We left Porto on a 4-hour train to Lisbon, where we immediately switched to a local train bound for Sintra, the famous local romantic hot-spot. Although the hostel conditions there were less than ideal (a terribly uncomfortable mattress and residual cigarette smoke, despite the non-smoking signs), we loved exploring the ancient Moorish castle, seeing the over-the-top colorful buildings built by Portugese royals over the years, and admiring the cork convent in the middle of the woods. At the convent, the monks slept and prayed in four foot high rooms (no photos of these allowed)--ingenious for their bowing-required-at-all-times architecture.
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| The Cork Convent Courtyard |
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| Convent Chapel |
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| Cork Convent Entrance Room |
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| Bathroom, With Tiny Tub (on the right) |
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| Convent Gate |
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| Nature's Door |
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| The Purples and Yellows of Pena Palace |
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| Mysterious Palace Statue, Looking Down on Sintra |
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| Palace Wall Detail |
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| Palace Walkway |
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| Ornate Palace Window |
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| Palace Architecture |
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| Sign Painted on Stone Between Pena Palace and the Moorish Castle |
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| Standing on Top of the Moorish Castle Walkway (my favorite photo this week) |
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| Moorish Succulents Peek Around a Boulder |
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| The Moorish Castle Defense Wall, High Above Sintra |
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| Purple Flowers and Orange Lichen Give Life to an Ancient Wall |
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| Looking Over Sintra Toward the Atlantic Ocean, Both to the West and South |
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| Closer View of the Wall, the Primary Surviving Moorish Castle Component |
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| Sintra National Palace (we never made it inside) |
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| The Small Lane Next to Our Hostel |
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| Sintra City Hall, at Dusk |
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