Sintra: Castle of the Moors

Sintra is a small but magical feeling town about 30 minutes outside Lisbon by train. For anyone visiting Lisbon you must go to Sintra. The ticket to access the Castle costs about 15 euro but included access to the fairy tale like palace nearby.

From the train station in Sintra you have to take a bus ride up the hill. Pretty much the whole trip in Sintra was uphill.

The hills through the forest made for a mystical experience

The view from the Moor Castle was amazing.

The size of the walls and the fact that they were put so close to the cliff's edge was also very impressive.

This is the secret passage way into the castle.

My travel buddies and some new friends from Israel

The view from the top tower gave us a sneak peek at our next stop the Pena National Palace.

Getting to the ocean in Lisbon

 

 Ive made it my quest that when ever I was presented with the opportunity I would try to swim in the nearest body of water. Consequently one of the main priorities of my trip to Lisbon was to be able to go in the Atlantic ocean at some point. After missing out on the first day I was finally able to convince that gang to get on the train that would take us to the coastal town of Cas Cais about 20 minutes away.

We only had a short amount of time in Cascais so we didnt have time to find the most ideal swimming beach. For the most part we just hung around the harbor area of the beautiful coastal town

Finally we decided on this beach that was further away from the oil and poison of the harbor. The Australian and I went in the water while our Texan and Connecticut friends stayed on shore guarding our stuff. The water was a little bit dirty from the harbor and the recent rain but still was great. In retrospect, it probably wasnt the best for our health, to go into the water at this time, but now Ive been in the Atlantic ocean !

We spent the thirty minute train ride back playing games and some how avoided paying for the train by using expired metro cards.. Still a mystery what the conductor was saying in Portuguese.

Upon hitting Lisbon we went to the Aquarium that everyone in Lisbon said we had to go to..

The central tank had a great collection of different fish species.

 

There were tanks around the side that had a different types of sea related animals. 

The temporary exhibit was about Sea Turtles. They had several interesting viewing mediums. One of which was a passage where the turtles swam underneath a glass floor. They had another one that I couldn't get a good picture without blinding everyone with flash, but it was a small couched room where the turtles swam above. Definitely a great place for an end of the day relaxation.

 

Riding sea turtles was how we ended that day. Ofcourse later that night we did go on a pub crawl with out hostel which was fun. Unfortunately no pictures from that :)

Next time: Sintra!

Getting Lost in Lisbon

In a lot of ways Lisbon reminded me of San Francisco  A lot of uphill climbs, trolley cars, and even a bridge designed by the same company that made the Golden Gate. On our first day after finishing our tour and some of Lisbon's famous bacalao (cod) we set out to explore older part of the city. 

These electric trolleys are all through out Lisbon. A couple of the routes we took were notorious for pick pockets which put us extra on guard.

Castle Sao Jorge

The old castle fortress had a great view of the city and provided another great showcase to how castles were defended.

Unlike many of the other castles Ive been to the access to the walls allowed for you to look down and imagine the enemy army below you. 

As we left we spotted this peacock wondering around.

The sunset providing great illumination for the city landscape.

Torre Belém
Later we took a trolley about a half hour up the bay to the Tower Belem. This ominous tower is where many of the Portuguese Empire's ships set sail for the "new world"

Next time: Sintra!