Sintra

On the recommendation of just about everyone, including Lord Byron who called it "the most beautiful village in the world", we took a day trip from Lisbon out to Sintra. And it really is lovely still, with its deeply forested green hills, each topped with a castle, and the old town of stone houses and narrow cobbled streets. We hired a tiny electric car to drive up to the 8th century Moorish castle which occupies the highest point of the town and has spectacular 360 degree views of the surrounding countryside and the Atlantic Ocean about 20 kilometres to the west. The castle fell to Alfonso Henriques in 1147 and a Christian church was built in its grounds.

We had just enough time left on the little car to putter up the next hill to Pena Castle, a total contrast to the brooding Moorish ruins. Pena's style is described as 'Romantic' which means that it is a flamboyant mixture of various styles: traces of the monastery that was destroyed in the 1755 earthquake remain, surrounded by a rather garish white, red and yellow structure incorporating domes, spires, turrets, arches, gargoyles, terraces, courtyards and whatever else took the builders' fancy. The rooms are fully furnished in ornate 19th century fashion, with beautifully crafted objects like the beaten copper pots in the kitchen, the lacework covering all the furniture and of course the gorgeous ceramics. Plump, pompous portraits of the last generation of Portuguese monarchs decorate the walls - Queen Amelia, the last monarch of Portugal, spent her final night here in the palace before going into exile in 1910, her husband and son having been assassinated.

We returned the car then took a walk through the winding streets of the town, partly in search of the famous local pastries, queijadas, which we found here:

The pastries came highly recommended by this lovely lady, who expounded on them at length in voluble Portuguese. I think the gist of it was that she'd been eating them since 1756 and she was doing very nicely thank you.