Day Trip to Mountain Village of Sintra!

We meet our bus two blocks from our hotel and jump aboard for a day trip to the little mountain village of Sintra.  We leave early so that our arrival at The Pena Palace will be before the big or really big crowds and lines.  It works!

This National Palace is situated high up in the hills and proved to be a favored place of royalty for the clear, cool air.  It appears to be half fantasy and maybe real.  The architecture is memorable for sure.  There are no photos allowed inside, so we follow our guide and use our little ear buds to hear his narration.

Here’s fellow traveler, Diane...who we also spent time with in Scotland last year!  So good to be with old friends!

Always a photo opportunity....if you look for it!

The deeply forested hillsides surrounding the palace still exist.  You can see why it is a good escape from Lisbon city!

A little restaurant in Sintra awaited our arrival at lunch time with wonderful fish, bread and white Portuguese wine!

Oh, and coffee, of course!

Then it is off to the coastal area and a stop at Cabo de Roca....the eastern most point of Europe, sticking out into the wild Atlantic!

Windy and wild!

Another stop at a coastal rocky bay called “Mouth of Hell” or maybe it was “Devil’s Hole”....but we were more fascinated with the Angels dancing on the horizon where the sky meets the sea.  

We love watching the Portuguese horse patrols!  

To Lisbon We Go....by Bus!

Remember, the view from the back of the Hotel Marina Rio looks out upon the bus station.  The train station is just three blocks the other direction.

I chose this hotel to make moving to our next destination easy.  The train requires three blocks of walking, a transfer in another town to another train and takes one more hour.  The bus is out the back door, no transfers and four hours.  It’s the bus.

Four  hours on the bus, then find a taxi at the Lisbon Bus Station....and bingo...we are at our hotel, The Chiado Artsy Flats.

Dinner at a street restaurant washes away the travel day trials of wait, sit, wait...sit...walk, sit...like that.

We like this hotel, with kitchenette and a fabulous breakfast delivered to your refrigerator every night, ready for the morning!

Welcome port wine and .....custard tarts!!!  Yes!

We find Tram  #28 and head off for a ride...the painted picture looks a lot better than the jammed with people tram!

We also discover, we don’t really know how to read the tram schedule or where it’s going.  So we wind up at

The Cemetery....and wind up flagging a taxi to take us where we thought we were going in the first place!  

Adventure in travel....

The next day we are integrated into our “ukulele tour...schedule and new friends”....what’s to start with but a food and wine 

Tour of Lisbon with a great guide.  This wraps a city tour into food, wine, culture, desserts, breads, back alleys, main city streets...

And many many steps on the Fitbit tracker!

First stop was tastes of appetizers....all good!

The stop at the custard bakery...very important.  AND, the way to put both cinnamon and powdered sugar on top of warm tarts!

Oh yes, you must try these freshly grilled sardines....WHOLE sardines...including head and ....gulp...eyes!

An evening of Fado concert during another great dinner.  

Here they are!  Our 25 friends (new and old) ready to head off for the island of Maderia and the big celebration of sending

off the tiny instruments of the machete and the braghina from Portugal shores to the island of Hawaii, 143 years ago...the 

Birth of the Ukulele!

A Day of Portuguese Sea and Sunshine!

A little tour shopping leads us to the Blue Fleet company.  They offer a five hour trip with food and wine with a stop for transfer to a small boat for a trip in and out of the sea caves.  $60 USD each and we’re off!

We motor out of Lagos Harbor at noon.  Lucky for us the weather of the past few days has disappeared and it’s all sunshine, flat water

.....and a tiny light breeze.

We like the looks of The Atlantico as she reminds us of nor-sea sturdy boats.

We cruise along the rugged coastline and soon anchor.  Lunch is brought around and wine...of course.

Then we transfer 6 at a time, for a small boat ride along the rocky shore and into the caves...add, with ocean swell!

Yikes!  Does this driver know what he’s doing??? (She asks....as usual!)

Yes, he does...and the scenery is spectacular!  How many times can you say, “WOW!”?  (Many!)

Good sense of humor...I never saw this pose until I looked at photos later!  Goofy!  

After the exhilaration of boating in and out of the caves and rock formations in swell and sea...we climb back aboard the Atlantico 

...and have a little siesta while the other group gets their cave experience.

Eventually we head home, with a little more green wine flowing from the galley....and...of course, custard tarts!!

One more “WOW” for a fabulous afternoon on the water, a great little ship, fun guides and fellow passengers.

Pretty great introduction to the awesome coast of southern Portugal....but...time to head for Lisbon and our ukulele buddies!