Duro Valley wine tour, and river cruise

May 15

Today we are taking a group tour that includes sightseeing In the Duro Valley, wine tasting, a Vineyard lunch and a cruise of the Duro Valley river.

Once we left Porto city we first arrived to the town of Amarante. Two things stand out the cathedral and the historic bridge crossing of the river. The bridge is known for a battle with Napoleon’s army. The Portuguese defeated Napoleon at this bridge, which still shows some slight damage.

The cathedral has a very interesting history. It was led by Saint Gonçalo known as the matchmaker saint. Legend has it at one time. There was a statue of him with a rope that wind pulled would display his genitalia. It has long since been removed. However, the town still celebrates this story with pastries made in a phallic shape.

As with most historic cathedrals, this one is beautiful inside. We It is very ornate and large.

As we walked through the main street of town, we found Camino markers on the ground. Along the community de Santiago these shells indicate the path the Pilgrim hikers follow. We will be starting our Camino trek North of here in the city  of Tui Located at the Spain and Portugal Border.

One of our group members, Regina still holds her Brazilian spirit strong. She sampled one of the towns pastries.

The highway passes through a 3 mile tunnel, the longest in the region. It took 6 years to construct a was completed under budget because all of the large construction companies wanted their name associated with the largest tunnel

As we continue down the highway, our tour guide speaks a little bit about regional history. 1675 is when port wine was created. Is was formulated to survive ocean shipping through differing temperatures. Port was the first type of wine designated by a name. Port has become a special occasion wine for this reason. The scenery out of the bus windows Is beautiful, And of course, when I gave Dori my phone to take some pictures, she did a selfie as well.

Sabrosa is the next small town we visit.  It is translated “tasty”Magellan was born here. As you enter the town, the first roundabout as a statue of Magellan pointing towards the sea in his honor.

As we enter town, we passed the main fire station which of course I needed to get some pictures of from the bus window 

We have arrived at the winery where we will have lunch. We began by touring the Historic house of the Vineyard. It is owned by the original family still. Many of the rooms are  decorated with the original furniture. The ceiling is very ornate. Their first batch of wine Produced here was in 1735.

We move through a large, indoor dining area with some pictures of field workers harvesting grapes. And working the vineyards. In this dining room is old grape stomping vats.

Next we walked outside through a central patio and into the cellar for wine tasting.  We Sampled three different varieties of port 10 year 20 year and 30 year old.

Following our port tasting, we went outside for a delicious lunch of cod, which is one of these staples of Portuguese cuisine. With our lunch, we had samples of both red and white wine. It was all very delicious.

We sat under large Persian walnut trees which covered the patio in a comfortable shade.

The scenery from the patio was an expansive vineyard with an old tractor at the edge of the patio a very picturesque site. L.B. Post with our sommelier George as well.

Following lunch, we continue our drive down the road towards the river, snapping pictures along the way through the windows before stopping at a beautiful overlook.

Part of the Duro agriculture achievements are Olive oil, port wine and cork. Porto produces 50% of all cork used in the world. The cork is harvested every nine years. The number painted on the tree indicates the last year. It was harvested. This tree would’ve been in 2023.

Pinháo is a Duro River port town where we board our river boat for river cruise.The river is lined with vineyards and olive trees on both sides. The boat is a reproduction of those used to transport barrels of wine.

After we returned to the dock we re-boarded our bus for another short drive to our second winery established 1588. We started on the back patio with beautiful view of The vineyard and gardens. A small outbuilding had a window that gives the appearance of a picture frame With the vineyard in the background.

The next went to the processing room with three large vats where the grapes historically would’ve been crushed by foot. After crushing the juice is put in different size barrels, which affects its color flavor.

We walked through a portion of the vineyard. The rock walls and stone steps are original. The vines seen here were first planted in 1815.

No trip to a Vineyard would be complete without a wine tasting. We again tried three different varieties of port.

Following our last winery we re-boarded the bus and I drove back to Porto much of it was along the same route. We had taken to get here. One final cross of the Duro River and we were back in the city. I got a final picture with our tour guide Tanya when we were dropped off.

We explored town in a little bit more as we walked back down to the bridges lower level for a restaurant or tour guide recommended. It had a fantastic views, and the food was delicious.

Following dinner, we walked back to our hotel. The riverfront and monasteries we saw yesterday were lit up beautifully. Today was an awesome day