To Sintra: By train

November 26, 2017

I took a morning train to Sintra. The train runs on the urban line and bicycles are allowed on with no extra charge, but I was worried about steps at the Rossio train station and getting on to the train. It turned out to be easy, with an elevator that fit my bike taking me up to the ticket office, and the train leaving from the same level. I found the car marked for bikes, with just one step to get up, and got on early.

No hooks for the bike, just a space for bulky items. I tied it to a railing with my yellow windbreaker.

It's good that I was early, as the train ended up packed. I gave up my seat to a mother with two small kids, and spent the 50 minute ride sort of leaning on my bike's top tube.

When I got to Sintra, I found my way to the tourist office in the historic district, and locked my bike there while I had some lunch. I had booked an apartment in Sintra after I got onto the train, and I had an email saying that check in was from 2:00 and that there wasn't a reception desk. Around 1 I wandered down some alleys and found the address for check-in, but there was no one there. I understood the apartment was 60 meters up the road, and there was a place that looked to me to have the right labels, so I went there. I sent an email saying I was there, and asking if it was okay to leave my bike until check-in.

I didn't get a reply, but after a short wait locked my bike to the fence and went to a small shop to pick up some groceries. While I was there, an old man came in, and with the help of the clerk told me the bags on my bike were not safe. I don't know how he knew the bike was mine or found me in the shop. I went back to my bike and waited. Eventually some one came by and asked for me by name. It was the person checking me in, and I was in the wrong spot. I followed her back down the hill to the check in location, and she pointed up a staircase to the next street, and said the apartment was up there. I didn't want to get my bike up the steps, so I pushed it back up the hill we had just come down, around the corner to the apartment. She showed me around and explained how things work, and suggested that I lock my bike to the fence outside. I said okay, but after she left I brought it inside.

It's a nice place right in the old town, convenient to everything. It has a kitchen and a living room, separate from the bedroom. The living room has a tv with a few channels in English. It has good Wi-Fi, except when the person in the apartment next door shuts off the router, which is why this journal entry is late. Sorry. The bedroom and bathroom are up a spiral staircase in a loft area.

After settling in and getting cleaned up, I walked up to the Regaleira Estate. The estate has a large ornate house in the neo Manueline style that I had learned to like in Setubal, but it also has a huge garden area with grottos and fountains and tunnels that can be explored. Most of the estate was developed near the turn of the 1900 century by Carvalho Monteiro, who was just a rich guy who had made money in Brazil. The garden is supposed to be an image of the cosmos.

This is a flash picture. It was dark, even with the light rope you can see on the left.

View of the Palace of Sintra from the Regaleira Estate.

This is the "Initiatic Well" sometimes described as a subterranean tower. It's 27 meters deep.

This logo is CM for Carvalho Monteiro, who built the estate. It shows up in many places in the house, and in this case is part of a repeating pattern on a wall.

The main house. The upper floors are generally open, but are closed right now for some renovation.

Today's ride: 4 km (2 miles)
Total: 990 km (615 miles)

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