Douro River Valley Vineyard Tour

Douro River Valley.

Sept. 23rd: Suzanna from Clever Tours picked us up at our door this morning at 9:00AM and we climbed into her black Mercedes minivan and joined four other guests (two from Australia and two from Quebec) for an informative, beautiful, and fun day 2.5 hours east and south of Porto in prime wine country.

Our first stop was at Quinta do Tedo vineyard and winery where a guide from the winery explained the process for making port. This is a family run operation where they crush grapes the old fashioned way. Yep, remember that Lucy episode? Like that.

The next stop was Pinhao village where we stopped at the train station to gawk at and take pictures of azulejos tiles that tell the story of the vineyards in the region. The tiles here, like those at Bento Train Station in downtown Porto, are prized for their quality.

We then enjoyed a fabulous fish lunch at a local restaurant, visiting with our minivan mates, sharing stories of everybody's travels and homes.

Our day ended with a surprise. Amarante is a village famous for a priest named Goncalo de Amarante (1187-1259CE) who, after a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, preached and converted many traders who made their way across the only bridge in the region without a toll, something he initiated. And thus, Amarante grew and so did his following. While beatified in 1561 he has yet to be canonized, but the local people refer to him as Saint Goncalo.

The best part was walking into Goncalo Church and Monastery and discovering a wedding in progress. Since we had an hour, we stayed, sitting in the back so as not to be conspicuous. After all we were wearing shorts and everyone else was beautifully attired. It was quite the fashion show. The music was lovely—Ave Maria, Pie Jesu, and Agnus Dei. I managed to capture a bit of video as the couple exited the church and a short clip of the music during the service.

We really enjoyed the tour and the company. Suzanna was funny and informative and quite open to taking any and all questions about Portuguese culture. And our minivan mates were interesting people as well.

Douro River Valley.

A four inch grasshopper—Grasshopperus Gigantus!

7000 litre barrel for ruby port.

250 litre oak barrels for tawny port.

Penhao train station tiles.

View to Penhao and Douro River from restaurant.

17th century NEW bridge.

Suzanna, our tour guide/driver.