The Bahblog

On Tuesday we to Sintra, Portugal, about 40 minutes outside of Lisbon by train. I'd been to Sintra six years prior. and it was my absolute favorite part of my time in Portugal during that trip. Sintra is a town built on a steep hill, with both an old Moorish castle, and the Pena Palace, the royal palace of the late 1800s.

After our tourist-swamped experience in Belèm, we decided to get started early, leaving Lisbon by 9am, to try to beat the crowds. Little did we know the weather would do that for us.

We left from Rossio Station and were in Sintra by 9:45. From the station, we walked all of 20 steps to the bus to take us up to the Pena Palace. While it would have been possible to walk, the hike is incredibly steep, and it would have taken us hours.

It was overcast on the ground, but by the time we got up to Pena Palace, everything was coated in thick fog.

We bought tickets to the palace and entered through the gardens. From the gate it was about a 10 minute walk up to the palace. It was eerie to say the least.

We got to the palace and the fog may have been even thicker.

When I was here six years ago, what I loved the most about the palace were the views, so I suggested we begin the palace tour in hopes that it would clear up. The palace itself was the home of royalty leading up to the revolution in 1910 in Portugal, expelling the royalty - after which the palace became a museum.

We ended the tour and the fog was just as thick as before. We galavanted around the parimeter of the palace gawking at the fog. The wind was blowing quite hard, and it was starting to drizzle.

From there, we walked to the Moorish Castle.

By the time we got to the castle the rain had really picked up.

We were soaked and had seen what we came to see, so it was time to walk back down to town.

About an hour later, we were back at the train station.