The first the Royal Palace at Sintra had a slightly Moorish feel but was much more of a palace. Many of the rooms and truly amazing paintings on the ceilings including one room that had a high dome covered with portraits of members of the family. The kitchen was as big as my house and had two huge beehive ceilings open to the sky at the top. From outside they looked like huge factory chimneys, except they were covered with plaster and painted white, inside they composed the two halves of the rooms.
The second castle also a royal residence was on the top of the mountain, the last royal to add to the castle was a relative of Mad Ludwig of Neuschwanstein fame and the family proclivity for over the top mountain top castle construction was definitely in evidence here. The castle which was described by Rick Steves as part moorish, part romanesque and part disney was all that and more. The castle it self is painted red and yellow and dark blue gey, parts of the exterior have tiles covering them. Some of the arches are moorish in style others are more gothic with gargoyles at the top or corners of the arches. The rooms themselves are a bit tamer but definitely ornate with more amazing tile work and plaster work ceilings. After touring the castle we walked down through some of the gardens to meet up with Jose'.
Next he took us to a typical Portugese resturant--according to him. The food was excellent. Lynn and Ron had a cod and potato dish that had a great flavor but because it was based on salt cod was definitely salty. Nor and I shared a really nice kebob of various meats that came with potatoes and rice. Lynn Ron and Nor also had an excellent soup. Dessert was an almond cake topped with fruit and ice cream--the cake was amazing--if I went there again I would get just the almond cake (for dessert).
On the drive back to the city we drove to the western most point of Portugal which is at exactly the same latitude as New York City. It was lovely but incredibly windy.
We stopped into Trinidade for a beer Lynn and I left the guys to go buy food for dinner--does it sound like this trip is about eating? They decided to have another beer and through what they claim was a mis-understanding they were served four more beers and of course, to assure that they would not be considered ugly Americans, they HAD to drink all four, they took one for the nation--what patriots!
Of course, since Lynn and I were out on our own we were able to find a great shop with just what we needed to buy for our girls back home (and a little for ourselves--lets be clear this is OUR trip)
A great dinner -- says the chef -- another good bottle of wine --- some cards --- and now off to bed!
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