Trips

 

Thurs., 10/27/16 – Douro Valley and Chaves
        Today we set off to the port wine region of Portugal, but first we had one last stop in Spain at Orense.  Judith and four of our group wanted to stop here to soak in the thermal waters.  The remaining 10 of us stepped into one unadorned church with an interesting diorama of the nativity with kings, shepherds, and village people.  The shops weren’t of interest, so we all sat and had coffee and waited for the the bathers to rejoin us.

Millennium Bridge	Farmers’ Market
Farmers’ Market - Halloween costume	Farmers’ Market
Farmers’ Market	Farmers’ Market
Farmers’ Market	Geothermal baths
Manhole cover	Manhole cover
Diorama in the Church of Saint Euphemia	Diorama in the Church of Saint Euphemia
We rode another hour and a half for a quick walk in Chaves, Portugal before going for our OAT “home hosted” lunch.  Chaves has some homes decorated with 18th c. tiles, a tower of an old castle, a Roman bridge, and cobblestone streets.  Two women asked who we were and from where and started up a conversation with us.  One was an English teacher and the other was a physics and chemistry teacher, both were retired.  They invited us to tea but Judith moved us along.
	Flag of Portugal
Iron work	Tile work
Church of the Misercordia	Another sign for the Way of St. James
Castle of Chaves	Formal gardens at the Castle
Roman Bridge	Today we had a home-hosted lunch for which we were divided into three groups. Five of us were sent to a house where grandma spoke no English so a neighbor, Wilson, presided at the meal.  Grandma was a wonderful cook and was delighted that I wanted to see her kitchen and garden. The meal was excellent!
Home-hosted lunch	Home-hosted lunch
Home-hosted lunch	The bus trip from Chaves to Pinhao, through the Douro Valley, was striking. Although the grapes have long-since been picked, the leaves on the vines are beginning to turn to fall colors. The river, far below, is lovely.
From the bus - the Douro Valley
Bridge across the Douro River	After checking into our hotel, we walked to the Pinhao train station and took pictures of the azulejo tile scenes of vineyard activities in the 19th c. Beautiful tile work.
Tiles in the Pinhao Train station	Tiles in the Pinhao Train station
Tiles in the Pinhao Train station	For working on the rails
Street scene	Dinner was at the hotel - unremarkable.

 

Fri., 10/28/16 – Douro Valley, Pinhao
         The Douro Valley is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  Grape vines have been cultivated in terraces on the hillsides of the Douro River since the Romans were here in the 3rd c.  It is now a wine-growing powerhouse, especially for port wine.  There are many smaller privately owned wineries called quintas because the workers in the vineyard could keep one fifth of the grapes they harvested.  Many quintas have been taken over by large corporations.
         Our bus ride to the Quinta Pacheca Winery was beautiful, after the morning fog lifted.  It was a family owned vineyard in the 1800’s but was bought in 1913 by a corporation who expanded the operation and added a B&B and restaurant.
         We walked along the vines, looked at the stomping tanks, walked into the port wine cellar with 80-year-old French oak barrels, and heard about the difference among white, pink, tawny, and ruby port.  Tawny is aged in a barrel and ruby is aged in the bottle.

Regua Dam and locks	Miguel Torga bridge at Peso da Regua, Portugal
Advertising Sandeman Wines	Quinta Da Pacheca winery
Quinta Da Pacheca winery - Grape stomping pits	Quinta Da Pacheca winery
After the tour and presentations, we had another fun cooking lesson at the winery.  We cut up octopus and made a cooked appetizer and broke up rinsed cod to make cod fish/potato entree and also made crème Brule.  Then we sat down and ate these with arugula salad and three kinds of port wine.  It all tasted good and the port made everyone happy.	Cooking class
Cooking class - The Fashionable Chef	Cooking class
Cooking class - Octopus	Cooking class
Our bus driver, Carlos, drove our tiny bus up the very narrow roads to the house he owns but once was his grandfather’s in the town of Casal de Loivos.  We can see this village from our hotel.  There is a wonderful overlook of the Douro valley from the town and he showed us his house.  He talked to his cousins.  It was a real “learning and discovery.”
View from Casal de Loivos	View from Casal de Loivos - our hotel is to the right of the bridge
Back at our hotel we got onto a Rabelo, a flat-bottomed riverboat like they used to use to float barrels of wine down river to Porto.  I asked our group to be silent for one minute to listen to the water and breeze and birds.  It was the first time all trip that all conversations stopped and we enjoyed the peace.  No one got noisy all the way back to the dock.  It was wonderful.	Boat ride on the Douro in a Rabelo, a flat-bottomed boat

        Dinner was at a local restaurant.  We had tapas with cod cakes and tuna spread and deep fried meat cakes, then deep fried cod and rice in tomato soup (no one ate either) and some kind of cake to eat with a large spoon for dessert.  Definitely not the best meal we have had.

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