Sintra and Farewell to Lisbon

This was the last day of our month-long odyssey in Portugal and Spain, and we spent it well by devoting most of the day in Sintra, a well-known resort town in the foothills 45 minutes from Lisbon by commuter train. Sintra has been a royal retreat for Portugues kings and their courts since this region was recaptured from the Moors in the 1400s, and for the rest of us since the middle of the 19th century. There is archeological evidence of bronze-age settlements in the area dating back to at least 3000 BC.

We left the train station a little after 9:00am and arrived in modern Sintra some 45 minutes later. It's a pretty good walk up to the historic town center, and a major climb up the mountain to the major historic sites, so we bought a bus tour and tickets to three of the famous castles and palaces--one in the historic town center, and the other two high on the mountain overlooking the entire region. I won't go into the details other than to say it was a day well spent and one that will remain in the ol' memory bank for a long time.

 
Pena Palace panorama.

We took the return train back to Lisbon in time for a shower and short rest before going out for our final dinner at one of the many sidewalk cafes in this delightful city. After dinner, we enjoyed one last stroll down to the riverfront before coming back to our hotel to pack for the long flight home tomorrow.


A selection of whimsical pastries in a sidewalk window.

Lisbon - Monday and Tuesday

We're loving Lisbon. After two days in the excessive high-90s to 100 degree heat in Madrid and a long overnight train ride that felt like a trans-continental fight through continuous turbulence in an old prop-driven DC-6 with at least one stop in every state along the way, the cooler weather and laid-back atmosphere of Lisbon feels like a slice of heaven. What a wonderful city!

We arrived Sunday morning -- too early to check into our hotel, but they let us store our backpacks while we went out to do an initial exploration of the nearby neighborhood. We're staying in a studio apartment/hostel in the Baixa (pronounced "Bye-sha") area of Lisbon, a great location within easy walking distance of many of the popular attractions.

We spent Monday on a tram tour so Jeanette was able to limit walking. After a complete circuit on the hop-on/hop-off trolley, our first stop was at the Porto del Sol, a plaza on the back side of one of the city's major hills which overlooks the Rio Teja. After lunch at the plaza, it was a short walk down through the narrow streets to the Cathedral. The first yellow arrow for those starting the Camino Portugues from Lisbon is painted on the corner of this ancient and historic church.


View from the Puerto do Sol.

We then hopped back on the tram for a quick ride back across town to the Igreja de Estella, another historic church atop one of the many hills of Lisbon. We climbed 112 steps up a winding spiral stair to the roof of the church for a spectacular view of the city stretching in all directions below.

Leaving the church, we crossed the street and strolled through a beautiful park that felt almost like a botanical garden. Afterward, a short tram ride bought us back to the Baixa neighborhood, where we stopped for gelato before returning to our apartment for a shower and nap before dinner.


City view from roof of Igreja de Estrella.

This morning we were up early and made our way up to the castle of St George, an imposing medieval stone fortress that overlooks the city from the steep eastern hill. To reach the castle, we wandered through the narrow streets and a couple of public elevators. After a couple of hours of exploring the castle ramparts and photographing the cityscape in the morning light, we made our way down to the dock on the Rio Teja for a river tour that took us down the river to the Belem district, where we spent the better part of the afternoon wandering around the Monesterio Sao Jeronimo. All that made for a long and tiring day, so we decided to pick up a pizza and dine in tonight.


Castle of St George.

Tomorrow is our last day in Portugal, and we'll spend it in the nearby town of Sintra, a "must see" on everyone's list of things to do while here.

Madrid to Lisbon

We slept amazingly well, given the loud street noise all night--but then we were really tired. Nature called about 3:00am and the party was still going strong in the street below. (Note to self: never get a room facing the street on a weekend night in Spain.)

The high point of our last day in Madrid was a visit to the Prado Museum, a world-class art museum that ranks right up there with the Louvre and the Guegenheim. At first we (at least I) hesitated, given the length of the line, but Jeanette convinced me, and the line went amazingly fast. The museum's permanent collection is mainly old masters, with an emphasis on Spanish masters like Goya and El Greco--not my favorite art genre, but nevertheless well worth the visit.

Later, it was time to head to the train station to catch the so-called night train to Lisbon. You'd think the once-daily train between two major European capitols would at least be one of those modern, 200-mph rockets, but no, this was the 1940's milk run, with no less than 14 interim stops along the way. But we made it. And for the next four nights we're staying in a cool little studio apartment in the heart of the Baixo district in the old town area of Lisbon. It's a mix of neo-60's modern/hipster and Andy Warhol meets Ikea design-wise. We're looking forward to these few days of R&R before flying home on Thursday.

A protest march in the street outside the Prado.

Overview of Lisbon from an observation tower.

