Portugal River Cruise Day 4: Regua to Tavora to Vega de Teron (Spanish border!)

Thursday, May 28: Solar de Mateus & Douro Museum, More Locks

I had a short walk along the river in the charming Peso da Regua before my usual morning workout and breakfast with Mr. E and L. We had a smaller bus this morning for the English-speaking group as we headed off to Solar de Mateus for the first part of the excursion. This Baroque-era mansion was still lived in by the family until the 1970s but is now a museum and cultural destination. We started with free time to tour the gardens and then finished up with a guided tour of the house.

We then retraced our route back to Regua to visit the Douro Museum to learn more about the region's history and wine culture. Oh, and I finally found a mailbox for my postcards right outside the Museum! (I'd been looking for the past few days but they don't seem to be very common, at least in the places we've visited so far).

We had some free time to grab snacks and check out some local shops before boarding the bus and driving to meet up with the boat in Tavora. 

The landscape in the valley is truly awe-inspiring, with very steep terraces and a deep valley down to the river. Photos don't even begin to do it justice, and it's incredible to think about how people have carved out a living here in such a harsh environment -- "nine months of winter and three months of hell," as our guide put it (temperatures as low as -10 C and up to 36 C) -- as well as not having the five navigable locks (none once the Douro crosses over into Spain) or a national highway until the 1960s and 70s.

We had two more lock crossings in the afternoon, which really wreaked havoc with the wifi access, so all of my plans to blog and catch up on my Spanish class had to be put aside. Instead, I finished my book and spent time with Mr. E in the afternoon. The ship docked at Vega de Teron just as we were starting dinner. Being moored seems to help out the connectivity quite a bit, so I was able to at least catch up on some blogging in anticipation of our full-day tour to Salamanca tomorrow.

Oh, and it's hot! Temperatures up to the high 90s, and our cabins on the top deck definitely get the brunt of the sun and heat during the day. At least the mornings are still cooler and enjoyable, and the forecast for tomorrow is actually a bit better, with a high of only 91 in Salamanca. 

Portugal River Cruise Day 3: Porto to Regua with Guimaraes Excursion

Wednesday, May 27: Porto Early Morning, Visiting the Historic Center of Portugal

My morning walk along the Douro River took me in the opposite direction along a boardwalk towards a beach area, and I encountered some interesting water fowl along the way as well as a lovely sunrise when I got back to the boat. 

After breakfast, we boarded a very full coach with a combination of French-speaking and English-speaking passengers, so I was able to listen to the French tour guide as we drove to Guimaraes, our primary destination for the morning excursion. We then split into two groups, and the English-speaking cluster was only 12 people today (yesterday was 15 but our three table companions opted out of this excursion), so being in the smaller group was quite lovely. We learned about the history of Portugal and why this area is considered the historic center of the country, which is also why almost all schoolchildren come to visit the Duke's Palace during elementary school (and we saw three groups of kids during our tour!). Much of the current buidling is a reconstruction and "best guess" of what the structure looked like several centuries ago, but it was still interesting to tour and learn more about the country's evolution.

After our tour of the palace, we strolled down towards the port and had some free time before boarding the bus to meet up with the boat, which had sailed from Porto to Leverino. Shortly after we re-embarked, the boat left again on its way to Regua as we had lunch and passed through one of the five navigable locks on the Douro River.

Unfortunately, the lock passage timing didn't align well for me to attend all of my French yoga class (8am PT = 4pm Portugal time), but I was able to join about 20 minutes late once we were through the lock and the wifi connection was more stable. After yoga, Mr. E and I headed to the Lounge for the Portuguese lesson with Elodie, which was quite charming and helpful. The ship arrived in Regua before our 7:30pm dinner began. Since L and I asked for lighter desserts, we both got an artfully prepared pear rather than the almond cake. So lovely that the kitchen staff is so accommodating and thoughtful for dietary restrictions!

Portugal River Cruise Days 1 & 2: Porto

Monday, May 25: Hotel Time, Boarding the Boat

We had time for a much more leisurely morning on Monday, so we could all sleep in a bit and then meet up for the breakfast buffet when we were ready. I took a walk before my workout and then joined L in the restaurant for a relaxing meal. Mr. E came down a bit later, and then we all relaxed for a bit after breakfast before Mr. E had to check out of his room at noon. The three of us headed to the Club Lounge for reading and computer time before the 2pm check-out for L and me. Then I had a fabulous massage at 2:30pm (one of the best I've ever had) while Mr. E and L had a light lunch in the New Yorker Bar. 

