Sintra part 1

A short train ride away from Lisbon is Sintra.  After getting off the train, there is a bus stop where you can take a public bus through a loop to the major sights, and ends right back at the train station.

The first stop was to the ruins of this Moorish castle.  We walked up this slope and up many, many stairs to the top.  This was top three in my favorite things we did while in Portugal.

View of the city from the top

View of the palace on a different mountain

Yes, I hiked up to the top in flip flops.  We walked 22,000 steps that day, and according to the app on my phone, 70 floors.  The whole time I was thinking, "This is exactly something my mother would do."  I was also thinking how much she would love it.  

After the castle, we got back on the bus, and took it up some very windy streets.  The bus was super packed, which meant that most people did not get off at the castle.  Instead, they all got off at the Pena Palace.  As you can see from my pictures below, it was very crowded.  Although the palace was very interesting, in it's own way, I definitely didn't enjoy it as much as the Moorish castle.  Here's a picture of the palace, taken from Wikipedia.  

As you can see from my pictures, it was hard to really capture from the grounds.

Here is a panoramic shot, which kind of worked.  

One more stop in Sintra to come...