Sick of my own company
Trip Start
Mar 11, 2006
1
56
89
Trip End
Ongoing
Sintra, Portugal
Thursday, June 8, 2006
So travelling alone does get a bit boring at times. Especially after doing the Topdeck tour I got used to having a group around. So I figured that I would do a day tour today which would a) give me other people to talk to and b) go to some other place that I could reach with public transport.
It cost E42 which I initially thought was expensive but considering the tour last 9 1/2 hours really was pretty good value. We left at 9am in a mini bus built for 9 (8 passengers and the driver). There were 3 Aussies, 3 Americans and 2 Taiwanese girls and we all hit it off immediately.
Our first stop was Sintra and lovely little town near the coast of Portugal which used to be the summer retreat of the Portuguese king 150 years ago. There area has a national park which was planted by the king when he fell in love with the area. He chose a wide variety of trees and plants so it's a mish mash of flora from all over the place. We hiked through the park to various points of interest, the major one giving us a fantastic view across the forest to the castle. The castle is painted different colours which is a little strange but certainly makes it different from others. It's a definite Spanish influence because Spain is the same, as is Mexico but usually not the palaces... usually it's the houses in the little lanes.
The palace very ornate with lots of detailed carvings and cornice/celing work. We were allowed to take photos of the outside but not the inside. Inside the rooms were very cluttered. But that was the way during that time. The profusion of items filling every space showed the horror that was associated with space. It was like they had a fear of emptiness - can't imagine what they would think of the 'minimalist' look.
We went into the town for lunch and the Americans and I went to this lovely little restaurant and I had the most delicious asparagus crepe ever. Cheap too! We rejoined the group after having a short walk around the town and moved onto Cabo de Roca - the most western point on continental Europe. It's about 140m above the sea and drops down to the water in their craggy cliffs. Very majestic. At this point in Portugal we were at the same latitude as New York, we looked very hard and thought we could see a couple of skyscrapers in the distance.
Next we went around to the beach. This particular beach is known for it's big waves and surfing lifestyle so when we got there we weren't surprised to see loads and loads of cars even though it was a weekday. But the beach was almost empty. There was no wind and the surf was rather flat so the wind surfing competition that was supposed to be on was cancelled and the bars and restaurants were packed. We didn't have time to go swimming but we went walking in the water... which was MUCH colder than I expected. But apparently that's the Atlantic for you.
Our last stop for the day was Cascai, a little beach side resort that is actually almost on a river rather a beach. It was here I noticed my knee was all gross and pussy so I headed down the beach to soak it in salt water while the others wandered around the town. Then we drove back along the river that leads up to Lisbon (in peak hour traffic) past several points of interest that I want to go to tomorrow before arriving back in town at about 6.30.
My last act for the day was to find a cute cow, sit on it and get my photos taken - now it matches the one I got taken in Chicago. I don't think you are allowed to sit on them and myself and the Aussie girls did get some strange looks... the same as we did in Chicago all those years ago.
