Portugal: Sintra and Obidos Day Trips
- Kaylin M
- Jun 24, 2018
- 6 min read
SINTRA:
Our trip to Sintra was one that we truly won’t forget. It was a busy day filled with a ton of history and beautiful architecture. We visited Sintra on our third day in Portugal. On Tuesday, we woke up early and headed to the train for Sintra. The metro line is separate from the train station, but we were able to follow the mass group of morning commuters so that we didn’t get lost. Once on the train, Sintra is about an hour from Lisbon. The ride wasn’t too bad except for the accordion player that passed through the train begging for cash. No thank you sir! After arriving in Sintra, we quickly decided which attraction to visit first. The buses travel in loops and since the Moorish Castle was a stop before Pena Palace, we decided to head there first. If you’re extremely committed to seeing everything that Sintra has to offer, then it is best to buy a ticket for the hop-on-hop-off bus. We only had plans to visit 3 of the castles, so we opted to buy a day pass for the Pena Palace bus and then buy the other tickets separately. Finally, once everyone had squished themselves onto the bus and started up the hill. The ride up was about 15-20 minutes on a narrow one way rode. Travel websites will tell you that you can walk up the hills, but I wouldn’t recommend it. The roads are only wide enough for the buses and a small walkway on one side of the road. A pedestrian that was walking on the wrong side and got pinned by the bus against the bushes (the bus driver blamed him for walking on the wrong side of the road). It was a scary ride to say the least. Once we arrived at Moorish Castle, we bought our tickets and started exploring! The walk along the walls was grueling in the hot sun, but I was determined to make it to the top and I did! The castle was created to overlook Sintra, as well as Pena Palace and the views were breathtaking!
Afterwards, we jumped back on the bus and headed up to the top of the hill to Pena Palace. We had initially dressed in layers for our adventurous day trip, but after Moorish Castle, we decided to start stripping down. You’ll notice changes in the pictures below as we get further through our day. Once we got to Pena Palace, we searched for a restaurant, but couldn’t find any, so we started rationing those airport peanuts. Those peanuts saved us. We probably wouldn’t have made it without those extra calories. Now, the bus only dropped us off at the entrance to the grounds of Pena Palace, we still had to walk up another hill to the Palace itself. Once we arrived at the castle, it was just as picturesque as all of the pictures that we saw prior to our trip. Pena Palace is a UNESCO Heritage Site, as well as one of the seven wonders of Portugal. We look some pictures, then got into a line-up. We didn’t know what the line-up was for, but we figured since everyone else was standing there, then maybe we should be there too. It ended up being the lineup for entry inside the palace. A lot of the rooms had been reconstructed, but it was fascinating to see how the Portuguese kings and queens lived. Everything was incredibly ornate. Everything from the tile work to the small details on the furniture. Each room had a description/information board with details about the history of the rooms and the people that lived there. Blake and I had a lady following behind us that would read each board aloud and we had a hilarious time trying to lose her. Although we were probably giddy from heat exhaustion, we still had a great time exploring. -- Can we just take a moment to appreciate how great Blake looks in this picture?! I'm such a lucky girl!
At this time, it was now mid afternoon. We knew that if we didn't eat something, then we would probably die on that hill. So, we headed back to the bus terminal and had lunch at a small cafe. We each had a tasty steak sandwich before heading to our final Sintra destination, Quinta da Regaleira. Quinta da Regaleira is an another UNESCO Heritage site in Sintra. The grounds include numerous grottoes, fountains, and towers. Blake almost ended our day trip before we got to this site due to sleep deprivation (we both slept horribly the night before) and heat exhaustion. Luckily, since this was the one site that I wanted to go to, I convinced him to power through and he was so glad that he did. Blake says that this site was his favourite that we visited in Sintra. We spent a couple of hours exploring the grounds. Fortunately, a lot of the estate's grounds were shaded or, if we got really hot, we just headed into the underground tunnels. It was so interesting to be able to actually feel the history that these sites contained. One of the really fascinating places on site was known as the Initiation Well. Nobody was really sure what it was used for, but there are a variety of theories. We ended the day going through the estate itself before heading back to the train station to go home. It was a crazy busy day filled with history and exploration ... and we loved every moment!
Obidos:
On day 5 of our trip, we traveled on a day trip to a small town called Obidos. Obidos is known as the "Wedding Present Town" as it was gifted to Queen Isabel by King Dinis prior to their wedding in 1282. From then until the 19th century, every king would give his queen, Obidos as a present. Obidos is best traveled to via a bus from Lisbon and the travel time is approximately one hour. You can't buy the tickets ahead of time, so we made sure to arrive early. The bus stop was kind of difficult to find because it is around the corner and across the street from the train station's exit, but we were eventually able to locate it. Once we arrived outside Obidos, we walked through it's main entrance. Obidos is encircled by fortified castle walls so they only have a few entrances. After walking around for a few minutes, the exhaustion from everything that we had already done on this trip had finally caught up with us. We walked around Obidos like zombies. Additionally, I was experiencing a lot of anxiety that day, possibly amplified from the exhaustion. We visited a few sites away from the crowds before heading up to the city walls. Tourists are known to walk along the city walls, although it's not recommended by locals. The wall is quite uneven and there is no barrier to prevent you from plummeting into the city. In fact, we later learned that, less than 24 hours prior, an elderly man fell off the stairs up to the wall and, unfortunately, died from his injuries. So, like I said, not recommended, but I needed to get away from the crowds to clear my head, so up we went. We stayed up long enough to say that we did it and to take a few pictures before quickly getting down. My anxiety actually allowed us to see parts of Obidos that tourists don't usually see. The town itself is very small, but it has a main Street where most tourists and restaurants are. We tried to avoid that main strip and found a cute bakery that ended up being a highlight of our day. Inside, there was a woman that was making and baking the products right there in front of you. If you don't know already, Blake loves baking and will frequently make bread, scones, or other baked good. I like eating all of those things, so we both loved watching her create each loaf and bake it in a wood burning oven. We were there for close to an hour before we regained enough energy to venture outside into the busy streets again. Again, we tried to stay away from the main street, but took time to explore the numerous churches and ornate monuments throughout the town. Every place we went to, including a library, was beautifully painted and decorated. Later in the day, we even found a tile maker hidden away on a quiet street. This woman created beautiful tiles. Each tile was handmade from the actual creation of the tile to the unique and personal designs that she painted on them. We had been looking everywhere for this unique treasure as Portugal, especially Lisbon, is known for their tile work. (Fact: the tiles in Lisbon were originally used to prevent the spread of fire after the catastrophes that destroyed Lisbon in 1755 which included 3 earthquakes, a tsunami, and a citywide fire.) We bought numerous tiles from her shop, then headed back towards the main street for lunch. We stopped in a quiet restaurant and ordered their special of the day. Lucky for us, we decided to share the dish because it was a huge piece of codfish shepherd's pie. It was delicious!! It came with a side salad that was more than enough for the both of us. Finally, we had come to the end of our day and it was time to go home. I wish that we had more energy for our trip to Obidos, but I was glad that we had made the trip anyways.
WARNING: There are a lot of pictures to flip through, but they are worth it!
Comments