7th June was a public holiday of some sort, so we stayed up late the night before.. I went to walk Scott with Papa Carlos after our drive around Lisbon... I was so energetic and pumped up that I refused to sleep! The next morning I woke up at about 8, had my breakfast, and waited for Papa to get up.
We got into the car and began our 2-hour drive towards Sintra. Sintra has a micro-climate, something like what we get in Cameron Highlands or Genting Highlands in Malaysia. Before that, we drove along the coastline near Lisbon, which has some of the most expensive and luxurious housing in Portugal - and there is no surprise - because the view is magnificent. On a sunny day, 'beautiful' wouldn't be enough to cut it.. but perhaps I am biased because I FREAKING LOVE THE BEACH AND THE SEA! The sun was out and ready to play!
First destination: Boca do Inferno. Translation: Hell's Mouth. To put it quite simply, this place was the most beautiful spot to view sea and stone together. It actually took my breath away for a good few seconds. My HTC doesn't have the best camera, but this photo is UNEDITED and that's it. Awe-striking.
We stopped for lunch at Bar do Guincho, Abano beach, where I had some salad. Salad leaves with shrimp, avocado, tomatoes, onions, walnuts and apple, tossed in olive oil. Amazeflippingballs, for a SALAD! Abano beach was SPOTLESS, and the water was bluer than blue could ever be. So, so lovely!
We also saw Cabo de Roca, which is the most westerly tip of Europe. It was an amazing feeling being there, seeing how I am from SE Asia, and my family hardly travels.. and there I was, at the edge of Europe. It felt like a dream, and I never wanted to leave, but I know that only God could have blessed me with such an opportunity!
Back into the car, and finally, off to Sintra. The area surrounding Sintra was sunny and bright - but the mystery of Sintra is that it was cloudy and overcast...in that one spot at the top of the hill. Apparently it's always like that. We drove up most of the way, but near the top, parked the car and began hiking through forest grounds to get to the abandoned Monastery on the top. Papa took a photo of me and said that he took a photo of a troll in the forest..! That was such a good joke, but he later looked back at the photo and said that it turned out to be a fairy instead! (I TOLD YOU HE WAS CHARMING <3 Teehee!)
We walked up to the Monastery and Gonçalo explained things about Sintra. We actually saw some candlewax on a large rock somewhere along the way - and he said that that could have been used for Satanic rituals or witchcraft practices, which is common, because of the denseness of the forest. Tad bit spooky, but I forgot all that when I got to the top - the view of everything around me struck me dumb! The wind was deafening in all the silence.
After that we went back downhill towards the village of Sintra, where we had pastries from a café called Piriquito, loosely translated into 'pillows'. They were so sweet and fluffy, and left my fingers sticky and lovely and yummy. I tried ginjinha, too, in a chocolate cup - Ginjinha, or Ginja, is a sweet cherry liqueur which I could not resist trying. 1 EUR per shot. WHO could resist that??
After buying more pastries we headed back home to Odivelas to attend Corpus Christi evening mass. The church was tiny, but adorned with so much gold and glory. We then got to meet an aunt and grandma on Papa's side, and we had some home-baked cookies which I would not stop munchinggggggg! Grandmas are ALWAYS so so cute!
Dinner at Chámarros in a shopping mall - and then I bought a skirt from Lefties, whoohoooo! :D Had some ice-cream as well after dinner, then headed home.
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