Scenic Detours

Mar 11/07

We took the train to Sintra today. It was quite an experience, and our first chance at getting "lost". We had the train info, but somehow had gotten the time to our destination wrong. So, when we thought our train was supposed to be arriving...we were already in Lisbon, a full 30 mins past our stop. Also, the end of the line. So the conductor gave us directions, and we were able to catch a train from right there back to Sintra. This turned out to be a good thing, because we were at a different station, much closer to the touristy area we wanted.

Sintra is an old castle on a moutain, built a long time ago, by a king. (Ok, I'm a bit sketchy on the details) But it was beautiful. Originally, it was a convent, then added onto by the king. Parts of it are pink, yellow and blue tiled, and the roof looks like a cake. It had incredible views. Also, nearby was another castle, and the ruins of an ancient moorish fortified castle (from when Protugal was invaded by the Arabs). The Arabic tiles in all the castles were fantastic, all full of bright colours and geometric designs, and the decorations were very different from the French castles we had seen before.

Back at "home" we were going with katia and David to the 80th birthday of a relation's of Katia's. It was supposed to be cake...which in Portugal means cake, meat, bread, sweets, fruit, wine, more meat, more bread...eat, eat, don't be shy. Most of the people were either from Canada, or lived in Canada part of the year. Many knew Bridgette's family so we were welcomed with open arms.