Review of Scenic Unforgettable Douro, Sep. 14–Oct. 5, 2023

[Host Jazzbeau]

Wednesday October 4, 2023 – Queluz

 

Our last morning in Sintra.  Great weather!

 

Our driver Ricardo picked us up at 11 am and we headed towards Lisbon.  We made an hour+ stop at Palácio de Queluz (Queluz National Palace).

 

1 Queluz National Palace

 

Located between Lisbon and Sintra, Queluz is one of the leading examples of the rococo and neoclassical architectural styles from the second half of the 18th-century in Portugal.

 

Commissioned in 1747 by the future Dom Pedro III, married to Queen Maria I, the residence was initially designed as a summer house and thus a favored place for the royal family’s leisure and entertainment – but it became their permanent home from 1794 through to their departure for Brazil in 1807, following the country’s invasion by Napoleon’s armies.

 

Grandiose meeting rooms, places for worship and private rooms follow on from each other in an intimate interconnection with the gardens as a fundamental part of these pleasure-inducing surroundings.

 

The evolution of the Court taste throughout the 18th- and 19th-centuries, strongly influenced by French and Italian as well as English taste, is particularly presented in the Palace interiors, historical Gardens and collections.

 

What first impressed us was the shabbiness and lack of housekeeping as we entered the rooms.  However, more rooms were available to us and the few other visitors that day than in the other palaces we had toured.  Hopefully restorations will take place in the future, given this palace’s storied past.

 

The first three rooms were the Hunting Room, the Pompeian Room, and the Queen Maria Room.

 

2 Queluz - Hunting Room

 

3 Queluz - Pompeian  Room

 

4 Queluz - Queen Maria Room

 

We walked through the Throne Room (aka the Great Room) which is the largest of the three state rooms.  The gold figures carved in the upper corners were exquisite.

 

5 Queluz - Throne Room

 

6 Queluz - Throne Room - Allegories

 

Next was the Music Room.

 

7 Queluz - Music Room

 

8 Queluz - Music Room

 

All of these state rooms overlook the magnificent gardens.

 

9 Queluz - view of gardens

 

We moved on to the Lantern or Dark Room

 

10 Queluz - Lantern Room

 

11 Queluz - Lantern Room

 

which led to the Royal Chapel [under renovation]

 

 

12 Queluz - Royal Chapel

 

The extensive apartments of Princess Maria Francisca Benedita, the younger sister of Queen Maria I, continued for several rooms including her own small oratory.

 

13 Queluz - Boudoir

 

14 Queluz - Bedroom

 

15 Queluz - French Empire Bedroom

 

16 Queluz - French Empire Bedroom

 

17 Queluz - Oratory

 

The Sculpture Room had minimal examples of such.

 

18 Queluz - Sculpture Room

 

Then there is always a Smoking Room for the men to adjourn.

 

19 Queluz - Smoking Room

 

Later to develop was the Coffee Room for exotic beverages.

 

20 Queluz - Coffee Room

 

21 Queluz - Coffee Room

 

22 Queluz - Coffee Room

 

An unnamed room had an exquisite Chinese chest and a Venetian chandelier.

 

23 Queluz National Palace

 

24 Queluz National Palace

 

We continued through the Passage Room and the Corner Room.

 

25 Queluz - Passage Room

 

26 Queluz - Corner Room

 

27 Queluz - Carriage

 

The Corridor of Sleeves (glass protection tubes for candles) had stunning tile work in bold yellow and dark blue.

 

28 Queluz - Corridor of Sleeves

 

29 Queluz - Corridor of Sleeves

 

30 Queluz - Corridor of Sleeves

 

31 Queluz - Corridor of Sleeves

 

32 Queluz - Corridor of Sleeves

 

33 Queluz - Corridor of Sleeves

 

Next came the Torch Room,

 

34 Queluz - Torch Room

 

35 Queluz - Torch Room

 

36 Queluz - Torch Room

 

the Archer’s Room,

 

37 Queluz - Archer's Room

 

and the Private Room (used as a waiting room or library or meeting room),

 

38 Queluz - Private Room

 

The Ambassadors’ Room was a stunning mini-throne room with exquisite ceilings.

