If you find yourself in Sintra, don't rush to the main sights — take some time to wander the streets. The palaces will wait, and the town will show you everything itself.
It's small but cozy. In summer, the colorful houses simply drown in greenery. But color is only good until you want to see the true texture. And that shows best in black and white.
Among the crowds of tourists, you can spot locals too. Look, someone is already hurrying to work.
The town hall building looks like a palace.
I've heard that the town is often wrapped in fog. I imagine how atmospheric and dramatic this street would look in the mist.
Generally, the streets in Sintra have one main task — to go up, testing the endurance of your legs.
And the cobblestones are laid so that you will slip on them very beautifully. Even if you didn't plan to.
A phone booth from pre-internet times. I wonder if it's still there now? Or have they already replaced it with a Wi-Fi hotspot?
Azulejo tiles decorate even the water fountains. Because why drink water from a simple pipe if you can drink from a work of art?
From this perspective, Sintra is an open-air museum. Only the exhibits actually work.
Many houses here have centuries of history.
This one, for example, is from 1866 — you could say it's new.
Many old houses are converted into restaurants. Convenient: you eat in a historic interior, step outside — and you're already part of history.
And many turned out to be abandoned.
In the photo below is my favorite among the abandoned houses: with a barely preserved door, broken windows, rotting curtains and number 1... Symbolic, don't you think?
But most mansions live and breathe to this day. And that's good.
Well, I think that's all for now.
Just a town, just streets, just details. Sometimes it's worth just walking without a goal — the sights aren't going anywhere. I still regret that I allocated only one day for Sintra. I didn't take many photos, but the impressions were greater than from the palaces (of course, I visited them too, but that's for another time).
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