Sintra Castle - bright, bold, and high

The path to the top is rarely straight. Creating something special, putting it on a hill all bright and bold and ridiculous, and then climbing, really climbing, to find it...well for that - the journey is the reward. The beauty is in the struggle.  The way up, the long breaths, having imagination guide expectation towards the truth, calibrating, re-calibrating, earning it.

Here at the top, just outside of Lisbon is Sintra Castle, we climbed to get there. 

 Sometimes it starts with a sign and an arrow, unknown to the reader the meaning 

 A hill to climb, but first lets find food 

 We saw a man cooking ribs by the road on a grill, here is his dining room 

 Tender delicious Portuguese ribs 

 Port Sausage hit the spot and got us ready for the journey 

 Up passed the city 

 Passed improbable garages and bright building we climbed 

 It got greener and greener as we walked up steep cobbled streets.  We hoped it was the right way. Sometimes it just feels right.  Sometimes you just know.

 Summer homes for Lisbon's old wealthy 

 Getting older and mysterious 

 Quiet up here 

 Nature takes back a side yard

 A welcoming front door and magical courtyard carved into a hillside 

 An inquisitive gatekeeper, but this was not our gate 

 It smelled delightful, but the path seemed more and more unprobable - could this even be the right way?

 A strange door in a rock leading, somewhere 

 And we climbed above it all, still not knowing

 We passed a noble castle 

 But not the right one 

 Warmer, the cobbled roads returned 

 We passed many doors that begged to be opened 

But we were on a mission to find the colorful castle

 We found it 

 Kristin!

One of the stranger castles