And so did I, in the Eden room at the Lawrence's Hotel, supposedly the first to open on the Iberian peninsula. Chris described it as the trip splurge. I'd certainly never paid as much for overnight accommodations.
Here's what Byron had to say about the place in "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage" (First Canto, XVIII), his long narrative poem, published between 1812 and 1818 .
Lo! Cintra's glorious Eden intervenesIn variegated maze of mount and glen.Ah me! what hand can pencil guide, or pen,To follow half on which the eve dilatesThrough views more dazzling unto mortal kenThan those whereor such things the bard relatesWho to the awe-struck world unlocked Elysium's gates?
Sintra has been capitalizing on its literary pedigree ever since.
The Lawrence's did offer the best breakfast of the trip, including a roll that still makes me drool. I took a solo stroll around the town afterward, with other early risers.
It probably doesn't look that much different than when Byron visited as a young man more than 200 years ago.
Later in the morning, we skipped the Palácio Nacional, where I'd had a run-in the day before with a very unfriendly policeman while looking for the hotel's hidden parking lot, for Quinta da Regeleira which Randy had recommended.
Don't believe these pictures. An hour after I took them, waves of day trippers flooded the delightfully empty streets.
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