Thursday 24th January 2008

Whenever we spoke to Portuguese people about our plans, they always told us that we had to go to Sintra and today was the day. We had noticed that then was a minor road in green on our Michelin map and this indicated that it should be picturesque, although we have found cases when this is definitely not the case. The road also appeared to be the most direct and the Garmin sat nav, on a casual inspection appeared to use that route. However although it started off on that route, it knew of another minor road that lead up through the hills. It was extremely pretty and took us past the Convento dos Capuchos (Cork Convent), which we had both read about but dismissed because it was a little way out of Sintra itself. As we were passing it, we decided to visit it and were glad that we did. The monastery was established in 1560 by the Franciscans and given the name Santa Cruz. It was built on and around the huge boulders that litter the forest here and it blends in so well to the landscape that it would be easy to pass close without noticing it. The name Cork Convent was associated with it because the monks used cork to line their cells – doors, walls, ceilings and window frames. The cells themselves are tiny (approximately 2m square) and, in contrast to the monks at Alcobaca, they were very poor and led lives of seclusion and silence. Philip II of Spain and Portugal declared that it was the poorest convent in his kingdom and it is easy to believe that.
We then drove on to Sintra passed the castle and the Palacio da Pena, because we had decided to visit the Palacio Nacional in the town itself.
The Palacio Nacional was a former royal palace until the Portuguese monarchy was overthrown. It was added to and re-modelled by successive monarchs and is an intriguing mixture of different styles with a strong Moorish influence in many areas. It was an interesting visit but I have to say that much of the decoration was over the top and I would not like to have lived with it.
We then wandered around the town admiring the many hand-painted tile workshops and studiously avoided buying any! This was obviously a fashionable place for the rich to live and there are many ornate villas dotted around, even the town hall looks like something out of Disney.
Lisbon was the next stop and the only campsite in the city – Lisbon Municipal Camping. We arrived later afternoon, set up on our allocated pitch and soon found Marie and Michael's Hymer over the other side of the site. They were obviously still enjoying Lisbon, so we left them a note inviting them for a drink when they got back. They duly arrived clutching a bottle of rosé and a wine glass identical to ours (Sainsbury – 4 wine glasses for £4.99!). The evening went very well and we decided to share a gourmet meal of Cassoulet (the French, slightly more sophisticated, version of bangers and beans) as we had two cans available. The red wine went down very well – too well if the truth be known as by the time that we said “good night” we had exhausted our supply of four bottles and had drunk another two that Michael had fetched from the Hymer.
Photos: Convento dos Capuchos blends into the rocky scenery; Three tiny monk's cells; The exterior of Sintra's Palacio Nacional with the two distinctive kitchen chimneys; Painted tile scene in the Palace – this is the way that royalty spent their time, hunting and dancing!; Hand-painted tiles were everywhere in Sintra and this, rather good, example was on the wall of the Byron café.