It seemed it was impossible to get to our hotel in Sintra late Thursday afternooon.Β The GPS led us to one-way streets going the wrong way. We drove around in a huge circle and tried in vain to call the hotel for guidance.Β When we finally got through, we were informed that the GPS hadn’t caught up with the town’s recently altered street configurations.
We checked in at Chalet Relogio Guesthouse, and then walked downhill into Sintra-Vila proper.Β Sintra is a fairy-tale town with pastel-hued manors and villas; it has enticed, over the centuries, moon-worshiping Celts, castle-building Moors, and Portuguese royals bent on impressing with over-the-top palaces and gardens. Dewy forests teeming with moss and lichens grow with exuberance on the rippling mountains.
I had come here in July of 2013 on a solo trip and had experienced moments of wonder, especially at the Castelo dos Mouros.Β I had insisted my husband would love it.Β I couldn’t have been more mistaken.Β I hated it the second time around. Maybe we should never return to the same place twice.
That first evening was vaguely promising. It was gloomy but not raining, and we could see the 9th-century ruined Castelo dos Mouros up on the hill.Β It was the last view we would have of it.Β On clear days, to climb on its ramparts is to discover sweeping views from Sintra’s palace-dotted landscape to the gleaming Atlantic.Β However, there was no point in climbing it the next day when the fog was so thick we couldn’t see our own noses.
We shivered in the main square beside flaming patio heaters while imbibing in beer, Sangria and olives at Adega das Caves. We wandered around the town, admiring the PalΓ‘cio Nacional de Sintra with its twin conical chimneys.Β We took a long walk to the non-touristy part of town to find Restaurante Sopa d’Avo, a local Portuguese eatery that I had loved in 2013.Β I ate the same thing I had five years ago and it compared favorably to the first: Leeks a Bras – “Leeks mixed with tiny French fries and involved in scrambled eggs.” The woman owner was thrilled that I’d returned to her restaurant after five years and that I’d written about her restaurant in my blog.
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Our only view of Castelo dos Mouros.Β This was my favorite place when I visited in 2013, but we didn’t bother to visit this time because of the fog.Β If you’d like to see my favorite place in Sintra in 2013, you can visit: sintra’s castelo dos mouros.

the only view we’d have of Castelo dos Mouros – courtesy of my husband
The PalΓ‘cio Nacional de Sintra, a World Heritage Site of Moorish origins, was first expanded by Dom Dinis (1261-1325), enlarged by JoΓ£o I in the 15th century, then renovated again my Manuel I in the following century.Β We didn’t go inside this time, but if you’d like to read more about it, you can check out my account of my first visit in 2013: sintra: palΓ‘cio nacional de sintra.
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The fabulous breakfast spread at the Chalet on Friday morning didn’t lighten the dark mood that descended on me when we woke up to a blanket of thick fog. Intermittent rain made the fog doubly uninviting.Β We bundled up in layers and raincoats and went outside to try to catch a bus to PalΓ‘cio Nacional da Pena.Β Several buses passed us by, but we luckily caught a ride with a tuk-tuk.
Rising from a wooded peak, PalΓ‘cio Nacional da Pena can be the stuff of fantasy, with its carnival of onion domes, Moorish keyhole gates, and coral and lemon crenelated towers.Β According to Lonely Planet Portugal, “Ferdinand of Saxe Coburg-Gotha, the artist-husband of Queen MarΓa II, commissioned Prussian architect Ludwig von Eschwege in 1840 to build the Bavarian-Manueline epic.”Β I didn’t know who any of these people were, and by the time I was finished with the horrible experience of visiting here, I could have cared less.
We stood in a long line, not clearly marked, and found after way too long that this line was for people already possessing tickets. We tried to buy tickets on our phones and finally met with success, but by then we’d given up our spot in the ticket-possessing line and had moved to the non-ticket line.Β Β We moved back to the end of the ticketed-tourist line. Slowly we got in through the gate.Β Then we joined another slow-moving queue to walk through the palace, mainly just to escape the pouring rain. The crowds were herded through at a snail’s pace. There was no way to push through quickly, and no way to go back.Β We were stuck for the duration.Β The only thing I enjoyed was staying dry for the time we were inside.
When we finally escaped Pena Palace two hours later, we walked around the Parque da Pena, a garden filled with tropical plants, redwoods and ferns, camellias, rhododendrons and lakes.Β By then we were walking through a light drizzle. We saw swans, a Western Red Cedar, the Fonte dos Passarinhos, a High Cross, and Lake of the Shell.