 

39 Queluz - Ambassadors' Room

 

40 Queluz - Ambassadors' Room

 

41 Queluz - Ambassadors' Room

 

42 Queluz - Ambassadors' Room

 

43 Queluz - Ambassadors' Room

 

The Dispatch Room and another interesting ceiling.

 

44 Queluz - Dispatch Room

 

45 Queluz - Dispatch Room

 

The Ladies-in-Waiting Room, where they gathered to receive their orders, was a bit more feminine and housed a very elaborate presepio and a fine wooden chest.

 

46 Queluz - Ladies-in-Waiting Room

 

47 Queluz - Ladies-in-Waiting Room

 

48 Queluz - Ladies-in-Waiting Room

 

49 Queluz - Ladies-in-Waiting Room

 

The Picnic Room combined outdoor scenes with civilized indoor dining.

 

50 Queluz - Picnic Room

 

The Don Quixote Room has scenes from the famous novel and a stunning marquetry floor.

 

51 Queluz - Don Quixote Room

 

52 Queluz - Don Quixote Room

 

53 Queluz - Don Quixote Room

 

54 Queluz - Don Quixote Room

 

And finally Queen Carlota Joaquina’s bedroom and dressing room.

 

55 Queluz - Queen's Dressing Room

 

Unfortunately, we had no time to really explore the Gardens as the walk through the palace took so long.

 

56 Queluz - Tiled Canal

 

57 Queluz - Tiled Canal

 

58 Queluz - Old Labyrinth Garden

 

59 Queluz - Old Labyrinth Garden

 

60 Queluz - Cascade

 

61 Queluz - Cascade

 

62 Queluz - Parterre Hanging Garden

 

63 Queluz - Parterre Malta Garden

 

The figure who is most associated with Queluz is King Dom Pedro IV who reigned briefly over Portugal where he became known as the Liberator or Soldier King.  While he was only a prince, the country was invaded by French troops in 1807, and he and his family fled to Portugal’s largest and wealthiest colony, Brazil, where he eventually became regent and known as Dom Pedro I.  After Brazil won its independence in 1825 and his father died in 1826, he became king of Portugal briefly before abdicating in favor of his eldest daughter who became Queen Dona Maria II.

 

We reunited with Ricardo and continued on to Lisbon and to the extremely modern Myriad by SANA Hotel.  We spent the rest of the afternoon in our sleek room catching up on email and resting.

 

[We had thought of taking the sky tram to the Oceanário de Lisboa (aquarium) but decided not to cram in one more site.  Sometimes my flexibility amazes me!]

 

That night we walked along the waterfront to D'Bacalhau Restaurante.  DW had salad and octopus.  I don’t really like salt cod, but since we were dining in a place named for it I threw caution to the winds and had fried bacalhau fritters.  They were good!

[Host Jazzbeau]

Thursday October 5, 2023 – Flyin’ Home

 

We had breakfast in the hotel dining room and DW was immediately turned off when she realized the dried apricots did not have spice sprinkled on them – they were infested with tiny flies!  She notified one of the servers.  We ate what we could and returned to our room to gather our belongings and call Uber.

 

The driver came promptly but traffic near the Lisbon airport was congested as usual.  He dropped us at the Departures entrance but in this airport you still need to go up to another floor; after several elevator rides, we finally landed on the right level for check-in.  Our flight had been delayed and the boarding area was crammed with passengers.  There wasn’t time to go to the lounge, so we joined the scrum and waited for Group 2 to be called.

 

We found our seats in United’s Premium Economy section occupied, but once the other couple took another look at their tickets they moved to the center [I think they had forgotten that in PE they skip letters because there are fewer seats across].  It worked out well as the man offered to stow our hand luggage for us (and take it down when we landed).  I read and DW watched a couple of movies during the 7+ hour flight.

