Sintra, Portugal

Our trip to Portugal was for the wedding of Bill & Tash, just outside of Lisbon in a town called Sintra. After an early start we were on our way, here we’re flying over the Brittany area of France.On arrival, we picked up the rental cars and drove West towards Sintra, and more specifically, Galamares.Here’s a few pictures of the beautiful villa we stayed in for the 10 days.

By the time we’d chosen our rooms and unpacked it was late afternoon, luckily it was amazing weather so we had some time to sunbathe before dinner.We all clubbed together to help Bill with the last of the wedding accessories, including personalised tote bags and small card boxes which would contain a Pastel de Nata (Portuguese egg tart).

As with most family holidays abroad, we had a typically easy but tasty dinner, lots of hams and cheeses with bread and salad.With the West facing terrace, we could enjoy the sunset as we ate our dinner.Before a few evening drinks.The following morning we had lovely blue skies, this called for sunbathing and the pool.In the afternoon we had ‘Welcome Drinks’ for all of Bill & Tash’s family and friends, this was hosted at the beach side hotel, Arribas.It ended up turning into a pretty boozy few hours, not surprisingly.We came back to the villa for a BBQ with all of Julie’s side of the family before heading to bed, ahead of the big day!

The wedding wasn’t until the afternoon, so the morning consisted of getting ready and lots of pictures! Amy and I all dressed up.

After catching an Über, we arrived at the venue – The Quinta. Here’s a picture of the front of the house.And the ceremony would take place here…There was a little waiting before the ceremony started so here are a few family pictures.

As you can probably imagine, it was boiling, especially for the guys in suits etc. Thankfully, the little Asian style umbrellas were available.

It was then time for everyone to take their seats.

Tash walking down the aisle with her Dad.Congratulations to Mr and Mrs Neale!

The bride and mother of the groom, Tash and Julie!While the professional pictures were being taken, we had the chance to mingle, enjoy some delicious canapés and listen to live music.

We were then summoned out the front for family pictures with the newly weds.

Once all of the pictures had been taken, it was time for the meal. The tables were all set up on a lovely terrace and we managed to be on the table right next to the bride and groom.

Each table had been named after nightclubs in Bristol as that’s where Bill & Tash met and live together. The head table was Mbargos (one of our personal fav bars), while we had Pam Pam’s – neither of us had ever been to…!Here’s our table, all from Bill’s side of the family.The bride and groom making their entrance.

The speeches were great, the food was delicious and we were all suitably tipsy ahead of the evening.

It was then time to cut the cake, accompanied by pyrotechnics from the three best men!

After a big group picture, we headed inside for a bit of live Irish music.Bill and Tash having their first dance to Fleetwood Mac. Before the free bar took total advantage of us… The ties on heads were obligatory!

We awoke the following morning (definitely afternoon) and headed back over to The Quinta for a BBQ.George and Tori definitely struggling after last night…The guys played some garden cricket whilst keeping an eye on the Cricket World Cup Final on one of the many devices streaming it. I also got the chance to hold Smith’s five week old baby Louie, such a natural…As the World Cup final drew to a close we huddled around one of the iPads, only for it to run out of battery in the final over! Luckily, we had a back up iPhone that we caught the last of the action on… Champions!As the day went on, people gradually began to drink more and more, and with the winning of the cricket, we all ended up getting pretty pissed again!Before it was time to sleep…The Monday was very much a day of recovery and doing sod all, the weather didn’t help one bit either. We ended up sitting inside most of the day, then when deciding we would head up into Sintra couldn’t find any parking. The next best option was to head to Praia Grande for a coffee and some seaside views.

Amy, George, Tori and I decided to have a stroll along the beach, the only good thing was the dinosaur graffiti.

That evening we went out for dinner at Taberna Criativa, the food was amazing. This starter symbolised Sintra, with the croquette representing the rocks of the coast, the froth representing the sandy beaches and the prawn representing the seafood.The cod carppacio and pork with pea mash.

After our failed attempt at visiting Sintra yesterday, we grabbed an Über to the entrance of Quinta da Regaleira. Weather looking spot on, as per!The Torre da Regaleira (Regaleira Tower) looking very atmospheric in the fog.

The quinta, a traditional term for estate, is classified as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

One of the main highlights of the park was the Initiation Well, a spiral staircase that was used for ceremonies rather than a water source.As you could see, it was an extremely popular attraction within the park, and would be an Instagrammers dream if it was quieter.

The well led to a series of tunnels and out past a small waterfall…

And over steppingstones back to a main path. You certainly wouldn’t to fall in, or knock someone else’s bottle in, aye Julie!

The Quinta da Regaleira is set in the hills of Sintra, and this is the main palace.As you can see it’s a Gothic styled palace, with gargoyles and spires.We took a few Polaroid pictures in the gardens.The last place within the estate we visited was this small pond, with grotto like arches. It probably needed a clean!From Quinta da Regaleira, we made our way into the centre of Sintra.This is the National Palace of Sintra.The square in front of the palace had nice views around the town. It was a really colourful, quaint place, high up in the mountains. You can see why it’s a popular day trip from Lisbon.

