Obidos
Thanks for the comments 3WG and also Anne T. Good to know that all is well and that you are enjoying our entries. Also happy to hear that Lyla is receiving the news and she is ok.
Last night´s dinner at our hotel was to die for - lamb rack and VEGETABLES for Judy and duck and VEGETABLES for Brian, preceded by home-made warm bread rolls and a special melted mixture of herbs with goat, cow, and sheep cheeses. Fabulous - can´t wait for tonight to choose another two dishes! We did not want dessert, but the chef/waiter George brought us a special rich chocolate dessert with toffee which was difficult to resist.
Today we set out on an adventure with our trusty FIAT and Gladys. Drove south about 1 hour to Sintra, where we FINALLY found a parking space and walked to the Sintra National Palace where we inspected the various rooms which date from early 13th Century. One ceiling is covered with repetitive paintings of swans. Another was painted with magpies, which is supposedly a cheeky decoration to represent the court gossip about the king´s advances towards one of the ladies in waiting! When the queen caught him red-handed, he responded "por bem", which means "for good", and these words are painted on the scroll held in the beak of each magpie painted on the ceiling. Sintra was a very pretty city, with great views of some fairytale type castles and steeples. Lonely Planet describes the city as "icing sugar palaces where Lord of the Rings meets Sleeping Beauty".
From Sintra, we took a much less travelled "green road", following the coastline north towards Peniche. Some of the route was even on a "white road", with narrow winding streets. The route seemed to be comprised of one village joining another, although occasionally there was open countryside viewed through the very heavy thunderstorms which arrived this afternoon. Roads were very wet, with deep gutters filled with water running across the road. At one stage, we were held up by a car in front, and were puzzled until a very large flock of sheep was herded across the road by a man and followed up by a woman (presumably husband and wife) The sheep were very wet indeed. Later, we saw the same scene with a herd of sleek black goats being shepherded home. It was great to see the real countryside of Portugal, and we are liking the country more and more each day.