 

Once again, they ran out of the meat dish when serving our food.  [We take the last row of PE so we can recline without bothering our neighbor; maybe that’s not a good idea...]  DW took the ravioli and I had the chicken.  Before landing they brought around pizza rolls and snacks.

 

After landing we collected our luggage and met our driver, who happened to be Portuguese.  We had a nice chat and the early afternoon traffic home from Newark was not too bad.

[Host Jazzbeau]

Edited and reviewed; published Fri. Dec. 29, 2023.

 

Comments, corrections, reactions are welcome!

 

[Canal archive]

Haven’t read it all yet jazz but question why use Uber instead of local cabs? 
Salamanca to myself as a European is a must, not isolated because look at Spain it’s absolutely splendid cities are wide spread it takes time and effort (especially) on a scooter to see them all and then you add Portugal, my teenage youth was very European at every chance we took off and visited just about every historic site available, I’m just sorry we missed out Scandinavia.

(okay we were still enthralled by the Spanish civil war)

[Host Jazzbeau]

9 hours ago, Canal archive said:

why use Uber instead of local cabs?

I'm never sure of the rules for hailing a cab when visiting a new city, and you can't be sure the cab driver speaks English or takes credit cards.  With Uber, the App knows exactly where you are and sends the driver there and tells her where to take you (so language isn't an issue) and bills my credit card (so currency isn't an issue).  It's just so much easier.  And except once at Lisbon airport and once in Sintra, when the drivers bailed before picking us up, it has been completely reliable everywhere we've used it.

[Got2Cruise]

Bravo and Thank you! Your photos are wonderful. I’m very impressed with all the solo pre and post cruise you did also. 

[Host Jazzbeau]

Just now, Got2Cruise said:

Bravo and Thank you! Your photos are wonderful. I’m very impressed with all the solo pre and post cruise you did also. 

Thanks.  It was a lot of work – planning, touring, and doing the blog – but it was a WONDERFUL trip.  Two big trips in 2023 focused on Portugal (Azores/Madeira in the spring – see link in my signature – and this one in late summer).  Such a lovely country; such good food; such friendly people!

[Judicruise1]

On 12/26/2023 at 2:42 PM, Host Jazzbeau said:

 

Friday September 15, 2023 – Lisbon

 

We arrived in Lisbon (Lisboa) just around 8 am.  Passport checkpoint is all automated and bags came fairly quickly.  I loaded our bags on one of the free luggage carts and we headed in search of the pickup point so I could arrange a ride with Uber.

 

We had an efficient and chatty Pakistani driver who had emigrated solo to Lisbon eight years ago.  He dropped us off at the Hotel Avenida Palace and we checked in.  Unfortunately, our room was not ready so the desk clerk took us up to the dining room to have (another) breakfast.  We weren’t hungry, so I just had a pot of English breakfast tea.  DW declined.

 

We then returned to the lobby to regroup a bit and get what we thought we’d need to set forth on our first day of exploration.  We got an Uber (a young Brazilian woman with a Volvo) who drove us fairly close to (but a bit farther than we’d have liked) leaving us an uphill climb in the sun.  (It was a beautiful day in the high 70s but we were wiped!)

 

We approached the grounds of São Jorge (St. George) Castle and queued up behind at least 100 tourists.  After creeping along without making much progress toward the ticket booth we gave up and walked back down to the Miradouro (viewpoint) Santa Luzia for a good overview of the city and the Tagus River.  The church behind the viewpoint has two 18th-century tile murals:  one shows the Praça do Comercio as it was before the 1755 earthquake; the other depicts the reconquest of Lisbon from the Moors.

 

1 Miradouro Santa Luzia

 

2 mural of old Praça do Comercio

 

3 mural of Reconquista

 

We walked around Castle Town and the Alfama neighborhood where houses date from the Middle Ages.  People still hang their wet wash on racks outside their window.  Or a soccer flag might be spotted flying.  There were too many untalented street musicians trying to collect some coins.  They were in competition with the panhandlers.

 

At the Miradouro das Portas do Sol catwalk we got even better views of the city, including a view of the Monastery of São Vicente perched on the hill opposite.  Across the street from us was a larger than life statue of St. Vincent (São Vicente).

