Escape to Portugal: Opening Eyes and Ears in Sintra, Sintra, Portugal

Few times have I experienced walking around a city in the early hours of the morning with a relaxed sense of security. No need to look over my shoulder with suspicion, to shiver into a jacket with a sudden cold rush, or feel like I was trespassing the silent empty streets at an unsaintly hour. The sun rises sleepily into the soft sky as one ambles down St. Lucia in the Alfama district of Lisbon towards the Rua de Augusta. Here waiters set up tables on the street to get ready to serve breakfast to the many tourists that will swarm this street later on. I walked into Patisserie Brasilieras to buy a cinnamon pastry and ate it on the steps of King Juan I in the Praça de Comércio. It suddenly hit me that it was the 1st of August and I pinch-punched myself to commemorate.

Today I would be heading west towards the town of Sintra with Virág, the Hungarian girl I met on the bus down from Porto. This plan of travelling with someone else had arisen only the late evening before and I wasn’t sure what to expect. What advantages and disadvantages would having company bring? ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).