Porto to Sintra

We took 2 taxis to the train station, not Sao Bento this time, but Campanha, where our train for Lisbon would depart. Oddly, the train originated at the Sao Bento station, so I'm not sure why the ticket agent sold us the ticket from Campanha, a station farther away from town. After a 3-hour ride, we arrived in Lisbon and bought tickets to Sintra. I make that sound so straightforward here, but actually it took some time wandering through the station, and advice from a few strangers, to find the ticket window for the train to Sintra. Just another fun challenge in a foreign country.

The Lisbon to Sintra train ride was short in comparison to the Porto to Lisbon ride, and we arrived in Sintra in good order. The instructions to the apartment we were renting, at Casa de Pendoa, said that it was an easy 15 minute walk from the train station. The sidewalks were cobblestones though, so the walk was tiring, and slightly uphill from the station. We arrived at the top of town, an area of shops and restaurants, and had some difficulty finding our place on the little side streets. We finally did find it, and afterward saw the signs we should have followed. The manager was surprised, and sorry, that the directions weren't easy for us to follow.

The upper part of Sintra

We got settled in to our apartment: 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a comfortable living room, and a nice kitchen and dining area. It was late afternoon, but we hadn't had lunch, so we ventured out to find food. We stopped at an Indian restaurant not far from our place, Bengal Tandori, and when we asked if they were serving dinner right now, at 5 o'clock, the waiter said, well you're not here for dinner if you want to eat now! He seated us though, and we had some good Indian food. On our way out, I stopped at the bar and told him we'd be back for dinner, and by the way, what time would that be? He knew I was kidding. He said dinner would be at 7 here, or 8 where he comes from. I wondered if he was from the Portuguese part of India, Goa, since we've met some people here who are from Goa. I didn't ask though, and we parted on friendly terms.

Lots of little side-streets and alleys in Sintra

After dinner we looked for the nearest grocery store, which was tucked back in a little lane in town. It was really more of a convenience store, like a 7-11, but we found bottled water, which is a requirement for our group.

It's never hard to find a gelato shop

After a tiring travel day, we all were ready for bed pretty early, but not before a final glass of port.