirt dry off naturally while eating brownie gelato at the nearest place we could find.  Despite Miles claiming to have fear of heights, this is not the case.  I think he just wants to take after me, but he is much, much braver than I.  Also, I did not conquer my fear.  I just forced myself through it and each step was as painful as the last.  I am just as freaked by it as I was before.


We found a shop filled with hand crafted art submitted by people all over Portugal.  There was one huge piece that I would have LOVED to take home, but it was way too big.  I guess I need to move to Europe and then drive it home in order to get it.  Photography was not allowed, so I can't show it. Think a framed drawing of a family of rabbits, but their heads were giant and blew out of the picture in huge maybe paper mache type art.  It was weird and awesome.  I picked up 3 pieces.  We had similar luck in another shop.  Speaking of art, the way trees grow around the buildings of town are beautiful.



By day, Obidos has a lot of people, a few dogs, including some off leash that roam, and all of its shops open.  By night, the street lights turn on, a handful of shops and restaurants stay open, and the street is almost completely absent of people, becoming the epitome of serene and otherworldly.  I love it.


Tomorrow is the chocolate festival, which takes place inside the castle walls, but separate from the hotel portion.  We'll also explore some more of the town.

Tons more pictures at- https://www.flickr.com/gp/13109399@N07/UX5U8R

UADarthmaul #5 Castles and Palaces

Sintra is a fun place to be.  In the daytime, it is lively with tourists, little shops, and small restaurants. At night, it becomes a serene and cozy place that you have all to yourself.  Miles and I started the night by walking around a circle path downward and away from the town, before taking a dive and then walking up a steep incline to come back to the center.  What is unique about this path, is that every 20 feet or so is an artsy monument/statue.

We went to a restaurant recommended by our hosts, and we had to share a table with another couple, two girls in their young twenties.  They sat across from each other, followed by two empty seats across from each other, and then Miles and I sitting across from each other.  They started up a conversation with us, and apparently they are both from Florida.  One was living abroad, in Madrid, and the other was visiting.  We spoke about each other's travelling experiences.  I always enjoy connecting with other travelers.  They always have interesting stories to tell.  

While they were focused on trying out the wine selection, Miles and I were more interested in trying out the dessert selection.  We ordered a carrot cake covered in chocolate, an ice cream cake with fudge, and an iced chocolate cake.  The carrot cake was kind of tasteless, but the other two were excellent.

This morning, we went down for breakfast at our bed and breakfast.  We came at the tail end, and were left with a nice Japanese couple.  Despite some minor difficulty communication, I told them about the locations I planned for upcoming trip to Japan.  They seemed very excited about it and said that they were from Kyoto, and I think, Tsumago, both on my list of destinations.  They gave me their email address and said that they would be happy to have me reach out if I had any troubles while visiting.  I continue to find that other travelers are some of the happiest and friendliest you will ever encounter.

 We set out for our hike up the mountainside around 10:30.  It took us a little over an hour to reach the Moorish castle that resides above Sintra.  The hike was incredibly beautiful, and was quite the workout.  This was especially the case for Miles, who had never been on a hike before.  He needed to be pushed a bit, but once we got to the castle, his energy exploded, while I cowered in fear at the heights.  I experience extreme fear and panic at even small heights.  The view from the top walls of the castle were absurd, and it was incredibly windy.  While we continued to climb to the highest of walls, my eyes stayed glued to the path and I had to keep telling myself to keep going.  I would intermittently turn my camera to the side for a picture, but I did not turn my head.  For most of my shots, I waited until I was at more sturdy ground.  I do not like heights.

Next, we hiked a short way back to the middle of the mountain, and then up again to Pena Palace.  In between, at a bus stop, we saw a wild cat sitting.  This was a highlight of the afternoon for Miles. Pena Palacewas colorful and had a fairly lengthy museum inside.  There was a walk around the narrow walls as well, that Miles insisted we take.  I clung to the sides for dear life.  By the end, we were completely wiped out, and took the bus back down.  All in all, it took 3 hours between the hike and the two locations.  

For lunch, we went where we went the day before, which had decent, though not spectacular food.  One thing that I found interesting about the restaurant is that the waiters would buzz the kitchen to inform them of the orders.  I don't recall ever seeing that before.

We took a short rest and then took the bus to what ended up being the last stop of the day, another palace complex, Monserrate.  This was another steep hike down and then back up, with an unimpressive palace, but amazing gardens and a waterfall.  I discovered a plant that I had not seen before, an awesome looking tree, some swimming insects that looked like they were skiing, an old chapel, and the aforementioned waterfall.  However, with our exhaustion and the unimpressive palace itself, I consider this easily the least interesting place we have seen in Sintra.

We were completely without energy after a day of nonstop exercise, but after two hours resting, we decided to try the National Palace of Sintra, which we were told was open until 7:30.  It was not.  Tomorrow, we plan to start there and then pack up our bags, load up the car, and visit a local abandoned monastery, on the way to the westernmost point in Europe, Cabo da Roca.  Then, we will take a quick stop at Queluz National Palace, since it comes with our combined tickets from Sintra, and is literally directly in our path to Obidos.  Then, we will spend an easy night playing boardgames at our castle hotel.  We might explore a little in town before getting rest and making sure we have plenty of hunger for our next day's main event of the Obidos chocolate festival.

Tons more pictures at- https://www.flickr.com/gp/13109399@N07/UX5U8R