 

4 Miradouro das Portas do Sol

 

5 Statue of São Vicente

 

We turned around and entered the Museo de Artes Decorativas Portuguesas.  We took a one-hour guided tour of every public room of this a richly decorated, aristocratic household of the 15th–18th centuries.

 

6 Museo de Artes Decorativas Portuguesas

 

From the museum it was mostly downhill (over 200 steps).  We passed cartoon murals and the 8th-century fortified wall.  We began seeing signs announcing Fado performances in restaurants and soon saw the big pink Fado Museum.  [We were starting to flag, so we didn’t go in.]

 

7 Fado Museum

 

In front of the museum were colorful tuk-tuks that scooted tourists around in glorified 3-wheeled motorcycles or golf carts giving them tours of the neighborhood.  One negotiates with the driver for a rate.

 

8 tuk-tuk

 

We continued walking till we got to the Sé de Lisboa (Lisbon Cathedral) where we were able to sit and pray a bit before ending our walk at the Metro stop at Terreiro do Paço.  We rode the metro two stops to Restauradores and took the elevator up to ground level only to have the elevator doors refuse to open.  After several tries, they opened and we were free.  [I’m good with computers, especially when they need a good kick...]

 

9 Sé de Lisboa

 

10 Sé de Lisboa

 

We spotted our hotel and popped into a small pharmacy to buy me a comb because I had forgotten to pack mine [thanks to her recent cranioplasty DW didn’t need any on this trip, haha – she’s all healed now and her hair is growing back nicely...]

 

Back at the Avenida Palace, the clerk escorted us to our suite and pointed out various features to make our stay more comfortable.

 

We finally were able to lie down for a nap and discovered that the Metro line we’d just used rumbles under the hotel.  We got used to it and finally dozed off.

 

For dinner, we barely had to cross the street to go to the very popular restaurant Pinóquio.  We ate indoors, which tends to cater to neighborhood regulars who come with their families.  The waiters have been there forever.  Service is good, friendly.  Food is abundant and tasty.  We shared a double portion of curried seafood (lobster and shrimp) and rice and a single order of sauteed vegetables which turned out to be all green beans cooked in oil and garlic.  [You’d better like garlic!] Unusually, DW ate the most.  The meal, the ambience – all enjoyable!

 

[Judicruise1]

taxi vs Uber    is Uber expensive?

[Host Jazzbeau]

I can't compare prices, because you don't know a taxi cost until the end of the trip.  I like uber because my interface is in English, the app knows where I am and where I want to go (and tells the driver), the price is quoted in advance and goes straight to my credit card.  When uber is available I always prefer it to a taxi.

[jeb_bud]

Thanks so much for this review.  We're booked on a Scenic Duoro cruise in June, 2025. We will be on the 8-day version in order to coordinate with a Regent British Isles cruise a couple of days later.  We will arrive in Porto a day or two early.  Do you recommend the hotel you stayed in after your cruise?

[Host Jazzbeau]

25 minutes ago, jeb_bud said:

Thanks so much for this review.  We're booked on a Scenic Duoro cruise in June, 2025. We will be on the 8-day version in order to coordinate with a Regent British Isles cruise a couple of days later.  We will arrive in Porto a day or two early.  Do you recommend the hotel you stayed in after your cruise?

It was nice enough and convenient for restaurants and sightseeing [being right on the river in Porto is great].  I chose it as the closest hotel to the Scenic dock – if your luggage is all on wheels you can easily walk to the ship.  The breakfast was good and the staff were very accommodating.  

 

But it was tricky to figure out taxi access – the easiest is to park on the sidewalk near McDonald's and take your luggage to the door of the extension – but you have to call the hotel to get someone to let you in since you don't have the key yet.  The taxi can get near the door on the lower level, but that requires snaking through a maze of alleys so your driver may never figure it out.  That's the only downside, and it's a one-time problem.

[Canal archive]

There are never problems only challenges except some are much bigger than others. Have a great cruise it’s a good one.