Falling for Lisbon... Literally

Despite the title, this post is about a town outside of Lisbon called Sintra. Sintra is where former kings and queens of Portugal resided so they would be far away from the city. We had to take a 40 minute train to the town, but it was totally worth it (less than 4 euro round trip!) for all the history and scenery.

Anyway, one of the most interesting shops in Sintra was a store called Bar Binho, which was just off the first bus stop. We were intrigued by their huge selection of Ports and wine (including bottles from the 1800's!) and the pair of Russian women who were buying many bottles. Some of them were in the hundreds of Euros! After tasting some ginginjha (cherry liqueur popular in Lisbon) in a cup of chocolate for 1 Euro, the shopkeeper allowed us to taste 3 different ports: a white, a tawny and a ruby. He then casually mentioned that he is a knight. YES A KNIGHT!

T & I then proceeded to the Moorish castle, believed to be built between the 9th and 10th centuries by the Arabs who once conquered Portugal. Despite the name, it was more like a fort to see if invaders were bound to attack. It was the highest point we could see in the area, so when we got up to the top, we could see so much of the country.

After the castle, we visited the lovely Pena Palace. This was where true royalty lived until they were driven away. So much beautiful art, tiles, furniture. We got to see how Portuguese royalty once lived during the Age of Exploration. However, it took FOREVER to get out of the compound. Every destination involved a hike through a path. We could not figure out the path to get back down to the entrance. I fell for the second time in two days on the way out. It was as if i was skating on a rock. Minor scratches. The first fall was in the city and down some marble staircases. Did we mention all the streets are made of marble here?! I began to wear tennis shoes after that first one. After a few wrong twists and turns, we finally found PEOPLE in this FOREST. They were a trio of German tourists who looked like they were their 50's... until the man said he had a son who was 53 years old!! T could not get over this. We were walking with 70 year olds and it was so hard to keep up with their speed.

When we got back to the city after a long day sightseeing, we went into a restaurant for some seafood. You know a place is gonna be good when the host is wearing a shirt that says "free cock rides." After a trip to the WC, he pulls me aside to ask if T & I are just friends, to which I said yes. He says "you never know anymore, because of all the stuff you see on TV" and asked me for a kiss on the cheek. T & I are always giving kisses on the cheek here (gross but could be grosser). When I asked for a pic with him (because I wanted to remember his shirt), his hand was cupping my a$$! T was taking her sweet time taking the photo, as I tried to wiggle out, because she did not know the situation. We proceeded home pretty soon afterwards because it was a long day of hiking (unintentional) and sightseeing. Also, M would be here at 6am the next morning! Yay!