After fortifying myself with the breakfast of champions I decided it would be worth my while to take day trip out to Sintra, the so called "fairy-tale" town. But first I needed to navigate to the bus station and purchase my ticket on the overnight bus to Sevilla as I had heard they were prone to selling out. About 5 minutes into the subway ride to the station my breakfast began to set in. And by "began to set in" I of course mean that 3 beers in less than 10 minutes = drunk, or at least un borracho pequeno. As such the next 2 hours were a bit tricky.
The first problem I encountered was actually locating the bus station when exiting the metro. I correctly followed the signs to exit the station, however much my surprise, the exit was occupied by a train station and not a bus station. For some reason the idea that BOTH a train and bus station could exist at the same location was incomprehensible. Only by persistence (and a few attempts at interrogating the poor girl at the information booth in Spanish) was I able to overcome my dilemma and locate the bus terminal. Then, when I got to the counter to purchase the ticket I completely forgot where I was going. An extended stare-down ensued. Finally, just as I think the woman is going to call security, I remember- Sevilla!
After purchasing my bus ticket I had to then return to the metro and make my way to Rossio- ok, so far so good- and locate the main train station there- damn! Well one out of two isn't terrible, right? Wrong. The sad thing is I had photographed the train station just the day before but I simply could not crack the riddle. Damn you breakfast of champions! After wandering around for about 30 minutes I finally tracked it down, got my ticket and was on my way to Sintra. There were a few moments there where I seriously considered bailing on the venture- but I'm sure glad I didn't!
Quite frankly put, Sintra is amazing. Really. No, seriously. I was a bit put off by the whole "fairy-tale" thing but honestly with the palaces and the fort and the Quinta da Regaleria and all the other houses... it's pretty dern fairy-taleish. The first place (and sadly only 1 of 2) I got to check out was the Palacio Nacional de Pena. You really want to take a bus to this thing because it's a serious haul, as the palace sits high on the hill surrounded by an immense garden filed with walking trails, gazebos, chapels, and the like. The best way I can describe the palace itself is like something you would expect to find in Portugal-land in Epcot's World Showcase.
It's absolutely unreal. The palace is one of the better tourist palaces/castles/etc that I've been to as they have done a great job in restoring the rooms and filling them with period furniture. For some reason large empty rooms don't do it for me- the furniture really illustrates the utility and form of the room. One room was particularly impressive to me, decorated with paintings of nymphs and satyrs painted by the king himself.
After the palace I was a bit pressed for time so I headed straight for the Quinta da Regaleria. I wish I had an extra day because I would have loved to walk the gardens at the palace or even spend more time in the gardens at the QdR. Plus, I didn't even have time to see the Moorish Castle or the Sintra National Palace let alone wander around Sintra enjoying the scenery. Que sera sera I suppose.
As great as the Palacio Nacional de Pena was, QdR was even more impressive. The house itself is pretty cool, boasting some great architecture and some cool features, but the real star of the show is the gardens surrounding the house. You may ask, "why are the gardens so great Mike?" Well I'll tell you. Because there's freakin' underground tunnels, stone panel secret doorways, labyrinth grottos, towers, waterfalls, fountains, stepping stones, gigantic wells, and hidden paths that together formulate quite simply the GREATEST PLACE TO PLAY HIDE AND SEEK EVER!!!
Do yourself a favor and check out the flickr site for some of the photos. They don't quite do it justice but I did the best I could. After spending as much time as possible in the garden I hurried back to the train station to catch the train back to Lisbon, head back to the hostel, pack, and make my way to the bus station for my overnight bus to Sevilla. For those of you who know me well, you know it would be safe to say I've never been a huge fan of buses, and I've never been able to sleep on any transport. So if I could go back and tell me of one year ago that I'd be riding on a (fully occupied) overnight bus for 7 hours, me of the past would have laughed a hearty laugh and punched current me right in the face.
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