PORTUGAL 2021

Our trip home started at 2:20am pick up from the boat. We had a 5:00am flight from Porto to Amsterdam on KLM City Hopper. We were in first class but the seat was so worn out that it was like sitting on a concrete slab. 

3 1/2 hours later we arrived AMS. We had to park at a gate that required disembarking down the stairs to outside and riding a bus to the terminal. Gloria will have to let us know if that constitutes a visit to Amsterdam since our feet actually touched the ground. What a disaster that airport is! 2 hours after arrival we made it through transfer to our gate. We were happy to settle into our Delta 1 Suites. The 8 hour flight was comfortable and relaxing.

My first meal on the flight! Seafood dish.

I closed the door for my suite so you can have a surround feeling. The bed lays completely flat.

Then we changed planes at JFK for our uneventful flight home.

We docked back in Porto last evening. Porto is situated at the mouth of the Douro River and is famous for its exports of port wines. We opted for a visit to Quinta do Aveleda located in Penafiel. The estate has been in the same family for 5 generations roughly 300 years built by Manoel Pedro Guedes in the 16th century. This is the main house on the estate.

The gardens are beautiful with details with lots of ducks, goats, peacocks and more. 

This is a picture of a Eucalyptus tree that is 300 years old. The picture was taken in 1913 and the tree was already 100 years old. 

I had to take 2 pictures to get the whole tree in the picture. The guide said it takes 6 people to wrap their arms around it.

The winery was established in 1870.  They produce port wine and brandy and are the largest port wine producer in the area. They produce the "green' or verde wine. They have 300 barrels of brandy aging for about 30 years, the date on the barrels show established in 1671. 

We did a bus tour of Porto which was slightly different than the TukTuk we did on our first day in Porto. We visited the train station that was built on the former site of the Benedictine Convent of São Bento da Avé Maria. It has important scenes from Portugal's history with azulejo painted tiles.

When we arrived back at the boat we had the results of our Covid-19 tests. It was in Portuguese, but since they didn't have yellow tape across our door and ban us from the boat...I figured it was negative.  We got Jim's ceramic tile back. His was very different than anyone else...not surprising

We had one more trivia game to play and it was facts of the Douro River. Our team won of course! We all got a porcelain rooster as a prize. Jim couldn't pass up a piano so he decided to entertain us for a couple of tunes. 

Well, it is off to bed for a 1:45am wake up call to start our journey home tomorrow.  

Today we arrived in Regua. We started our journey and found the Sandeman statue. George Sandeman, was the founder of Sandeman, who established one of the world’s leading Port and Sherry wine businesses. 

We drove to Mateus and the views were amazing.

Today we opted for an excursion to Mateus Manor House. This palace was built in the 1200's and still belongs to the same family today.

The Entry

The Chapel

Cedar Tree Tunnel

The Gardens had loads of different roses, flowers, fruits and vegetables.

Jim will be attending a mosaic tile painting lesson on board today. Hmmm, wonder what he will draw? Sorry, missed getting a picture of him working on his art. I can tell you that they used stencils but of course...he modified the artwork. I will have a picture of it tomorrow...it will be taken to the kiln today and returned tomorrow.

We got our Covid-19 antigen tests for our return back to the USA. We had nurses who took the swabs and that was the deepest nasal swab I have ever had! They also took a cheek swab. Just another hoop to jump through but it is comforting to know if I am negative. They will give us a printed copy and a copy sent to our phones for re-entry to USA. We also have to do a personal attestation for the CDC that says we are negative.

Today we arrived in Pocinho and visited the Coa Valley Museum. We learned about the 18000 year old paleolithic archeology site. the site was discovered while constructing a dam in the 1990s. The dam was never completed after finding and verifying the authenticity of the etchings.

At night we had dinner at a winery, Quinta da Pacheca. It was really nice with tables set up between the wine barrels and live music by a pianist and violinist. 

Today we crossed into Spain and took a 2 hour bus ride to the town of Salamanca. It is known as the "Golden City" due to the color of the stones used in all the construction of the buildings. The buildings ranged in age from 1150 to 1500s. 

The cathedrals were amazing. 

The Casa de las Conchas building was decorated with more than 300 shells to commemorate the marriage of 2 wealthy families.

We had a lovely lunch in the Plaza Mayor. The most important part of the town is this plaza.

A picture of us taking this selfie!

The University of Salamanca is the oldest university in Spain. Established in 1130.

Lastly, we were entertained by the Tuna Music band of the School of Medicine. The group are in traditional university dress, play traditional instruments and sing serenades. "Tuna" is the Spanish word describing this type of musical group.

Today we are in Pinaho on the Douro River. Pinhao is is a sleepy little village and the gateway to port country. 

