Day 6 Sintra and just call me Mountain Goat

Today is Thursday and yes we are dragging. Breakfast is the same offering, Eggs, tomato and cheese bacon, sausage and beans. Cereals, cakes, breads, fruit, yogurt and pudding. Sliced meats and cheese and coffee from a coffee machine. How about some pancakes or waffles? The only thing they do each day that is different is move the bread trays to different buffet stations, that drives you nuts. Our goal each day was to get our breakfast to the table and eat it while it is still hot. If you get the items in the wrong sequence it is cold when you sit down. They haven't heard of good steam tables. Surprisingly we haven't got sick.

Today we head to the town of Sintra. It is forty minutes North East of here. I still haven't taken any pictures of the landscape. Sorry but Doreen isn't too steady with the camera and also the roads don't have any place just to pull over. As we leave Cascais we hit a section that tells us we have been in the shore town and now we see the suburbs. We pass these gigantic malls and shopping centers. There is a staples and it looks like a Mall. They are boxey not like ours that have some design to them. These look like four or five story boxes with a store name on the outside. We pass by around 11 AM and it is mobbed. The parking lot is jammed. Don't these people work. All of a sudden traffic stops and I hear a bull horn and crowd noise. We look ahead and there is a demonstration at the town hall. When we first came into the town I saw a lot of cops, this is the reason. Great we are in a civil uprising. Traffic starts to move before we can get the video camera rolling. As we pass the crowd it is a group of young kids (18 to 25 yrs old) earrings, wool caps chanting something in Portugese with a sign made from someone's bed sheets. The Police are watching them and I see one of them is juggling something in front of the Town Hall. The Police keep us moving and the next thing I know we are out of town.

Our guid book, by Rick Steves, says don't take your car but if you do park as soon as you can. Man he was right. We get to Sintra and enter a town that is locked in the 1800s or earlier. I thought I saw a parking spot but there was a fire hydrant there, so we trudge on and come to a spot where there are a lot of spots. We hesitate to park there since we need to find the facilities and have no clue how far it is to walk there. We circle the town and find the train station so we should find parking. Nope no way. I make a sharp left turn down a street and find a spot. I am getting pretty good squeezing this Audi A4 into spots made for a mini Cooper. I figure something is wrong but we can park there except that the meter is only good for two hours. So we head for the train station to catch the 434 bus to the Pena National Palace.

The Palace was built in the early 1800s and is 500 meters above sea level. That is the bottom of the palace. The Palace rises a good 10 stories further. The bus drops us off at the main gate and we start our climb to where we catch the shuttle bus. It is only about 100 feet from the ticket booth to the trolley but the incline is about five feet or more. The trolley driver barks out 3 Euros and holds out his hand. It is 1.5 Euros for a round trip. I look up and would pay 10 or just sit here and read the brochure. As the Trolley heads off I wonder if it is going to make the climb or hit one of the walls. The road snakes through the forest until we reach the base of the palace. We start the trudge and immediately we wonder if we made a mistake. The combination of height (1500 feet plus) and the incline is brutal. We also have to move quickly since we have an hour and a half to complete the tour and get back to feed the meter. Here are some shots of the Palace but none inside since we are forbidden to take pictures.

As we get to each level we catch our breath and the attendants look at us like we need some assistance. Each level had a tremendous view. If you can see the haze I wonder if it is smog, fog or smoke from all of the roasted chestnut vendors that dot each street in each town we hit. Enjoy these photos

We get back to the parking meter with a few minutes to spare. It is now lunch time so we stroll the streets to eat up pur meter time and then plunk another Euro into the meter and head off to find a cafe. We stop to review the menus and move on. The Cafes have their specials on chalk boards. These are much cheaper than the menu and are usually all inclusive. We stop at another and read the board for the specials and the proprietor runs out like she has a live one. She starts explaining in Portugese and sees our eyes glaze over and starts over in English (well in somethng we can understand). The one thing on the menu I understand she is out of. The meals are 7.50 Euros and include everything. We take her up on the meal and she guides us the back. I have the Pork Alentajo which is Pork chunks with Baby Clams, Doreen had the Vegetarian meal which is something called Soja wrapped in Cabbage smothered in a sauce. The meal also includes a small Caraffe of the House White Wine. It is very tasy wine and is semi sweet. All for 7.50 each. We enjoy the quiet room and the proprietior leaves us be. You get the feeling she would let us stay there all day if we wanted.

