This year we decided to get out of town for St. Patrick's Day weekend. We have been wanting to check out Portugal for a while and thought it would be a great time to go. We only had two full days so we tried to make the best of our time and see as much as we could. We aren't great at getting out early when we travel with Mary-Kate (something we need to work on). We were still able to see quite a bit even though we didn't leave till around 11AM each day.
Our first stop while there was Sintra. It's an area about an hour outside of the City Center where beautiful palaces, gardens, and castles were built up in the tops of scenic mountains. The palace below had vibrant yellow, red, blue, and green colours. The views from the top were breath-taking.
On one mountain top was the beautiful colourful palace and on another mountaintop was a castle fortress that was at one point an Arabic stronghold. It was hard to decide what was more beautiful, the view of the other palace/castle on top of the mountain or the surrounding neighborhoods below.
After walking up and down the hills, floors of the palace, and castle fortress walls we built quite an appetite and enjoyed some delicious pastries and a crepe at this nice at the base of the mountain.
We loved Sintra's specialty - this little cinnamon pastry. Mary-Kate couldn't get enough of them and devoured several of them, which is saying a lot because she is an extremely picky eater.
In the evening we took the train back from Sintra and walked up more hills in the old Alfama neighborhood of Lisbon. We stumbled upon more amazing views next to a hilltop church. This was our favorite view looking out towards the Castelo do St. George and the Europe golden gate bridge in the distance.
The next morning we took another train out to the beachtown Caiscais. After eating lunch our first stop was a charming park that Mary-Kate fell in love with. There were several slides that she couldn't get enough of. Mary-Kate also has a love of animals, so it was fun for her to see the rooster, chickens, ducks, pigeons, seagulls, and peacocks at this park. Some of the chickens and ducks starting following her hoping to get some crumbs.
We eventually dragged Mary-Kate away from the park and walked over to the Boca do Inferno (Mouth of Fire). The pictures don't really do these cliffs justice. It was mesmerizing watching the water level rise and fall so drastically and to see the waves crash up against the cliffs and the mouth of the cave. You know something is amazing when Laurie is willing to get so close to a cliff's edge without a barrier. We thought Boca de Inferno would be a great Mexican restaurant name.
Laurie fell in love with this mansion on the outskirts of town.
We stopped at a beach and relaxed for a few minutes before leaving Caiscais. The water was cold, but felt great on Jake's feet after walking around for a day and a half.
We made it back to the Belem region in Lisbon and enjoyed touring some of the most picturesque architecture and monuments in Lisbon. First stop was the Mosteiro dos Jeronimos. We were the last ones that were let in the Monastery before the doors closed so there were very few other people around. It felt like we had the place to ourselves. Mary-Kate loved running around the cloister and playing hide and seek around the pillars.
Next stop was a cool free modern art museum. Mary-Kate thought modern art means touchable art. We taught Mary-Kate the importance of looking but not touching, but based on the fingerprints on some of the pieces on the floor a lot of other kids were attracted to the same pieces that Mary-Kate was. Mary-Kate is learning and trying to test her limits, like seeing how far away she can wonder without us yelling at her to catch up with us, like when she ran towards this red elephant-looking structure outside the museum.
We then enjoyed a beautiful sunset next to the Toree de Belem then in the twilight walked back along a coastal path and enjoyed the view of the Padrao dos Descobrimentos (a monument built in honor of Henry the Navigator) and the golden-gate style bridge - Ponte 25 de Abril. In some ways Lisbon reminded us of San Francisco, including the bridge, the bay, the hills, the vintage train cars, and being on the western edge of the continent.
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