It was then time to head back to the villa, as the whole of Tash’s family were coming over for a BBQ. There was a lot of prep work needed!The BBQ was great, despite the weather, and none of us were too hungover for the following day as we planned to head into Lisbon for the day. I’ve done a separate blog post for Lisbon which you can read here.

The Thursday brought sunshine and high temperatures, so we decided to make the most of it and spend the day relaxing by the pool. Throughout the holiday, the weather had been less than ideal, and even today it was extremely windy – dangerous sunbathing weather!We could even enjoy the pool for once as it was a nice temperature to cool off.

A late lunch consisted of lots of leftovers, which is the best while on holiday. I managed to really burn by back and half of my arm – annoying!Later in the afternoon Amy & I decided we wanted to get out of the villa, so took the short drive to the coast, more specifically Cabo da Roca.Cabo da Roca is the most Western point of mainland Europe.It was so windy by the coast, my hat was almost flying off and Amy was wearing a dress so had to hold it down the whole time!The views along the coast were pretty stunning.It was amazing how the weather was so effected by the hills of Sintra, as you can see in this picture it’s completely covered in cloud, but everywhere around was sunny.That evening we went out for dinner, at the highly rated Bar Do Fundo. Right on Praia Grande beach, I’m sure the sunsets here are epic.To start, we had carpaccio and a burrata salad.

Next was the main event, grilled octopus in a garlic sauce – it was totally delish.The following day, we decided to get out of the clouds of Sintra, and do a bit of a coastal drive… The first stop was Ponta da Galé. As you can see from the picture, the weather around Sintra was a bit mental.Just the five miles outside of Sintra it was beautiful blue skies, but around the hills it was cloudy and drizzly.

Here’s Praia da Cresmina beach, it was still quite windy so we decided to continue round the coast in hope of shelter.The next stop was Boca do Inferno viewpoint, which stands for the ‘Hell’s Mouth’.The sea has worn away the cliffs and created this caving system.

The entrance into the cave, the sea presumably will come quite far up when it’s at high tide.The cliffs along the coast, with lots of small pockets that have been carved out by the Atlantic Ocean.It’s a really beautiful part of Portugal.We ended up driving into Cascais, which is a small beach town.We tried to take a dip, but the water was so, so cold. I can’t even describe how cold it was considering it was the middle of July!All we could bear was going into our knees to try and cool us down.

So it was back to the beach to top up our lame tans!We enjoyed a delicious lunch in a beach-side restaurant, most of us had these prawn, squid and chorizo skewers.After lunch, rather than getting all sandy again, we decided to have a wander through the town.Some vibrant art pieces lined the cobbled streets.

It was then back to the villa, where, not surprisingly it was cloudy again!As it was our last evening, we headed out for dinner again, this time to Incomum, which was amazing again. The seafood risotto I had was so creamy and tasty, the best meal I’d had the whole holiday for sure.

Just about ready to pop, we (or should I say everyone else but us) enjoyed a bottle of wine before heading to bed.

Our flight home was not until late in the evening, so we had a full day for activities. A trip to Sintra wouldn’t be complete without a trip to the Palacio Nacional da Pena (Pena Palace). As had been the theme with the holiday, Sintra was once again up in the clouds…We wandered through the Vale dos Lagos (Valley of Lakes), with the creepy, atmospheric surroundings.Up through the Garden of Camelias, and towards the entrance to the palace.

Our first sighting of the impressive palace…The front entrance to the Pena Palace, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.As you can see, the palace was quite the spectacle, with lots of bright colours but also interesting sculptures, such as this devil and the clams above the archway.

Supposedly, the views from the palace are quite spectacular…

The thick fog did make for some quite cool photos, these are taken on the walkway that goes around the castle walls.

Built in the 1850s, the palace is a multitude of different architecture styles and colours, it’s like no building I’ve ever seen before.A picture of the two of us in one of the towers that looked out over the gardens.It was really lucky we’d arrived early, as by the time we were leaving it was really starting to get busy.However, it was a shame it was so foggy, as it would have been nice to see all of the views and vibrant colours.It was then back down to the car, and hopefully out of the clouds to enjoy the rest of our last day.As expected, as soon as we left the hills of Sintra, the sun came out and it was a scorcher! We decided to head back to Cascais, as we knew what to expect.We had another delicious lunch and grabbed an ice cream, whilst making the most of the weather.From Cascais, we decided to take a leisurely drive down the coast towards Lisbon, as we wanted to arrive in plenty of time to drop the cars off. One of the stops along the coast was Ponta do Sal, a viewpoint in São Pedro do Estoril. We arrived at the airport nice and early as the coastal drive never materialised into much as everywhere was so busy. Much to our delight, we found out that our flight had been delayed by three hours due to an emergency landing at Gatwick.

In total we spent about seven hours at the airport, in what can only be described as a tin shack of a terminal, which is annoying as the main terminal at Lisbon is massive with loads of food options and things to do! While it was annoying, it couldn’t put a dampener on our amazing 10 days away to celebrate the marriage of Bill and Tash!