PORTUGAL - Part Two: Niki wishes she was royal.

Day Three: another adventure outside Lisbon. Julia really was the best tour guide in the world. She would be my Portuguese correspondent on my own history channel for sure. Love it. I know lots and lots now about Portuguese history. The clever Kings, the foolish Kings, the Carnation Revolution, the Moors, oh man - history heaven.

The day began with a trip to Cabo de Roca. A cape with a pretty light house that marks the western most point of Europe. If Sarah Palin was Governor of Massachusetts she could definitely spit at Cabo de Roca from her office.
That's me pointing to America. Man I'm funny.

Then we had lunch at another favourite beach of Julia's. I tried octopus! I justify this as a cultural experience - and I'm pretty sure there would have been very little suffering on the octopus' part. I hope so anyway.

After lunch we drove to the town of Sintra. So unbelievably beautiful. It used to be the trendy hang out spot for Portuguese nobles in the 17th and 18th centuries. And it was home to Moorish people before that - they were kind enough to leave behind remains of a cool hilltop castle. The Moors, being an Islamic people, had a very different decorative style to the Christian populations that came later, and in Portugal there is often a fusion of styles. Its beautiful. Sintra is a good example. Its so mystical.
Just a casual fountain casually along the street. Sure.
A Royal Palace. Cool! We went right through it. AMAZING ceilings, and tiles and furniture and views. Man. Awesome.
Niki with some Moorish tiles. There are heaps of tiles in Portugal generally. Most facades of the buildings in Lisbon were covered in them. I like these ones a lot.
The lovely Julia in Sintra.

Then we drove up the hill through the most lush and beautiful bush - we walked quite a bit too - and then we came upon this marvellous sight:
WOW. An 18th Century palace. Built to cure the Royal family's boredom with their existing abodes. Seriously. It was awesome. We walked through this one as well. And its really really high up so the view was spectacular. Its so different to British palaces - a lot more colour and decoration generally I think. Beautiful.
This is me on the walls of the palace looking out the Moorish Castle and Sintra. Holy moly. You can see why they built it so high up the hill.

We then went back down to Sintra and went into this adorable wee cafe and Julia ordered us the speciality of Sintra - I cant remember if it has a special name but it was this sugary gooey pastry heaven. Man. Apparently each area in Portugal has their own special pastry and each is very different. Let the pastry tour of Europe begin!! YUM.