Sintra is a hill town where a granite ridge catches the Atlantic cloud and holds it, so that the slopes are green, damp and cool while Lisbon, half an hour away, bakes. Lord Byron called it a glorious Eden, and Portuguese kings agreed, building summer palaces among the rocks and tree ferns. The Moors left a ruined castle on the ridge, and in the nineteenth century King Ferdinand II, a German prince who married the queen, built the Pena Palace on the highest peak, a fantasy of yellow, red and blue towers that looks as though it was assembled from a box of bricks. Close to the town centre the Quinta da Regaleira has a spiral well and tunnels, and Monserrate Palace has some of the finest gardens.
The ride up to the palaces is the point of the place. The road climbs through dense forest and moss-covered boulders in tight hairpins on a narrow, damp surface, with tourists on foot, tuk-tuks and buses sharing the road. On a busy day it can be slow and a bit nerve-racking, and the mist can fall without warning, so start early. Once you are over the ridge, the road drops west toward the sea and the cape of Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point of mainland Europe, where a lighthouse stands on cliffs above the Atlantic wind. A coast road then runs south toward Cascais, with views over surf beaches and rocky coves.
The old town of Sintra is a tangle of cobbled lanes, and parking a motorcycle is easiest on the outskirts. Pastry is the local vice: travesseiros, flaky pillows filled with almond and egg cream, and queijadas, small cheese tarts, are sold in the cafes in the old centre. Summer weekends bring big crowds, and spring and autumn are quieter and cooler. The air smells of eucalyptus and damp earth, and the temperature can be ten degrees lower on the hill than on the plain.
Sintra has about twenty-six thousand people, with fuel at the edge of town and larger stations around Algueirão and along the main road to Lisbon. Keep a warm layer in the bag, as the sea breeze on the cape is chilly, and expect a wet road after fog even on a sunny day.