so, yesterday we were in sintra, which is about 30 miles or so from lisbon. sintra is
at the top of a ridge named after the town... the roads are incredibly narrow, with lots of sharp turns with obstructed views. the whole area is
lush and green and cool, the temperatures seem to stay in the 60s. the town sometimes reminds me of a german town at the foot of the alps, partially because the pena palace was, i think, designed by a german architect (possibly the same one who built schloss neuschwanstein in bavaria)
the moors built a castle on the heights not far from pena palace, and part of the national palace of sintra (first picture) as well.
today that castle is mostly ruins, picturesque ruins high on a peak above the town. the moorish influence extends into the design of the town, which has many narrow tiled streets, with twists, turns,
and arches... the muslims were expelled from portugal and the town became popular in the 19th century as a vacation spot close to lisbon for the royal family. the royal family had german connections, which explains a little of why the town in some parts resembles a bavarian village, if it was set in the hills and forests of portugal. today it is
a relaxing tourist spot. the pace of life is fairly slow compared to lisbon, and the city is much, much, much cleaner.
the fun part of today was trying to leave, our plan was to proceed from palacio seteais to obidos, about 100km north of sintra, and spend the night at the pousada there. pousadas are gov't run hotels some of which are set in historical buildings (similar to the spanish paradors) but, mom was having difficulty handling a stickshift in the hills, and i've never driven a standard (except for 5 minutes in an east german trabant, where the stickshift is on the steering column, when i was 16.) so we stalled out multiple times going up a hill, and there was a guardia nacional republicana trooper behind us, and mom asked him for help, and he drove it a little ways up the hill, and then stopped, because the car was ok. and then, mom couldnt get it going again, so she flagged down two german tourists (they
have to know how to drive a volkswagen, right?) and they took it into town and parked it, and i told mom we should get out, and walk along, and relax and let her calm down. so, we decided that was enough of the car and that we would go back to lisbon today, and tommorow, and take the train to porto on sunday. we went to the tourist information office, because we didnt know what else to do, and the man there helped mom deal with hertz rental car, they wanted mom to bring the car to the nearest rental place, which was 15 miles away in cascais, mom didnt want to drive it in sintra, so the tourist office man offered to help us, and drove us out of sintra, and then mom took over driving to cascais. while mom was talking to the car rental people, i went outside to book a hotel room in lisbon for the two nights we'd be there... where we had a whole new comedy begin to ensue. i called amex, and asked if there were any places available at lapa palace or the york house, and then he said no, but there was a spot at the ritz carlton, thinking that was the ritz four seasons, i said, ok, thats fine. apparently, he had booked me in the ritz carlton, only it isnt in lisbon... it's 30km from here between cascais and sintra... in the mountains. when we got to cascais, we dropped off the car, and got a taxi to the ritz in lisbon. he brought us to the ritz four seasons, and i was having premonitions of being at the wrong hotel. these came true when i said i had reservations and they couldnt find them, but since i made them that day through amex, it was possible they didnt have them yet. so they gave us the daily rate, and said theyd change it when they got in touch with amex. when we got to the room, and i checked my email, it turns out, i was right, they had booked us at the ritz carlton, which was in the booneys, so we called amex, and complained about why in the world would we ask for a hotel in lisbon and not mean being in the city, especially when the two places i asked for where in the city. they saw the point, and fixed it. so that was quite an adventure in portugal today. the past three days we did lots of sightseeing, combined with the somewhat stressful morning for mom, we decided just to take it easy today. thats much easier when you have a nice view.
at the top of a ridge named after the town... the roads are incredibly narrow, with lots of sharp turns with obstructed views. the whole area is
lush and green and cool, the temperatures seem to stay in the 60s. the town sometimes reminds me of a german town at the foot of the alps, partially because the pena palace was, i think, designed by a german architect (possibly the same one who built schloss neuschwanstein in bavaria)
the moors built a castle on the heights not far from pena palace, and part of the national palace of sintra (first picture) as well.
today that castle is mostly ruins, picturesque ruins high on a peak above the town. the moorish influence extends into the design of the town, which has many narrow tiled streets, with twists, turns,
and arches... the muslims were expelled from portugal and the town became popular in the 19th century as a vacation spot close to lisbon for the royal family. the royal family had german connections, which explains a little of why the town in some parts resembles a bavarian village, if it was set in the hills and forests of portugal. today it is
a relaxing tourist spot. the pace of life is fairly slow compared to lisbon, and the city is much, much, much cleaner.
the fun part of today was trying to leave, our plan was to proceed from palacio seteais to obidos, about 100km north of sintra, and spend the night at the pousada there. pousadas are gov't run hotels some of which are set in historical buildings (similar to the spanish paradors) but, mom was having difficulty handling a stickshift in the hills, and i've never driven a standard (except for 5 minutes in an east german trabant, where the stickshift is on the steering column, when i was 16.) so we stalled out multiple times going up a hill, and there was a guardia nacional republicana trooper behind us, and mom asked him for help, and he drove it a little ways up the hill, and then stopped, because the car was ok. and then, mom couldnt get it going again, so she flagged down two german tourists (they have to know how to drive a volkswagen, right?) and they took it into town and parked it, and i told mom we should get out, and walk along, and relax and let her calm down. so, we decided that was enough of the car and that we would go back to lisbon today, and tommorow, and take the train to porto on sunday. we went to the tourist information office, because we didnt know what else to do, and the man there helped mom deal with hertz rental car, they wanted mom to bring the car to the nearest rental place, which was 15 miles away in cascais, mom didnt want to drive it in sintra, so the tourist office man offered to help us, and drove us out of sintra, and then mom took over driving to cascais. while mom was talking to the car rental people, i went outside to book a hotel room in lisbon for the two nights we'd be there... where we had a whole new comedy begin to ensue. i called amex, and asked if there were any places available at lapa palace or the york house, and then he said no, but there was a spot at the ritz carlton, thinking that was the ritz four seasons, i said, ok, thats fine. apparently, he had booked me in the ritz carlton, only it isnt in lisbon... it's 30km from here between cascais and sintra... in the mountains. when we got to cascais, we dropped off the car, and got a taxi to the ritz in lisbon. he brought us to the ritz four seasons, and i was having premonitions of being at the wrong hotel. these came true when i said i had reservations and they couldnt find them, but since i made them that day through amex, it was possible they didnt have them yet. so they gave us the daily rate, and said theyd change it when they got in touch with amex. when we got to the room, and i checked my email, it turns out, i was right, they had booked us at the ritz carlton, which was in the booneys, so we called amex, and complained about why in the world would we ask for a hotel in lisbon and not mean being in the city, especially when the two places i asked for where in the city. they saw the point, and fixed it. so that was quite an adventure in portugal today. the past three days we did lots of sightseeing, combined with the somewhat stressful morning for mom, we decided just to take it easy today. thats much easier when you have a nice view.
No comments:
Post a Comment