River of Gold Viking River Cruise
Day 10: Sunday, November 17, 2024 - Régua, Portugal
The day's statistics:
- Weather: low 60s
- Steps: 3,778 Linda; 6,566 Steve
- Miles traveled (approximately): 31
Breakfast was the usual: egg benedict for Linda, light buffet for me.
We returned to our room and got ready for our 8:15 excursion.
All those that were going ashore were ashore, as we headed out on our excursion Cistercians & Wines.
The bus was a short walk down the dockside to the bus.
Our driver was Pedro, and our guide was Jesus. She said that Jesus is actually a rather popular name in Portugal.
She also kidded that we could now go home and say "I met Jesus!" and or "I talked to Jesus!".
It was about an hour drive to the first stop, a church at the Cistercian monestary and church.
Next to the church was the monestary dorm.
The bus dropped us off a bit in front of the church. After a technical pause, we walked away from the
church, a little down the street, passing a small aquafer, and seeing an old bridge still in use.
Then we returned toward the church. It was pointed out that there was a door on left that was no longer used as
the church was expanded and a new door created. And even the current square door is a change from the original
replacement as seen with the curved stones on either side in line with the crosses on the wall.
We went inside. Even though there was a funeral taking place shortly after we were going to be there,
and parishioners were already beginning to gather, our guide had permission for us to enter partially because
we were with Viking, but more importantly because our guide knew the deceased woman.
We walked in and through the convenience of the QuietVox® Jesus was still able to talk about the church.
We entered the sacristy and closed the door so we could talk a little more freely.
There was a cabinet that had verious figures and challaces in it that is kept locked, but was opened briefly
so we could see inside.
The panels depict the life story of Saint Bernard.
The room contained 4,079 hand painted tiles.
We left the sacristy and headed out.
We walked back to the bus, and headed to our next stop, passing some ruins, statues, churches,
and a nearly-two-dozen [visible] wind turbine farm.
The bus arrived at Casa Santo António de Britiande and we went inside for a wine tasting.
The vineyard produces ~2,500 liters of wine from just 1.3 hectacres (about 7.5 acres).
In addition to sampling their own wine, they paired the wine with a light snack made in their kitchen.
It was a light and tasty treat for us.
After the tasting, we were shown some of the additional space at the facility before we headed out.
We had aboout an hour and a half ride back to the ship which was now docked at Entre os Rios.
We got off the bus and I saw Rui and Pedro for the last time as our guide and driver.
After the bus dropped us off, we stopped by our cabin to drop off the excursion items, freshened up,
and headed to the dining room for lunch.
We sat with Judy and Gary.
Linda had mixed green salad (not pictured), open-faced cheddar cheese sandwich, and chocolate mousse.
I had mixed green salad (not pictured), herb marinated turkey breast, and chocolate chip sundae.
There was no other excursion this afternoon as the ship was underway but only about 15 minutes after our
lunch ended, I headed to the lounge for our debarkation talk, and post-excursion details discussion.
Some scenic sailing followed the talks.
Just before 4:00 we arrived back in Vila Nova de Gaia.
We were playing Pinochle when 4:00 brought us an afternoon tea. As if we needed to eat more food...
but we did anyway, along with Earl Grey tea for Linda, and English Breakfast for me.
6:00 brought us a unique Port wine bottle opening demonstration.
And then it was time for dinner. Already.
We sat with Judy and Gary.
Linda had gambas al ajillo, stuffed portobello mushroom, and ice cream of the day.
I had gambas al ajillo, roast chateaubriand béarnaise, and tarte de améndoa.
Tonight was one of the rare performers-brought-onboard nights. We enjoyed some music from a student coral group, though
I missed the beginning of the concert because after chatting with our friends, I had to go from the dining room to the
cabin to grab the camera and then back to the lounge.
After the performance I headed up to the sundeck to walk some laps (wanted to try to work off some
of today's food consumption), but, more importantly, take some night shots though it really wasn't that necessary
because I took some night shots back on day 5.
After returning to the cabin, we relaxed a bit, washed up, and went to sleep.