The "must-do" daytrip from Lisbon is an adventure up to the (relatively) high country of Sintra--the hills above the city that (according to what I read) are constantly shrouded in a romantic fog and gave the Portuguese elite an escape from the heat of the Lisboa summer.
I'm going to have to take everyone's word on the foggy mist, because the day I went up to the Sintra area was pristinely clear and sunny. which was so nice because I could actually see all of the ornate vacation palaces dotting the hills. Peña Palace, built by King Ferdinand in the 1800's, is the crown jewel of weird decadence in the region.
It also afforded amazing views on this rare, clear day.
After the palace was a stop in Sintra town itself, which was a fun place to pretend I was a Portuguese noble as I lunched on vegetable soup and olives (a post on food to follow eventually).
From Sintra itself, Cabo da Roca--the westernmost point of continental Europe (not to be confused with the southwestern most point that I visited previously...we're very into superlatives, here) was only a 40-minute drive away. Again, I was warned that this famously windswept place would certainly steal your hat, but on this unusual day it was nothing but calm, peaceful, and sunny.
On the way back to Lisbon, it was really fun to stop in the town of Cascais, a SUPER ritzy vacation get-away for monied Portuguese. The cars were fancy, the stores were fancy, everything was fancy. An enjoyable wander, though I wouldn't want to live there. Which is probably evidenced by the fact that I didn't take pictures of any of the fancy things. Here's what you get of Cascais instead:
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