Castelo dos Mouros

Let me quickly post a few pictures from one of the last things we did in Portugal, but also one that the students thoroughly, and almost insanely, enjoyed: a visit to the Castelo dos Mouros (the Castle of the Moors) in Sintra. And to think, the trip to Sintra was a late addition, and came in response to a suggestion from a student.  On both the Madrid and Lisbon sections we had decided to include one side trip, with the Madrid being a bus ride to Toledo.  For our Lisbon side excursion we were originally thinking about heading into the interior, but one of the students, I think Melissa, proposed Sintra instead.  Figuring that it was a miracle that one of the students actually read the guidebooks I bought them and I should reward the effort, I agreed.  They LOVED Sintra, as did I.  Late in the afternoon we rushed into the old Moorish Castle on the cliff above the city, and I think the students would have happily spent hours there.  It was an appropriately wind-swept and caliginous day, which added to the ghostly feel of the place.  The guards, who nicely stayed a little later as we did our best to gather up the students, were quite nice.  They wanted to talk about the election, naturally, and asked if any of us had voted for Trump.  We all said no, and he laughed at said, "Yeah, apparently no one did," which was a funny comment on the fact that no American he had talked to would admit it.  This meant that either people were truly embarrassed by what had occurred and wouldn't take ownership of their vote, or the people who actually travel the world, and who might have a little broader understanding of the global condition, were not the folks who voted for Trump.

Looking down at the Royal Palace, which the students had visited a couple hours earlier.

The castle itself is huge, and this is a view from one side looking towards the other.  Essentially it covers most of the top of the mountain.

I had this definite Game of Thrones moment and was expecting to hear someone break into The Rains of Castamere.

A view looking over the cliff towards the valley.

This definitely qualified as one of my favorite travel moments as well. Precious few of my students had seen a castle before so it just added to the magic.

You can just spot some of my students up among the ruins.  I had to yell at them to come down so that the guards could close the gate, or my kids would probably still be up there, quite happily snooping around.

Well, truthfully, I'd probably be with them as well.  What an extraordinary day.