Got up and going pretty early, met a nice Aussie guy justin who'd also been at boom festival (Some massive trance festival in Portugal with about 35,000 people)..walked the hilly streets to the station where I caught a train to sintra, a small town about 40 mins away..very awesome and super old place..had a squiz at the markets then walked all the way up to the mountain to the medieval Castle of the Moors (had to have a few stops on the way, it was quite a trek!)..it was more of a fortress and any actual structures were pretty well destroyed as it was so old..but it was awesome to see the ruins of houses (originally Muslim and once again built on top of by Christians) and stables and silos etc..started walking down and got a little lost when a guard pointed me in the direction of a path..it ended up being an abandoned path save for one hiker and a couple of rock climbers..the stairs and path were ancient and it meandered down the foothills of the castle..was awesome! Tho I was secretly hoping I didn't break a leg or something as I felt quite isolated :S made it to the bottom and found a local, non touristy cafe where I had some soup..got the train back to lisbon and walked the streets back to the hostel, which was kind of outside the main area..I was keen to go out as I'd heard about the infamous lisbon nightlife but unfortunately didn't meet anyone going out :( so I just had a couple of wines and chatted to justin and his American friend for a while, which was nice anyways :)
The bus to lagos didn't leave til 2.15pm so I stowed my bags and went exploring..walked along the water and saw another statue of a man on a horse (they're everywhere in Europe, I love it!) and a beautiful archway leading to the city..had a look in the cathedral and around the walls of the city castle and then found an Internet cafe where I organised some photos..I'd left it a bit late and the bus wasn't coming so I had to pay for a cab to get the bus station, which would've been an hours walk away (pretty much my limit for taking transport :P)..found the bus ok and headed to Lagos, a coastal town in the infamously beautiful Algarve province...
