Porto Day 3

Today we went on a small group guided tour of the Duoro Wine Region. We were picked up at our apartment by a lovely lady in a VW Transporter van at 8:40 and were on our way out of town. There were eight people in our group, 4 Canadians and 4 Americans.

Our destination was half way across Portugal to the east, a distance of about 160 km. Most of the way there was on divided highway, very modern with huge bridges and tunnels. 

After we got off the main highway, it soon became very twisty and narrow as we descended into the valley for a stop at the village of Pinhao, in the heart of a UNESCO heritage site.

This is a cute traditional town with a small railway station adorned with tile friezes depicting life in the Douro Wine Region.

After a break at a little cafe, it was time to get back in the van for a climb up dirt roads to a very small winery perched on the summit overlooking the valley. 

An absolutely stunning landscape of terraces dating back a few centuries. Mind bogling of the amount of manual labour used to construct this terroir. 

We were treated to a sampling of wine, honey and olive oil. while enjoying the views of the vineyards which are carved out of the steep valley. There is no mechanized harvesting here. Only hand picking and carrying the grapes up or down the hill in baskets.

We returned to the village and boarded a traditional style river boat for an hour cruise. 

The views of the valley were spectacular.

After returning to the dock, it was back in the van for a drive across the river and up the other side of the valley to another little town for lunch at a lovely restaurant. We were served some local appetizers along with our chosen main course. Mine was cod.

Following that was desert and coffee. This was mid afternoon and we were both full for the rest of the day when we left.

We drove along the Douro toward Porto and made one last stop at a very little winery in the town of Lamego that produces Port in the traditional way from stomping the grapes to manually pressing.

We learned that port is still produced by manually stomping the grapes in granite pits. Unfortunately the harvest had ended early this year and we missed the chance to lend a hand.

Here is Chris sampling some Tawney Port form a 9000 litre vat...

They had a very nice tasting room where we sampled the four varieties of Port and were given a detailed explanation of how each were produced.

Back in the van for the trip back to the city. Half of the crew managed to catch some sleep and we arrived back at the apartment at 19:00 h, too tired to venture out anymore for today.