Sintra, worth knowing.

Fun facts about Sintra

1. 1The Magpie Room in Sintra's National Palace has a ceiling full of painted magpies, each carrying a rose and the words 'por bem'. Legend says King João I was caught kissing a lady-in-waiting.Source: Parques de Sintra; Wikipedia
2. 2Those two giant white cones on Sintra's skyline aren't towers. They're the chimneys of the royal kitchen in the National Palace, built to cook for the whole court.Source: Parques de Sintra; Wikipedia
3. 3Near Sintra, Colares grows its vines in sand by the Atlantic. When a vine pest devastated Portugal's vineyards in the 1800s, it couldn't get through the sand, so these vines survived.Source: Câmara Municipal de Sintra; Adega Regional de Colares
4. 4Sintra's famous pastry is called a travesseiro, a 'pillow': puff pastry filled with egg and almond cream. Try one at Casa Piriquita, a family bakery since 1862.Source: Casa Piriquita; Full Suitcase
5. 5In Pena Park's Valley of Lakes, even the ducks live royally: their little houses on the water are modelled on the Moorish Castle and Pena Palace.Source: Parques de Sintra; Full Suitcase
6. 6Pena Palace grew out of an old monastery. King Ferdinand II, the 'King-Artist', took over the hilltop ruins and turned them into his fairy-tale summer palace.Source: Parques de Sintra; Wikipedia

Things to do in Sintra

• ◦Stand at Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point of mainland Europe. A stone monument there quotes the poet Camões: 'where the land ends and the sea begins'.Source: Parques de Sintra; Wikipedia
• ◦Walk the Moorish Castle's walls as they snake over the granite boulders of a Sintra peak, with Pena Palace on one side and the Atlantic in the distance.Source: Parques de Sintra; Wikipedia
• ◦The Convent of the Capuchos is nicknamed the Convent of Cork: tiny rooms tucked between granite boulders, with doors and windows lined in cork.Source: Parques de Sintra; Wikipedia
• ◦At Quinta da Regaleira, walk down the spiral Initiation Well, nine levels into the ground, then follow the dark tunnel at the bottom out to a grotto.Source: Quinta da Regaleira; Full Suitcase
• ◦Hop on the vintage Sintra tram, a line first opened in 1904, and rattle from the hills all the way down to the beach at Praia das Maçãs.Source: Câmara Municipal de Sintra; Wikipedia
• ◦Climb to the High Cross in Pena Park, the highest point of the Sintra hills, for a view that runs from Lisbon to the Atlantic.Source: Parques de Sintra; Full Suitcase

Questions to bring to Sintra

From Sojourn's journeys. Ask one over a long dinner or on a slow walk, and let the place do some of the work.

Going together

• When do you feel most like yourself?
• What does rest actually look like for you?
• What is one thing you wish we did more of?

Going solo

• What is the first thing this place is showing you that you didn't expect?
• What does this version of you know that the home version tends to forget?

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