sintra!

9/29:
this morning we woke up to rain, lots of rain. but anne claire and i decided that we were still up for doing sintra, even if it meant getting wet. so we headed to the train station and took a 45 min trip out there. it poured the entire way there, but by the time we got off it had slowed to a tolerable drizzle. we went to the national palace. i wasn´t sure that it was worth paying the 5 euro to get in, but anne claire is a journalist and flashed her press card to get free admittance for the both of us! sweet!
afterwards we hiked up to Quinta da Regaleira, a historic estate consiting of a palace, chapel, park, grottoes, wells, caves, and a lake. we hiked around the property for over 3 hours, but we could have stayed 8. it was really extraordinary! and huge! i especially enjoyed hiking through the underground caves.

at the top of the mountain in sintra is the Castle of the Moors. it looked spectacular from the bottom (despite the fog), but i had heard that it was pretty cheesy up top, and i was short on time since i had to get back to the hostel and pack before heading to the trainstation to catch the night train to madrid. so we never made the hike all the way up. instead we stopped for a quick bite and a quick beer, and explored the small town. i also had to make a quick stop to try the pastel de nata (the cream-filled pastry that portugal is famous for!) then i headed back to lisbon, and anne claire headed to the beach at cascais (the sun had finally made its way out at that point).

now i am back at the hostel about to leave for the train! see ya back in madrid!... caitlin comes tomorrow :)