Sintra…Cascais…Estoril… ♥️♥️♥️

So life intervenes…we are back home in Sarasota and I have just three weeks to recount our adventures in Portugal…before we set off again on yet another adventure. Yikes. I’ll do my absolute best to post here everyday…

Anyway, another yummy breakfast and then we were off for the day to Sintra and the Coast. In 2019 we Ubered to Sintra to visit the Pena Palace and fell in love with this totally cool town from the backseat of the Uber. Sintra is located on the Portuguese Riviera, it’s a major tourist destination…with castles, beaches, parks and gardens.

The town winds around the mountain and features the typical narrow streets

So every time I snapped a photo, our sweet guide, Diana, said ”here, let me take one of you both”…this is why we have so many photos of the two of us on this one day.

We fell in love with Pastel de Natas on our first Crystal cruise…everyone on ship refers to them as “Portuguese Tarts” …we were so lucky to actually observe them being made in this tiny little place.

So many cool winding (and steep) streets to explore. I parked Timmy and Diana and took off for a bit.

A slightly different view of the clock tower.

So this is a private three story home, right smack in the middle of Sintra.

The home is quite large and offers beautiful views across the mountain side and has a very cool courtyard.

Our guide Diana telling Tim about the house.

The acclaimed British poet Byron (Don Juan) spent part of one summer in this guest house in Sintra.

As I had been running up and down the steep streets all morning, I decided to pass on going down to have a closer look when Diana told me the path to Byron’s was down two more of these stairways.

So Diana told us who this guy was…and I’ve forgotten…I’m sure he was important.

After a delightful visit to Sintra, we headed towards the coast and stopped off at the end of Europe. Cabo da Roca in Colares is a cape that forms the westernmost point of the Sintra mountain range. It is also the westernmost point of continental Europe and the Eurasian landmass.

It was so windy that we only spent about 15 minutes at the end of the world. Just enough time to snap these photos.

So I got somewhat close to the edge of the cliff here…and scared myself when a gust of wind came along…exhilarating and terrifying in the same moment.

Decent surf and a few hardy souls enjoying it.

As we drove along the coast in Cascais, Diana talked about the history of this municipality – it’s a popular seaside resort, dating to the 1870s, when the King and other members of Portuguese nobility established a summer community. King Edward VIII, when he was the Duke of Windsor, Juan Carlos of Spain and Umberto of Italy all spent time in Cascais. Exiled Cuban President Batista also resided in Cascais and the Casino Estoril inspired Ian Fleming’s first James Bond novel Casino Royale.

Estoril is known for its fishing fleet as well as tourism.

We returned to the Ritz in time to enjoy Saturday brunch…so much deliciousness. Timmy’s drinking a Port Tonic.

This was my appetizer plate…no photo evidence of the yummy Sushi.

I might have sampled several of these gelatos…no pics, so like the Sushi, probably didn’t happen. The aroma from the barbecue, drew us to the terrace for brunch.

After brunch, Tim napped and I sat by the pool. Just around sunset, we set out for Il Mercato…a favorite restaurant from our previous stay. These scooters are ubiquitous. I said: ”Hey Timmy, hop on”.