If you are on Facebook you may have seen these posts…but I know many of you are not, so here are more adventures to share.
On Friday, October 14th, we took the 7am train to the village of Sintra, a 40+ minute train ride from Lisboa central. Our energy level was such that we decided to mostly tour the Quinta da Regaleira. The fabulously wealthy owner was a Brazilian mining magnate who was fascinated by the secretive religious orders of the Knights Templar and Freemasons as can be seen by his dwelling. One of the most fun parts was traversing the Initiation Well, a spiral staircase with the Templar Cross inscribed on the floor at the bottom. We could hear the screams of the initiated as we descended. A note on the rest of the small, quaint town. It’s somewhat the Disneyland of Portugal as it’s crawling with tourists and many of the attractions are built for “entertainment.” We got there early enough that for the first hour we only saw a few other people roaming about. By the time we paid our admission into the ‘park,’ there was a line of about 50-60 in front of us. Dang foreigners.
Also touristy, the Feira da Ladra, Lisbon’a giant flea market, is held every Tuesday and Saturday in and around the Campo de Santa Clara. It’s also known as the “Thieve’s Market” (in Portuguese, "ladra" is a woman thief) but it actually derives from "ladro," a bug or a flea found in antiques. When traveling, junking and taking pictures are my favorite things to do after visiting Doll Hospitals. We hit it on Saturday, October 15th, our last day in the city.
The next series of images will be of our time tooling aorund the southern coast. Connie was here for work but we managed to make it to the ocean, and I took off in my rental car while she was conferencing. More soon…
Loving the pics, heading there next spring! Did you buy any records?