Category: Portugal

The day started with a lazy walk down to the river to Praca do Comercio, along the familiar sights such as the Elevador de Santa Justa and the Cathedral, and the Castelo almost always in sight as well. The Praca was sunny and full of tourists, relaxed. I continued towards Belem on 7 km tram ride along the river (local tram 15, 90% tourists). First stop, the Jeronimos Monastery, an hour rest at the Tropical Botanical Garden, and then a short walk to the Belem Tower.  Walked around a bit, visited the war memorial and then walked over to Alges to continue to Cascais by train, exploring some modern architecture on the way. Hanged around town until dinner and returned by train to Cais do Sodre to catch some night views of Lisbon to close the day.

Started the day racing with Elevador da Gloria, old machine on high wheels, not really a challenge, but gave up the win for a few photo ops. The morning view from Miradouro Sao Pedro de Alcantara was nice but flat, turned around and visited Convento Sao Pedro and Igreja de Sao Roque, and walked down to Rossio station just after 11 am to take train to Sintra.  Walked up from Sintra train station to Castelo dos Mouros, via Parque da Liberdade shortcut to Igreja de Santa Maria, in just about an hour. After Inka steps, hills are just hills. Then down and up to Palacio da Pena. The place was packed with visitors, many more than in the castle. Most of the trails and side streets were actually rather quiet. Could not quite decide how to spend the rest of  the day, with not enough time left for Quinta da Regaleira, I walked slowly to Valley of the Lakes, stopped for late lunch at Dona Maria restaurant, had a quick look at Palacio Nacional before returning to the train station around 6 pm.

Sintra loop

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Back to Miradouro Sao Pedro de Alcantara, in time for afternoon/sunset views. With all the local zig-zagging, I walked well over 10 km.

My first day in Lisbon (and Portugal), arrived by bus and plane via Berlin, got my Viva Viagem card loaded and traveled on red and green metro to my hostel at Rua da Palma, all very fast and efficient to give me enough time to visit a couple of sites. Lisbon is built on hills, some buildings are covered with tiles top to bottom and tourists are moved around by tram-loads.