Seville to Sintra is almost 500 km, but the first few hundred metres were the worst. Seville, like many old towns, has narrow, one way, twisty streets. One wrong turn and you spend half an hour finding your way back. And the GPS has trouble locating the satellites when it is down a deep ravine between multi-story buildings. We finally found the way out to the freeway and then it was 120 kph roads all the way. However after crossing the border we started to hit tollways. It seems there are two different toll systems, both run by government departments, but different departments. It is all very confusing. On the 300 km from the Portugese border to Sintra we think (not easy to tell) that we clocked up about 30 euros in tolls – about 10 eurocents per km! And it will take about the same in tolls to get us back into Spain.
Sintra is a beautiful, historic town a few km west of Lisbon, with UNESCO world heritage listing.
Castle of the Moors, Sintra
Sintra is overlooked by a Medieval castle. It was started by Moors in the 8th and 9th century and underwent various additions and alterations over the millennium after. Given its age it is in spectacular condition. It sits high above Sintra town on a steep, craggy hill, dominating the skyline. We had enormous fun wandering its walls. Unlike in Australia, the Portugese are not over-protective, so there are lots of unfenced high places and other lovely things.
Pena Palace, Sintra
Nearby is Pena Palace. Although this started from a chapel build to honour Our Lady of Pena in the middle ages, it has been transformed into a romanticist castle that dominates the skyline. It is an amazing place.
National Palace, Sintra
We also visited the National Palace, one of the best preserved royal residences in Portugal, that was in use by the royalty from the 15th to 19th century. It is one of the major tourist drawcards here. It has a unique double kitchen chimney that outside looks like a pair of white witches-hats.
Nature strip, Portugese style
We took opportunity to consider differences in the attitudes to ‘nature strips’ between Australia and Portugal. Here, for example we see a Tree ‘feature’ in a footpath. The only way to pass it is to step on the road, or squeeze sideways between the tree and the fence of the adjacent house.
A little reminder of home. Tasmanian blue gums in Potugal
We found lots of gum trees scattered through the forest. This image shows an informative sign that, I believe, says they were introduced in the 19th century and have become one of Portugal’s most important trees economically with the expansion of the paper industry. However the expansion of eucalypt forest has had a significant impact on the biodiversity of native forests.
Lots more photos at https://goo.gl/photos/9cXTsnGfsst8ygdH8