A picture taken in the gardens at Sintra in Portugal. I think it sums up delicate pretty nicely.
A 45 minute train ride from Lisbon takes you to an enchanted place, Sintra. But first, the morning view from our terrace in Lisbon.
The place is crazy. I mean, this is what you see when you come around the bend on the trail.
Stunning, I expected a Portuguese version of Tinkerbell to fly out and sprinkle fairy port on us. Actually I was hoping for that because I love Port. Once inside, it was very castle like, but the views, spectacular.
Once we left the castle, we headed into the gardens. As the story goes, the gardens are a mixture of Mediterranean and Northern European forests, put together as an experiment. The resulting foliage is truly remarkable and the gardens themselves, very peaceful and beautiful. The downside is that one could tell that a despot seems to have put it together. Think, “Carve a stone couch there, and while you are at it, the ducks need houses that are nicer than yours, so build some in the middle of that lake you dig. Oh, and have it done by Wednesday”.
Check these out.
Finishing up in the garden, we crossed the road and hiked uphill about 2km to Castle Mourous, the old Moorish castle. Pretty spectacular in itself, but not in a good state of repair. Refurbishment is in progress. Still, an imposing structure.
And with that, we were done. Caught the train back to Lisbon, knowing we were on a plane in the morning in our plane, train and automobile run to Toledo. Loved Portugal, and will definitely be back. Way more to see there than one can do in 60 hours.
Is It Possible To See It All 