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Up early today so we loaded the car then made our way out of Porto along the river. Then we joined the freeway to head south to our next stop. It took a little while for me to sit on the speed limit of 120 kmh as there is just so much happening when your driving on the incorrect side. But eventually I got used to it and settled in for the 330 k's ahead of us. Once again the sun was shining and it was a beautiful 16 degs. The drive was lovely and we noticed that a lot of trees and vegetation and the landscape looked a lot like Aus. Guess it may have something to do with the same sort of climates. After a few hours we arrived at our hotel which is a suburb of Sintra called Mem Martins. We dumped our bags then headed to Lidl which was close by and stocked up on supplies. We then headed in to the historic part of Sintra. The town is a world heritage site and has buildings from the 8th & 9th century. It is built on a hill and is covered by dense forest, almost rainforest like. It has an abundance of water and plant life which combined with the old buildings gives it a uniqueness. We found a place to park and wandered up the hill. We perched on the walls of the royal palace and had a picnic before exploring the rest of the historic centre. We searched the narrow alleyways for a while but didn't want Jac to overdo it so headed back to the car to explore more from behind the wheel. We decided to make our way up to the top which is a steep climb & dominated by two structures, a moorish castle and the palace of Pena. As it was approaching their closing times we thought it was better to put them off until tomorrow so headed back down to town. Here we again found a place to leave the car and wandered up to Quinta da Regaleira. This is a palace in a luxurious park which has a host of different wells, grottos, fountains, tunnels & lakes. We spent a few hours wandering slowly through the attractions as we made our way to see what we came for, the Initiatic Well. It is a well sunk 27 meters into the earth with a spiral staircase from top to bottom. We used a tunnel through the hill to get to the bottom them climbed the steps. We have never seen anything like it in our lives. The rest of the park was spectacular so we enjoyed the tranquility until it was time to go. Then it was back to our car and off to home. On the way we did stop at a small cafe for dins. We were the only ones sitting down so ordered our food and settled in. Jac noticed a socceroos scarf hanging up so I quizzed the man. Turns out he lived in sydney for 20 years before heading back to Portugal. He was very excited to have Aussies in his cafe and he kept the food coming. His wife was very interested in our story and told us all about her Australian experience. We eventually said our goodbyes and made our way back to the hotel to relax for the night. Sintra has been just as beautiful as we had expected. A big contrast to Porto.
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Paula Irwin Watching your every move. Keep the updates coming