We Hate Tourism : A Local’s Take on Sintra and Carcais (Offbeat)

We're dreaming of Portugal now.
by Karla Ramos | March 14, 2019

From a literal high point, we also moved on to a social high point. This was the beach town of Cascais, one of the richest districts in Portugal. Its beautiful vista was not just the main objective of the stop, however. Our Pedro dropped us here to taste the “best ice cream in the country”. And it was great!

Everything in Between

The tour took all of 7 hours, and it was jam-packed with bits of trivia about the places we visited and its history. Towards the middle of the stop, we had a delicious lunch a la traditional Portuguese picnic. There was cheese, wine, and chorizo — very European! For only 50 Euros per head (the tour group had a maximum of 8 people, same as the van’s capacity), it was a steal.

Aside from these highlights, there were half a dozen other interesting spots in the trip, from Belem to the Jeronimos Monastery. We ended the tour with a taste of the famous Pastel de Belem, which was a type of custard tart famous in the area. Like everything else we had tasted today, this is the type of pastry one would love to bring home!

There were some sites we weren’t able to visit, though. One such site was in Quinta de Regaleira, a palace that seems like it came right out of a medieval kingdom. The site housed the famous Sintra Well, which was supposedly used for Masonic Initiations. Of course, Lisbon and Sintra are pretty large areas, it’s not enjoyable to just jump around from one site to another. The places we did not see on this tour would be perfect to visit another day.

The X-Day Trip has been called the best tour in Portugal, and we were really lucky to have experienced it first hand. And we absolutely recommend you experience it, too!