What was the last place you wish you had more time to visit?
Quinta da Regaleira is another famous location in Sintra, Portugal. It has a palace, a chapel, a park, various tunnels, and initiation wells. What we were most interested in seeing were the initiation wells (inverted towers). A series of tunnels connected these wells underground. We have walked up so many towers and this was the first time we walked down one. How cool is that?
Walking around the grounds and through the caves, we ended up in places with small waterfalls and murky green water. I was picturing Yoda would meet me here.
There were so many paths to take with different views around the park. We climbed up castle-like walls that took us back in time.
We walked around the palace and met a little friend that was also touring the area.
Our time in Portugal sometimes felt rushed. That was especially true when we visited Quinta da Regaleira in Sintra. When we woke up that morning, we knew we had to be out of our AirBnb by 11. The owner was not willing to budge at all on extending for even an hour. We wanted to see Quinta da Regaleira, but it did not open until 10. We packed our bags and left them at our lodging. Then we raced to get to the gate in time to see the highlights, get our photographs and leave in time to check out by 11.
After getting what we wanted out of the place, we hurried back to the car and darted back to get our bags and check out. I made one wrong turn that ended up making us take a 30-minute detour to get back. The roads in Sintra go one way around the mountain and if you make a wrong turn, the drive can take a while. Add to that, we went on a true google adventure.
The route that my map showed took us down this very narrow alley. We were driving a tiny Fiat and had to fold the mirrors in on each side to get out of this continually narrowing alleyway, and then it spat us out right into the center square. We really don’t think we were supposed to be driving there. Talk about stress! Then we made it back barely on time and headed north to Porto. Here is the route.
After all that, we were glad to be able to see what we could in such a short time. We would like to go back and spend more time exploring all that Sintra offers.
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