Greetings!
Many days on this trip, we've told ourselves that the town we're staying in is the picture-perfect castle on a mountainside, cobblestone-street, cafe on the corner, fountain in the plaza kind of town.
And then we find that the next place is even more perfect. Well, we're running out of nights, and it's okay because we don't think it can get any better than the town of Sintra.
The town isn't on the top of the mountain because that's reserved for an even older abandoned I castle (the Moors built). Sintra is just below it, and has three palaces, all of them beautifully designed, landscaped, and furnished.
The one we visited also had a couple of standout features. First, it had an outstanding garden. Pat was impressed, and it takes quite a bit to get her approval. Second, near the top of the property, there is a huge pile of rocks.
Inside the rocks, a descending circular staircase is carved into solid rock. The hole in the ground is thirty feet across and 200 feet deep. At the bottom is a tunnel which exits in front of a waterfall midway down the hillside on the property.
It started out as a vertical cavern in the mountain that the owner decided to expand and carve the staircase. Now, it's almost as popular as the palace.
We're staying in the deluxe suite in a large three-story house just below the square. The streets are almost impossible to drive, and it took enlisting the main receptionist to help us drive out car from outside the town to near our front door. It will stay parked there until Friday morning when we drive to the Lisbon airport for our flight home.
To see all of the photos taken today, click on:
Wednesday, Oct 16th, Sintra, Portugal.
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