CH251: A Look Back: Sintra, Cabo de Roca & Cascais, Portugal

A day trip out to Sintra, Cabo de roca (the western most tip of Europe) and Cascais. 

Sintra, visiting the Palace of Pena was amazing. A UNESCO heritage site, it's definitely worth a visit.
The tour group was also nice. Aside from me, there was:

1. Jenny and Sarah - jenny the grandma was with her granddaughter who is studying in London for an exchange program. They live in Sacramento. Jenny was born in China but moved to Taipei when she was 1 and then moved to the US when she was 20. She's been living in the US for 45 years now she says.

2. Nanita and Bob - a couple staying in New York but recently moved to Kentucky. Nanita was apparently Filipino, but I learned of that by the tour's end.

3. Sabrina, Ria and Gabriella - a single (separated) mom with her kids from Toronto.

haha, yes i just did a profile of the tour group i was with. It was a pleasant tour and I highly recommend it. As was mentioned this was booked through viator.com (where most of my tours were booked).

The visit to Sintra comprised of the Palace of Pena and the lunch break in the city center where I ate at a cafe with a menu set with "by Gordon Ramsay". So, the roasted cod I had cost 39.00 euros complete with appetizer of bread, olives and cheese (i think it was camembert) and a glass of Muralhas (vinho verde - green sparkling wine).

The visit to Cabo de Roca which is the western most tip of Europe was reminiscent of my visit to the northern most tip of New Zealand where you can see two seas meet. The view was nice. It was interesting to hear that from that viewpoint, the Portuguese used to think it was the end of the world as the horizon was just the Atlantic.

The trip to Cascais was less eventful. I just went around the city center. As was told by the guide, it was a bit like Beverly Hills where the rich people usually stay in. I just had a 3 euro Gelato and went my way. I had Milk Caramel and Toasted Almonds. They were soooooo goood! :)

Then after that we went back to Lisbon via the coastal road to drop Sabrina and kids in Belem.

[Side Note]:
I know I said in the previous entry that there would be less narration, but I found that the entry I put up in Facebook already had a good narration of it. If I recall correctly, I did that with the intent of just copy pasting the narration to here hahaha.

CH250: A Look Back: Lisbon, Portugal

From the airport coming out of the undeground Metro, I was pleasantly taken aback by how beautiful Lisbon was. Maybe because the weather was fantastic, but that's the impression that's stuck with me upon coming out. Clean, white and pristine - well at least the city center or the area I came out of was. The weather cooperated pretty much the whole length of the stay. It was a European spring (start of it) so a fine amount of layering was in order :)

During this leg of the ~9-10 day trip to Portugal and Spain, I did not just stay in Lisbon but also visited Sintra (the Fairy Tale castle which is also a UNESCO heritage site) - of which, the tour there included Cascais, and the western coast of Lisbon - as well as did a whole day trip to the Belem district where there are more historical architectures (Palaces, Monuments etc).

Anyway, this is a "LOOK" back and not a "NARRATIVE" back hahaha, so after nearly a year (maybe 10 months) since I visited the place, enjoy the selected pictures! xoxo