Today started out quite rainy. When we got to Sintra it was really pouring. We were looking to visit the Palacio Pena and it turned out we were in the wrong place. Rather than dodge raindrops again we decided to tour the National Palace built in the early 15th century. Later in the day we found the Palacio Pena and took a tour of that as well. Here are pictures, first of the National Palace and then of the Palacio Pena.
It has stopped raining as we finish our tour of the National Palace. We decide to continue our original quest and find the Palacio Pena. We drive up and up to the top of a high hill. Along the way we pass many folks tramping up the hill. We decide they must be Germans. We park as close to the top as we can. What’s this? For 2 Euros each we can get a bus the rest of the way? Why, yes, we will buy those tickets along with an audio tour of the Palacio Pena.
By this time it is around 2 PM. We decide to avoid the bad food at lunch problem by not eating. 🙁
The Pena Palace was built in the 19th century by Ferdinand II. It was only occupied by royalty for about 60 years. In 1908 King Carlos I and his son were assassinated. King Carlos’s other son was only king for two years before the republic of Portugal was declared. The palace itself evokes a feeling of Neuschwanstein in Germany, kind of a crazy quilt of turrets and tile. No pictures were allowed inside.
We are looking forward to dinner tonight. Our plan is to have some bar snacks and a couple of tapas plates. This works out fine except for the fact that the World Real Estate Agents have taken over the bar. They appear to all be American. The waiter in the bar leads us to the dining side of the floor since it is much quieter there. He calls us by name. That’s really nice. We were only in the bar one night and only ordered wine and tapas. We order a glass of champagne to celebrate our last night in Portugal and tapas. Portugal has been scenic and interesting from a historical point of view. We only wish that either we had ordered better or that the food that we ordered had been better. One stop tomorrow in Portugal and then on to Spain.
This has been a great hotel. One more shot of the stormy Atlantic Ocean off our balcony.