Sintra
Sintra lies immediately northwest of Lisbon. It used to be one of the favorite places for royalties to spend their holidays. You can still see the woods, palaces and gardens the nobles left behind.
Sintra's main attractions are the numerous ruins and palaces that are found on the hills around it. There is the Manueline and Gothic styled Palácio Nacional de Sintra and the colorful Palácio Nacional da Pena. Not far away you will find the ruins of a Moors castle.
The castle is though to have been built after 711 AD, when the Iberian peninsula was occupied by the Mussulmans. A Mutawakkil (monarch of the Badajoz Kingdom) gave the castle to Afonso VI (King of Leão and Castilla) in return for protection against internal fights among the Moors in 1090 and 1091. The Moors conquered the castle to the Christians in 1109. It has belonged to the state since 1147, when D. Afonso Henriques (first King of Portugal) conquered Lisbon, and the castle surrendered without opposition.
Not far outside Sintra you will find the Monserrate Gardens. Further away is the small 16th century hermitage Convento dos Capuchos.
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