Sintra and Cascais

What makes blogging possible? Internet.  What did I not have for the majority of today? Internet.  

Just another "life in Russia" moment.

After the weekend in Barcelona, we boarded a late flight to Lisbon. Two nights were to be spent in Lisbon, but the first night did not really count since we arrived fairly late. Most importantly, we picked up our car at the Lisbon Airport! The roundabouts proved a nuisance, as they have in EVERY foreign country we have driven in.  It never fails, the GPS lady very nicely tells us to leave the roundabout at the third, fourth, fifth exit, and we ultimately fail. If the exit is after the first or second exit, are chance of successfully exiting the roundabout diminishes drastically. With a few missed exits, and luckily the GPS reconfigurations we made it to our hotel. First task, getting that bad boy valeted, out of sight, out of mind, we were going to take public transportation while in Lisbon. We would get back in the car for our drive to the Algarve coast.

We did not do much in the actual city of Lisbon. Instead we took the recommendation from a friend, and boarded a train for a short ride to Sintra.  The roads of Sintra reminded us of the roads in Italy, on the Amalfi Coast, very narrow, and very steep.  Here we toured the National Palace of Pena. The weather was beautiful, the palace was beautiful, it was a wonderful way to spend the day.  

Rather than board the train from Sintra back to Lisbon, we decided to hop on a bus from Sintra to Cascais. In Cascais we enjoyed a delicious late lunch and sat in the sunshine sipping sangria. I do not know if it was the beautiful blue water, or the sunshine, but it was probably the best sangria I ever had. 

We were only a few days into our Spain and Portugal vacation and already enjoying the rest and relaxation. The next morning we would get the car out of parking, and prepare to drive the couple hours south, to the Algarve coast. At the time, we were planning a short, overnight trip to Seville, but I will tell you now, once we saw the beaches and felt the warmth of the sun, there was no chance we were going to leave.

Want to see more pictures?  Click on our photo album: Sintra and Cascais.