We will be staying in Sintra for five nights. Everyone said one or two days is more than enough time to spend here…however, I disagree.

We are staying at the Sintra Marmoris Camelia, just outside of the historic district. People have called it the “Barbie” hotel because of its pink exterior.

Our room is large and cozy, with a great bathroom area. There are outlets everywhere, which is wonderful, since we have lots of gadgets that need charging. The bed is comfortable with lots of pillows. For our daily pleasure, the hotel provides some chocolates, fresh fruit, water and a decanter of port wine.

We also have a nice view over the valley that includes our sister hotel, and the ocean in the distance.

Once we got settled into our room and figured out the lay of the land, we did some planning for sightseeing and meals.

By the time we finished, it was time to get ready for dinner. Tonight’s restaurant is located ‘way across the street’ and will take us almost two minutes to get there. It’s called Incomum by Luis Santos and it’s been highly recommended.

There was a bit of a misstep at dinner. When we checked in, they didn’t show a reservation for us. Luckily, I had the confirmation email on my phone. Turns out the ‘H’ and ‘Y’ in our last name causes problems with the Portuguese language. They actually did have our reservation; someone had just mistakenly crossed us out when another customer arrived. Disaster averted!

Our waitress Joana was extremely friendly and helpful, making suggestions and recommendations, plus helping us with our Portuguese. Our meals were delicious once again. We both started with a bowl of soup; Sue had the vegetable while I had a lobster and crab combo.

For our mains, Sue had the Guinea Fowl with risotto and I had the grilled duck breast with puréed sweet potatoes. We had a lighter Douro red wine to accompany our meals. Both were excellent!

And for dessert, Sue had a chocolate pie and I had a chocolate mousse with fresh raspberries. What a great way to start our time in Sintra.

We took the short walk back to the hotel and after relaxing for a while, we got a good night’s sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We woke up ready to go. We had a good breakfast to start us off. The hotel offered just about anything we wanted – omelets, meats and cheeses, pancakes, crepes, cereal, yogurt, breads and sweets, and fresh fruit. We went with omelets, bacon and some breads, plus I had my first cappuccino of the trip. It was good and filling.

We hopped back upstairs to grab some sunscreen and our sunglasses before heading out. It was a beautiful day with bright blue skies. We decided to make sure we knew the route up to our meeting place for tomorrow’s tour.

Well let me tell you, the Sintra hills are just as impressive as those in the other towns. We were both exhausted by the time we reached the top. Sue then wanted to walk to find our restaurant for the evening and my knee was having none of that nonsense.

Instead, we connected with a very friendly tuk-tuk driver and she took us on a free-form tour. Her name was Ana and we had a great time. Since we’ll be visiting a couple of the main tourist attractions in the days to come, Ana suggested that we head towards the beaches. We are so glad that we agreed, as the views were awesome.

We puttered our way through the forest, passing through some of the freshest smelling air and looking down on several sites, including the Monserrate Palace. We then cut through the pretty town of Colares before angling towards the ocean.

Our first stop was at the Praia Grande. It was occupied by people enjoying the sun and others out surfing. While the waves were not huge, they were big enough for the folks to ride them into the beach.

Next we tucked into the Praia das Maçãs. It was smaller and geared more towards the sun worshippers. Ana told us that the water was not very warm, which is why we were only seeing the surfers in it with their wet suits.

Leaving the beach, we headed back to the historic old town in Sintra. Ironically, to get there we had to pass right by our hotel, so we just had Ana drop us off there. As a bonus, we were able to book her for a ride up to the Quinta da Regaleira in the morning. Yay!

Time to relax, and what better way to relax than with a bottle of wine. We stepped across the street and we were seated street-side to people watch and enjoy a nice chilled white wine.

Last evening’s waitress and host greeted us like long lost friends. They knew we had made reservations to return for dinner tomorrow evening and seemed happy to have us back. Given that the restaurant is always booked and busy, it was just nice of them to acknowledge us.

While enjoying our wine, a couple from Philadelphia sat next to us and struck up a conversation. Al and Terry were just in town for a day trip before returning to Lisbon and sailing back to the USA on a cruise ship. We had fun chatting with them and sharing travel notes. Al promised an update when their cruise was completed.

We then headed back to our room to relax a bit before dinner. It was too early to even catch the scores from the football games, so it was music and blog time until dinner.

We had a bit of a walk to get to the restaurant this evening. We left the hotel early so we could pace ourselves, but everything is uphill! And there are stairs! Yikes!

When we arrived at the upper level there was a lot of activity. People walking, shops and plenty of restaurants.

Tonight’s restaurant is called Romaria de Baco. It’s just a small tavern, but the food comes highly recommended.

And the recommendations were spot on. Another delicious meal for the books. Still haven’t had a bad one.

And then we had to walk back to the hotel. It was a bit easier going downhill, but the darkness became a factor. I know: whine, whine, whine. 😃

Anyway, we got back to the hotel and plopped on the bed to rest.

Tomorrow is our first landmark tour, so we’ll see how we do with the crowds.