We head out and stroll the shops nearby and the town hall Doesn't it look like a mini Castle. and get back to the meter to feed it again (actually just get two hours from the time we plunk down our Euro. We quickly get on the arriving 434 Bus and go to the National Palace area. We have decided our climbing days are over. The first Palace killed our legs and if I could I would have called for a helicopter to take us back to the hotel. We get off the bus and go to the Tourist Center and ask for directions to the Toy Museum. The National Palace can wait a bit. We follow the directions and come to the Toy Museum, four floors of toys and dolls dating back to the early 1900s with most from Portugal. We luck out that they have an elevator. Can you guess which one is the Ground floor?.

After the toy museum we walk to the outside of the National Palace . I spy a Wine store and we walk over to see what is up. On the chalk board are the sale items for the day but Doreen spies Free Tasting. We go in and try some 10 and 20 year old port wine. Of course we buy a small bottle of each and a small bottle of Ginja a Cherry Liquer. As we wait for the 434 to take us back to the car I take a few more views. The last picture can be of anywhere we have been so far. There is a ton of construction and restoration going on that the contractors have become part of the landscape. Just before the bus comes Doreen sees a sign It says Felix Nunes Stairway. I joke that it is her long lost relatives stairs. Our Bus comes and we are off on the loop back to our car. Imagine our surprise when the bus makes a turn (after a 15 minute loop ride) and it is about 100 ft from the toy Museum. We figured we had to catch the bus where we got off and didn't know that stop was there, we could have saved some time and steps

We arrive at the car with 2 minutes left on the meter. We flop in the car and I do my best Kirk impression but the Audi will not respond, I have to drive. I turn on the Tom Tom and it says turn around at my first convience. Well that isn't going to happen but I know it will recalculate. Boy did I make a mistake. It recalculated and felt it was better to go over the 500 meter mountain than go back the way we came. All is fine until the road gets narrow and looks like a scene out of Deliverence. I trust the device and blindly go on. We get to a point of no return and the Device changes colors and looks lost. So does the road. It is just big enough for the car and there are huge trenches on either side. Also it is winding on a steep incline. I have to keep the Audi in second gear to get up the hills. We pass through what I realize is the Sintra-Cascais National Preserver. We see a man planting stakes in an area I guess to plant trees. When we get to a normal sized road we find ourselves in a small town and I know we didn't come this way. Suddenly things look familiar and I notice we are on the normal route from the main highway from Lisbon to Cascais. We completely bypassed the Mall area. Scary but fast.

We decided to eat early today and try to locate the a row of Resturants we saw when we first arrived. So we go back to the Train station and start from there. We stumble, and I mean that literally, upon the resturant row and stop in one called Lumarzz. We are the only ones in the place since no one eats around here until after 7:30PM. I have the Grilled Grouper and Doreen has the Beefsteak in sauce. She asked for a Salad and I got the Shellfish soup. My soup comes but her sald doesn't. Our meals come and so does her salad. The waiter thought she wanted the salad instead of the fried potatos. We skip desert with the intent to stop by one of the Pastry shops we passed. But it seems the pastry shops close when the resturants open. So no dessert tonight.

Tomorrow is our last day and we plan to make it light since we have to pack. We plan to visit Caba de Roca for the western most point of Europe and maybe hit the Casion in Estoril it is supposed to be the largest Casino in Europe.