On the Douro: Vantage Douro Serenity--Madrid to Lisbon

[FuelScience]

I'd fully intended to be posting all along the trip, but we've been BUSY! We got to Madrid on Sunday and boarded the ship on Tuesday afternoon, and it's now Saturday morning in Regua. I'll try to post a full review with photos after we get home in a little over a week, but I'll give a few notes here about the trip so far.

 

It's been a cool trip. Our tour from Barca de Alva to Castelo Rodrigo (about a 45 minute drive) involved a significant increase in altitude, and when we got there it was about 45F with a strong wind and occasional rain. We enjoyed the tour, but were glad to get back on a warm bus.

 

Wednesday afternoon we cruised to Pinhão where we would be docked for two nights. Again, there was spectacular scenery along this part of the river with steep terraced hillsides

 

alternating with hillsides strewn with large boulders or sheer rock. The river is very narrow on some of these stretches.

 

On Thursday morning we made the drive to the Mateus Manor for a guided tour of the manor with free time to walk around the grounds. From there we bused to the Quinta Avessada for a brief talk on the process of making muscatel wine before lunch with the winery's entertaining owner. Both of these are standards for any Douro cruise. On Thursday afternoon we set sail for Regua. The scenery was very nice, but not quite as spectacular as the upper Douro.



Friday we started with a 9:00 a.m. port tasting at Quinta Roeda--just a couple miles from downtown Regua. We had a nice description of the port wine process and tasted two ports. Thursday afternoon we headed for the Lamego (20-25 minute drive) and the Santuário de Nossa Senhora dos Remédios

church. It's a small church, and interesting. I was a little surprised to see how almost everyone on the trip ignored the "No Photography" signs and snapped away with their phones and cameras. After seeing the church, we decided to ignore the rain and walk down the 680 or so steps to the plaza in front of the local museum to meet those who waited and took the bus down. Remarkably we arrived at the same time. Vantage provided a guided tour of the small museum before returning to the ship.

 

That brings us to today where we started of with... what else, a wine tasting! Actually we just walked across the street to the Douro museum for a short presentation on wines in the Douro followed by wine and an opportunity to look around the museum and maybe 40-50 minutes to take a walk before having to be on board by 10:30 for a 10:45 departure for Entre os Rios. We're leaving early because the captain apparently has some worries about navigating high waters.

 

So that's it so far. It's still cool (on the not-so-sunny deck now with a jacket on) and mostly cloudy, but we're having a great time. As I said, when we return, I'll post a complete review with photos and maybe a blog link.

[TravelerThom]

Sounds like things are progressing nicely. Stay warm and enjoy.

 

Thom

[jpalbny]

Glad to hear from you! Don't worry about posting live; it's better to enjoy yourself while you're on vacation and post when you get back. We haven't spent much time in Portugal so I am looking forward to more info when you have time.

 

Enjoy those early-morning wine tastings! Breakfast Port, anyone? :D

[ural guy]

Thanks for posting, hope you get some decent weather to end your trip.