My Travel Blog: Portuguese in Portugal??

The home country of Jose Murinho and Cristiano Ronaldo was my weekend destination, I'm not sure what small town they are both from exactly but I felt closer to them whilst being there - v. SAD!!

Serra de Sintra

The old romantic town of Sintra (which is about 30 minutes from Lisbon with no traffic) is made up of castles/palaces, hills, beaches and exquisite countryside; it is simply an idyllic and dreamy hideaway. I was here for a beautiful wedding ( a tag along event really - don't ask!but well worth it) at the Palacio de Seteais, an amazing 18th century neo-classical building, which has been converted into a Tivoli hotel.

I stayed at another Tivoli hotel called the Tivoli Palacio Sintra - very basic and definitely NOT a 4 star hotel as it states on its website more like 2 star, the only good thing about the hotel is the amazing picturesque view from the dining/restaurant and it's location. It

is located in the main town with cute little shops lining the cobbled stone streets.

We took a little tourist train around the town to the Monserrate Palace - a little romantic palace (didn't get to go in :-( ) see photo (also liked the quinta de Regaleira cafe in a Gothic castle/building)

Lisboa

hmmm....Lisboa wasn't quite what I had imagined, I'm not sure what I had imagined for the Portuguese Capital, but it was a bit disappointing. I stayed at the Real Palacio hotel near the parque Eduardo VII - a 17th century palace and supposedly 5 star - don't think so but quite reasonable.

I guess Lisboa is very similar to most European cities, with some good architecture (Romanesque, Gothic, Baroque, Modern, post-modern, especially in Baixa - the city centre), loads of bars/clubs (Bairro Alto), cafes and restaurants, museums and churches. It's a small historic city, and everything is in walking distance. It did seem somewhat run down though - an old city that hasn't been maintained.

I loved the amazing traditional Portuguese pavements in Baixa, the 1930 trams, the Restauradores square (place of Portuguese Independence), Rossio (Pedro IV) square with beautiful Portuguese mosaic and the Maria II theatre on one end in the Pombaline baixa (art exhibition on in the square called 'LOVE' i think, see photo).

I especially loved the rua Augusta (lined with nice shops) and the view from the street through the arch under the clock at the statue of King Jose I in the Praca do Comercio (the square of commerce) - the arch links to this very impressive square and in front of the old Ribeira palace(splendid yellow buildings) looking on towards the Tagus river and the 25 de Abril Bridge which used to be the longest suspension bridge in Europe, and looks just like the Golden Gate! - and was unsurprisingly built by the same engineers :-)