Leena said it best in an Instagram post. We’ve been to many wine regions in the world, but the Douro Valley may be one of the most beautiful.
We stayed in Santo Adrião, a tiny hamlet of narrow and steep cobblestone streets.
The directions to the place were to drive into town and park at the coffee shop. When you get there, you see why this is obvious. As we parked, our AirBnB host Maria came out to greet us. She offered us a glass of port. And not just any port! She makes port each year with her brothers.
We (mostly Leena) had a great time chatting with Maria. She speaks very little English, and since we speak very little Portuguese, it was a bit of a challenge. But Portuguese and Spanish (where Leena has some fluency) are similar enough that you can get by. We were soon looking through her family scrap book and learning all about her kids and their weddings and grandkids. You know.
Our AirBnB is on the right. We sat out on the balcony one evening with some nibbles (olives, cheese, meat) and a glass of wine. Everyone who walked by smiled and nodded approvingly.
Tiny Santo Adrião is set into the hillside. A shot from the drive into town.
Here’s a shot of the lovely Douro Valley from our first stop, Quinta do Tedo. That’s the Tedo river; the winery is at the confluence of the Tedo and Douro rivers.
And here’s a view the other direction of the Douro river.
Here’s the view from our dinner spot, just a town over from our little village (which is too small to have a restaurant).
At dinner, after the first course of soup, you’re invited to slice some ham for the table. I was advised to do very thin slices. Delicious.
We stopped through the town of Régua on the Douro river and poked around before visiting some more wineries.
We’re right at the end of harvest which means lots of grapes are in fermenting tanks.
Want to stay in a room fashioned from a wine cask? You can do that at Pacheca. The family name behind the winery is Pacheco, but since a woman first ran the winery a few centuries back, it was named Pechaca.
We told you the Douro Valley is beautiful!
