The last stop on our tour was, in my opinion, the best. It was time to check out Pena Palace!
Antonio dropped us off at the entrance and we agreed on a time to meet up later on. Mark and I bought our tickets, passed through the gate, and followed a bunch of other people up a steep path to...
Antonio dropped us off at the entrance and we agreed on a time to meet up later on. Mark and I bought our tickets, passed through the gate, and followed a bunch of other people up a steep path to...
...this. It was great.
I couldn't even fit the exterior in one picture. I can't imagine living somewhere like this.
We passed through an archway and found ourselves on the palace grounds. You could wander almost anywhere you wanted, which was really neat.
We wound up going through the inside of the palace first. They had a number of rooms open and restored. Everywhere you looked, things were almost over-the-top ornate.
Not bad, to have a view of a castle from your house!
This is way fancier than any bathroom I've ever had.
A detail from one of the ceilings; I think this may have been in a bedroom.
There was a decent-sized balcony in one area; it had a pretty sweet view.
We found a room with very detailed stained glass panels...
...and another room with very detailed geometric patterns on the walls.
The kitchen was at the end of the tour; it was huge. I can't imagine what it must have been like as they prepared for events in the past.
We popped back outside after wandering through the kitchen. This is a detail of some of the exterior tiles on a section of the building.
We made our way to the far side of the palace...
...which also had a great view.
Really, I could have taken pictures of the palace all day.
There was a small walkway that you could follow around part of the building; there weren't as many people out there, and it was pretty peaceful.
Really, the rest of the pictures can speak for themselves. Pena Palace is easily one of the most interesting places I've ever visited.
We eventually made our way through pretty much everything, and it was about time to go meet Antonio again. We said goodbye to Pena Palace, made our way back to Antonio, and started to head back into town.
Even the bus stops around here are ornate! We made our way back into town and stopped at the tour office, where we paid for our tour and said goodbye to Antonio.
Antonio and our little fun car for the day. It was definitely one of the best random trip things we've done in a while!
After saying goodbye to Antonio, we made the short walk into town. We checked out the outside of the Sintra National Palace before wandering through a couple of the side streets.
We eventually wound up back in the square by the National Palace. There were lots of people hanging out on the steps, enjoying the nice weather...
...and the views.
We also enjoyed a few pastries we picked up from Piriquita, a nearby bakery. Everything was really good.
After finishing our pastries, we wandered down a few streets and wound up at a wine bar. Antonio had told us about Colares wine; the grapes are grown locally in very sandy soil and the wine has a kind of salty vinegar taste. They had some at the wine bar, so we tried it. I was probably a bigger fan than Mark was. :)
We wandered a bit more through some of the side streets...
...then eventually picked a random restaurant and grabbed an early dinner. Even with it being maybe slightly touristy, everything was still really good.
I had ordered a random seafood rice thing. This cat parked itself next to me for a bit and stared me down, coveting my dinner.
After dinner, we took the train back to the hotel, packed our bags as much as we could, and finished our random drinks while we watched old music videos on VH1 and got ready for bed. The next morning, we grabbed breakfast in the hotel, checked out, and took the metro back to the airport. It would have been nice to stay longer, but it was time to head home.
The flight home was fine; I honestly don't remember too much about it. Customs went fine, and we made it home just fine, too.
We even got all of our very breakable souvenirs home in one piece! Overall Portugal had been really neat; I can definitely understand why people like it so much. I'd love to go back again someday!
There was a small walkway that you could follow around part of the building; there weren't as many people out there, and it was pretty peaceful.
Really, the rest of the pictures can speak for themselves. Pena Palace is easily one of the most interesting places I've ever visited.
We eventually made our way through pretty much everything, and it was about time to go meet Antonio again. We said goodbye to Pena Palace, made our way back to Antonio, and started to head back into town.
Even the bus stops around here are ornate! We made our way back into town and stopped at the tour office, where we paid for our tour and said goodbye to Antonio.
Antonio and our little fun car for the day. It was definitely one of the best random trip things we've done in a while!
After saying goodbye to Antonio, we made the short walk into town. We checked out the outside of the Sintra National Palace before wandering through a couple of the side streets.
We eventually wound up back in the square by the National Palace. There were lots of people hanging out on the steps, enjoying the nice weather...
...and the views.
We also enjoyed a few pastries we picked up from Piriquita, a nearby bakery. Everything was really good.
After finishing our pastries, we wandered down a few streets and wound up at a wine bar. Antonio had told us about Colares wine; the grapes are grown locally in very sandy soil and the wine has a kind of salty vinegar taste. They had some at the wine bar, so we tried it. I was probably a bigger fan than Mark was. :)
We wandered a bit more through some of the side streets...
...then eventually picked a random restaurant and grabbed an early dinner. Even with it being maybe slightly touristy, everything was still really good.
I had ordered a random seafood rice thing. This cat parked itself next to me for a bit and stared me down, coveting my dinner.
After dinner, we took the train back to the hotel, packed our bags as much as we could, and finished our random drinks while we watched old music videos on VH1 and got ready for bed. The next morning, we grabbed breakfast in the hotel, checked out, and took the metro back to the airport. It would have been nice to stay longer, but it was time to head home.
The flight home was fine; I honestly don't remember too much about it. Customs went fine, and we made it home just fine, too.
We even got all of our very breakable souvenirs home in one piece! Overall Portugal had been really neat; I can definitely understand why people like it so much. I'd love to go back again someday!
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