After leaving Lisbon on a rainy day, we reached the most western point of the European mainland before we visited Sintra.
Aqui, onde a terra se acaba e o mar começa …
Here, where the earth ends and the sea begins …
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| Cabo da Roca |
Cabo da Roca – as the most western point of Portugal and the European mainland – is a major tourist attraction. Bus after bus of tourists are dropped here. We stayed overnight so we had a gap of half an hour between sunrise and the first bus of Asian tourists arriving.
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| Wild Atlantic coast |
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| Parking for the night |
Continuing to the west with 100 km/h we would have reached New York in about 60 hours 😉
Instead we turned east again and drove to Sintra, which is a nice little town with numerous royal palaces and beautiful villas. We found a parking in town and decided to take a Tuk-Tuk up to the famous Palácio da Pena.
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| Palácio da Pena |
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| Checking out the Tuk-Tuks |
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| Driving up the steep hill with passengers was hard work (for the engine) |
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| People streaming in |
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| Hairy Aquarius watching over the entrance |
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| Beautiful view |
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| Inner courtyard of the palace |
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| Taking pictures everywhere |
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| The queue is getting longer and longer |
Some advice: don’t go there on a Monday! All the sights in Lisbon are closed on Monday and all the tourists go to Sintra. We went on a Monday, so we know now that it is not a good idea. If you travel with a camper, park somewhere near a train station between Lisbon and Sintra. Take the train into town and the bus up to the palace. This way, you can spend the whole day and don’t have to worry about your parking ticket expiring.
The palace is surrounded by a vast and beautiful park. You could spend the rest of the day wandering through this lush woods with many surprises.
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| Camellias still in flower |
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| Green sofa |
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| Flower of the day |