It was nearly 3:30 by the time we got warm and cozy in a restaurant in town, Tasca Saloia, for a much-needed lunch.
A hoola-hooping busker entertained us as we walked toward Quinta da Regaleira.Β There we stood in another line, but luckily it wasn’t too long. There, we wandered through the dense foliage of the gardens, checking out fountains, grottoes, lakes and underground caverns. It was no longer raining, and the fog had lifted just a little, but we didn’t have much patience for sightseeing by this time.
Instead, we went to seek dinner at another place I’d eaten in 2013, Culto da Tasca, but sadly it was closed.Β On our way back to town, we dropped into Restaurante Apeadeiro, where we immediately turned away the bread, olives and cheese, which were never free offerings but ended up as items calculated on the bill. The owner snatched them away as if insulted. After that it took us forever to get waited on.Β A talkative English-speaking Portuguese guy next to us was full of advice about what we should order. We could only see the heads of the barmaids because the floor was sunken behind the bar. The barstools were so tilted they looked like they’d topple over backwards.Β An inebriated pregnant-looking guy in an orange t-shirt kept wandering into the bar from the back room and looking around absently and then plodding back.Β Mike and I started laughing and couldn’t stop.
In this strangely askew place, the meal was surprisingly good: garlic bread and soup for Mike and prawns fried in garlic with French fries for me. We slammed down nearly a whole bottle of wine and then caught a taxi in the rain back to our chalet.
I couldn’t wait to move on from Sintra the next morning.
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If you’re curious as to how PalΓ‘cio Nacional da Pena looks on a sunny summer day, you can check out my first visit in 2013: sintra: palΓ‘cio nacional da pena.
Parque da Pena is a tropical garden filled swans, lakes and special monuments.Β The High Cross was built at the highest point on the Sintra hills on the order of San JoΓ£o in 1522.Β Ferdinand II replaced it with a larger cross, and when that was destroyed by lightning in 1997, it was finally replaced with a replica of the original in 2008. Lake of the Shell was probably built in the 16th century by monks and gets its name from a small niche overlaid by shells. The Western Red Cedar is a 35-meter-tall tree with a pyramidal canopy.Β The lower branches curve downwards toward the soil where they take root before suddenly returning to a vertical position. The tree was utilized by indigenous Indian populations on the northwest coast of America, with its roots used to make baskets and its bark clothing.Β It also took on medicinal and spiritual properties.Β Fonte dos Passarinhos, or Little Birds Fountain, is the entryway to the Garden of Camellias and the Queen’s Fern Valley.
We were some very miserable tourists on this day.
After visiting Parque de Pena, we went back into town, where we had a lovely lunch at Tasca Saloia.
Quinta da Regaleira was created by Italian opera-set designer Luigi Manini under the orders of Brazilian coffee tycoon, AntΓ³nio Carvalho Monteiro, also known as Monteiro dos MilhΓ΅es (Moneybags Monteiro), according to Lonely Planet Portugal.
My visit here in summer of 2013 was so much prettier: sintra: quinta da regaleira.

Quinta da Regaleira
Walking through town in the evening and the askew Restaurante Apeadeiro.
*Thursday-Saturday, November 1-3, 2018*
*Friday steps: 20,222 (8.57 miles)*
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βPROSEβ INVITATION: I invite you to write up to a post on your own blog about a recently visited particular destination (not journeys in general). Concentrate on any intention you set for your prose.Β In this case, one of my intentions for my trip to Portugal was to pick five random verbs each day and use them in my travel essay: 1) try, 2) compare, 3) calculate, 4) experience, 5) slam. β
It doesnβt matter whether you write fiction or non-fiction for this invitation.Β You can either set your own writing intentions, or use one of the prompts Iβve listed on this page: writing prompts: prose. (This page is a work in process.) You can also include photos, of course.
Include the link in the comments below by Monday, July 8 at 1:00 p.m. EST.Β When I write my post in response to this invitation on Tuesday, July 9, Iβll include your links in that post.
This will be an ongoing invitation. Feel free to jump in at any time. π
I hope youβll join in our community. I look forward to reading your posts!
Perhaps the weather didn’t help the feeling you had this time round. The architecture and gardens were lovely though.
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The weather, and the crowds, were really a downer this time, Carol. I was glad I had had such a good experience in 2013, but I felt bad for Mike.
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An interesting proposition: βMaybe shouldnβt visit the same place twiceβ! Expectations can be a curse. I suppose revisiting Warsaw for the 8th time is a different thing. A pity it didnβt work our better for you and Mike. Was this on top of the Camino? Or do I misremember? I wonder if that had anything to do with your disenchantment?
