Looooonnnng day. Up before the sun this am for a wine tasting and cutural tour of the Douro River Valley.
Had coffee with a Tylenol chaser for breakfast. My creaky middle-age hips are screaming at me from all the hill-walking yesterday.
Our guide today, Carlos, used to be an air traffic controller for the Portuguese Air Force. Lots of timely discussion about the tragic plane crash in DC last night. My mind kept flashing back to Air Florida in 1982.
Stopped in the small-ish town of Amarante. Not much here save for the 16th century São Gonçalo church and monastery. Incredible Baroque gilding work. Tiny chapel with the tomb of the namesake priest beside the main altar. Saw a few older women come in and rub his chin (like some kind of magic lamp) and then deposit some $$ in the collection box. Apparently, they are hoping Gonçalo will grant their prayer for a mate. It was FREEZING in the church, so I kind of lost the thread after that.
Tasted at two Quintos (estates) today. Pro tip: you cannot taste at more than two wineries and still maintain a facade of decorum. We are on the edge of properly pickled.
So. Tasted first at Quinta do Bomfim, an estate owned by the Symington Family (big name fam in the world of Port). Bomfim only makes Port wine, and only for Dow’s Port.
Wonderful tasting – talked to our guide, Mariana, for quite a while. Her English was excellent. Asked her where she learned it – she said all Portuguese kids start learning English in kindergarten, which is when we should start language instruction in the US. Marianna said anyone under the age of 50 in Portugal speaks at least conversational English. If they tell you otherwise, they’re lying.
Learned that the letter Ç in Portuguese is pronounced “S”. Begs the question why not just use an S??
Ended up drunk-buying a bunch of Port – shipped it home. No room in my luggage. I can’t wait to see what I bought.
Next, a 3-course lunch with more wines at Quinto da Pachega. Lunch was lovely, but if I’m being honest, the still wines were unimpressive. Port wine is what shines here.
Starting to feel a little polluted now. And seriously dehydrated.
But wait, there’s MORE Port tasting. I’m too old for this pace of day-drinking. Bonus: our guide figured out I knew my way around a vineyard. So she went off-program, and brought out the 40-year old tawny and a couple of vintage Ports. Plus a pink Port just for fun. Delicious.
Ken found the vineyard dog, Pacheca. Because of course Ken found a dog.
Car ride home was nothing but military aircraft talk. I had zero to contribute. So I got to close my eyes for a bit.
Not that I needed any more alcohol – but at dinner tonight back in Porto, there was an old fashioned on the menu. Nicely done, Portugal. 
Now: a Nurtec (to preempt the migraine I know is coming) and bed!
Saúde!
Travel date: January 30, 2025
Beautiful. A pink port? Fascinating!
Too bad it was such a short trip, there’s so much more to see in Douro. Maggie
Absolutely. Time is always an issue, isn’t it? I would definitely plan a Douro River cruise in the future to dive in a little deeper!
Sounds great, brilliant pics again 👏
Thanks, Steve!
And, please don’t be cross if I advise you NEVER to mix any form of alcohol with any form of painkiller unless you have a desire to end up in a coffin pronto – at least, at the very least, a 4-6 hour difference – DO speak to Mr Google! Yes, I am a MB.BS amongst other things 🙂 !
I will have to call you “doctor” from now on! 😊
Well, you managed some absolutely fabulous photos in spite of all the coloured ports! Languages – in tiny Estonia in the Baltics one always talked of the ‘four local languages’ (Estonian, German, Russian and Finnish) . . . I spoke three by the time I was four or so . . . it depends where one is born 🙂 ! By now English has been added naturally . . .
Thank you. I’m always so envious of people who learn languages at a young age. It’s so much easier then. I dabble in Spanish, but I have the vocabulary of a three year old. We are going to visit all 3 Baltic States in April. How much English should I expect? Also: Do you speak Finnish??? God, that’s a TOUGH language!
Replies to both of my comments:
a) Completed my medical degrees a lifetime ago, married, went into my new family’s business, never practiced!!! But am now studying natural medicine ‘for fun’ in the US at a number of unis.
b) Learning languages as a matter of course comes very easily to a child. Unless you go way out into the boondocks, you will have no trouble with English at all in Estonia and Latvia . . . probably Lithuania – am not so certain, but 🙂 ! Estonians and Finns are of the same race and the languages very similar. Supposedly the most difficult in the world 🙂 ? For one thing no prepositions – each word can take 14 (yes, fourteen) different endings depending on meaning > eg ‘laud”table’. ‘lauale’ ‘onto the table’, laual”on the table’, ‘laualt’ ‘off the table’ etc et al 🙂 !!! When you get closer to the trip, 🙂 , I may be able to give a tip or two ???!
A friend who lives in Portugal described the Douro Valley as if Napa and the Grand Canyon had a love child. I think that pretty much summed it up.
Brilliant!
I felt a bit dizzy by the last paragraph.
That makes two of us.
Wow, totally tubular ! Thanks for sharing! ☮️
Thank you . . . 😎!