cheryl goes global: Day 6: The Struggle Train and Sintra

Getting on that midnight train to Portugal... Well it was really more like the 10pm train (details). But anyways, at this moment in time we are still on said train and it is about 3 hours late. Why, you might ask? Because there are forest fires along our route.

We have apparently been stopped since about 4am and only just now began to move again. And as we are on our way we are passing by the fires that hopefully have been contained but seen yet put out. We can see the fire trucks next to the tracks working to tame the flames. We can also smell the smoke and feel the heat. It's a very weird experience.

So now we'll be getting to Lisbon closer to 11am which is sad because it cuts into our time to see the palaces in Sintra. But we gotta roll with the punches....

We have now disembarked in Lisbon and the struggles have continued. First we missed where we should have gotten off the train because it was only stopped for a few minutes and by the time we had our luggage down and ready to go, the train was moving again! Needless to say this was unexpected. So on to the next station which meant we had to make a new plan. This one involving the metro to get to the train station that would take us to Sintra. And after struggling with the ticket machine, we were off!

Once we arrive at the train station we are then tasked with storing our luggage. Thank goodness there were enough lockers open so that was easily handled, as was our ticket. So we walked to get on the train and as soon as I get on the doors start closing behind me... Without Eric and Carissa on board! So I channel my inner superman and try to hold the doors open and force them wide enough for them to get in. Success! They are through, we sit down and I massage my arm where I know I will soon have a bruise. We also managed to not sit by the smelly man who was behind us in line so another success! There won't have to be a repeat of what Channing and I did when we were in Monaco.

We settled in for the short ride to Sintra and I am so glad we went on this day trip. The palaces/mansions/ruins were so cool! We only had time to hit the three we were most interested in but it was so worth it! We also probably climbed our booties up more stairs than I can even count. Seriously. We started at the bottom and worked our way up to the top of the mountain.

The first spot was the Quinta de Regaleira and it was a fabulous mansion complete with some beautiful grounds. It even had these really cool tunnels that went underneath the building and connected you to other parts of the property. And I only banged my head once! Which made Carissa fear I would get a concussion (silly woman) but nope, not even a scratch this time! The Regaleira also had this really cool well that you could climb up and see down.

The Initiation Well, One of the towers, and the Mansion

Next was the Palacio de Pena which basically looks like Medieval Times. No joke. It was pretty awesome and even was brightly colored--and we all know how I love bright colors. It also gave us some awesome views of downtown Sintra and some of the other sites, making it well worth the hike to get up there.

Right outside the main gate, looking up at the palace, and enjoying the colors

And last was the Castelo dos Mouros, which is an old Moorish castle or the ruins of an old castle. It also gave us some awesome views because it was on a peak opposite the Pena palace (more climbing mind you). And getting to the top of these ruins was not easy because these stairs have no rails so if you fall, you fall. Which was kind of scary. We also decided that it resembled the Great Wall of China from some angles, so it had that going for it, too.

The Mouros from various angles :)

Once we climbed back down it was onto the bus and headed back to Lisbon. We have a full day tomorrow and are trying to cram a lot in before our bus to Seville. Wish us luck!

And for the rest of the lovely pictures from Sintra, click to

I seem to be having some trouble putting these in the blog, so here is the link to the whole album (it may be photo overload, you have been warned!).

Castelo dos Mouros