Wonderful castle with great views. Start early to avoid herds of people. If you are not into a long, uphill hike, pay to catch the shuttle (close to entrance) to stand in the timed entry line. Their little restaurant is clean and while selections are limited, the food is excellent. Sintra's shops make wonderful browsing as do the sidewalk "hippie" stands with reasonable prices. The close-by Regaleira Gardens are a nice stop, easily accessible via a short bus ride from downtown Sintra. The "castle" is something you can leave off but take some photos of it's beautiful exterior while enjoying a glass of Sangria in the gardens.
Posted by
Florida (previously California)
3884 posts
You posted in the Spain forum. And same for your post about Lisbon.
Posted by
USA
353 posts
To the OP, could you say why the Moorish Castle is something you can "leave off"? What makes it not worth going to?
Posted by
188 posts
I haven’t been to Sintra, having willingly overlooked it on my one trip (so far) to Lisbon. But I do want to “second” the preceding comment (Maribel), and maybe carry it a step further; for I too was a bit surprised at the casual dismissal of Sintra's Moorish castle. For I were to go to Sintra, the Moorish castle would be my only compelling reason. It may not be the same visual spectacle as the Pena Palace, but according to all I have read, it is an authentic 1000-year-old historical site and, in its time, a real working fortress — and for these reasons, it would be far more interesting to me than any smug aristocrat’s personal fairly-tale palace.
Now I realize that visiting visually spectacular fairy-tale palaces for smug aristocrats is a perfectly legitimate reason to travel; I just want to point out that some of us -- even it we are a minority -- have other priorities. Those in the majority just need to remember that the lack of visual pizzazz is no reason automatically to write off a place of historical significance. If I were writing an article, not a forum comment, I could go on at length about the many rewarding places and sights of high historical or cultural value I've seen, even though they lacked sufficient visual spectacle to draw the attention of tourist crowds. (Another advantage, by the way, of visiting such places.)