"But Portugal has a peaceful feel about it. I sit on the terrace overlooking the vineyard there and I feel cut off from the world. You need that sort of thing." - Cliff Richard
Portugal Holidays does cut you off from the rest of the world...!
We spent 4 days in Portugal. Surrounding places around Lisbon like Sintra, Cascais makes us standstill with captivating beauty. Green with trees, blue with the sea, orange with evening sky, yellow with sunlight, black with dark paths, red with flowers, white with waves, Portugal offers all the natural colours.
Just 40 minutes by train from Lisbon, Sintra is another Lonavala of Portugal. Narrow roads, beautiful homes, attractive palaces make it the real place of sheer exploration.
Going through the greenery of Sintra-Cascais Natural Park, distant tops of the trees look like big Broccoli (As per the words of my daughter). Huge Pine trees also have an attractive appearance. The bus to the Cabo Da Roca from Sintra makes whirling turns through the narrow roads and takes us to the westernmost point of Europe. The enormous, endless sea in front holds your breath. Big waves crash the huge cliffs and make a roaring noise. Strong winds play with the hairs to disturb the setting!
The lighthouse on the top of the hill catches the attention of all photographers. The rocks in front make an excellent playground. Sipping coffee in the only restaurant nearby is a real treat to the senses. Look at the green cover, look at the blue sea and shiny sky and sip refreshing coffee! There is no other heaven...
Places of such natural beauty make you humble towards the power of Nature. We are just tiny little creatures in his hands. Just a little imbalance can crack big havoc. Surely there must be Big Power whose hands are striving endlessly to maintain this balance!
Travel from Cabo Da Roca back to Sintra was made lively by the humorous bus driver. He kept on cracking jokes throughout journey. An excellent example of making day to day job interesting! One of his jokes - "Portugal is famous for green wines. It is so good that my wife tasted the green wine for the first time and after 9 months our beautiful daughter was born!"
Well, apart from Natural beauty Sintra has got architectural wonders as well. Quinta da Regaleira is very much amusing place to explore. Luigi Manini, an Italian architect built this palace for an António Monteiro. Quinta da Regaleira is also known as Palace of the Monteiro Millionaire!
The fountains, lakes, wells, lookout towers are very much appealing. There are two wells in the park which are connected with underground paths. There are stairs to reach to the bottom of the well.
And dark underground walkways from the bottom suddenly takes us to the waterfall! Lookout towers have narrow stairs to go upward and devour the surrounding beauty. Truly, the palace is an impressing world heritage UNESCO site!
There are many famous sites in Sintra, but we have to choose which ones to see. Pena Palace is considered the most remarkable palace in Sintra. The colourful Pena palace painted with red, yellow, blue like vibrant colours situated among lush green hilltop makes a pleasant appearance. The exact place for aspiring photographers for wonderful clicks! Architectural and Natural beauty gets unleashed in front of us. The land, water and sky combined view don't fail to mesmerize again...
The purchase ticket is Park + Palace or only park entry. After roaming in the entire area (park+palace) we asked foolishly at the gate..' Where is the park?'. We thought it must be some special gardens for the royal family of Portugal! Well, the man at the gate replied irritatingly that the park means the green area surrounding the palace. (Which we had already seen :-)) Park is an entry ticket up to the top of the palace and to enter palace another ticket is required. Well, the palace from inside is entirely stuffed with materialistic things of the royal family. They take utmost care of the articles inside to preserve them.
From Sintra to Cascais, the bus goes on the highway and takes us to Cascais, where the sea meets the land. Coastal town of Cascais was decorated for Christmas and provided wonderful photoshoot opportunities. One of the best moments is to watch the waves thrashing the coast from distance. It forms beautiful rainbow colours with evening sunlight! The picture of the lighthouse at Cascais is similar to the one on Desktop of computers. Taking a walking tour of the Cascais coast is a pleasure until we reach Boca da Inferno. It is a natural rocks bridge through which seawater enters inside. Sitting there and watching the sunset gives us the opportunity to seek solace from worldly matters. The beautiful homes on the coast shine in the evening light. It seems just a perfect place to retire..tranquil, quiet and serene!
Exactly opposite to the nature of Cascais is the city of Lisbon..full of hustle-bustle! Portugal holidays offered this contrast to us...The city shines bright with Christmas lights. The Santa Claus, snowman makes an entertaining appearance for children. The main street is filled with various street artists. One is painting beautiful landscapes on a piece of tile, other is creating soothing music from the hand saw, while another one is entertaining with a puppet show. They dare to make a living out of their hobbies!
Rua Augusta Arch near the sea coast stands tall with statues of historical figures on its arch. It was built to commemorate the city's reconstruction after the 1755 earthquake.
Various statues of historical figures keep reminding to read the history of the visiting place. And the reminder goes on to the snooze mode!
At 10 minutes walk-able distance, you can witness the Monument to the Discoveries which symbolizes the spirit of discovery of famous historical figures like Vasco Da Gama. The monument has the shape of a ship and it is faced towards the sea. Quite a remarkable way to show gratitude towards the ancestors!
Just away from the monument, you can locate a big statue of Jesus spreading its arm on the other side of the coast. It was built taking inspiration from famous statue at Rio De Janeiro in Brazil.
There are many things to visit in Lisbon, but with time limits we have to choose a few. By the way, Lisbon is the only city in Europe where we found the sculpture to tribute the pavers who built the treading roads.
Portugal holidays are the ultimate treasure to cherish for long time. Travelling through the places, famous sites, natural surroundings shapes our world views. But sometimes interacting with locals gives us their view points about our own way of living. In this aspect, the words of lady driver of TukTuk from Sintra doesn't fail to escape from the mind.
"Indian culture is very good and rich. I don't know why they are adopting western culture. There is nothing in our culture.It is very much empty."
"This globalization is very bad for us all. It is like a virus. Don't know where it will take us."
Well, no culture is perfect from every angle. We do have some downfalls of our own. The world can be better place with the bests from all cultures! And as far as globalization is concerned,
Earth is the only one place to live, to travel and to explore (as of now)!
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If you like this post, you may also like to check other places to visit in Europe:
Visiting Prague:
Sightseeing Barcelona:
Portugal Holidays:
Reading culture in Germany
Oostende - Disney Sand Art
Venice and Florence - The Serene beauty!
