Douro Valley Wine Tour

May 30, 2024

This morning we got up and moving early so we would have time to grab a bite to eat and walk to the pick-up location for our Douro Valley wine tour. We discovered the little place we had previously scoped out for breakfast wasn’t yet open, so we just walked towards our pick-up location. Thankfully there was a nice little cafe across the street from the pick-up location that was open that we were able to get a ham and cheese item and a little sweet treat. We had more than enough time to sit and enjoy them and still had plenty of time to spare.

Our driver and tour guide, Joao, picked us up right on time. We joined three other people and then headed to pick up 2 more to complete our group for the day. The drive to the Douro Valley took over an hour but was very scenic and Joao provided a ton of information on the way. Our first stop was at a family run winery where we received a tour of the wine making process, mini museum, and wine storage area before we walked out on a terrace to take in the beautiful view of the vineyard. It was absolutely stunning! Next we headed in for our wine tasting. We tried a white, red, and a port. I personally enjoyed the red and white, but didn’t care for the port wine so much. More so I enjoyed the conversations with the other people in our group. It’s so interesting to hear other people’s life stories and travel adventures.

When our time was up at the winery we drove back down the mountain into a small village. Joao led us to a bar where we could buy drinks to take with us on the boat portion of our tour (he said they were cheaper than what it would be on the boat). I wasn’t going to get anything but then Tom said he was going to get his new favorite cider beer, Sommersby, so I joined him and got a beer too. I’m glad we did. It hit the spot as when we got back to the boat the only seats available were out in front under the sun. The boat just went up the river 30 minutes and then turned around and headed back. It was a nice ride, but once again my favorite part of the ride was talking with another couple from our group and drinking our beers.

We forgot to take a picture of the boat so we took this image from the web.

After the boat ride we headed back up a mountain to a restaurant for lunch. We had a smoked type of sausage for a starter, carrot soup, cod, vegetables, and a pork dish. Everything I ate was very good. For dessert I had a lemon mousse and Tom had the flan. The mousse was outstanding where Tom thought the flan was just ok.

The next stop after lunch was another winery to try a few more wines. Here we tried some whites and a couple of different port wines. Of all the port wines I tried, I liked the red the best but I think overall I prefer the traditional table wines. The winery was in a house that was built in the 1600’s. When the winery guide stated that the beams were from 1602 I said “No shit” in an awed and amazed tone. Tom thought this was particularly funny. Apparently I had drunk my fair share of wine and my inside comment came out.

With the second winery being the last stop of the day we settled back in the van for the ride back to Porto. I think several of us took advantage of not being the driver and took a short siesta on the way back. Joao dropped us off near the grocery store with the cheap water, so we went and got another 1.5 liter. We also stopped at the little place near our Airbnb to pick up 2 pastel de natas to take back to our room. Tom and I started a tradition on our 1st anniversary where we record a video to ourselves where we discuss the major life events that happened over the past year and eat a piece of banana cream pie (our chosen wedding dessert). Since we didn’t have any banana cream pie we thought the pastel de natas would be a good substitute as today we are celebrating our 20th wedding anniversary.