Rob & Liz in Portugal

 Wake up. breakfast. Scrambled eggs and bacon. Fruit and yoghurt. One cup of juice two cups of coffee. Shower. Brush your teeth and out the door. That's the routine give or take a few pills and such. The first port of call is the magnificent food hall which was closing down last night. Today at 11 am it is bustling with people. Many are drinking wine as they wander the rows of stalls here. The displays are impressive and the stall holders are very friendly. So colourful. It's a delight to spend time just looking at what's on offer. From there we walk to Porta Calling to grab a Smiths T-Shirt for Liz. I give the owner a copy of the new album by The Fiction and chat about Rowland Howard and Nick Cave and everything Australian. Liz and I do a mini photo shoot with all the Clash memorabilia. We also look at the vintage store next door but Liz doesn't find anything. Across the road is a dedicated Tin Tin shop which is loaded with Tin Tin toys including the rocket I have at h...

  We are planning once more to take it easy and wander around this great little city and avoid hills at all costs. well, we couldn't get away from the hills. We head down towards the river and in particular the Pont Luis Bridge. The one that looks like the bottom of the Eiffel Tower.  So it's a leisurely walk downhill but always in the back of our minds, anything downhill ends up being uphill when we come back. There is something on every corner to see but eventually, we get to the bridge and start to walk across. It's the top of the bridge and the wind is pretty strong. At times I feel my sunglasses will fall off. I hold my hat in my hand. The view is astonishing however Though I will wait til I get to the other side before I take a picture. Once on the South Side, we spy a higher lookout which is probably a church. A Flamenco guitarist is playing Metallica. And the views are even better because you can include the bridge. from there, we walk across the road and take the c...

  Leaving Sintra today to go to Porto so have breakfast, pack bags and call a BOLT. We requested to go to the station just close to us but he took us to the bigger one. We have no clue where anything is here and all we see is steps since we have all our cases that's just not gonna work for us so we get him to take us to the end of line Sintra station. Get tickets and get on board to Lisbon first. Change trains at Oriente. A newish main station for Lisbon but we don't have time to look around although it's supposed to look very cool. Then we are on the train to Porto. 3 hours and we are travelling backwards and nothing much happens. At least they had a kiosk on board so we could get something to eat. Arrive at Porto station and transfer to Sao Benton. This station is a work of art and we'll be back to take more photos. A stunning start to our Porto adventure. There is a lot of roadworks around the station, creating a haze of dust and noise. We catch a taxi to the hotel a...

  Last day in Sintra and after yesterday's exhausting up and downhill walking we really will take it easy. Maybe just a stroll into town. Check out the Modern Museum of Art. So we do just that. Walk past the Sintra Station which is packed with tourists and the Tuc Tuc drivers and guides are hustling for customers. There are long lines of people trying to catch the bus up to Pena Castle. We walk through and stroll to the new town and the Museum. Alas, it's closed on Mondays and I was hoping to use the bathroom there. Yikes! Liz spies a smaller museum-like place next door. A tram museum. And out of nowhere, we are booking tram tickets to the beach for 2pm. It's still only 11 so we go back to the hotel with a few sandwiches.  So a few hours later we travelled by tram to the beach. It's very loud (I have to put noise-cancelling earbuds in) and so jerky I can't get any decent video footage or pictures. It's like a really dodgy ride but it's fun. It's also rea...

 We were going to take it easy today however in the end we did a lot of things and a lot of hiking. After breakfast, first of all, we walked to Quinta Da Reguleira which is this amazing building and surrounds. The most famous part of it is the Initiation Well. Round and round we go to the bottom of the well and it starts to get very wet as we near the bottom. It's pretty amazing. Then there are tunnels going every which way including under a waterfall. We stroll around the grounds and it's quite a special place. The main palace looks glorious. Almost unreal. There is a Chapel with the Eye of God on the roof. A great place to visit. Just as we are about to leave we see something else to look at but eventually we leave. Liz wants to take a Tuc Tuc for fun. We meet this German girl who turns out to be a fantastic tour guide. It's another rattle of a ride made even more so by the cobblestones and she takes us around the monuments. Monseratte. A dying tree an artist has created ...

 Taking it easy with our last breakfast in Lisbon before heading to Sintra. Pack the bags and book a BOLT which is a lot easier than going by train when carrying bags. The ride is about 40 minutes which is a bit like driving to a northern suburb in Melbourne. We're soon there and the Hotel looks lovely. It's pink. Of course, getting there in such a good time means we have to leave our bags at reception and head for the old town. A few more hills but not too bad and a short distance where we reach town. First, we see the Sintra National Palace which is in the centre of town and has two high spires that turn out to be chimneys. We pay to go in and wander around the palace. Lots of great tiles and ceilings and a pleasant enough look around. From there we walk up and down the streets of the old town. Lots of tourists. It's a Saturday and Sintra is a big weekend spot. Grab a mini beer and listen to street music which sounds like the Gypsy Kings. Every road is like cobblestones. ...