Continuing the story of our trip to Portugal and the Viking Cruises River of Gold Cruise, we are on the return journey back from Barca D’Alva and Salamanca towards Porto. This is one of a series of articles about this cruise and the opportunities surrounding it to explore Portugal and you can find the initial article here.
As usual, we left Barca D’Alva in the morning and headed off for the first dam and lock. It is somewhat unusual heading down into the locks – you can see the depth of the lock before you enter while the lock is filling with water.
And you get a great view from inside the lock down into the river far below:
To be honest, there is not a great deal to see on the riverbanks – except, of course, for vineyards. They are literally everywhere and covering every bit of land where it is possible to at least build retaining walls.
And once again, I have to marvel at the effort that it must have taken to build all these retaining walls (with stones dug from the ground perhaps?) in order to get a sufficiently flat space to plant the vines. This image also shows the railway line making its way along the river as well, by the Quinta de Roncao vineyard. However, looking back, I just remember the cruise as being very peaceful and relaxing. The world just moves past as you sit on the deck of the boat watching the scenery!
We arrived in Pinhao in the early afternoon, and we took an optional tour which was a visit to the Quinta das Carvalas, which lies 1,800 feet above the Douro with a history that dates back to 1756. In a small group, we were taken by a small coach through the vineyards and up to the stone building in the photo below for a tasting of local foods and their red and white wines, while taking in the magnificent views of the valley and countryside around us.
The local food served in a location like this was perfect and both white and red wines we tasted were great. We could also wander off to see different aspects of the vineyard as well as hold off on the tasting to capture a few photos of the wine glasses reflecting the scene!
And, of course, one with a glass of red with the Douro River far below:
I’m not sure what the other guests were thinking as I carefully placed my glass in various places to get the best composition while they were happily tasting the wine! Time for a portrait as well:
In mid-August, the grapes were definitely getting close to harvest time:
And, everywhere we looked, we saw the rows and rows of grapes. Hard to imagine just how they actually pick all this fruit as well – very difficult to get any machinery in those narrow beds.
Having had our fill of the wines on the hillside, we visited the main buildings of the Quinta to hear the story of Port wine and also taste some variants with our expert guide to explain the differences. And, finally, a chance to visit the shop to buy some samples to take home – although not this particular one at just 2750 Euros!
And with that, we were back to the boat for a snooze and dinner ready for our next adventure on the Douro with a visit to the pilgrimage town of Lamego.
