Yesterday, we made the 20 km bustrrip north to visit Sintra. Into the 19th century, Sintra was teh residence o the Portuguese King. The town was founded in the 8th century by the Moors. First of all we climbed uphill to the 'Castle of the Moors' (Castelo do Mouros) a veritable Eagle's Nest that actually reminds more of a fort than a castle. Amazingly enough it's wall si almost untouched since then, and as a couple of our pictures shows, the technique used in raising the stone walls shows the Arabian style.

The walls and towers of the fort (sorry, Castle) blends in a magical way with the surrounding nature and it can be seen from a long distance. On the hilltop one has good view all the way out on the Ocean so it's easily understood how strategically this choosen location was in those days.

After this combined trekking and historical/cultural affort we went downhill to the Historical Centre of Sintra (this is a UNESCO world heritage). Here the impressive mansions of the 72 Noble families of Portugal anno 1400-1550 is hiding behind high stone walls and as the apple in the pie the former Royal Palace, now known as National Palace. This is a well kept museum and when you see the pictures of the Kitchens (two of them!) in the Castle, you must bear in mind that those two enormous conical chimneys that make the silhouette so specail, is nothing but the chimneys from the kitchen stoves!

Note the 'rotisseurs' - Barbeque is not a new concept! ;-D