By our Portugal trip we were becoming more sophisticated travelers and our destination choices reflected that. We had chosen Lisbon as our focus but our recent stay in Belgium persuaded us that the richness of history and culture of Europe meant that small towns a bit off the main tourist roads were quite enjoyable and much more peaceful. So, rather than looking for an apartment in Lisbon proper I looked for locations in the Lisbon area that could be both a rich and enjoyable home base to explore on its own while easily accessible to Lisbon by train. I found Sintra.
According to Wikipedia, ‘The historic center of the Vila de Sintrais famous for its 19th-century Romanticistarchitecture, historic estates and villas, gardens, and royal palaces and castles, which resulted in the classification of the town as a UNESCOWorld Heritage Site.‘
We found it delightful and pleasant with convenient train connections to Lisbon but the distance and schedule made it impossible to enjoy a few of the attractions (principally Fado but also the Portuguese version of bullfighting). These attractions were not part of my trip planning and might not have added much to the trip. Still it shows that you can’t get everything right.
One of our travel objectives was to spend enough time in a location to enjoy the rich environment by discovery not by schedule. We certainly savored Sintra but missed some opportunities in Lisbon. Still, one month in Lisbon/Sintra allowed us to explore most of the major attractions.
We didn’t know whether our planning would pay off but we were learning with travel, it is difficult to make a terrible decision.
The taxi ride to Sintra from our airport hotel was an adventure. It was a long enough trip to tantalize use with a city we didn’t know. When we were finally let out at our apartment it was on a street not so different from other cities. The apartment was nice with a deck in back for outdoor dining. Our hosts were friendly, helpful and spoke English. I had hoped that my limited Spanish would help me communicate but although Portuguese looks similar to Spanish in print, to my ear it was undecipherable. They left us alone and I went food shopping. Tomorrow we would explore.
Our apartment was within one block of the train station making it very easy to connect to Lisbon. The food market was not so close but not a problem once I purchased a cart for grocery bags. The city (Sintra) was full of treasures but few of them were walkable. There were tourist buses connecting them but the schedules were not always convenient. Still it was a delightful apartment, convenient to the train station with many unique attractions close by, Not perfect, but way better than staying home.
