Sintra - Portugal

Apr 23

Morning: The Ascent to Magic

Our adventure began with a 30-minute drive from Ericeira in our trusty van, winding through the Portuguese countryside toward the mystical mountains of Sintra. Finding parking in the town center proved challenging initially, but a serendipitous encounter with a friendly tuk-tuk driver changed our trajectory entirely. For €15 each, this enterprising young gentleman offered not just transportation to the Pena Palace, located on the second-highest point of the Sintra Mountains at 1,575 feet above sea level, but also sage local advice about safer parking arrangements.

Following his guidance, we relocated our vehicle to a municipal lot adjacent to a government building—a much more secure location with higher foot traffic. We've learned that the wisdom of locals is invaluable when exploring new territories.

The Tuk-Tuk Adventure

The journey up the serpentine mountain roads was nothing short of magical. Our tuk-tuk wound through over 500 acres of the Pena Park, a vast forested area with a labyrinthine system of paths and narrow roads. The traffic was heavy, moving at a snail's pace, which gave us ample opportunity to absorb the increasingly dramatic landscape. Public buses, packed with tourists, crawled alongside us in the same queue, confirming our wise choice of alternative transportation.

Exploring the Pena Palace Grounds

Arriving at the ticket office near the palace entrance, we faced a choice: wait three hours for the next available interior tour or explore the magnificent exterior grounds immediately. For our group of four—John, Ann, Tomas, and Helena—the decision was easy. The palace exterior and terraces provided spectacular views, and the grounds themselves contained centuries of royal history.

The Palace of Pena was originally constructed as a Hieronymite monastery in 1511 by order of King Manuel I, but was devastated by the 1755 Lisbon earthquake and later transformed by King Ferdinand II in the 1840s into a romantic royal summer residence. The palace combines Gothic, Moorish, and even Egyptian styles in accordance with the exotic taste of Romanticism, creating what appears to be a fairytale castle materialized from childhood dreams.

We hiked to the highest accessible point on the castle grounds, where a cross marks the summit. The panoramic views from this vantage point were breathtaking—sweeping across the town of Sintra below, the Atlantic coastline in the distance, and the mysterious forests that shroud these ancient hills in perpetual mist.

The Garden Paradise

King Ferdinand II, known as the "King-Artist," planted tree species from every continent throughout the 210-acre Pena Park, creating the most important arboretum in Portugal. Our leisurely descent took us through these botanical wonderlands, where North American sequoia, Lawson's cypress, magnolia, and Western redcedar mix with Chinese ginkgo, Japanese Cryptomeria, and a wide variety of ferns and tree ferns from Australia and New Zealand.

The hiking trail meandered through dense woodland, past ancient boulders and romantic grottos. Hidden throughout the park are pavilions and small constructions that create scenarios of unquestionable natural beauty with great historical importance. We encountered the ruins of the original monastery, chapel walls that survived the great earthquake, and mysterious pathways that seemed to lead deeper into an enchanted forest.

Descent to the Historic Town

Our walking descent from the palace to Sintra's historic center took nearly two hours, but every step revealed new wonders. The dirt hiking trail provided a perfect counterpoint to the formal palace gardens, offering glimpses of local flora and fauna while gradually revealing different perspectives of the town below.

Sintra's Historic Heart

Sintra's history stretches back to Roman times, but it gained particular significance when King Afonso I captured it from the Moors in 1147. The town we explored that afternoon has been a major tourist destination for centuries, with its historic center famous for 19th-century Romanticist architecture, historic estates and villas, gardens, and royal palaces.