DAY 66: Douro River Wine Tour. An amazing day in a special part of the world.

August 18 2024, Porto, Portugal

While we had said our goodbyes to everyone from the tour last night when we went for breakfast Mika was there. She was travelling alone and being from Japan (although she spoke good English) there was a small language barrier. Jeanette and I got over extremely well with her, and it was great to have one last catch up.

We had added an extra day to our Porto stay post our and today we were off on a small size group tour to the Douro Wine Valley. We went with a group of 8 - 2 from Canada, 2 from the USA, 2 English and us. Our driver Rodrigo was a good bloke and looked after us extremely well during the day. Our first stop was around 40 minutes into our journey at another beautiful town with a pristine river meandering through its center. We added Amarante to our list of amazing Portuguese places we knew nothing about but were blown away by. It was a smaller town (40,000 residents) and in the nicest possible way it was a lovely relaxed, sleepy little place. The town's population was heavily waited to the elderly as there was very little work for young people and they tended to leave for greener pastures once completing their education. This was very evident by the number of oldies sitting around the square having their coffee and a good chat with their mates.

There was a charming little church with a bell tower, so you know what that means - Jeanette was off in a flash! She was under a bit of pressure as well as she reached the top just before the bells were due to toll, so it was a bit of a race to get clear before the 'clanging' started. That mission was accomplished, and after a quiet coffee we had a wander around, it was Sunday so most of the shops were closed but it was nonetheless a very pleasant stroll through the rambling streets.

We then headed further north and entered the Douro Valley by means of the 5km long tunnel de Marao which cuts through the Serra do Marao mountain. As an aside the mountain is very important to the local wine industry because it blocks the prevailing winds and helps create a perfect microclimate for growing grapes.

Our first Douro Valley stop was at a local winery in Sao Martinho de Anta where we enjoyed brief tour, some port wine tasting and a nice lunch. The lunch was cooked the traditional way - no electricity but extremely hot coals! It was very relaxing sitting in the winery restaurant listening to a local expert talking about port wines, and of course sampling a few. Jeanette put her learnings from last night's port tasting to good use by nailing the 'experts' crowd question. Why is a vintage port different from other ports - answer because it continues to mature in the bottle! There you go!

We then took a slight detour between winery visits to go to the tiny town of Provesende - population 300. There was a gorgeous little church with a beautifully ornate interior, particularly considering the size of the community it served. Across from the church there was the weirdest general store/cafe/bar you have ever seen. There were 5 or 6 locals deep in conversation sitting in booths, unshaven, teeth stained or missing, the heavy smell of body odour in the air. They stopped speaking and looked up suspiciously as we entered, it all felt a bit like the intro to a Quinten Tarantino horror movie! The store itself was full of weird objects, a rudimentary male model draped in a fur lined jacket, holding a straw mat, strange phallic looking symbols dotted around, fruit and veg. At the bar they served Portugal Fire Water (similar to Grappa in Italy). Rumour is it can strip paint off walls, and it definitely has a kick like a mule! I didn't have any, but a couple of the guys did. they confirmed everything we had been told. Drinks finished we headed for the door. Fortunately it wasn't the beginning of a Tarantino movie and we all got out of there alive.

On the edge of town there was a viewing platform which gave incredible views across the valley. it highlighted the massive acreage of grape vines planted across the region. At the end of the platform there was a full-size synthetic football pitch, not a bad asset for such a small town.

We continued deeper into the valley and did our second wine tasting at Quinta do Portal winery. The winery was designed by famous architect Alvaro Siza Viera and built with sustainability as a key focus. A large section of the outside wall cladding was cork (very fitting for a winery). These guys were a very big commercial winery - they produce 1,200,000 bottles per year. The tour and tasting were fairly superficial which was probably about right considering they weren't exactly dealing with an expert audience. The most interesting thing was definitely the building itself and how it had been constructed for natural climate control in particular with the cork, shist and polyester exterior and a grass roof being special features.

Next stop was the picturesque (of course) town of Pinhao (they say it's the prettiest in the valley and it's hard to argue) and a cruise around the Douro River on a traditional Portuguese boat - very similar to the one we sailed on yesterday. We cruised down the river admiring the extensive vineyards on either side of the river. There were some nice homes to look at as well. The land the grapes were planted on was very steep and harvesting must have been a nightmare. It was a very chilled out hour on the water!

Then it was back to Porto in time for us to head a few doors down from the hotel for dinner at a local restaurant. While Cod fish is the national dish of Portugal there is no doubt Francesinha is the 'people's champion' around these parts! We thought it would be remiss to leave Porto without having one especially as it originated in the city. The Francesinha is technically a sandwich, it is made with layers of bread filled with ham, steak, pork and more ham layered over with melted cheese and a fried egg as the 'cherry' on top. Could it get any worse - yes is the answer, all of the above is covered in a tomato and beer sauce! It actually tasted really good just quietly 😊.

Then it was back to the hotel to get organized for a very early start tomorrow - 4.45am departure to get to the airport on time to start our journey to Avignon, Provence, France