All too often the hype found online regarding a “must see” place needs to be taken with a pinch of salt as the reality can fall far short of the promise.  So, reading about a place in the foothills of Portugal’s Sintra Mountains where fairytale palaces are hidden among majestic pine forests did seem a little far-fetched.  But this was one instance when, if anything, the reality exceeded the expectations.  The drive to get to Sintra was straightforward but as we approached the historic centre the congested traffic had us crawling along the narrow one-way system in first gear.  Up until now we had found Portugal to be mostly quiet and even in Porto there weren’t too many people around but Sintra was bustling.  Fortunately, we had booked accommodation close to the centre and were able to avoid the hunt for a parking space which, looking around, would have taken up most of the day.  Our last minute search on Booking.com had resulted in us snagging the most amazing self-contained villa on a private estate which had previously belonged to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle – who would have thought?  This was the second time that we had crossed paths with this prolific author and creator of Sherlock Holmes.  Many, many years ago we climbed up Mount Roraima in Venezuela, a tepui plateau within the Pakaraima mountain chain which was the inspiration for Sir Arthur’s “Lost World” – a book that I am embarrassed to admit is still on my ‘to read’ list.  We waited outside the estate’s heavy iron entrance gates for someone to let us in, our escort duly arriving in a little golf buggy indicating that we should follow him down the estate’s steep winding access road.  It was a bit unfortunate that Bob didn’t quite make it around one of the sharp bends and managed to get the side of his bumper stuck on the stone wall.  Persuading him to detach from the wall and perform a reverse hill start up a 15% gradient did provide some entertainment for the interested spectators but probably wasn’t the type of entrance we would have chosen. 

Anyway, back to the delights of Sintra which, to be honest, had paled a bit considering our high-end digs and it was with some reluctance that we walked back through the main gates to join the masses.   For centuries, the Portuguese elite escaped the summer heat of Lisbon by retreating to this wooded enclave of Sintra, home to numerous private estates, five palaces and a castle.  It is not just the architecture that is impressive, the landscaped grounds surrounding these buildings are home to an abundance of exotic plants artfully planted alongside meandering paths that take you past fountains, through tunnels and grottoes and to hidden chapels and mock ruins.  Despite the crowds we were able to purchase tickets to Palacio da Regaleira and Pena Palace which although not really old compared to many of Portugal’s national monuments, were unbelievable in terms of the forethought and effort that had gone into their creation.  Just as promised Sintra was magical and possesses an energy of such calm that even the crowds and continuous background noise of the tourist tuk-tuks was unable to spoil.

Whilst Sintra is undeniably the jewel in the crown of the Sintra-Cascais Natural Park there is a lot more on offer in this protected area of around 144 km².  This westernmost part of Europe contains an amazing diversity of environments and landscapes, including sand dunes, forests, lakes and some of the most spectacular Atlantic coastline that we have seen to date – not that I particularly want to go in it but I am completely in love with this ocean and the rugged coast  that its awesome, unrelenting power has created.  All of this natural beauty just 25 km away from the Lisbon capital.  

Located on the border of the park, again less than 30km from Lisbon is Cascais, a wealthy resort town and the preferred seaside retreat of bygone kings and queens.  It sits in splendour along the Portuguese Riviera, and as well as local nobility, has attracted Kings from England, Spain and Italy as well as one exiled Cuban president.  The casino in neighbouring Estoril is said to have inspired Ian Fleming’s first James Bond novel Casino Royale.  In more recent times notable names such as Henry Kissinger and Roman Polanski have lingered in the area and Cristiano Ronaldo has just purchased a luxury mansion, a steal at EUR 20 million.  The charming, cobbled streets of the historic centre contain grand villas, an imposing fort and a good selection of restaurants and bars.  The town is a mix of its illustrious heritage and the inevitable infrastructure required to accommodate the modern tourist.  There are a number of competing hotels and high-rise apartment blocks that although quiet when we were there must be quite overwhelming when the summer season is in full swing.  We stayed in one such apartment block about 2km out from the centre that was marketed as having an ocean view.  True, provided you stood in one particular spot on the tiny balcony and craned your neck at a specific angle, an exercise necessary to justify the sudden increase in cost of accommodation being so close to Lisbon.  But, it served its purpose and we spent the best part of a week discovering yet another face of Portugal. 

The marina at Cascais is the largest on the Portuguese Riviera and with a total of 638 berths is the third largest in the country.  As you would expect in such moneyed surroundings, there is no shortage of catamarans, speed boats and luxury yachts many of which seemed to be for hire, with or without a friendly skipper.  However, the highlight of the area for us was just a few kilometres north of Cascais, Cabo da Roca, a wild and rugged coastline once thought to be the end of the world.  It is a landscape of raw, untamed beauty with craggy cliffs that rise vertically out of the ocean, secluded sandy coves and incredible views in every direction.  What a nature lover’s paradise, strewn with stunning hiking trails that repeatedly fall and rise from the top of the limestone cliffs to sea level and back.         

