anniversary

Pena Palace and Cabo De Roca in Portugal

The previous post in this series is here..

After Sintra, we drove to the Pena Palace. This was a humongous palace. There was a garden on the way to the castle and we got to walk a bit through it with our guide.

The guy who built the palace for his wife did not get to enjoy it with his wife. A staggering amount of money went into building this in three different styles and connecting them. The artwork, the architecture (columns, staircases, ceilings, arches) are all very distinct and different in these three parts. This is a must see for any architecture fans and architecture students.. just fantastic!

This is one of my favorite photos from the entire trip. Had asked her to go and peek from that turret structure.. she came out with such a beautiful smile.. while this is all I got on camera, the rest is in my head.

Another favorite.. this was the closest to a “bench photo” for this trip!

These pictures and videos don’t do enough justice to this palace. If you are visiting Lisbon, do NOT miss a visit to this palace.

We met a couple from New York and another from New Zealand and had great conversations with them throughout this day trip. We also took photos for the other group. After the walk through the castle, we sat at the Palace souvenir shop and got some sweet popcorn. Then off we went back to the bus for a visit to Cabo de Roca.

This is the western most point in continental Europe. It was extremely windy and we spent a good hour here walking to the monument and back.

A landscape gallery

and a portrait gallery

a video highlight reel of this leg of the trip

Then it was time to head to the last stop in the tour.. Cascais.. that in another post!

Sintra, Portugal - as cute as it gets!

The previous post in this series is here..

Our day 2 in Portugal was a bus tour to Sintra, then to Pena Palace, Cabo de Roca, and Cascais.

This first post is about the first part of the visit to Sintra. A cute hilly town.. we were picked up early from the square outside Baixa on a viator guided tour, and it was an hour plus bus ride to Sintra. We passed an aquaduct that was an engineering marvel (for any time)!

Got to listen to some history of the Moorish people who used to rule Portugal. We got to spend an hour walking around this place with a stop at a local pastry shop, Lord Byron’s cafe and a walk around the steps to the Musuem. We also got to walk up to Uniao das freguesias de Sintra… there was no time to go through it.. just walk outside it. It was a half mile hike up the hill and we had just enough time to go to the top and be back. We crossed some landmarks like Lawrence hotel..

A few pictures..

Two photo galleries.. one in landscape

and one in portrait format

A video highlights reel of this part of the trip..

The next leg of this tour on the next post..

Pasteis De Belem

The previous post in this series is here..

We had one more stop in Belem area. It was the Church and a pastry shop right near the church called Pasteis de Belem. This bakery has been around for a long long time and they have this one delicacy that is egg based. (angeye namakku appeattu!).

San kept raving about it as did our guide. So off we went, stood in line. Our guide knew the staff. so we got a little closer to the baking tour which was nice. Then we got to eat. I opted for a different pastry as the strong smell of eggs did not agree with me.

The two ladies were rolling their eyes constantly at my hot cocoa and pastry.

We got some to go in hopes that we could keep it in the fridge and bring it to the kids. The expiry date out of fridge was going to be 36 hours tops. So we got as freshly made stuff as we could get. Then we drove back to Baixa area. Our guide dropped us off and took off to do homework! Apparently a student doing this guide thing part time!

A video highlight reel of this segment.

It was still bright out. So we went to find dinner and decided to walk back to the gate and water front. We were treated to some interesting sights and sounds the rest of the evening. That in the next post..