First trip outside Lisbon today – to Pena Palace outside Sintra, visited the tourist madness that was Sintra town, had lunch at the beach at Cascais and then had a bit more free time back in Lisbon.

Pena Palace was created from an old convent by a 19th century Portugese king and looks like something from Disneyland – colours, tiles, turrets, terraces and art with a convoluted layout of small rooms.  It was an interesting visit and luckily we were earlyish so it wasn’t too crowded.  Sintra, on the hill below the palace though was mobbed – apparently there’s a standard tour bus circuit that it’s on and its not far from Lisbon.  So after sampling a local pastry we were off to Cascais – a nice town by the sea.  We skipped lunch and instead had a drink at a lovely hotel overlooking the beach (a real beach with golden sand – not foreshore!) and then a gelati in town.

Here’s a few pics of Pena Palace – there will be a few more when WordPress cooperates!:

Drawbridge entry – every palace should have one

The architecture and decoration is quite mad!