Our Last Day in Portugal was Spent in Sintra

Sintra is a quaint town high in the mountains overlooking the Atlantic Coast. The King of Portugal had a palace here to enjoy the summer breezes. Also the Moors had a castle here to defend their territory in the 800's. Today we visited both places.

The day started out with a 40 minute train from Lisbon. When we got to Sintra - we took a tour of the King's Palace. Portugal is world famous for its ceramic tiles and this palace was no exception. After the palace- we took a bus to the top of the mountain to see the Moorish Castle.

This area of Europe was Moorish Territory for centuries until the crusades cleared the Muslims out. We were really surprised to see how large the castle was. It reminded me of the Great Wall of China.

After spending a few hours shopping and eating in Sintra - we returned to Lisbon for our last night in town. We went to the old downtown square to enjoy a little shopping and supper. Then we took a cable car to one of the 7 hills of Lisbon. The hill was a great place to catch sunset and dusk overlooking the city.

After a cab trip back to the hotel - we enjoyed a bottle of champagne to celebrate one wonderful trip to a very beautiful country in Europe.

Pictures -
1.Lisbon is famous for cable cars similar to SanFrancisco.

2.Lisbon at dusk. See St. George Castle on the far hill.

3.Moorish Castle Wall in Sintra.

4.Tile sidewalks all over Portugal.

5.View of Sintra from Moorish Castle.

6.These girls thought they were in "les-bon."

7.King's Palace in Sintra.

8.Streets covered with tiles.

9.More tiles inside King's Palace.

10.Tile train station in Sintra.