Sintra - Palacio da Pena

This palace was next stop on the loop after the castle, but lesson was that we should have got here earlier and done it first. We could have got tickets to enter the palace , but only if we were prepared to wait over two hors. It was that busy. So we opted instead just to visit the park (rather expensive for a walk in the woods) 

As a fantasy palace it looked great from the outside. All we got into was the cafeteria for self service lunch.

In the grounds we made our way to this cross (which has been several times rebuilt) which marks the highest point in the area - under 700 metres which felt a surprise for all the climbing we had been doing