Every day up to Thursday, we checked the weather. And every day, up to Thursday, the weather was the same: sunny and a temperature in the mid 20s.
Perfect.
Before we left the apartment, each morning, we checked that we had the essentials: money, keys, transportation cards, and water. Almost every day, I packed my hat, though there were some days that were so windy, especially when we went up in the mountains, when I left my hat behind, afraid that it could blow away.
At least one camera would usually come with me, as well as a video camera.
"It's a bit overcast," I said, as I looked out the window. It was before sunrise but there was enough light in the sky to see that it wasn't clear.
"Hopefully, it'll burn off when the sun comes up," said DW.
I grabbed my backpack—this time with two D-SLRs and my Insta360 One R, on a three-metre monopod. The backpack was heavy but it wasn't the first time I had travelled with so much gear.
A few blocks from our apartment, I told DW I was a bit cool. I was only wearing a short-sleeved, button shirt over a t-shirt, and slacks. DW had the forethought to grab her sweater on the way out the door, but I could have used my jacket.
The train at Rossio Station was warm. I hoped that DW was right, that once the sun rose, the clouds would burn away and we'd be back to warm sunshine. But as the train pulled out of the station, I checked the weather forecast for our destination, Sintra.
"There's a 70-percent chance of rain this afternoon," I said. "Looks like it'll start around 2 pm."
"Let's hope we're through most of the sites by then," said DW. "We can do Pena Palace last: that way, if the rain comes, we can be indoors."
It's about a 45-minute ride from Lisbon to Sintra. The train passes through the outer neighbourhoods of the capital city, passing Roman aquaducts and modern apartments. Throughout the ride, though, the clouds showed no signs of clearing out.
But we did feel a bit heartened as we approached Sintra. We could look up the mountains and see both the Pena Palace and the Moor Castle on the hilltops.
"Surely," I said, "if we can see both of them from down here, we'll be able to see each of them from the confines of the other." My imagined photos were to capture closeups of the Moor Castle, from Pena Palace, and Pena Palace, from atop the ramparts of the Moor Castle.
We went straight to the office for the Hop On, Hop Off buses that drive a circuit to the major stops. We also wanted to visit the Quinta da Regaleira, an early 20th-century palace and gardens that also has underground passages and an inverted tower. In fact, that was going to be our first stop, as we suspected that everyone was going to race to Pena Palace, a 19th-century, fantasy-styled palace that sees a lot of tourists.
As we waited for the first bus to arrive, I could feel a few drops of rain. "Let's go to Pena Palace first," I said."
"Are you sure?"
"Positive. There don't seem to be a lot of people. I think we can get in and avoid the rain."
The bus took about half an hour to reach Pena Palace, having first stopped at the Moor Castle for anyone who wanted to hop off. No one did. We were able to use our Lisboa Cards to get a 15-percent discount on tickets to both the Pena Palace and the Moor Castle, but Quinta da Regaleira was not part of the package. We had a steep climb for about half a kilometre before we reached the palace gates, and we had to stand in a line for a 10:00 tour.
While I grabbed us a spot in line, DW went to find the washroom. That's when the rain started.
I could hear an English couple, standing behind me, pitying me for being underdressed. I smiled and said, "This is what I get for not checking the weather before catching the train."
When DW emerged, she had two thin rain ponchos with her, and I gratefully covered myself up, though that meant that I had simply trapped the dampness inside. A wind picked up and turned the poncho into a large, yellow balloon, which thankfully helped dry me, though I was starting to feel cold.
The line moved and we were able to walk through the palace. It is quite an ornate and decadent display of 19th-century luxury. But all I could think of was thank goodness I'm out of the rain.
The tour takes about an hour and by the time we were back outside, it was raining in earnest and the wind was blustering. Visibility was reduced to about 100 metres, and my heart sank. So much for getting photos of the Moor Castle from the palace.
Because the buses run in only one direction and we'd have to wind our way back to the town before climbing up again, We decided to walk from the palace to the Moor Castle. As it turns out, it's only about a 10-minute walk.
There is a lot of lush vegetation on the path that leads up to the walls, and I took some more photos of the forest in the fog (I'll share those photos in a future post). Passing through the wall, the wind was so fierce that our rain ponchos were trying to blow off of us. Several times, the thin plastic would cover my face and I'd have to pull it off me so that I could breathe. We worried about how we would fare on the ramparts of the castle.
Again, visibility was bad. Good for dramatic photos of fog but bad for scenic photos.
DW didn't want to climb the steep steps to get up to the top towers, afraid that she would get blown over, so she found some shelter from the wind and rain while I continued up. I reached what I thought was the highest point (there was no way to tell for sure but the walls led downward from either side of a lookout tower) and took a couple of snapshots.
The wind was so strong that I had to fight the poncho. Every time I raised my camera to my face, the yellow plastic would cover the lens and block my vision. It was at this point that I had had enough. It was time to call it a day.
When I returned to DW, she looked defeated. "Are you having fun yet?" I joked.
"What are your thoughts?" she asked, but I could tell that her tone said that she was done.
"Back to the bus. Back to Sintra."
"You aren't disappointed about skipping Quinta da Regaleira?" she asked. She knew that was the place that I wanted to see the most.
"Of course I'm disappointed but there's no point in going there and having bad memories. It's pouring and most of that visit is outside. And I'm chilled to the bone."
We were able to catch a bus that had just pulled up to the castle's main entrance and we scored two seats, even though the bus was largely full. But a minute later, when the bus pulled up to Pena Palace and almost everyone got off, we were able to move to seats that were closer to the exit.
When the bus pulled up to the train station, we hopped off and discovered that a train was heading back to Lisbon within minutes. We didn't hesitate to grab it.
Back in Lisbon, we walked straight to our apartment and flopped on the bed, where we slept for a couple of hours. If we escape a cold, it'll be nothing short of a miracle.
Thankfully, our last full day in Portugal is largely unplanned. I would like to wander the city, on my own, and capture some artsy photos that I really haven't done much of for this trip. DW wants to shop for souvenirs, so I'll leave her to that.
We'll meet up in the afternoon, for a port wine tasting, and then we're going to meet my best friend's wife, who just happens to be in Lisbon for a conference. We fly home on Saturday morning.
Overall, our trip has been ideal, though not perfect. We've done most of the things we wanted to do and saw nearly all of the sites on our list. The food has been incredible and the Portuguese people are friendly and welcoming.
For a vacation destination that wasn't our initial choice, Portugal has won over our hearts and we will definitely return. With any luck, we'll be able to see new places and do the things that we weren't able to accomplish on this one.
Happy Friday!
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