July 6-8
We absolutely loved staying at the Pousada in Guimarães. In Portugal, there is a “small luxury hotel” chain wherein a company, Pestana hotel group, converted old castles and monasteries to, well, small luxury hotels! It is a truly wonderful and unique experience, something neither Clark nor I had done before. I was craving a stay in a Pousada and some time in the countryside since so much of our trip is city-based, and Clark wanted to check out the Duoro Valley.
It felt kind of surreal staying at the Pousada. The pictures certainly do not do it justice. The monastery is around 1000 years old and updated through the centuries. They preserved a great part of it and the rest updated for modern hotel living. Everyone was quite nice. The main restaurant had some of the best Portugese food we have eaten to date, which is saying a lot, because generally I am not a fan of Portuguese food. The gardens were extensive, beautiful and …well organized! I could imagine Gregor Mendel in such a monastery hanging around his garden. Science is after all mostly organization and painful repetition and 0.01% exciting discovery time. I could see how a monk would be well suited for such arduous tasks.
I tried to impress Soren with botany when we discovered some giant mushrooms. He quietly contemplated our discovery.
The Duoro Valley is the premier wine making region of Northern Portugal that lies along the Duoro River which empties at the city of Porto. Port wine and red table wines are made here. For Clark’s birthday on July 7 we took a trip to a small “Quinta” and went on a 20 minute tour (yes with the children in tow!!) followed by Port wine tasting and a small lunch. We discovered there is such a thing as Rose Port, which is delicious! The drive to and back was gorgeous. Northern Portugal is full of deep mountains, rivers, and steppes with grapes, orange trees and olive trees. Everyone talks about how the Duoro Valley is pretty but actually it seems most of the area is remote and beautiful. As we had to drive on highways with top speed in our Mini Clubman, we could not capture the beauty. Alas. Google it!
July 8:
We packed up yet again and this time headed to Porto, the rivaling major city in Portugal to Lisbon. Which is better according to us? Next blog post…