TRAVEL: PORTUGAL’S NATHIAGALI AT SINTRA
Looking out of the big bus, as it trudged along the winding road towards the Castle of Moors, my very first impression of Sintra was that it could well be Portugal’s Nathiagali!
About 25km from Lisbon, with layers of history, nestled between the Portuguese Riviera and Sintra mountains, this picturesque city has been declared a “Cultural Landscape” by Unesco and placed on its World Heritage List in 1995.
In 2000, Parques de Sintra - Monte da Lua (PSML) was founded as an exclusively state-owned non-profit organisation. Interestingly, its management model is such that it receives no state funding.
Ensconced between the Portuguese Riviera and Sintra mountains is a verdant city with mesmerising architecture and Portuguese artistic traditons
“The restoration and maintenance of the heritage and assets under its management is ensured by the revenues generated by ticket sales, stores, cafés and hiring out facilities for events,” José Lino Ramos, a board director of PSML, told Eos over an email exchange from Sintra.
All the earnings, explained Lino Ramos are re-invested in preserving and enhancing the heritage in its care. This year, for the fifth consecutive time, it won the World Travel Award for ‘World’s Leading Conservation Company’.
That October Sunday, the thick verdant forest with tall oaks and pines, sunlight that turned into cool shade and then a sprinkling of rain, bringing out the earthy scent making all of nature’s colours sharper, only added to the magic, giving the city a Nathiagali air about it.
When in Lisbon, Sintra is a must-visit even if for half a day and the easiest and cheapest way to get there is to hop on the train (it’s five euros for a round trip and it takes about 35 to 40 minutes to reach). In 2017, the parks and monuments were visited by close to 3.2 million visitors — 80 percent of whom were of international origin.
A tourist information kiosk at the Sintra station will guide you or if you already know what you want to do, just head outside, turn right, and buy a day bus pass before boarding the bus. You can hop on and off all the places you would like to visit using these buses.
There is so much more to this lazy little town than the half a dozen monuments it boasts. These include the beach along the Atlantic which is exceptionally beautiful and people go for surfing, body-boarding, paragliding and fishing or going on hiking trails in the forest.
But that is possible if you are staying a couple of days. For day-trippers, the two not-to-be-missed sites are the architectural wonders — the Pena National Palace and the Castle of Moors, built in 1840 and the ninth century respectively, before hightailing it back to Lisbon.