Last Day in Lisbon and the Palaces of Sintra. And which Head of State did I get within 2 metres of?

Ok so it’s my last day in Lisbon, proper. A quick visit before flying out but from here on my only real stop is Porto before I head home. Yesterday was a day trip/tour to the town of Sintra, once the spot where kings ruled the land from. There’s a castle and several palaces in and around Sintra, perched on top the hills.

We only really saw two palaces in our tour. We had a guide/driver but he didn’t come into the Palaces. The Sintra National Palace is in Sintra Town, and is much bigger than it looks from the outside.

The Pena Palace sits atop a hill, surrounded by lush gardens and is the premier palace and hence the one in everyone wants to visit.

We took a shuttle to the palace entrance and everyone was stopped there. There was one important visitor and everyone had to wait for him. A cavalcade pulled up. Maybe eight ty o ten vehicles mostly black. Secret Service type guys with ear pieces and black suits, guns under jackets. From a Chrysler with a second back inside the back door came a guy with white hair. He was escorted to the palace. I asked the palace security he said he thought it was a Prime Minister. Of Israel, maybe.

We eventually got in and we came out onto a terrace where the group was and I walked right past the man in question. Indeed it was Benjamin Netanyahu. People were taking photos so I thought I would too. He was on the phone, there was a pole in the way but I got a pic!

From there the day was more sane. After lunch we went to the Cops do Roca, the western-most point in continental Europe and the seaside town of Casais before returning to Lisbon.

Today I’ve visited the Lisbon Cathedral and the Plaza de Commercial worthy of a few snaps.

I visited the Carmo Convent this afternoon – part of a church mostly destroyed by the 1755 Lisbon earthquake. And the adjoining Museum of the National Guard. Also the Sao Roque church, which was nearby.and had a familiar mix of gothic and baroque styles.

The evening was quite special, we caught a Fado Show- Fado is a style of Portuguese music – usually with guitars and a melancholy tune. I wasn’t expecting to enjoy it actually, but well, I did!