Sintra and Paderne

Thursday, December 29, 2016

Walt and I had planned to wake up early, but due to a late night and the fact that we were still recovering from little sleep, we slept past our alarm. We quickly got ready and got into our car. Then we said a prayer.
I had looked up the shortest route to a petrol station, and I held my breath as I gently urged the car forward at a slow and steady pace. By God's grace, we made it to the station and filled up. Now, we were ready to go to Silves!

As we did the day before, we chose to drive on the smaller road that took us past little towns and through countryside. Along the way, we spotted an old church. We drove through the little town, trying to find a way to get close. We ended up parking and walking up a dirt path. Success.
It was old and abandoned but fun to see. 

Our little car. You could park any which way on this street.

Back on the road and several roundabouts later, we turned a corner that revealed a huge red castle on top of a hill. It was quite impressive and exciting.

After parking (probably as far from the castle as we could be), we made our way up through the town toward the castle.

On our way, we stopped to eat lunch and drink a cappuccino at a restaurant called DaRosa. Poor Walt ordered a ham sandwich, thinking it would be the good kind of ham. Instead he was given one piece of deli ham between two pieces of bread. I had ordered a smoked salmon salad that was delicious, so we mostly just shared that.

After lunch, we explored the castle. Walt got excited at every corner and wanted to know what it looked like and how it operated back in the day. Unfortunately, we only had the information from a pamphlet, but he did manage to ask the ticket lady who was very informative.

Entrance to the castle

A few panoramic photos of the views

You could walk down into the cistern, but they had transformed it into a exhibit about lynxes (for some random reason..)

We had some really great views

On our way back to the car, we stopped by Cafe Englis, which we heard had really good desserts. Walt ordered the orange chocolate cake, and I had the almond cake. They were delicious.

So many good looking options

We also stopped by a museum where we saw the old well and other artifacts they found while reconstructing it. We could actually walk down the steps (some were slightly crooked) to the bottom of the well.

It's hard to tell from the picture, but there is a pool of water from the well.

Stairs were a little crooked here

This guy was most likely shot in the back with an arrow. Not a good day for him.

In case you were never taught (or could intuitively figure out) how to wash your hands... :)

We have noticed several dogs and cats (mostly in the Algarve). This one had an owner, but I don't think all of them do.

We also walked past a bridge that was possibly built by the Romans. 

View from the bridge

Always leaning over the edge of anything high

During our drive home, we had planned to drive through a town, Paderne, that had been recommended by our hosts. Then we wanted to quickly see Loule with the little light that would be left. 

Here's what really happened: 

On our way to Paderne, Walt saw a shortcut that would take us from the little town we were passing through to a highway. After a couple of turns, the paved road turned to a dirt one. Walt said to keep going because it would take us to the highway. Then the brush on the side of the road crept into the lane, and I could hear it brush the car as we drove past. We went quite awhile and we were almost there until after rounding a corner we saw that there was a bridge. A dilapidated bridge that was falling into the river. It was also very narrow and was probably only built with people and horses in mind. So much for the shortcut. It was a fun adventure though. We turned around and eventually found the correct route.

(Unfortunately, we have no photos to document that adventure)

 The sun was setting as we entered Paderne.

As we drove, we noticed a lot of people and something that looked like a market. We parked and walked over to see that they were holding a Medieval fair! We bought tickets and spent the next couple of hours exploring the different booths. It was much bigger than I had originally thought. We tasted many different foods, saw a show with musicians and a "fire dancer" (whose sleeve caught on fire at one point! Amazingly she put it out and kept going without missing a beat).

grilled Octopus tentacles! (we didn't partake)

About to taste the hottest sauce they had

One vendor had a C-3PO version :)

Roasted pig...or what is left of him

We found this horse that we think must be albino. It was white all over and had light blue eyes! Not very friendly though...

For dinner we ate rabbit with onion and boar stew. For dessert, I had a sweet potato ball covered in chocolate. Walt had a fig dipped in chocolate. (They are all about figs here). We also bought bread, carob honey, and got a cup for free after buying really good lemonade.

It was getting really cold and we had seen everything, so we walked back to our car and drove home. It had been a really fun day.