Sipping and sailing
Vineyards and history make for enjoyable cruise on the Douro River
THE PORTS OF CALL along the Douro River in Portugal may not be exotic or famous, but that just made our 12-day cruise more enchanting. Quaint villages, a spectacular country house, ruined castles, museums and wineries — our cruise was one highlight after another.
Now add three days in Lisbon with guided tours of the city and side trips to Sintra, Cascais and Coimbra.
My wife and I have travelled extensively, and this trip will go down as one of our favourites. >>
>> Our guide for the pre-cruise tour in Lisbon and beyond was a knowledgeable, personable Portuguese woman (married to a Canadian) who explained the sights while giving us a thorough understanding of the history of the country, its culture, people, economics, current state of affairs and involvement in the European Union. At its height of power, Portugal was one of the richest countries in the world. Its vast empire included what are now 56 sovereign states around the globe, which is why Portuguese is the sixth most used language in the world.
An unexpected highlight before we reached our boat was the excursion to Coimbra. We were fortunate to visit at the start of the oldest and most famous student party in Europe. The Queima das Fitas (Burning of the Ribbons) is a celebration of the end of classes. There are eight days of festivities beginning with a parade of dozens of elaborately decorated floats, each in the colour of the students’ faculties and carrying placards with ironic and pointed criticisms of teachers, the educational system, national
events and political leaders.
The parade involves thousands of students in their academic gowns, ribbons, top hats and walking sticks, plus an amazing quantity of beer. The floats were terrific, and we were amused to see that the prime minister, whose name unfortunately translates as Peter Rabbit, appeared on many of them.
Arriving at Porto, in northern Portugal, we were delighted to find that our boat, the Queen Isabel, was new and elegant. Our stateroom was lovely and spacious as was the rest of the ship. With just over 100 passengers, we soon got to know many of them. They were well-off experienced travellers from all over the world with the usual coterie of outgoing Americans and reserved Brits.
We sailed along the Douro River during the day and stopped each night at a small village. There are relatively few of these along the river, but at each stop we were offered a variety of excursions and taken by bus to amazing places we would never have found on our own.
Again, our guide was outstanding and provided a wealth of insights about the area, its history and people. This is the heart of the port wine industry, and we slid past mile after mile of terraced vineyards, visited famous wineries, sampled everything and enjoyed a different glass of port at every evening meal.
Every day was filled with new places, new adventures and new excursions. Each one seemed to top the one before. On the most fascinating day of all we went through the largest lock in Europe at the Carrapatelo Dam — where our ship completely filled the 35-metre lock with less than a foot of clearance on each side — and visited the Mateus Palace, the Museum of the Douro, the village of Favaios and the Quinta da Avessada winery.
The Mateus Palace, built in Régua in 1739, is considered a perfect example of baroque architecture. Reputed to be the most fantastic country house in Portugal, >>
>> it is well known to my age group as it is featured on the label of Mateus Rose, a wine we knew well in our youth. The formal gardens were wonderful and the chestnut ceilings in the palace were unique and outstanding. Members of the Mateus family still live in the palace.
Next we proceeded to the Museum of the Douro. Housed in an 18th-century building, it contains an engaging and unusual central exhibition area, library, reading room, gift shop, restaurant and wine bar overlooking the river. We heard an excellent lecture about the region, the making of port and the back-breaking work that was required to build the terraces and plant the vines in nothing but shale.
Of course this was followed by another round of wine tasting before we set off for the small but quaint village of Favaios where we were greeted by a guide named Luis Barros who bore an uncanny likeness to Rowan Atkinson, television’s Mr. Bean. In fact he is known as the Mr. Bean of Portugal.
Led by two musicians, Luis took us to a bakery where two women were making bread in a traditional wood-fired oven. It was served hot from the oven, smothered in butter and accompanied by cold Muscatel wine from Luis’ winery, Quinta Da Avessada. As delicious and wonderful as this was, it was surpassed by one of the bakers who put a full, open bottle of wine on her head and proceeded to dance, taking frequent sips from the bottle. She didn’t spill a drop. Apparently she has taken first prize five years in a row for this performance. We could see why.
But the evening was just beginning. Next we were taken to the Quinta Da Avessada winery where we enjoyed wonderful snacks, sampled more wine and toured the ancient buildings. Luis entertained us throughout and explained that he was a sixth generation member of the original family and that it had taken him two years to convince his father to modernize the operation. Obviously he had succeeded. We were taken to a renovated barn where we were served a multi-course meal, enjoyed a huge dessert buffet, more wine, of course, followed by dancing for everyone led by Luis’ mother.
Our happy and satiated group returned to the ship and fell into bed.
Other highlights of the cruise were the Sandeman winery where we were greeted by a guide dressed in the trademark cape and hat, and a side trip by bus to Salamanca, Spain, where we enjoyed an excellent flamenco show and visited one of the world’s oldest universities.
The trip to Castelo Rodrigo was especially interesting. Situated in an ancient village 1,000 metres above sea level and dating to 500 BC, the castle is in ruins and the village is inhabited by only 65 people, so our arrival more than doubled the population. They were delighted to see us, greeted us warmly and were happy to show us around, explain the village’s turbulent history and sell us candied almonds, coffee and cakes.
Sailing downstream back to Porto took only three days with stops at UNESCO World Heritage sites, ancient villages and ruined castles. There was a constant round of unusual meals, lectures and entertainment, and we arrived in Porto relaxed and refreshed with a wealth of memories and an overabundance of photos. We had time to visit the Ferreira wine cellar, explore the city with guides or on our own, sample the sidewalk cafes by the river and talk to our new acquaintances before disembarking and heading for home.
This was a civilized and gracious way to see a unique part of the world. We enjoyed everything, appreciated the all-inclusive aspects (meals, excursions, drinks) and the excellence of the tour staff who were unfailingly friendly and efficient. It was a wonderful trip.