Sintra: Quinta da Regaleira, Percurso de Santa Maria (Santa Maria Trail) hike to Castelo dos Mouros, coffee and pastry (travesseiros) at Café a Piriquita, lunch at Restaurante Regional de Sintra
Drive along the coastline: Cabo da Roca, Boca do Inferno
Lisbon: Take-out dinner from Frangasqueira Nacional, night at Real Residência Suite Hotel
Drive: From Lisbon to Sintra is approximately 25 km (16 miles) - 21 minutes.
Sintra:
Quinta da Regaleira is listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. It is large estate featuring a palace, a chapel, and a park filled with lakes, grottoes, benches, fountains, and a system of tunnels connecting two spiraling wells. It's architecture combines Roman, Gothic, Renaissance, and Manueline styles. It was built in the early 1900's. Sintra, Portugal.
Part of the park in Quinta da Regaleira. Sintra, Portugal.
Part of the park in Quinta da Regaleira. Inside are some of the tunnel entrances that connect to the spiraling wells and to the caves. Sintra, Portugal.
The spiraling well, or Initiation Well, was used for ceremonial purposes such as Tarot initiation rites. It consists of 9 platforms and it is believed that the number of steps in between and the spacing between the landings are dictated by Masonic principles. Quinta da Regaleira, Sintra, Portugal.
The Waterfall Lake is connected to a system of caves. There you can see steps with which you could use to cross the lake. This is part of the park of Quinta da Regaleira. Sintra, Portugal.
The palace of Quinta da Regaleira consists of 5 floors and is adorned with symbolic carvings associated with Masonry, the Knights Templar, and the Rosicrucians. Sintra, Portugal.
There is limited parking available, so from Quinta da Regaleira, we took the Percurso de Santa Maria (Santa Maria Trail) to get to Castelo dos Mouros. The hike is a steady incline up and took approximately 1 hour. It starts with paved paths through well-maintained gardens and ends with a trail through the forest. Sintra, Portugal.
The forest trail on the Percurso de Santa Maria to get to Castelo dos Mouros. Sintra, Portugal.
Castelo dos Mouros, Castle of the Moors. This hilltop medieval castle was built during the 8th and 9th centuries by the North African Moors to defend Sintra and the agricultural area surrounding it. It fell into disrepair after the Christian conquest of Portugal during the Reconquista.
Café a Piriquita. Opened in 1862. Known for their queijadas (cheesecakes) and travesseiros (almond puff pastry). Sintra, Portugal.
Travesseiros translates to "pillow" in Portuguese. Puff pastry filled with custard and almond dusted with sugar. Café a Piriquita, Sintra, Portugal.
Restaurante Regional de Sintra for lunch. Ensopado de Enguias (Eel stew) and Arroz de Tamboril (Monkfish rice). We saw a lot of tour guides bring their clients here. Sintra, Portugal.
Coastline:
After lunch we drove to the coast to Cabo da Roca (Cape Roca). This is the westernmost extent of continental Europe. Portugal.
Cabo da Roca, Portugal.
From Cabo da Roca we drove to Boca do Inferno (Hell's Mouth). It is a chasm located in the seaside cliffs close to the Portuguese city of Cascais, in the District of Lisbon. Portugal.
Boca do Inferno, Portugal.
We drove back to our hotel in Lisbon afterwards. For dinner we had take-out from Frangasqueira Nacional (which I did not take pictures of). It's a small place that serves churrasco, or different types of meat, sausage, pork, chicken, cooked on a grill and spiced with a hot red chili sauce.
