To those of you who aren't Portuguese, Sintra means nothing. Sintra is a city close to Lisbon that is known for being absolutely beautiful (and the pastries too). It's home to many touristic attractions such as chalets, castles, a palace, beautiful churches and monasteries. It's absolutely stunning.
On the Easter week me and my boyfriend went to Sintra to spend the day and we took a lot of awesome pictures of the place that I wanted to share with you. If you ever come to Lisbon, please don't miss out on the opportunity to visit this gorgeous and scenic city.
The way there from Lisbon is pretty straight forward - just need to get on a train and leave in the last stop. I've been there multiple times before but the last time I was there was quite a few years ago so it was like seeing it for the first time. When we arrived to the little town of Sintra we were greeted by beautiful nature, there are so many hills in Sintra and the view is stunning, anywhere you look is picture worthy. Before starting our (very long!) climb to the Pena Palace we walked along the sidewalks where artisans stay all day selling their handcrafted items and had some regional pastries.
The climb to the palace is no easy feat. We chose to go by foot instead of taking a bus because we thought it would be a really great experience, but be warned that it is not easy and seems like it's a neverending uphill climb. That said, it was so worth it. The climb there is surrounded by nature, and if that's something you love then it won't feel like it's too much.
At some point during the way up we reached the gates to the Pena park, which is where you can buy the tickets to the palace and then continue your way up inside the park which is huge and has so much to see, much more than you can see in just one day. The park was packed with so many beautiful things that we didn't get the chance to see because we were running out of time, it's definitely a place to return to.
Seeing the palace getting close is quite the relief. When we finally reached the palace we just sat there for a while enjoying the view. Being that high up from sea level does give you quite the privileged view over the land. Inside the palace we were able to visit several rooms, more than I remembered, such as the king and queen's chambers, the bathrooms, the kitchen/pantry, halls, and so many others.
When we got to the bottom of the hill again we had some dinner and then caught our train back to Lisbon, tired but oh so delighted for the day trip.
