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September 04, 2006
Sintra
After lingering for a week in Lisbon, I've finally decided to move on to Sintra, less than 40 minutes away from Lisbon. Yeah ...
Most people go to Sintra as a day trip from Lisbon, it's only EUR3 return from Lisbon. Full of palaces and castles, Sintra is undoubtly pretty. The palaces are really good although not that impressive compared to the palaces of France, Spain and Morocco. Only a few palaces are within reach of public transport, there is a 'tourist circuit' bus that will take you from the town centre to Pena palace. This bus is super expensive at 3.85€, but it's worth it because it's a damn long hill climb to Pena. On this heat it could be unbearable. My bus driver was kind enough to pick up several (!!) tourists who gave up their hill climb.
Update:
On my last morning in Sintra , I succumbed to my curiosity about the Toy Museum. LP says that it contains more than 20,000 toys from all around the world. I decided to give it a go and I was glad that I went. It was definitely a delight to watch rows after rows of toys, especially the model trains, cars, thousands of toy soldiers from all countries, the very first Barbie toys, the very first Lego toys, battleships, dolls etc.
When I was browsing the toy soldier section (never seen that many toy soldiers in my live before), an old man on a wheelchair asked me if I speak English. Yes, I said. He then introduced himself as the president of the museum and went on to say that the museum is his personal collection. Old as he is, he still has a vivid recollection about this collection. He mentioned playing with the current king of Spain as a child when he was exiled in Estoril, his oldest collection, his first toy etc. I had no reason to doubt him, beside he gave me his business card, told me to call him if I have any problem and I saw him being wheeled into the staff only door by the staff.
This museum is definitely worth a visit.
Posted by vhadiant at September 4, 2006 03:39 PM
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