On 8 October 2011, the second and last day of our trip to Sintra, we took our breakfast and left the Villa Gallé Ópera Hotel.

Rossio Train Station

As it was Saturday, there were no trains departing from Alcântara-Terra Station. Therefore, we caught the train at Alcântara-Mar to Cais do Sodré Station. From there, we went by subway to Rossio. We left the Rossio Metro Station at “Praça D. Pedro V” and we had to look for the Rossio Train Station. After a little walk we found it and we caught the train to Sintra, where we arrived at 12h40.

I found later we should have left the subway at Restauradores instead of Rossio in order to go directly to Rossio Train Station.
Our destination was the “Quinta da Regaleira” (Regaleira Estate). We had bought some food and we had planned to have lunch there. But, for our surprise, it was not allowed to eat there, unless we went to the restaurant. But, a little while after we had started our visit, we saw a group of people having lunch in the park and we decided to have our lunch too.

I’m glad we had visited the Regaleira Estate. It is a very beautiful and relaxing place. Beside that, it offers a great view of Sintra and of the “Castelo dos Mouros” (Castle of the Moors).
The Estate is enormous, we spent there more than 3 hours and we didn’t see it all. We explored the grottoes, we went inside the initiation well, we visited the beautiful Chapel and, at last, we went inside the magnificent Palace.

Beside its natural beauty and its architecture, Sintra is also known by its gastronomic specialties, namely the “travesseiros” (lit. pillows), which consist of puff pastry filled with a mixture of egg yolk, sugar and almonds, and the “queijadas de Sintra”, which are small and round cheese cakes made with fresh cheese and cinnamon .
Of course we couldn’ t leave Sintra without tasting these famous pastries. Therefore, on our way back to the Train Station, we stopped at the crowded “Piriquita” pastry shop, which is known for selling the best “travesseiros” and the best “queijadas de Sintra”.

Queijadas de Sintra

We caught the train back to Oriente Station, but we forgot it was Saturday and that we had to change to another train in Benfica Station instead of Campolide Station. Once again we had to go back one Station in order to catch the train that would take us to Oriente Station.

As we had to wait some time for the intercity train that we were going to catch, we went to the “Parque das Nações” (Park of the Nations) and we enjoyed the “travesseiros” and the “queijadas de Sintra” that we had brought. The “travesseiros” were still warm and they were delicious. I didn’t like so much the “queijadas”, it’s not the kind of pastry that I appreciate too much.

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