We took a train to Sintra (28km, ~ 35min), called Mountain of the Moon by early Iberians. After a 48€ bill yesterday for half a tank of gas, a 4€/ea round trip ticket seemed like a steal! Upon our arrival we set out for the monastery, 3km from town.  Sloshing up the hill in the pouring rain we happened upon Quinta de Regaleria and lost several hours wandering though the lavish gardens and elaborate architecture. We didn’t make it to the monastery, or the castle, but the trip to Sintra was a success; a cool town, despite being BUILT ON A HILL. Enough already with the hills!

Jeff’s lunch at a café in Sintra: mussels!

Dinner tonight was, again, self-catered. We tried four different local cheeses along with salami and bread . . . and wine.

About this internet thing, the connection in our room doesn’t stay consistent enough to renew an IP address. We went to the business center at another location and can’t connect the laptop or pull files from a portable drive. This morning, when we stopped by the front desk to report the internet connection down, I hadn’t gotten “business center” out when the attendant completed the sentence “the internet isn’t working?”  Apparently, this isn’t unusual. Dude, how do you exist like this? Anyway, we are alive and well.

This is the crazy mansion at Quinta de Regaleria. The estate was built between 1904 and 1911.

Terrace of the Celestial Worlds & Reservoir at Qunita de Regaleria.

Waterfalls are fun, especially when you get fancy with the camera settings… this was taken in Sintra in the rain, but it was still a beautiful day.

Attempting to recreate a picture taken at Thomas Jefferson’s home, Monticello, about 5,000 miles away…

This one needs some explanation. Since we’ve been here we’ve noticed that people have a thing for hanging out their windows – sometimes talking to people on the streets below, other times they’re just chillin’ and checkin’ out the neighborhood. We have a 5th floor room on a relatively quiet street, but unlike in the US, the window opens . . . all the way. So, after a long day, and a bottle of Vinho Verde, we decided to try it out. It’s hilarious. We must have spent an hour hanging out the window, watching the world go by. The locals are on to something here . . .

Update – by 8:30 PM there were seven cars double parked in front of our building, including one that has been there since 5 PM! Double-parking to go into the corner convenience store is standard here; leaving it for three hours seems at bit excessive.