River of Gold Viking River Cruise
Day 6: Wednesday, November 13, 2024 - Régua, Portugal
The day's statistics:
- Weather: upper 50s, rainy afternoon
- Steps: 5,709 Linda; 7,277 Steve
- Miles traveled (approximately): 239
Not long after we got up - our usual 7:00 - the ship got underway.
On previous cruises, though the ship would sometimes sail during the day, most of the time the ship
was traveling between ports during the overnight - go to sleep in one city, wake up in another.
Portugal has laws that prevent sailing during the overnight. So the ship can only leave port during the day.
Some times we would leave the ship in one city to go on an excursion, and at the end of the excursion, we
would return to the ship - that was now in a different port.
A typical breakfast buffet was offered and, as usual, a selection of menu items.
Linda usually had the egg benedict, and I usually had something - somethings - off the buffet.
Today's excursion was called Mateus Palace & Gardens. But not until 2:30.
So the morning consisted of scenic sailing.
At about 8:30 we entered the Lock of Crestuma. Let's just say the ship gets pretty close to the wall...
We walked around the ship a little, revisiting the sundeck too, as we continued our scenic sailing.
Program Director Tamara gave a presentation at 9:30 about Portugal, the Duoro River, and the Duoro River valley.
Incidentally, the Duoro River is NOT the national river of Portugal as it starts in Spain as the Duero River.
Also, the longest political alliance in the world is between Portugal and the United Kingdom.
At 10:30 was a cork presentation from the Cork Lady. Cork? Yes, cork. The stuff wine bottle stoppers are made of? Yes, that.
Cork for bottles are cut from larger pieces of tree bark that is removed by certified bark removers. And the rest is
discarded. Well, the rest used to be discarded.
Now it is combined with a resin and glue, and further processed into blocks that are then cut into thinner slices so the cork
can be crafted into various items, including some that are even fabric-like. The new cork byproducts are extremly veritile and
is also sound resistant, heat resistant, fire proof, water and soap stain resistant, antibacterial, and vibration absorbing.
Portugal produces 55% of the world's supply of cork, and has the largest cork tree forrest in the world.
It is also a crime to cut a cork tree if you are not a certified bark remover.
Not only is cork used in jewelry, but also in coin purses, eyeglass cases, wallets, hats, hand fans, hand bags, and
more (all on display for us) - colored / dyed and natural. Further it is now used for housing materials too.
Our cruise continued on.
At about 11:30 we entered the Lock of Carrapatelo - the deepest lock in Europe at 33 meters (108 feet).
We had to wait for another ship to leave the lock.
We continued on.
We had our port talk at 12:15 today, instead of the typical 6:45 before dinner, because there was an excursion that ended
at 7:00 in time for dinner and they didn't want to impact the meal's start time.
Then it was lunch time.
We sat with Judy and Gary.
Linda had the red bell pepper soup, cuban sandwich, and caramel sundae.
I had the red bell pepper soup, golden fried parmesan crusted veal scaloppini, and vanilla rice pudding.
After our lunch, we still had a little time before our 2:30 excursion departure. So, more views of the landscape that
mostly included mountains, agriculture, and some buildings.
The ship arrived in Lamego, and we departed for the Mateus Palace and Gardens excursion. Our driver was Carlos and
our guide - a Viking "permanent" guide, as opposed to a local guide - was Rui.
It was about a 45 minute bus ride to Mateus Palace, and we saw some towns, buildings, lemon trees, and vineyards.
Our route started off in town and we passed by a pedestrian-only bridge, the oldest of the three in the city.
We crossed over the steel bridge, and saw the iron bridge. Further on were some quaint towns,
valleys - some with homes with burning fires (it was cooler this morning).
We arrived at the Palace, and were dropped off in a parking lot 100 meters (300 feet) down the road.
We bundled up - it was rather brisk - and headed to the grounds, walking along a narrow sidewalk between the
road and palace grounds wall.
We proceeded down a path previously used by horse-and-carriages, arriving at a pool on the far end of the property.
Then it started to drizzle. And yes, there is an artistic sculpture of a woman in the pond too.
Rui got our local guide, and our group (one of two buses worth) split into two smaller groups to go inside.
But in order to not overcrowd the inside, the other group went inside first, and we hung out outside for a little.
I made may way to the gardens to the right of the palace - then across the back. Unfortunately there wasn't too much in bloom.
The trip around the gardens brought us back to the front of the palace.
The large tree in the right side of the opening shot of the palace is a special tree as it is deemed the
"Tree of the Year 2025".
In all we only had about twenty minutes on our own before we went inside.
We only spent 20 minutes inside - though it seemed like it was more than that - and about an hour in all at the palace.
After returning to the bus, we headed to our next stop.
It was already getting dark, and it was still overcast.
Our next stop was at the Sandeman Port Winery.
It was relatively near - ten or so minutes down the main roadway - where the ship was docked. However, we left the main
roadway to get to the winery as it was atop a hill. No, mountain. A rather high mountain. And the bus had to traverse a
winding narrow road in the rain. He was successful and we arrived out front. I don't have any pictures of the outside
because it was raining and dark.
We got off the bus and made our way inside.
We gathered in the lobby and began a tour with a winery employee as we learned about this storied winery, and port
wine itself. We weaved through the facility, passing some original advertisement posters, aging and storage cellars,
and the automated grape smashing room. (Wine grapes used to get stomped on and one of the benefits of using peoples'
feet was that it imparted some heat into the grapes which assisted with the fermentation process.)
And at one point, brandy is added to the wine to stop the fermentation process.
Eventually we arrived at a tasting room where we enjoyed two different samples of Port.
After our tasting we were given, of course, fifteen or so minutes to shop in the winery store if we wanted.
Then we headed out and boarded the bus.
On the way to the ship, Rui said he was going to play an appropriate song for us, and asked us to guess what it was
going to be. Of course a number of us yelled
"Mr. Sandman" [by The Chordettes]
(a randomly selected YouTube video) and then he proceeded to play it. But he could have played
"Enter Sandman" by
Metalica (another randomly selected YouTube video). Just sayin'...
After the song, as the bus weaved through the narrow winding steep roadway high above the river, Rui told us a joke. A
bus driver and a priest died and went to heaven. St. Peter greeted them and led them to their new homes in heaven. They
went to the bus driver's home first and it was a large mansion. When the priest saw this, he was very excited because
he was sure that he'd get an even bigger more luxurious house, because he thought he certainly did more good in his life
than the bus driver. However, when they reached his new home, all they saw was a small cabin. The priest asked St. Peter
"Why is my house smaller than the bus driver's? I have served God all my life!" St. Peter responded "That's true, but
when you were preaching, everyone was sleeping. But the way the bus driver drove, everyone was praying!"
Much laughter ensued.
It was maybe a half hour to forty-five minute drive to the ship, now docked in Pinhã, probably half the
time was just decending the mountain.
After returning from the excursion, we dropped our items in the cabin, and went straight to the dining room for dinner.
We sat with Judy and Gary.
Linda had red pepper tartlet, Thai green vegetable curry, and leite creme quemado.
I had seasonal salad, picanha com esmagado de batata e espinafres (steak and potatoes), and leite creme quemado.
After eating, we returned to our room - with our typical full glass of wine - relaxed a while, washed up, and went to sleep.