Sintra has a way of making you feel as though you have stepped into a different version of reality. The hills are impossibly green, the town looks like a film set, the air is cool and faintly misty even in summer, and perched at the very top of it all, visible from miles away, is the Palácio da Pena, painted in vivid yellow and red, with towers and turrets stacked against the sky. There is nothing quite like it in Europe, and it sits less than an hour from Ericeira. Sintra makes for one of the finest day trips from Ericeira, and Pena is the centrepiece of it.