Around 4:30pm, we got a taxi to the quay to board our boat. Our taxi driver was multilingual and so friendly, providing us with lots of information about Porto, its history, and architecture as he drove us across the Rio Doro to Vila Nova de Gaia where our boat was moored. He was quite adept at navigating the narrow and winding streets down to the riverside! I also very much appreciated his term "hotel boat" to refer to our ship. We'd never heard that term before, but it's actually quite accurate! 

Our ship is the Infante Don Henrique as part of the CroisiEurope fleet of riverboats. The boat has three decks of cabins with the restaurant on the main deck, Lounge on the middle deck, and compact "swimming pool" on the sundeck. There's also a small elevator, which is nice for the passengers with more limited mobility.

We were some of the first guests to arrive, so we didn't need to wait very long to check in. Mr. E decided to go for a run while L and I settled into our rooms and unpacked. We met up in the Lounge for the welcome cocktail and brief crew orientation. One group of passengers was late to arrive, so the crew decided to postpone the full introductory presentation to the next evening. We then headed to dinner and met our three table companions for the week, D, L, and P, a group of female friends from England who know each other from Pilates class. 

As usual, dinner was a multi-course experience with attentive service, plentiful portions, and lovely presentation. I had confirmed my food allergies with the maitre d' when we boarded and was quite pleased with my special selections. Some passengers went on a post-dinner Porto by night tour, but we opted to skip that excursion since it was already rather late and we didn't think we'd be able to see that much.

The one wrinkle in everything was that I had noticed earlier in the day that the detailed cruise schedule and information in our cabins didn't match with the description and vouchers that had been provided to us by CroisiEurope at the end of April. I had quite a discussion with the crew at the Front Desk to clarify and confirm and made sure to book all of the remaining excursions for L, Mr. E, and me. Unfortunately, one of the excursions that Mr. E and I had paid for in advance got cancelled, but we hadn't been notified and of course had already paid for it. So we had to switch to the other option but then also had to pay for that tour at the higher on-board price. I emailed Croisi about the issue and to request a reimbursement will need to follow-up when we're back home. The other unfortunate part about the changed schedule is that we had anticipated having a full day in Porto at the end of the voyage and were planning to do a hop-on hop-off tour with several stops, which is also one of the reasons we didn't do more in Porto on Monday prior to boarding. Instead, we'll only have tomorrow afternoon for free time to explore more.

Tuesday, May 26: Morning Tour, Afternoon Exploration

I took a short walk along the river path prior to my Zumba workout in the cabin (my usual travel routine) and then joined Mr. E and L in the restaurant for the buffet breakfast before we boarded the bus for our morning tour of Porto. We were with the other English speakers on board, so we had a lovely small group of 15 with the guide. The French-speaking group is much larger, and I have to admit I do love to hear French spoken and to be able to speak with the crew in French as well. Definitely a perk of this cruise line!

Our tour guide, Maria, was very knowledgeable and passionate about Porto history, culture, and architecture, so we got lots of information throughout our time together. We started with a tour of a church with a rather plain facade and a surprisingly extravagant Baroque interior (photos prohibited inside).

Since we were a small group, our guide was also able to take us to see the catacombs, where local families have purchased crypts, some of which are still available for future generations. 

Our next stop was the Pálacio da Bolsa, right next door. This is the headquarters of commercial interests in Porto and has some very impressive rooms, especially the Arabic room (or "wow room," as our guide put it) along with a small space that was Gustave Eiffel's office when he was here in the country to design one of the six bridges in Porto. 

We headed back to the ship for lunch. In the afternoon, Mr. E and I went to explore more of Porto, crossing the two-level Dom Luis bridge on the lower level and then climbing lots of stairs to our destination... Starbucks! We had seen many buildings earlier in the day with the iconic azulejos tiles that Porto is known for, and I loved seeing how even places such as Starbucks and McDonald's are in buildings with that special decoration.

We were both quite warm and sweaty by the time we got back to the boat, since the temperature was in the high 80s in the afternoon (and due to get even warmer over the next few days). I decided to take a dip in the pool, which was quite refreshing but a wee bit too shallow and small for any sort of real swimming! After my shower, I had time for my yoga practice before going to dinner, and then Mr. E and L attended the post-dinner entertainment of a Fado performance in the Lounge.