Sintra

Lord Byron called it the Glorious Eden. The fop may not have been able to pronounce Don Juan, but he had this city pegged. A beautiful little town clinging to steep forested mountainsides, Sintra charmed us from the moment we set foot off the train, from the quaint cafes to the old timey barber shop (which I missed before it closed) to the ancient Moorish castle to the grand palace that replaced it.

We did Sintra as a day trip from Lisbon, a quick 50 minute jaunt by Metro and Train, and we had a wonderful time there. Took a lloooooooong climb up to the castle, tromping around the ramparts and scaling the turrets, trying to imagine what it was like for the moors to defend it from the oncoming Potruguese, before heading a bit further up the hill to the Palacio de Pena, the palace that became the ruling center when the moors were displaced. I'm not a big fan of gaping at the history of the ruling class (I prefer to see where the real people lived--after all, like they say, anything is possible with an endless supply of free labor, so why the big whoop?), but this was pretty impressive. Still very close to what it was when the royals left it for a new palace closer to sea level.

Had a great grilled cuttlefish for dinner, with carrot soup and a cold beer. Wonderful. Now we're back in Lisbon, heading back to the room to rest our weary feet. Ah, bed.

Still having a wonderful time. 9 days down, 20 left to go! Tomorrow we head out for another day trip to Cascais, a beach town, to laze around a bit and have some more seafood.

Hope all are well.