Sintra

The journey continued south towards Lisbon. First stop in Mafra at the Palacio Nacional, whose 220 meter long facade dominates the cityscape. Standing in front of the building, the streets branch out in a star shape and the sea glitters in the distance, impressive!

We also wanted to visit Sintra, but the thieving comments at the public parking spaces put us off and so we stood at Carlos' property a few kilometers away.

The next morning we cycled the hilly kilometers to Sintra. There we treated ourselves to a bus that made its way between taxis, tuk-tuks, jeeps and carriages through the narrow and steep streets to the numerous castles and palaces. Hats off to their driving skills!

We decided to visit the Palace Nacional de Pena, which is visible from afar on the hill - like many others. First we walked through the extensive, extremely hilly but definitely worth seeing garden before joining our entrance queue to the palace.

This line of people snaked through the palace in exactly this formation in about 1.5 hours. A new experience that I don't necessarily have to repeat.

The bus took us to the Palacio Nacional de Sintra, but we only looked at it from the outside and instead strolled through the streets for a bit. Back at the bikes, we decided against the bus ride on the other line to other palaces and instead took our bikes to the sea to Azenhas do Mar to end the day. The place is nestled close to a rocky cliff and is particularly known for its spectacular seawater swimming pool. A great place!