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I have visited many places twice, Meg, so I guess it does depend on the visit. If the second visit is pleasant, or you discover something new, or get to immerse more fully in the culture, I’m sure it could be better on the second visit. I visited Paris twice, the second time, we took our boys aged 8 & 10. That wasn’t so nice as they didn’t have patience to do many things we wanted to do.
I’m sure your repeated visits to Warsaw are all very different and satisfying, especially as each time you get to spend time with your grandchildren and see them as they grow up.
This visit followed on the heels of my Camino, but I don’t think that affected my attitude, as we had enjoyed other places in Portugal. It was mostly that I wanted Mike to love Sintra as much as I did on my first visit, and the weather didn’t cooperate at all to allow that to happen. π
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Great post π
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Thank you kindly! π
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Oh dear! The weather can have a big effect on mood, maybe you would still have liked it if it had been sunny again. I chuckled at the leeks involved with scrambled eggs. They sound a lovely couple.
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You’re so right that weather can certainly affect your mood when traveling. Especially in Sintra, where the views are part of what you go there for, and there were no views to be had with all that fog! I would have enjoyed it much more on a sunny day. I also forgot to mention that it was some holiday there, so VERY crowded. I hate crowds and bad weather when traveling. Fog is horrible, but fog mixed with rain and cold is the worst.
I loved that description of the Bras a leeks! The eggs and leeks were such a lovely couple! π
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Ah, Iβm a firm believer in not returning to places, Cathy
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I think you’re right, Sue, unless you’re going back to fully immerse yourself, and maybe spend a month there, so you can experience varied weather! I think it’s especially true if your first visit is enchanting, as mine was. π
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Not just about weather, Cathy
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True, but weather is one of many things that can affect the experience for sure. π
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Well, of course!
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I often think it is not a good thing to visit the same place twice, unless it is somewhere like a city (London, Paris etc.) which have so many interesting things to visit that more than one trip is essential. In Sintra you were really stuck to what you saw before in better weather. And perhaps you were still recovering from the Camino for sight-seeing and crowds. I would imagine the solitude you experienced on that journey would be in your mind for a long time afterwards.
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The crowds made it so unpleasant, Jude, and on top of the fog, cold and rain it was really miserable. I so wanted Mike to be as enchanted by Sintra as I had been, but it wasn’t to be. And yes, the crowds felt so abrasive and overwhelming after the solitude I experienced on the Camino. Doubly so, I’m sure. π
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What a shame, Cathy! Sometimes we’re desperate to go back for more, and end up with less. The fog is quite mystical and magical in some of the photos, but I know you weren’t feeling it. π π Lisbon airport is SO busy, isn’t it? It was the first time I’d flown from there when we went to the Azores, and I was quite enchanted to overfly Sintra! And quite low over the city and river too!
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It was such a shame, Jo. You know how much I loved it the first time around. I think I spent three nights there and had perfect weather, especially for the middle of summer. Also, I had virtually no crowds! I definitely wasn’t feeling it this time, even if the pictures looked somewhat mystical! Lisbon airport is certainly very busy. I can’t wait to tell my story of flying home from there! How exciting to fly over Sintra. I bet it looked beautiful from the air. That Azores trip sounds wonderful in every way. π
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It felt like we were landing in the Tagus, Cathy. Great views even though I was sitting on the wing βππ©π°π
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That is really low then! I’m glad you had great views despite being on the wing! Hope we’ll see photos. π
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The weather can be a very major factor in determining how or if you enjoy a trip.
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That’s for sure, Albert!
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I’m sorry your second trip was so disappointing. What a bummer – particularly because you were excited to share a special place with your husband. I will say, however, that your pictures are moody and gorgeous. Still, when one travels that far, one wishes for sunny skies!
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Thanks, Marsi. It was so disappointing, especially in light of how wonderful it was the first time around. My husband was most certainly not impressed. I think it was hard for him to see what I’d loved about it the first time around. π
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So many humans when we went there…not sure they were prepared for so many I remember wandering in another direction to avoid crowds… just like here in Banff…smiles βΊοΈπ«
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It was packed with people when we were there, too Hedy. Are you in Banff now? And it’s crowded? I went to Banff in the early 1980s and we had it almost to ourselves. π
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Maybe weather wasn’t on your side, but you’ve still got a great photos!
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Thank you so much! I had been there on a much sunnier day in 2013, so I was sorely disappointed. π
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