Colleen and I visited Sintra, a truly magical fairy tale town, way back in 1999. I recall snippets of exploring the one-of-a-kind Pena Palace and then descending down to the Moorish Castle. That’s all. I don’t remember anything else, like how we got up the hill or what the town itself was like. Give yourself two decades, and you can visit a place again that you’ve been to once before!
On Friday I first toured a wonderful hillside estate that I’d not seen before, Quinta da Regaleira, with its mansion and amazing gardens. There are many hidden paths and tunnels, along with several towers and decorative pieces. Sintra was a place where royalty and the wealthy lived or at least flaunted their wealth, and today we get to enjoy all their creations. Check it out, it’s really special:
I didn’t visit Pena Palace again on this trip, but I did climb up to the Moorish Castle for a tour, and you can see Pena Palace from there.
After all the hiking up and down, I got thirsty and so visited a couple of craft beer bars, which is a great way to meet other Americans. At one I chatted for a while with a couple from Colorado, and coincidentally the guy’s father was from eastern NC like mine! His mother was from Pennsylvania, while mine’s from NJ. His brother now lives in Morehead City, where I also have relatives who run some car dealerships there. Small world.
One has to respect a country that creates street signs with decorative custom tiles:
Last year when looking at potential places in Europe to spend a lot of time, Portugal kept coming up. But one negative that people often mentioned was incessantly-barking dogs. Well, I found that in Sintra! The neighbors below my apartment seem to have two dogs that bark almost non-stop whenever the human(s) is/are not home, which is unfortunately often. One dog has a low bark that sounds amazingly just like the dog voice (presumably a human voice actor) from a classic Seinfeld episode, which I believe was simply called “The Dog,” while the other has the standard high-pitched yip. Most people believe that dogs are more intelligent than cats, but barking all day seems to indicate low intelligence to me – a cat would have moved on and taken a nap. And by the way, it’s rather annoying. Luckily, so far the owners always return overnight such that sleep isn’t interrupted until about 6am. Woof.
Today’s dad joke: What should they call the big cistern up in the Moorish Castle?
The Cesspool of Sin-tra! (Sort of an Ashevillian inside joke)
Today’s limerick:
Sintra is a city full of appeal
The magic of this place is the real deal
Full of true fairy tales
Along with hills and dales
Hyped superlatives indeed match the feel.
Today’s travel quote:
We wander for distraction, but we travel for fulfilment.
Hilaire Belloc
Major Meander 
I remember that place! Looks amazing as ever.
Wow – beautiful! I love the spiral staircase. And the Asheville joke!
Portugal definitely seems to be a good choice. The photos are beautiful.