Lisbon Day 4

Last night after dinner we took a walk along Liberty Avenue, a very wide French-style boulevard near our hotel.

This morning we took a segway tour of medieval Lisbon. It was more of an experience than on the segways to tour on Which We Could see anything or learn anything. But we had fun.

Here is a view of mommy and the rest of the group headed up one of the steep hills. We were glad we Were not walking at points like this. We did get to see a lot of the neighborhood but mostly just whisked past sites.

We did breifly stop at a scenic overlook with a nice view back towards the castle we toured yesterday.

After the segway ride, we went the museum of design and fashion, Which was fine but not that exciting. Then we hopped on the train to the town of Sintra at the very lovely Rossio station.

After the 40 minute ride to Sintra we got on the hop on hop off bus which made a circuit around the town to the various palaces. It was something of a summer resort area for the royals and nobles in the 19th century and there are many very elaborate palaces in and around Sintra. The bus loop turned out to be about a two hour drive, and the driver did not stop at many of the stops, so we got a nice driving tour of the countryside. We did stop for a 5 minute photo op at the westernmost spot on the European continent where we had stunning cliffside views of the Atlantic Ocean. 

Then the tour continued and the driver did stop to let us off to tour the Pena Palace. This cliff top 19th century palace was built like a fairy tale neo-Moorish style and was in a very elaborate garden with lots of follies and sculpture. Because the garden was on the side of the mountain, we did not walk around it much. But we did go through the palace Which had a lot or really decorative rooms in fantastic styles. Lots of faux finishes and elaborate decorations.

 After seeing the Pena Palace, we came back to Lisbon by train, had a nice Italian dinner, and returned to our hotel.