The largest quinta (wine growing estate) in the country is here called Quinta da Roeda. Wine has been produced here for at least 2 thousand years.

We decided to take a canoe trip on the Pinhao River. We were soaked at the end and the water was very cold.

Jim decided to take a side trip by himself to the store for some coke/diet coke and chocolate for Mom. He found the train station which is decorated with 24 azulejo panels. These blue and white scenes depict local life including the grape harvest. Harvest was in September this year which was a little late due to the cooler weather.

He found his way back to the boat prior to the departure!

We set sail this morning with 75 passengers (boat holds 112 passenger). The Douro River originates in Urbion, Spain and covers ~850km to the mouth in the city of Porto at the Atlantic Ocean. We have to go through 3 navigational locks today and a total of 5 with a full day of sailing. 

Viking ship passing us going West.

Tonight we teamed up with an English couple Steve and Sue and played "Name that tune". Our team name was Emerald City Rollers. Jim and Sue answered all the questions and we were the winners! It is all about the winning but the prize was a bottle of green "verde" wine. We had never heard of green wine before Portugal. This was followed by Karaoke of which Jim had the highest score! He wrestled a prize off of the activities director which is a miniature painted rooster. The Barcelos rooster is considered the unofficial symbol of Portugal. It is said to be the embodiment of the famous Portuguese love for life.

Today we left our fabulous hotel in Sintra. Forgot to say that I had a particular difficulty with the door handles at the hotel. Lets just say...I got locked in a bathroom for a few minutes and had a minor panic attack until I figured it out. Notice there is no "door knob". I did not have the key Jim is holding in his hand.

We traveled ~3hour drive from Sintra to Porto via private car. On the way...we stopped at Batalha Monastery. This is the monastery of Santa Maria da Vitoria commissioned by King Joao I on 8/14/1385 with construction starting ~1386.

We arrived in Porto and embarked on a Tuk Tuk trip around the city. We decided to walk to the pick up point as it was supposed to be ~1 mile. The worst part of the supposed 11 minute walk was that it was nearly all straight up hill and it actually was more like 20+ minutes! My left calf is now screaming at me! This was our meeting place at the Clergio tower.

We are standing above the town of Gaia on the left with Porto on the right.

This is actually 2 churches with a "house" in between. Legally, 2 churches could not be next to each other as one was a nunnery and the other a monastery, so they built the 2nd smallest house in the world between. You can see the front door in green with 2 windows above.

To the "boat, Emerald Waterways "Radiance". 

Our hotel was built in 1783 as a Palace. In 1955 it was opened as a hotel. The "wallpaper" is actually hand painted on plaster.

This piano was from the original palace and is dated 1786

Our tour today involved driving to Cabo da Roca, the most western part of mainland Europe. 

Apparently, Rotary is very active here as well. 

We stopped at a local cooperative winery that is the oldest in Portugal called Adega Regional de Colares established in 1931. They produce a wine unlike anyone else where the grapes are grown by the sea so it has a "salty" taste.

Quinta da Regaleira: was purchased by Antonio Carvalho Monteiro in 1892. He added features that held symbols that reflected his interests and ideologies. One of these was the "initiation well". It is 9 stories deep and ends with the Mason symbol on the floor.

Selfie!

We ended our second night at the hotel on the veranda overlooking the valley with a nice meal and cool night temperature.

We booked a car service to take us from the airport to our hotel in Sintra. We landed about 30 minutes early and actually was through passport control, picked up our luggage and through customs in 30 minutes. We arrived at the hotel and since it was only 9am, our room was not ready. We are staying at Tivoli Palacio de Seteais pictured below. We were here early so they upgraded our room to a corner suite with the view of the gardens. 

The hotel is a converted former palace built between 1783-1787 and filled with 18th century antiques. It is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Our selfie in front of the hotel that took several takes for some reason.

The view from the front of the Hotel. The red and yellow castle is Palacio Nacional da Pena. 19th Century built for Queen Maria's husband, Ferdinand Saxe-Coburg.

We decided to walk down to the village of Sintra. It was just under a mile and easy walk down...a little tough on the way back up the hill!

We then toured the Palacio Nacional de Sintra. The palace was established in the 8th century by the Moors. This was the residence of the Portuguese Royal family from the 12th century. It is now a museum.

Traveling has changed since the Covid-19 Pandemic! Traveling now requires preparations that include full Covid-19 vaccination, health questionnaires, negative rapid Covid antigen tests, masks and social distancing. However, we are ready for an adventure.

The day started off without drama! Our flight from FLL to JFK was uneventful. We enjoyed our first class seats and now relaxing in the Delta SkyClub.