Actually it’s stopped now but yesterday was a shocker. Wind, rain with one or two very short bursts of a clear sky when we made a dash for it to get to a restaurant for something to eat.

In the morning though we got an uber to get to the palace in the centre of town. A ten minute walk. A twenty minute cab ride as it went the very long way round. Quite nice though in the rain as we saw things we would never have seen otherwise. And all for a couple of Euros.

Eventually we got to the palace and tried to find the entrance. Up one set of stairs with no bannisters. Oh oh. This was not going to be fun. Then down again because we were in the wrong place. Eventually we found the ticket office, bought our senior tickets and followed the signs for visiting the palace. It was actually stunning – but no warning anywhere that once you got in you had to follow the route before you could get out. No disabled access anywhere but at least no ladders. ( I’ve been caught out before.)

The Palacio Nacional de Sintra (look it up if you want the accurate history) is a gem.

From the outside there are two enormous white chimneys which look like Kentish oast houses plonked on the roof. Inside there are sumptuous halls and chambers decorated with paintings and tiles. I’ll give you a glimpse.

As we left the palace -up and down several spiral staircases we eventually got to a courtyard leading to more steps. But these had surprise surprise a wheelchair lift. Very strange. Why just here!

Anyway there was a break in the rain and we rushed to our hotel and went for a very disappointing lunch. First time so far!