Portugal River Cruise Day 6: Port Wine Road

Saturday, May 30: Morning Cruising + Afternoon Wine Road Tour

We started off in Barca d'Alva this morning, and I enjoyed my walk around the waterfront area, where I discovered a lovely statue overlooking the River as well as a series of murals portraying various local historical and cultural figures, including the special storks we had learned about and seen in the bell towers across the border in Salamanca. I guess they come to Portugal, too!

We had a more leisurely morning today with a later breakfast since our excursion wasn't until the afternoon. I was able to get sufficient connectivity (except when we went through the lock) to catch up on the recording of last week's Spanish class, which of course I had missed since that was our first night on board the boat (not to mention the 8+ hour time difference between CA and Portugal!).

After lunch, we boarded the buses for our afternoon port wine road tour. The scenery continued to amaze me, with the steep hills and narrow winding roads and hectares of terraced vineyards covering the landscape. We stopped at an overlook for a panoramic view of the Douro River near one of the locks and were able to see our ship enter the lock since it left the port shortly after we did.

Our destination for our port wine tasting and visit was Quinta do Tedo, which is owned by a French man. We were again very glad to be part of the smaller English-speaking group for the tasting and tour. L and I decided to skip the short tour and just relax on the lovely shaded patio terrace instead. We got to taste a tawny and a ruby and then finished with a rose once the rest of the group came back from the tour.

We met up with the boat in Pinhao, and I was the only one of our group who accompanied our tour guide for the short walk to the train station to see the 1940s era blue and white tiles that show historic scenes from the area. Then I took my time walking back to the boat and checking out a few little shops along the way, with no luck for souvenirs, and watching the Douro line train pass by. The weather was quite warm again, but I figured I was already hot so another 20 minutes or so before getting back to the boat to clean up wouldn't make much of a difference!

This night was the Gala evening, which included a special cocktail and appetizer in the Lounge as we all greeted and celebrated the Captain, the Head Chef, and the Cruise Director. The Gala meal was topped off by a Baked Alaska, but I was already in my cabin by then as the late start of the dinner (8pm) was just a bit much for me. Mr. E and L stayed for the flaming of the dessert and also attended some of the dancing in the Lounge while I finished off a glass of wine and read before going to sleep. I needed that quite time! But I did find time to pop off the boat quickly to capture another memory of this stop.