Last Sunday I went with my friend to Sintra. I was excited because it was my first trip there, many people who went there they really liked Sintra. It is very easy to go there, there is a direct train from Rossio (centre of Lisbon) to Sintra. We wanted to go to Palacio de Pena, but the line to enter the park and go further was so long, it was about 2 hours to wait, so we decided to walk around the city and in places where we can go for free without waiting. I saw Quinta da Regaleira, gardens around Villa Sassetti, went to Palace of Sintra, Old Centre of Sintra and found that that is happening Vegan Sintra Market.
Before this trip I didn’t know about Vegan Sintra Market. So, I was really surprised when we enter this Christmas Market and first stand was vegan, other and other also were vegan. There was a lot of vegan sweets like Pastel de Nata, a lot of cakes, muffins. There was also brazilian food like coxinha and Açaí. A lot of places with vegan cheeses, sausage, pizza, burgers, cakes, chocolate. Later I was told that this Vegan Market will happen almost every month in 2022. I’m very happy about it. Portuguese cuisine is very new and diverse, full of sea food and meat. I’m not used to it, sea food is very common here, you can find here lot of different kind of fish, shrimps and so on. My first impression was that it will be hard for me since I’m vegan, but it is not so bad. Luckily, I even found vegan group on WhatsApp and it makes everything easier. But also, in every food place where I went there was a vegan and vegetarian option. I can’t say that Lisbon is a vegan-friendly city, but it is not as bad as I expected. For sure Warsaw is the most vegan-friendly city I have been to.
I also wanted to go to Cabo da Roca, but after so many hours of walking we were tired and didn’t have so much time to also go there this time. We stayed in Sintra till evening and admired Christmas decorations. We went back to Rossio to enjoy late evening in Lisbon. Later I took a boat to Cacilhas and went home.
I had a lot of fun and new experiences this day. I’m very happy, I just hope next time Ill see Palacio de Pena and Castelo de Mouros.
