Agile Trekker: Sintra - Pena Palace and Moorish Castle

Date	Distance	Time	Elevation Gain	Average Moving Time	Year to Date Miles
10/9/2024	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	680.8 miles

Off we went to Sintra, despite Phyllis' better judgement. The forecast was for rain in the morning. Getting to Sintra involved walking to the metro, taking 2 metro trains, then another train. Once in the town of Sintra, it's an hour walk to get to the palace or castle (you can take a bus or a tuk tuk instead, but we like to walk). There are many trails in Sintra, and we loved them. They were lush, beautiful, almost tropical. I would have liked to have walked more there. It was really, really windy. On our hike in, I got hit on the head by a falling chestnut. Owww! It felt like someone punched me in the head. We got to the Moorish Castle, which you have to pay to see. They said part of it was closed due to the high winds. We looked at the grounds and saw the trees swaying like crazy and decided against it.

So, we headed to Pena Palace and had lunch at the crowded cafeteria there. Then it was 2pm by the time we went into the palace. You get a timed entry ticket and have to wait in line to get in. It was a little chaotic. Inside the castle, you are in a line of people walking through. I felt claustrophobic and didn't really enjoy it, especially being behind some obnoxious people (luckily, they weren't American tourists). I felt much happier back outside. I would have loved to have spent my time outside the palace sketching it, but it was a drizzly day.

We decided to try the Moorish Castle again, so another walk to that area of the grounds. We decided to go in. Theoretically the outer walls of the castle were still closed due to high winds, but we walked on them anyways (as did others). I loved this part of our trip. Moorish castles are cool and are what I think of in my head when I picture a castle. It was busy but much less crowded than the palace.

After finishing up at the castle, we were ready to head back into town to catch a train. Well, we started hiking the trails in the wrong direction. Oops. So was another couple. Eventually we gave up and got to a road where of course a tuk tuk driver was happy to take us for a ride back to the train station. It was just as well, as I was starving by then. We stopped by a grocery store to pick up dinner on the way back to our hostel. Exhausted, but a good day.