Pleasant walk at How Wood down the sunken path to the Ver, along the river bank and back past the lakes.
21 July 2024
08 July 2024
Unforgettable Douro - Scenic Azure - Day 11
Day 11 – Monday 8 July 2024
Last day. We had to vacate our cabin by 08:30. Our flight to Madrid departed at 12:20. We were told that, by Scenic’s rules, we should be at the airport three hours before our flight, but as check-in/bag-drop at Porto didn’t open until two hours before flights, the coach departed at 09:15, and we had a wait before the check-in opened. Scenic had checked us in online the afternoon before and printed our boarding cards.
Scenic Azure is on lower left of picture by line of trees on river bank
Scenic Azure is on left of picture by line of trees on far side of river
The flight left on time and we had a great view over Porto and Vila Nova de Gaia, and we could see Scenic Azure at its moorings.
Several couples were taking an extension in Madrid, but we were connecting to a London flight which left from the same terminal. There was no security and no queue at immigration to get the all-imported Schengen exit stamp. We had a hot meal in Iberia’s lounge.
Note for others making an onward connection. Spain is an hour ahead of Portuguese time. When I said it was time to go to the gate, Mrs P replied there was another hour to go. She hadn’t adjusted her watch and would have missed the flight if she’d been on her own.
We didn’t have the spacious long haul plane we’d come out, just a standard short haul jet.
Back home we had a Chicken Piri-Piri from Nandos, delivered by Deliveroo – a South African take on a Portuguese dish - cooked in England. Let no one say I’m not a man of the world!
And next day I found Cockburn’s Special Reserve Port in Tesco’s for £12, which is €14.24, only 62p more than the €13.50 Cockburn’s were charging
05 July 2024
Unforgettable Douro - Scenic Azure - Day 8
Day 8 – Friday 5 July 2024
We didn’t take the 08:40 coach tour to Provesende, said to be "one of the most picturesque little towns in the country".
I signed up for a Village Stroll with Enrichment Manager Guido. Pinhão is one of the hottest places in Portugal and the temperature was 35-36C – warm but not humid with a breeze. Lovely, and a chance for me to shake the moths from my shorts.
This time we didn’t lunch in the main dining room, but had a lighter lunch in Portobellos at the front of the lounge.
Late afternoon we took a short coach ride to Quinta Roêda which is one of the Port producing properties owned by Croft. There was the option of a vineyard walk which I would have liked to do, but was warned off it as being rough terrain
They have 109ha of vines originally planted in 1811. Sixteen different varieties are grown here and we were told that a blend of a minimum 5 different varieties is required for Port.
They poured a glass of Ruby and a 10 year old Tawny Port for us to taste.
The boat stayed for a second night in Pinhão
Overnight Location: Pinhão
04 July 2024
Unforgettable Douro - Scenic Azure - Day 7
Day 7 – Thursday 4 July 2024
If we’d been on the usual 7 day Douro cruise, we’d be vacating our cabin and heading to Porto airport for the flight home. But we had another four nights on board. The other boat had gone by 07:30 and our cabin faced the river bank.
We left at the civilised hour of 09:30 for the Cao Palaeolithic Museum. This is seemingly in the middle of nowhere high on a promontory overlooking the Douro where the Cao River joins it. Plans were well progressed to build a dam at the mouth of the Cao. The dam company’s tame archaeologists said there was nothing of importance that would be obliterated and that pictographs which had been reported were modern graffiti. A change of government stopped the project and it was found that many thousands of prehistoric carvings were visible in sheets of schist along the Cao river. They had been made over thousands of years.
The modern museum offered replicas and explanations of the carvings found for those that couldn’t venture to the almost inaccessible originals. A demonstration of Palaeolithic tools and techniques, including fire making, ended the visit leaving just time to admire the views and go down a wooden walkway overlooking the Douro.
Lunch on board was a barbecue on the sun deck. Salads, sardines chicken, potatoes etc. Waiters served ice-cream for dessert.
The mooring was next to a lock and about 13:00 we moved into it, reaching Pinhão at 17:30 – an hour before the scheduled time. We felt the boat could have travelled more slowly, giving us time to admire the beauty of the Douro.
Overnight Location: Pinhão
03 July 2024
Unforgettable Douro - Scenic Azure - Day 6
Day 6 – Wednesday 3 July 2024
Today most people took the full day excursion to Salamanca, leaving at 09:00. We’d been there on our previous Douro cruise with Viking and didn’t fancy the long coach ride.
Instead we were one of a small group to visit the sleep old village of Freixa de Espada à Cinta. The name means sword on the belt of an ash and according to the legend we were told a king tied his sword belt around an ash tree under which he slept and had a dream about his coming success in war. When he woke he declared the village be known as Freixa de Espada à Cinta. There’s a 550+ year old ash tree with a huge metal belt and sword next to a church and the ruins of a castle.
We entered a small museum in an old house equipped to show how people lived in old times, then we went to a modern small museum of silk. This was the place where they made silk in the pre-industrial way.
They had everything, including some silk worms eating leaves.
Then a 10-minute drive to Quinta do Sagueiro. This is a vineyard and farm. The energetic owners have rooms they rent via various sites. We sat at large round tables on their patio under umbrellas with jugs of cold freshly made lemonade, pastries, sandwiches, olives and slices of ripe juicy oranges.
The owner, Margarida, had baked an apple cake for us and cut wedges which she put on our plates. Her husband then poured wine for us. They grow grapes of the region which go to the local co-operative. The red wine was delicious and I had a second glass. And I regret not trying his Port.
Margarida came around with almonds from their trees which she’d caramelised, and then she sang fado. It was an idyllic spot, a feast of food and welcoming generous hosts. I wanted to buy a bottle of the red wine (a blend of Tourigas Nacional & Franca and Tinto Roriz), but neither of us had Euros on us and they didn’t take plastic. But they insisted I take the bottle, and later give €10 to the Scenic guide who’d pass it on next time Scenic returned to them.
Food and drink kept being pressed on us but we had to return to the boat for lunch.
At 14:20 we moved to let Viking Hemming moor and we rafted on the outside.
After the Salamanca contingent returned we set off at 18:30 back down river to Pocinho which we arrived around 20:00 and rafted to another boat, our cabin facing theirs.
Overnight Location: Pocinho
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