Go to Portugal. A group of us went to Lisbon, Belem, and Sintra Portugal: 3 amazing places within a short distance from each other and require at least a day of exploration. What Lisbon has to offer as Portugal’s capital is a castle overlooking its old cobblestone streets and plazas, and a garden of hedges that leads to an amazing view of the city and the ocean. The castle was well preserved so that it appeared to me like a picturesque painting, with the grass and the trees behind it. The canons were set out at every level of the castle, and the group of us climbed up the towers within the castle. The castle was not the main attraction in Lisbon however: there are large arches, similar to the ones in Rome that are monumental and lead to the water; gothic cathedrals I read about in Arch 170, cable cars running within the cobble stone streets, lively night life; custard filled pastries at every bakery I encountered.
Sintra Portugal was my favorite place I visited this summer. Sintra was a short 1 hour tram ride from Lisbon and requires at least a full day to see. The most exciting place was the Pena Castle and the Moors Castle that require a cool walk up to the top of the mountain. The journey up the Pena castle required some creativity, as we didn’t want to pay 4 euro for the bus ride to the top. So, we walked a few miles up the windy, narrow streets that a bus could barley drive on to get to the top. It was worth it because the road was covered by a canopy of lush green trees and pathways covered with moss. During parts of our walk up, we could see the Pena castle in the distance, which seemed unreal to me. In person, the castle is jaw dropping, and reminded me of a castle I would see in Disneyland; except this time it is real.
It was extremely colorful and there were towers everywhere that we climbed all over. We were able to tour the inside of the castle, and were able to see the king’s chambers and extremely elegant paintings and mosaics on every ceiling in every room. The view from any direction of the castle was exquisite, as we could see the Moors castle and the horizon line in the distance that overlooked the watch towers and forest of trees. The Moors castle was a 15 minute walk down the mountain to get to and reminded me of the Great Wall of China. We climbed up and down the stairways that followed the castle wall. The Moors castle overlooked the town of Sintra and the Pena castle at the very top. It is hard to describe how incredibly high we were on the mountain, and how amazing the view was.
Belem was also another great town that had monumental architecture and a castle on the water. We walked a good 2 hours to get to a town that would have taken 5 minutes to get to by bus. Note to self: take the bus or train. The castle was free since it was on a Sunday, and we could overlook the bridge and the water it rested on. We had to climb up a windy spiral staircase to get to the top. Belem was definitely the most picturesque place of the 3 towns were visited. In the 2.5 days we were able to stay in Portugal, we visited everything that I read about and that I could see on postcards ( a great way to see a place is to look at the postcards and make sure u find and see those places). If I go back, I have the same place to sleep in if I want to save some money for a night: the Madrid airport.
- Melissa
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