Even without its brace of beautiful palaces, the town of Sintra would be an extremely attractive day trip from Lisbon. Indeed, the craggy yet sensuously vegetated ridges of the Serra de Sintra so captured the imaginations of the ancient Celto-Iberians that they christened the highest the "Mountain of the Moon" and made it a center of lunar worship. Somewhat more practically, the Romans and later the Moors fortified the ridge, and the remnant of the latter’s fortifications, the Castelo dos Mouros, still broods over the town. Climbing along its battlements is arduous but worthwhile for the stunning views of both the town and its surprisingly undeveloped surroundings it provides. Although visible from almost any point in the town on a clear day, the Castelo is often enshrouded in mist, epitomizing the allure the poet Byron found in "Cintra’s glorious Eden."

At the time of Byron’s visit, the remains of an ascetic Jeronomite Monastery crowned a nearby hilltop, leaving much to his Romantic imagination. In 1840, however, Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, husband of Queen Maria II and something of a Romantic artist himself, was able to give free rein to his fantasies by collaborating with the Prussian architect Ludwig von Eschege to produce the Palácio Nacional de Pena. The so-called "Gothick baronial castle" is without a doubt the most outrageous noble residence in a country full of them, incorporating the most extravagant elements of both Bavarian and Manueline architecture, much of it painted in a curious array of pastel hues. The interior is even more bizarre, filled with a hodgepodge of opulent furnishings that defy description (or taste!), in many cases accompanied by the voluptuous nudes Ferdinand was fond of painting.

The ornate, but more sensitively furnished, Palácio Nacional de Sintra dominates the town below, with its pair of gigantic white conical chimneys. Most likely originally built by the Moors, it was enlarged and redecorated by Portugal’s monarchs from the early 1400s onwards. João I commenced this tradition by constructing the stunning Sala das Pêgas (Magpie Room), its ceiling thick with these birds who were intended to represent gossiping courtiers. My personal favorite is the 16th-century Sala das Armas, whose walls are covered in azulejos (the painted tiles that adorn many Portuguese buildings) and whose coffered ceiling contains the heraldic shields of the country’s leading families. Every room, however, is beautiful in way that’s simultaneously ornate and refined. Try to begin your visit to Sintra here, preferably with the 10am opening, as it’s deservedly Sintra’s most popular attraction (particularly with tour groups!).