Two rather nice events occurred whilst we were in Cascais.  Firstly, we were contacted by the owner of Topo Tents who offered us the free use of one of his rooftop setups with which to tour Portugal and Spain for free.  As we already have a sleeping system installed we didn’t take him up on his offer but how nice to be given the opportunity.  The other contact we received was from a Swiss gentleman who, whilst walking along Cascais seafront, had spotted Bob and taken the time to drop us an email wishing us all the best on our journey.  It is easy to become disillusioned with the world and its inhabitants whilst watching/listening to a constant stream of negative news but, Tangier aside, we have been constantly heart-warmed by the kindness and genuine gestures that people have extended. 

In our on-going saga to get Bob’s water tank readings back up to speed we arranged for Enerdrive (Aus) to send us some replacement pressure senders.  We eventually managed to get these released from customs by paying almost as much again as the purchase price and now just had to instal them.  The electrics inside Bob are a true testament of Daniel’s (https://www.expeditioncentre.com.au love of what he does.  A quick look at the mass of different coloured cables heading off down various holes and connecting to a fiddly fuse block was way too daunting for us to consider replacing the entire sender from inside the car and so we decided to cut the wires of the existing senders underneath the car and reconnect from there.  Keen to do a half-decent job, way too much time was spent trawling through various internet sites until eventually deciding that the Deutche DT 3-pin connectors would be ideal for under-chassis, harsh environments.  Connectors duly sourced we were a bit dismayed to realised that we would also need a crimper and terminal ends – what on earth would we do without Utube??  Eventually these also arrived and after some trial and error (terminal ends put on upside down which meant ordering some more) we now have two accurate water tank readings showing on our Pico Simarine screen.  Delighted with our success we celebrated with a new sticker for Bob.  Two days later our reversing camera and rear lights stopped working – and no it’s not a blown fuse!

Although every day isn’t a sunbathing day, the winter in Portugal has been relatively mild, particularly when compared to other parts of Europe and the UK where snow sports seem to be having a year to remember.  Disinclined to leave this little micro-climate just yet we have decided to head down to the Algarve.  Giving Lisbon a swerve for the time being, we crossed the Tagus River on the Vasco da Gama Bridge (17.2km), the second longest bridge in Europe.  The longest is the Crimean Bridge (18km) linking the Russian mainland with the Crimean Peninsula, an unfortunately located bridge that has suffered a series of recent attacks and currently looked to be closed.  No such issues on the VdG, the traffic was flowing quickly across the huge cable-stayed bridge and it wasn’t long before we were back on the coast, now in the region of Alentejo.  We took our time passing through a series of sleepy fishing villages and small coastal resorts enjoying having the amazing stretches of wild sandy beaches to ourselves.  Everywhere was quiet and mostly closed, even Vila Nova de Milfontes, one of the most popular towns along this stretch was a bit like a ghost town although the numerous loudspeakers placed along the streets did provide some background music as we wandered around.

We peeled away from the coast at Zambujeira and headed up into the mountain range of Serra de Monchique, an area that has suffered from devastating forest fires over the last few years.  It was easy to see the damage as we drove up through the devastated landscape, damage exacerbated by extensive planting of highly flammable eucalyptus.  With demand growing for a world without plastic and a strong push for paper packaging as a sustainable alternative, the fast-growing eucalyptus has been planted extensively throughout not only this area, but many other parts of Portugal.  This area however, on the border with the Algarve, has benefitted from considerable contributions from Ryanair and its carbon offset programme.  To date, the Irish airline and its customers have donated over €400,000 which has helped in the planting of around 300,000 trees to date.  These trees have included the endangered majestic Monchique oak, cork oak, chestnut, ash and elder.

Monchique itself is a small town located in a valley surrounded by the Serra de Monchique mountain range.  Sat at 450m above sea level in what is known as the “Garden of the Algarve” it is an attractive place with its white-washed houses and steep cobbled laneways, features so synonymous with Portugal.  The white-washing is a relatively cheap and effective way of protecting the buildings from the sun and heat and we are seeing this more and more as we drive further south.  The cobblestones have been prolific throughout the country, more so than any other country we have visited so far.  Monchique is not really the easiest place to get to as it is a case of one road in and one road out, both of which are narrow winding mountain roads but it was a dramatic way to enter the Algarve where we are looking forward to chilling out for a while, ever hopeful of some sunshine.