Pine Tree Paradise

We went to a cousin's house near the Sintra coast last weekend. The house is surrounded by pine forrest which is kid heaven.

 

 This rope provided endless entertainment. I only wish I had thought to bring real shoes for Freddy.

 His feet were brown and full of cuts by the end of the day.

Sebby got right in there with the big kids, climbing on the play structures and whizzing down the slide. He also tried riding a small bicycle for the first time. I think I see a balance bike in Seb's  future.

 

 There are loads of road side fruit stands in the Praia das Maçâs area so on Zita's prompting, we stopped for a watermelon on the way home. It was the perfect treat to end a long day.

Santa Eufemia

We thought we had exhausted all possibilities for family outings in Sintra, but it turned out there was one more place to visit- the Santa Eufemia chapel that sits atop one of 

Sintra's many peaks. It's a steep and narrow climb with little publicity so we weren't surprised that only one other family was there when we arrived. 

We started the afternoon with our requisite stop at the Piriquita cafe for pastries. Sintra is getting crowded to the point that the main hub of the village is losing it's charm. Monster sized tour buses do not help at all. 

Seb fell asleep in the car, which meant i was forced to have peace and quiet with Vanity Fair while these four set off on foot to get to the peak. They left the camera in the car so we only have shots from the parking lot, and not the tippy top of the hill.

In the above shot, the mouth of the Tagus and Atlantic coastline are just visible past the not-very-well-placed tree. Or perhaps it was the photographer who wasn't very well placed. At this point, I was still in the car. 

Every single Sintra monument has a resident fat cat that finds it's way to ZIta. I had about 40 pictures of that cat on my camera, but I'm sparing everyone.

For my sister's benefit, generous quantities of hand sanitizer were used when the kids got back in the car.  

Now that we've been to every single national park in Sintra, we'll have to start the rotation over again for Seb's benefit.

Exploring Sintra

We wanted to take my mom somewhere she hadn't already been, which is not very easy given that she has spent so much time here. 

 I blogged about visiting the newly opened Condessa d´Elda house  back in March, and we once again wanted to picnic in Sintra. As soon as tennis was finished for the day, off we went exploring.

 I wish someone were standing in front of these boulders to provide scale. They are imposing and wonderful and such a sight to see.

 Sintra never fails squash any luke-warm feeling I occasionally have about living in Portugal. The mature trees and damp misty forest with palaces and castles popping up here and there are pure magic.

 There are great views of the Palácio de Pena from the trails around the chalet. We practically walked all the way there in March. A stroller and a baby spared us the hike this time around. What was I thinking forgetting that Bjorn ?

 Disney-like enchanted forest is everywhere. I would not have blinked had a prince ridden through on a white horse.

 I´m still getting used to saying the "three boys," but here they are- the three boys.

I have constant guilt and worry that I'm failing on the cultural front with the children. Has Freddy even been to a real metropolitan symphony performance? No. I think I have to accept that we are in the thick of our nature phase and just put the guilt to rest.

Backing Up a Bit

Before Sir Sebby was born, we spent the afternoon in Sintra's Parque da Liberdade. One can´t go wrong with a family afternoon in any of Sintra's parks, but I particularly like this one for its fantastic animal props.

As I took this picture, I told the kids that it would be their last picture together as a sibling group of three before their brother was born. I was right. The next time they posed was in the hospital with baby brother in Freddy's arms.

I really don't know what this black animal is. Freddy was not going to hang around to find out.

We adhered to our Fall tradition of collecting chestnuts to later roast at home.

We headed home after a small picnic of Sintra's famous Travesseiro cakes.

I could do a whole post on Sintra's beautiful gates, but that will have to wait until Sebby starts school.

Sunday in Sintra

Pai was in charge of coming up with something different to break our weekend pattern of tennis, break, tennis, eat, rest, walk, eat, sleep. He packed a picnic and discovered that the the Chalet and Gardens of the Condessa d'Elda have been redone and are now open to the public. The first order of business was a quick stop at the Piriquita in the historic center of Sintra for a few of their famous pasteries.

Then we dug into the real picnic before visiting the chalet.

You can see the Palácio de Pena in the distance behind the roof of the chalet. All of the wood details on the outside are actually cork.

 I was so inspired to open the wall in our kitchen where the oven is to get back the open oven. The circular window floods the room with natural light. In fact the entire house was pouring with light which is a rarity in Portugal, and Sintra especially.

After we toured the house, we hiked through the surrounding "gardens," as they are called in the brochure, but in fact it is really just wilderness with rock boulders everywhere.

We got to the top of the hill, marked by this enourmous boulder and thought it was the perfect spot for

a break with leftover wine from lunch and azeitão cheese (orange juice for the kids).

These pink blooms grew on a few tall trees and looked unreal in the otherwise completely green and brown landscape.

I'm sure these rays of light showing up in the photo indicate bad photography, but I love them, just as I loved everything about the day.

A Walk in Sintra

It not all sand and surf in the Cascais area.  Sintra's nature beckons and a few short minutes in the car is all it takes to surround myself with the beauty of Penha Longa.   

Church entrance:

The spa is the yellow building on the left. Don't be deceived by its modest exterior; it really is quite a treat. Sadly, the last time I went to this spa was for a post-natal massage after Freddy was born.

 I'm a sucker for tiled fountains.

 Looking towards the back of the church

Matching cousins

What a great first day we had! I had my baby nephew, affectionately referred to as "baby bubba" until around 2:15am and then handed him back to his daddy- glad that I had that baby time, but also glad that as auntie I could hand him back!

We all got going rather slowly this morning with at least five different breakfast shifts, but we did eventually make it out by 11am. We went to one of my favorite places around here- Quinta da Regaleira- for a fully day of exploring. There is no better word for this place in Sintra than enchanting. Despite jet-lag, the kids held up with the walking, and even braved the dark and scary caves and tunnels. It was also the first time we have visited without either a person, or a camera, or both flying down the dangerous steep stone staircases.

We had an interlude for a sunny veranda lunch, and two tennis classes,and the rest of the day has been spent just keeping up with these kids.
They are now all cuddled up in matching jammies, because we just can't resist the matching, listening to an Amelia Bedelia story with auntie Tinna.

I'm sure it's obvious, but my camera is broken hence dark and grainy iPad shots.

Sunday in Sintra

The second birthday party of the weekend was held at Palácio de Pena in Sintra. I was astonished that the palace allows birthday parties, but thrilled that we had an ocassion for Zita's silk dress.

Here's my girl arriving at the party- not your standard bounce house entrance!

 This blurry picture was the only shot I got of her head on, and as you can see, she's not at all pleased with my paparazzi ways.

 I'm sure I've been to this palace close to 20 times, but I never tire of it. Give me views, tiles, and interesting architecture and I'm a happy girl.

Tile scenes are in abundance in Portugal, but especially so in Sintra. Textured tiles however,  are less common so of course I set about documenting them. 

After having coffee in the hot sun of the patio cafe, and a good walk around, Pai and I spent the rest of the party sitting on a small stone step, talking and watching the many tourists come and go. I love playing "guess the nationality," but after the 100th spanish tourist, it got a little repetative.

The time spent with Pai in the afternoon without children is so rare and appreciated. We depend on Moojie for these breaks and can I just say again how much the children-spread-apart-in-age thing is working out for us now?  Moojie watched Freddy's tennis lesson, walked him home, made him lunch and kept both of them alive which is what really matters. This is a new phase of responsibility for him and so far it's working out very well.  Generally we don't pay him to babysit, but in this case we exchanged dinner and a movie with friends the night before for babysitting.