We had to go to the immigration office and finalize our visa applications. We were all approved and the people were very nice to us. Everyone had their picture, fingerprints, and signature documented. After our appointments we went up to check out the castle in Leiria. It was a short walk. We were not expecting much but it turned out to be one of the oldest and most interesting places. There were artifacts from 5000BC and the castle had gone through the Romans in the 2nd century and then was rebuilt in the 1100s. Like all the things here there were cliffs and walls that were way too high for our comfort level, but we did it anyway. We made it all the way to the top and managed to stay up there for about 3 minutes before retreating to eat lunch.
The white building on the right side is the immigration office. We spent a lot of time preparing our documents so they were happy with us. Above is the castle we visited afterwards. Keep an eye on the large arched windows. The next photo is of them from the inside.
We did sit in the seats here at the edge and look out but there are no rails and it is quite a long fall. It was beautiful and terrifying. The children were unfazed. It also happened to be a warm day.
I walked with Max along the upper wall and went up one of the towers while the girls ate lunch. This is the view Lindsay had of us.
This is what Max and I saw looking down. We all had just been in the tower in the background. It was the highest point in the castle.
Thankfully we found an elevator on a track outside that was free that would take you down to one of the roads that we parked near. It worked just like a regular elevator with us controlling it. We were all very glad to find it.