Portugal: Sintra, Cascais, and Cabo da Roca

Like many visitors to Lisbon, we spent a day exploring the nearby cities of Cascais and Sintra. I booked a private tour knowing that the kids do best when we can travel at our own pace, lingering at the things that are interesting to us and breezing past the things that are not. Jorge, our wonderful guide, understood this well and filled a whole day – nearly 10 hours – with interesting sights. 

We started in the city of Cascais a beachy community that reminded me of the Pacific coast towns that dot California’s Highway 1. We wandered through the town and stopped at a bakery and played a few minutes on the beach. 

From here, we continued to Cabo da Roca, the western most point in mainland Europe. That distinction isn’t all that impressive since Ireland and Iceland are actually further west. Still, the seaside cliffs and powerful waves made it a beautiful place to spend a few minutes. 

Jorge also pointed out some edible wildflowers along the road, which we immediately decided to stop and taste test. Norah was a fan, but the rest of us were not as smitten.

We had traditional food for lunch in a place that seemed to be both an attraction for locals and a go-to stop for day trippers, like us, on the guided van circuit. Ben, while not particularly taken with the food, never met a piece of chocolate cake he couldn’t finish…

Our last stop was the mountain community of Sintra, known for its ornate palaces and gardens.  Again, because of the kids, we went broad, but not deep, doing a lot of wandering and logging a lot of steps, but skipping the lines to see the palace interior. 

Driving around the communities just outside of Lisbon made me want to spend more time exploring Portugal. I’m hopeful we’ll get the chance to come back in the future to see and do more.