October 2020 - on a Monday morning we took the local train from Lisbon to Sintra and were astonished that despite COVID, there were a few more tourists than we anticipated. However, compared to normal years it must be extremely few. The trainride Leads through Lisbon’s suburbs, which are pretty ugly so nothing to see on the way, only a short glimpse at castle of Queluz.

Arriving in Sintra you can choose from many offered tours to one or many castles by buses or tuktuks.  Stubborn as I am, we rejected and took a walk to the town center. It has an extreme rich vegetation and humid climate, so the Location was choosen wisely. The Castelo dos Mouros towers above the town and the red tower of the Palacio de Pena sticks above the mountain, reminiscing a lot Sarumans home from Lord of the rings. But also the town itself is like in a fairytale. After walking by the palacio de Sintra with the iconic chimneys, looks like a Whiskey malt kiln, we decided to visit Quinta da Regaleira. It is huge garden with a subtropical vegetation. Palmtrees, ferns, rhododendrons, just beautiful. But the many dwells, caves and fountains which we all wanted to see, make it a half day visit. The architects of this garden created a real masterpiece, but even more astonishing that most plants are only 30 years old, when the garden experienced massive restoration. 
At the end of the visit, we did not have power to hike and not even take a bus to the Palacio de Peña, which I now somehow regret. But all in all, it was  wonderful day in Sintra and a highlight of our Portugal trip.