Catching Up - Moritinos > Sahagun > Madrid

I mentioned in my previous post that James was driving us into the railroad station at Sahagun, which he did. We arrived about 9:15 and bought tickets on the afternoon train to Madrid, which included a transfer in Palencia from the local slow train to the fast express into Madrid. We spent the rest of the day bumming around Sahagun, a town that's listed as having a population of 70,000, but I'd be surprised if it's half that. [Edit: My population figure came from a well-known Camino guidebook. I knew it was way off, but after checking the internet when I got home, I discovered it was waaaay off--Wikipedia lists the 2009 population as 2837.]

The train arrived late, which left us sweating the connection in Palencia. However, the fast train was having mechanical problems, so we ended up waiting for over an hour before we got underway to Madrid. So by the time we finally got to bed it was after 11:00pm.

We stayed at a hostel near the airport, thinking we'd be able to get a cheap airlines flight to Lisbon, but cheap flights on the same day are a myth, so we ended up heading back into the train station in Madrid and bought tickets for the once-a-day train to Lisbon. Today's train was sold out, so we'll leave here tomorrow. It's an overnight train, which means we'll arrive in Lisbon on Sunday morning.
We're staying tonight in a basic hostel-type small hotel just off the Plaza del Sol in the heart of old Madrid. As I write this from our mini-balcony at 10:15pm, the street below is teeming with people...I hope we'll be able to sleep tonight with all the noise.


The meseta near Ledigos.


The Roman bridge in Sahagun.


Ruins of an ancient church in Sahagun.


The street at 10:00pm beneath our balcony.

Meseta Days 2 & 3 - Calzadilla > Moratinos > Sahagun

Day 2 (8 miles) was another glorious, cloud-free day of brilliant blue skies. It started off cool in the morning as we left Calzadillo de la Cueda, but unlike the day before, there was no breeze and by 10:00am it was getting really warm. The eight miles into Moratinos would normally have taken about 2-1/2 hours, but with the slower pace we have been walking due to Jeanette's tendonitis, it took us almost four hours.
When we reached the oasis known as the Peaceable Kingdom, Rebekah and Paddy were off on errand to Palencia, the regional capitol, but we were greeted by James, friend who was staying with them. The three of us sat in the shaded patio and enjoyed a light lunch of bread, cheese, sliced tomatoes, and a cold cerveza. Then it was time for a shower and nap.
Rebekah and Paddy arrived just as we were waking from our nap, and we spent the rest of the afternoon getting acquainted with them. Rebekah then prepared a delicious dinner consisting of a Lebanese brown rice and lentil concoction accompanied by Spanish sausage and vino tinto.
In the morning (this morning), we decided to pull the plug on this portion of our journey. Not only does Jeanette need to get off her foot, I've realized that my "need" to complete every kilometer of the Camino Frances is not as strong as I thought. We've now seen the best of the meseta, from Burgos to Sahagun, and rest of the 50 km or so into Leon is just more of same. So after breakfast, James drove us the short six miles into Sahagun where we bought tickets on the afternoon train to Madrid. Tomorrow we'll fly to Lisbon, and if we can change our flight, we'll come home a few days early. Otherwise, we'll hang around Lisbon and return on the 1st as originally scheduled.

Meseta Day 1 - Carrion de los Condes to Calzadilla de la Cueza

10.6 miles. A short, but beautiful day walking under clear blue skies across a broad landscape of fresh green wheat fields. Most of the day's walk was along a 2000-year old Roman road, straight as an arrow through the farmland. The road is occasionally bordered by rows of cottonwood trees which provide patches of shade--welcome relief even on temperate days like today, but surely tiny bits of heaven in the scorching days of late summer.

Jeanette's ankle is better after two days' rest, but we had her backpack transported today to ease her load. Plus we picked up a pair of trekking poles from the left behind box at one of the albergues in Santiago before we left there, using them takes a bit of additional stress off her gait.

Typical scene from today's walk.

Oasis on the meseta: cerveza, bebidas, bocadillos -- all the necessities of life on the Camino.

Tomorrow is another short day, only eight miles to the village of Moratinos and a stay at the Peaceable Kingdom of Rebekah Scott, a well-known Camino figure, and her husband Patrick.

Santiago to Carrrion de los Condes

Today was almost entirely spent on a long bus ride, the first and longest part being from Santiago to Leon (6+ hours), then an hour layover in Leon, and finally 2 more hours on a milk run bus into Carrion. It was interesting to watch the terrain roll by, much of which was familiar from our 2013 walk on the Camino Frances route, but obviously from a different perspective.

The only disappointment was arriving at 6:00pm in Carrion and finding the Santa Maria albergue full, plus being too late to hear the famous singing nuns. So we got a room at the hostal (small hotel) across the street. The upside was meeting a couple at dinner who are full-time RVers. During the course of conversation, it turned out that they are Mike and Terri Church, the authors of perhaps the best guidebook of camping and campgrounds along the Alaska Highway and our veritable bible for our Alaska journey a few years ago. Small world indeed!

Tomorrow we start our five-day trek across the meseta, filling in the gap in our previous Camino which I've regretted missing ever since. 

No photos today -- the inside of a bus is nothing worth preserving in pixels to show the folks back home.