The biggest part of today was Sintra. We started a bit later than we were supposed to because one of the couples on our bus was late. They overslept. They apologized quite a few times. They said that they hadn't done this much exercise in over 6 months. So far it hasn't been anything that we can't keep up with.
Sinatra is a UNESCO heritage site way up on the mountain. It was a zigzag narrow road to get there. By the time we arrived the queue to the iniciático well which is the biggest attraction in Sintra was quite long. This was a relatively steep uphill climb on foot. Some of the people in the group had a bit of difficulty climbing. The house and grounds were where the aristocracy would summer and the well was part of their distraction but at the same time symbolizing either a descent into the depths of mother earth or an ascent into the light depending on which way you took to go to the well. It was about 7 or 8 stories high. At the bottom of the well was the knights templar cross. We followed a tunnel that took us to a beautiful but small waterfall.
After lunch we headed to Cape Roca which is the most westerly point in continental Europe.
We finished the day by visiting Cascais. It is one of the most expensive places to live in the area. This was also a summer village chosen by the aristocracy as their beach destination since the end of of the 19th century. It was a cute town, well maintained with a small beach and many expensive cars and beautiful homes with landscaping to match. Even the police cars matched the surroundings being BMW's. We arrived back at the hotel around 6:30.
Tomorrow we change hotels and move on to Fatima.
Interesting wooden ceilings.
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