Sintra, Portugal

Already Lord Byron described Sintra such: 'I must just observe that the village of Cintra in Estremadura is the most beautiful in the world.'Sintra is an old village about half an hour (by train or car) from the capital Lisbon which is steeped in history and situated along a small twin-peaked 'mountain' (about 600m I think). The name of the mountain is 'Montanha Da Lua', Mountain of the Moon. For a fairly small village, it has no less than 2 palaces (it used to be residence of the royal family, the old palace is in the village and the other one, Pal cio Da Pena is on top of the mountain); it has an old Moorish castle (at least ruins of it, but you can still wander along the wall and enjoy breathtaking views onto the coast of Cascais and all the way up to Lisbon). Furthermore Sintra sports an old (supposedly haunted) monastery. The forest on the mountain is breathtakingly beautiful at day as it is at night (when the atmosphere in Sintra turns into something much more mystical)Don't forget to also visit Quinta Da Regaleira, a garden along the mountain that sports deep caves and tunnels. In fact it used to be used in masonic initiation rituals some ages ago: there is a deep well which people were sent down to find their way, blindfolded, through the caves into a secret garden (symbolizing finding wisdom). Today it is a bit easier to find this garden since lights guide the way.These are just some of the historic monuments in Sintra, in fact there seem to be more hidden in the forest, forgotten by time...