Within the hills of the Sintra mountains, just a days trip away from Lisbon, is the noble town of Sintra. Once a summer retreat for Portuguese royalty, Sintra is full of palaces, exotic gardens and extravagant villas, some of which have turned the previously quiet town into a mass tourist destination.
As a result, our experience here was mixed. Though I loved seeing unique sites like Pena Palace, our time transporting through Sintra and between the sites was incredibly frustrating. The town is plagued with long line-ups and traffic jams. Many sites require the purchase of tickets in advance or risk a long wait. Overall we felt like we spent most of our day in transit while only being able to see a few things.
But, the upside of visiting Sintra: seeing the vibrantly coloured and eclectic Pena Palace. The Palace feels like a Disney castle atop a hill, with its vivid pops of yellow, red and blue. It is a medley of architecture styles which is both disorienting and whimsical.
The palace is built on top of the ruins of a monastery that crumbled in the 1755 earthquake. The ruins remained untouched until King Ferdinand II acquired the land. He transformed the rubble into an elaborate palace and grounds meant for a summer escape for the Portuguese royal family. With time, it became appreciated as an ideal reflection of Romantic architecture.
After passing through a few hands, the building was classified as a national monument and transformed into a museum in 1910. The popularity of seeing the area has significantly increased in the past decade to over 3 million people per year. This has become challenging for residents, who feel there is chaos throughout the town which doesn’t have the infrastructure to support such an influx of people.
The pandemonium of Sintra, combined with how many tourists seemed to flood Lisbon and Porto, makes me feel increasingly conflicted about traveling and “overtourism”. I love to travel and explore, but I feel remorse for the locals whose cities are crowded, who can’t afford housing (due to the focus on vacation rentals), or struggle to get groceries or even access to an ambulance in a timely manner. Nevermind the potential damage to natural, UNESCO protected sites.
Tourism can definitely support economies, and in Portugal specifically, has grown to account for 20% of the national economy and created numerous jobs. Perhaps we can focus on traveling responsibly, focus on less busy areas, try to support local businesses, and be respectful to the people living in the city.
Despite these mixed emotions, Sintra was a beautiful site to see and I wish we could have seen more. Perhaps staying a few days in or around the town would have allowed us to take the time we needed and contributed less to the chaos of transporting in and out of the area.
