We took a train out of Lisbon for the day to the world-heritage listed village of Sintra in the hills not too far away. Around Sintra there are several impressive castles, palaces and gardens dating from Moorish times, and more recently from the period of the reign of the 17th to 19th century Portuguese royal families. The palaces have been restored and furnished to give a good idea of royal domesticity during those times. The Portuguese are partial to painted blue and white ceramic tiles and there were plenty of these on display too. Although no longer lived in, the palaces are still used for state occasions.
The weather was bad and walks in the terraced gardens were out of the question, so we confined ourselves to exploring the palace interiors. We visited two – Pena palace, and the National Palace of Portugal. From the latter it was a short walk back to the village centre and we were on the 6pm train back to Lisbon.
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