After I finished my post last night and Zach and I finished our bottle of 10-year white port, we met a guy in the hostel named Leslie. Leslie is from Asheville, North Carolina and as he explained it “my dad is Welsh so I can travel all over Europe with out a visa so I’m doing that for a year.” I didn’t have the heart to tell the guy that Americans don’t need visas to travel in Europe. He recently was in Morocco so we shared some stories. When we said we had loved Marrakesh he said he was told not to go to Marrakesh since it has become too touristy, but that “way back when you were there it was probably still OK.” Then he asked if we had been staying in a lot of hostels. After heading off to bed, Zach and I giggled about how old we must seem to this kid. What is he, 18? Maybe 22 at the most? We must have seemed ancient to him! He was likely just trying to figure out why this elderly couple brought their grandchildren to a youth hostel. Oh and he did tell us that our next destination, Sintra, “has a good aura” so apparently the kids are saying that these days.
We left Tomar early after a quick walk through a nearby park, and spent three hours on trains getting to Sintra. The travel time isn’t ever really a problem for us since the girls love trains, but the issue is missing out on meals and snacks. We were running low on almonds and dried apricots, and we were getting kind of sick of the bread and cheese we had. We also had a few minor mishaps in our travel. The one that drove me crazy all day was the ticket agent who sold me 5 tickets to our destination: for 3 adults and 2 children. And we don’t even have to pay for Diane, so we only needed 2 adult tickets and 1 child ticket. But our train was about to leave so we didn’t realize it until we were already on our train and pulling away. GAH. I still don’t know if he was incompetent, cheating me, or if it was just my faulty Portuguese.
The girls sign the wall of our hostel in Tomar.
A park in Tomar.
Waiting for the train.
In the picturesque palace town of Sintra our first line of business was to eat, and we stumbled upon a cafe that was simply perfection. Toys for the girls to play with, clean bathrooms, and most importantly, fresh and delicious sandwiches with vegetables. Ohhhh how good it was to taste carrots and beets and lettuce and tomatoes! It gave us just the energy we needed for the 20 minute walk to our B&B (should have been 15 minutes but I got us lost – twice – and Zach had to take over).
If I have leaned anything from Zach’s side of the family its that the key to a great B&B is a great dog to greet you in the doorway. And although Villa Mira Long a would have been great anyway, it was still the best kind of welcome to meet sweet Godya at the door. Godya is an old golden retreiver who loves (and I mean LOVES) kids. He only has eyes for Melina and Diane, and they absolutely adore him. He followed us around as we got our tour of this perfect place.
This inn would typically be way outside of our budget but it is our 10 year anniversary today so we decided to splurge. We are so glad are did! The views of the town and the palaces and the castles and the ocean and the sunset are spectacular. These are all from our rooms:
The decorations are unique and tasteful and everything is spotless. I am staring right now at a crazy Murano chandelier that must be dusted every day to stay this sparklingly perfect.
Not to mention that the girls have a separate room where they were given their own plush kiddie bathrobes and soap sets and chocolates. Melina was actually begging to stay here and take a nap, but we dragged the girls away from their luxurious room and into town.
Sintra is a tourist town. There is no getting around that. With multiple castles and palaces and mansions and gardens, what do you expect? The day trippers and tour groups were everywhere in the town, but since it was late in the day we waltzed into the National Palace and toured the opulent home of Portugal’s last Kings and Queens. It was gorgeous and well maintained and reminded us a lot of the palaces of Austria and Hungary that we saw a few years back.
You can see the outside of the palace in the first of the three view shots I show above. It is the expansive white building with terra cotta roofing and two white conical towers (actually chimneys). Here are some more palace shots:
D chases pigeons outside the palace.
The Prince’s Garden.
Ceiling of “The Swan Room.” Wonder where it got that name?
Getting goofy in the palace.
A very strange painting in the palace…Jesus in lingerie?
After the palace we just wandered the town and enjoyed our afternoon pastries (a tradition in Portugal where pastelerias line every street and every town has a local delicacy). After a beautiful dinner we came back to the inn where the girls bathed and played before passing out. Zach and I are enjoying the 20 year port we bought especially for our anniversary along with some chocolates from Tomar and wondering where we will be for our 20th..,
Traveling Together 