In and around Sintra.

We have spent the last couple of days wandering around Sintra, looking at all the wonderful buildings, just enjoying this place and the wonderful weather we are experiencing at the moment. The building above is real, it's the Palacio National da Pena, perhaps the most beutiful of all the Royal Palaces. The inside of the palace is exactly as it was in 1910 when the royals abdicated, it's quite amazing, as if they had just gone out for a walk.

I was sitting on a wall taking pics of the palace when this tour bus went by, nearly taking my legs off at the knees.

The Moorish Castle next to the Palace.

Looking down the valley towards Lisbon in the distance.

The Moorish castle walls up close. The moors were expelled in 1147 after nearly 300 years of occupation, lots of excavating going on here, they are finding evidence that people have lived on this hill for over 500 years.  All this will result in making this place evan more interesting in the future I'm sure.

Back in Sintra in time for a late lunch, will leave you with some more photos of the outside art exhibition

This one I like the best, from a different angle than yesterday's shot.

Tomorrow we leave Sintra and fly to the island of Madeira.  For those not in the know, it's a big rock sticking up in the middle of the Atlantic with a semitropical rain forest perched precariously to its sides.

With lots to see and some amazing fish and fruit to eat - and they do eat the two together.