Packing in a lot of exploring in the first 36 hours of arriving in PORTUGAL. The long flight from Seattle to Lisbon via London seemed to go on forever, but jet lag undeterred entering Lisbon was a breeze.  That is a cool warm breeze and lovely temperatures.
On a first visit here I was advised to stay in the main tourist area of Alfama; whilst this is all good for getting around, seeing sites and finding restaurants, it can be a little touristy with lots of those pesky tourists on every street corner (not literally), but it is ok, I am a tourist myself after all.

Legend tells that Lisbon was born like Rome, between seven hills.  Each one has stories to tell, and way up high, the viewpoints reveal the hidden corners of the city, at least the areas so far, are pretty, quaint, easy on the eye and fun.  The trams add an old world feel to the place, and the weather just sets of the place off majestically.   Lisbon is one of the sunniest places in Europe with a warming 2799 hours of sunshine per year.  Blue skies, red rooftops and warm sunshine.. what’s not to like?

A rather brief first day was ended early with USA west coast jet lag setting in after way too many hours without sleep.  Broken sleep led to a late arise the next day and a late morning call to “head to Sintra’.  Without the advice and guidance of others I am guessing I would never have come across or heard of Sintra, but I am so glad I did.  So, I kind of side stepped further exploring Lisbon for the prospect of heading further afield.  Sintra is 25km west of Lisbon, that’s 15 miles in old currency.

An uneventful search for the Rossio train station, normally that would end in getting lost at least 2-3 times in a new city 🙂  An even more straight forward 40 minutes train journey to Sintra, and I wandered into a stunning picturesque Portuguese town.  I meander around the hills and historical sites of Sintra to take in the beautiful scenery of the stunning place the lies at the end of the railway tracks.  It has to be said that the train journey to get to Sintra is a little uninspiring.  The urban train stations come and go, but none offering so much as an ounce of temptation of the pretty idyllic town that lies ahead.

Of course there was a little detour in the way back; see “getting lost” in the travelers dictionary.  The one track direct route from Lisbon Rossio to Sintra is not quite so direct as I thought after all.  Managing to find a second track and Lisboa Oriente, but no matter for a little de-tour that had me heading back to Benfica.

It’s 10.30pm at night and the noise from below has lots of laughing of people enjoying their day and evening relaxation.  That’s Lisbon 🙂  Another day tomorrow, and more adventures into learning and appreciating the new to me city.  Lots of things on the to do list, this is a good place and good people. (unless I’m missing something, and I might be…maybe attacked by a crazed werewolf tomorrow….have to wait and see.)