Our lovely driver Andre picked us up at 8.45 for our day trip to Sintra. Sintra is a UNESCO world heritage site in the mountains  above Lisbon. Because of its cool rainforest climate is was historically a summer retreat for the royals, but now hosts the rich and famous – Portuguese football players (close to gods here), politicians and now Madonna and family.

Apparently paganism is live and well in Sintra – complete with full moon rituals. I’ll spare you the details but let’s just say the description left us wide eyed and determined not to be out in the woods at night.

First stop was  the Palácio Nacional da Pena (Pena Palace), originally a monastery and then transformed into a palace – there’s a whole King/Queen love story behind it, which explains the colourful exterior.  It’s been meticulously preserved, and as impressive as the castle is, it was the gardens that made it for us- acres of lush forest with cobbled patch’s and carefully constructed nooks, all on the (very steep) side of the mountain.  And. we were worried we might lose our fitness while we’re not riding!

After 3 hours scrambling up and down turrets I now have the perfect (although inelegant) technique for descending narrow spiral staircases without breaking my neck – back to wall, hold the centre column, rotate your way down and hope like heck nobody is coming the other way – quite a visual, I know!

We lunched in a small family owned local restaurant – Portuguese steak for me and vegetable cannoli for David (both enormous), great atmosphere and being a Saturday, packed.

Next stop was Quinta da Regaleira – a small (non-royal) gothic castle, again with the most beautiful landscaped gardens. Its biggest claim to fame is the Knights of the Templar-esque initiation well.  Highly symbolic as you descend the spiral stair case down into the well you’re meant to reflect on all your regrets, and then emerge through the cave (toward light) with the new resolution of who you want to be. David is now ‘fully enlightened’ – but clearly they didn’t have the enlightenment of claustrophobes in mind when they designed it, so I am not.

Returned to Lisbon via the coastal road. Massive waves rolling in. Gave us a taste of what it might be like riding north.