Lisbon Day 2

My second day in Lisbon I had breakfast at the most adorable crepe bar SamaSama right by my hotel! I had seen it the day before and it did not disappoint! This place was made for me— eco friendly, organic, and serving iced coffee! It’s super tiny, with standing room only inside and a few stools outside and the line gets long quick!

If you are vegan or vegetarian this is also a great spot for breakfast or lunch. 

 Sintra is a prefect day trip from Lisbon. You can easily take the train out, it’s about an hour. Since I did not have my phone, I used www.rome2rio.com for directions. I got a late start, so by the time I got on the train it was standing room only.

 Sintra is very charming, I think it would be the perfect spot for a quiet few days of a honeymoon! I snapped these adorable photos as I walked through town.  

First on my list of things to see was Castle Peña. The line for tickets at the castle was pretty long when I arrived around 11am. My advice is buy your tickets ahead of time online! Also dress in layers, it’s VERY windy in Sintra so it can get chilly but then when you are walking up hills from spot to spot you are suddenly quite toasty. 

The castle is very stunning, it’s a romantic style castle so it’s over the top with its colors and the interiors. The castle was originally a monastery, that was acquired by the king and you can still see the original bones of it! I wanted to take photos around and outside of the castle, so I did not wait in the super long queue to go see the interior of the castle. I also had other spots I wanted to see on my day trip and waiting in line was not on my agenda. 

From Castle Peña I walked over to Castelo Mouros. The line for tickets here was not long at all but again if you can I would just purchase my tickets ahead of time online. This castle was originally a fort built by the Moors in the 10th century. There is also a mini museum with archaeological finds on your walk up to the castle after gaining entrance to the grounds. I highly recommend it, but I love history and learning about other cultures! 

The views from Castelo Mouros were even more beautiful than from Castle Peña if that is even possible! It was also the most windy here! 

I decided I had time for one more stop before heading home on train! I stopped back by the parks  ticketing office and picked up a map for other palaces in the area. I decided on Monserrate. I took a local tuktuk there as it was too far to walk. Taking the tuktuk was really nice actually, you get the added benefit of having a mini local tour guide on your ride! Just be sure to agree on a price before you get in, I paid about 7 euros. 

Monserrate itself was not as grand as the other two castles, the grounds were amazing though! I spent most of my time wandering the gardens of the property. I learned about what the local flora was like and how not much remained on the grounds as it had been cut down to make room for landscape gardens of the romantic area. The highlights of the grounds were the Mexican Garden, the water falls, and the ruins of a previous chapel. 

After this I headed back to the train station to go back to Lisbon, the station the driver dropped me off at did not look familiar, I asked a lady if the train went to Lisbon, she said yes. Great I thought, about 40 minutes in I realize none of the stops sound familiar from the morning and in my tired state I did not even think to check the map posted in the train car. I recognize one stop on the list that I missed that I could have transferred to the correct line. In the end I got off at the next stop and took a cab into Barrio Alto, sometimes it’s just better to cut your losses (my driver did not speak English, but we could agree on an area!) from there I found a spot for dinner and meandered through the streets with my paper map home just fine!