First things first, I went to the Castillo de San Jorge in Lisbon. It is the largest Castle in Lisbon, practically looming over the skyline. I made a decision to see it before I left. The night before, (two nights ago), I did a recon mission to find out how to get there, and when walking to my hotel, I found out it was only about a 15 minute walk. So I went there. The views we're beautiful, and there we're some interesting ruins showing artifacts from both the Moorish and Roman periods. Other then that, it has a clean bathroom, and a huge overpriced cafe and gift shop.
Now, the original plan was to fly to Madrid yesterday, but I wasn't quite ready to leave Portugal. While I was sort of done with Lisbon, I was enchanted by Sintra, I decided to spend the in Sintra instead and fly to Madrid today. And I was able to find a room for $21.00 (but don't worry, airline change fees and the non-cancellable reservation is the hostel in Madrid more then made up for that)
I am glad I did-I was able to go to the two castles, including one called Quinta de Regalaria, inhabited by a man who inherited all his wealth-he was basically born, went to school, and bought a castle. The man believe in alchemy and had an obsession with clocks. This place was ok-a recommendation by the lady at the hostel I was staying at.
Then I took another hop-on hop-off bus to see the Moorish Castle, which was intersting-again-some what along the lines of the Castillo de San Jorge before, this was a castle from the original Moorish settlement in Setina, the walls enclosed the original town. This was the highest point in town, and once again-breathtaking views all the way to the ocean.
To finish the day, I decided I wanted to enjoy that last great meal in Portugal, cod with olive oil and lemon. I looked in the village of Sintra, and really couldn't find it-the closed I could find was lightly breaded cod with potatoes, but it wasn't quite the same, even with olive oil. This was too cut-up. The cod I had tasted like it was right out of the ocean. The meal I had was good, but just didn't taste the same.
