Paseando por Portugal or Doing the Duero May, 2012

I couldn't decide on which of my clever titles to use so I used both of them!  Vicky Dehnert and I had a ball driving from Porto to the Upper Duero River Valley and then to Vigo.  I met Vicky originally through my parents as they attended the same church.  She had moved back to Sausalito after many years in Austin and became a widow about a year ago.  She took her first long solo trip with a group to Morocco, flew alone to Lisbon and rented a car...she worked her way north to Porto where I met her on Wednesday afternoon, the 16th.  I was off ("again?" as my daughter would say) for the Day of Galician Writers and a "bridge day" for a four day weekend.  We stayed in Porto overnight and the next day headed for the Valley in our cute little Fiat.

Our trusty little Fiat

We decided to take the old river road that followed the river's zigging and zagging on our way in - an adventure in and of itself!  Guess what?!  GPS devices are very good for highways and entering cities but aren't really programmed for older roads in the middle of nowhere.  We actually only got lost once and had to backtrack some but I learned to understand the Portuguese words for "straight ahead", "to the right", "to the left", "oops", etc. very well over the next few days.  We saw an incredible beauty of terraced, huge valleys with a large river coursing through the bottom.

Vicky and our first view of Valley

Cherry trees and hazy Valley

Smaller valley off the main one

 We bought cherries from a roadside stand as they were ripening everywhere - including trees so close to the road that as we drove by, we opened the windows and helped ourselves to a few!

Cherry lady - kilo for 2 euros

 We stopped in the town of Lamoge for lunch and a stroll through a very old sanctuario church that you approach from the plaza by a staircase of 800+ steps.  Delicious feijoada for lunch, too!  The weather was perfect each day:  cool but not cold at all and partly sunny.

Our mission as we drove was to find the place we had reserved from Porto for that night.  We knew the name and what town it was near and that was all.  Poor Vicky, we were on the road longer but she probably drove 5 hours of hairpins and challenging roads that day!  At last, we arrived at our Casa de Vilarinho de Ramoas! 

Entrance to "our" estate

view of house and vine-covered porch

Interior hall

dining room and English couples from Sussex area

We had chosen a marvelous place as we quickly discovered when we were greeted personally by the owner, restorer, manager and cook of the house.  It was the 18th century manor house of an estate that has been lovingly and accurately restored by Cristina and her husband.  Cristina is an art teacher and graphic designer by training and used all of that and her knowledge of Portugal to create an amazing place to stay in the middle of the vineyards.  The chapel on the grounds that she is beginning to restore now is dated 1462 - before America was even discovered!

chapel with 1462 date on right

 Vicky and I decided to stay there 2 nights and take advantage of the location and the lodgings.  We also met 2 delightful English couples there who were embarked on a walking tour through northern Portugal.  They walked reasonable distances each day to another inn and their luggage was transported for them.  When they arrived, they had been provided with walks to take in the area and information about what to see.  I plan to check out their mode of travel for the future.

We set out on our day there across the vineyards to the neighboring village of Sabrosa after an extensive breakfast included in our modest room rate.  It was like a Hollywood set it was so cute! 

village of Sabrosa

need a drink on your hike?

sample of colors we saw everywhere

Also found out that it was the town Ferdinand Magellan was from and we saw the house he grew up in.  After a cold drink stop, we began our return via a different route.  We didn't make it very far before Vicky spotted a truck that had rotisserie chickens cooking...and, of course, we had to have one...it had been several hours since our last feeding! 

chicken man and Vicky!

After that tasty snack, we headed back to our gorgeous inn.  After a brief rest, we walked about a km. to a nearby Port winery because one cannot go to the heart of Port country without trying the specialty!

Port tasting

 We returned once again to our place and decided a book and a bottle of local wine on the porch was the best course of action at that point.  So, we forced it upon ourselves until our English companions returned for some lively conversation about both countries and then, dinner at 7:30PM.  Dinner, of course, was unbelievably good with meats, veggies, salads, even a tomato quiche followed by homemade desserts.

Saturday morning we decided to work our way north to Vigo but using more traveled roads and highways once we left the Duero Upper Valley.  We stopped in Guimares, the designated European Culture Center for this year.  An incredibly beautiful older town that we both agreed we'd like to visit again for longer than a quick look at some of the buildings and lunch at a small restaurant.  We hit the highway after lunch and arrived in Vigo less than 2 hours later...about 6 PM.  I took Vicky on a walk by the Ria and part of the downtown where I live.  Later, about 8 PM, my friend Teresa joined us for a couple of stops in the Casco Vello - old medieval part of Vigo that's being restored as an interesting quarter.  We even got into The Pig - a Vigo icon that only the locals k ow about because it doesn't even have a sign!  Guess what we snacked on there?  Sunday morning, Vicky planned to get up and head towards Lisbon so we we didn't stay out too late.  After she left on her return drive and us both promising to travel together again, I turned my attention to the humdrum of laundry and job applications for my return to Austin.  It's a week later as I write this so I'm getting closer to catching up with all my adventures...uh oh, but next weekend is Germany, what's a girl to do??!