So, I"m a couple of days behind. That's how packed this trip has been. It's just been magical. We woke up in Guimaraes and had a wonderful breakfast (we even had a couple of scrambled eggs) before heading up to see the castle. The pictures can speak for themselves - it's not only a model!
Good tip!
It was pretty incredible how they built this up and around these enormous boulders.
I decided to take only back roads to get to where we were staying in the Douro Valley. We stopped at a winery along the way but were told they were closed for lunch. We drove up to the town and saw this!
Eventually they were open but they would only let us walk around the shop. They didn't have a tasting room. It would had been good information to have. It was a beautiful place however.
We stumbled on the winery below and google maps told us it was open. They even had a bell to ring. But open they were not. It was also beautiful.
We didn't take many pictures of our drive but it was bizarre. We were on a lot of roads that I'm not sure were roads. Some paved, most just sort of mosaics of stones. I drove for over an hour without leaving third gear and often just in first or second.
Eventually we reached our home for 2 nights. It had only 3 rooms and was a working vineyard and olive grove. It had been renovated just 4 years ago and if I had flown all the way here and just hung out at the Casa de Romezal I would have been completely content. Here is the view from our room.
Here is our room.
This was the punishment bed. Fortunately neither of us deserved punishment.
We unpacked and ate the 2 pieces of homemade cake they left us as a welcome gift (we had forgotten to eat lunch) and headed to Quinta do Seixo which is the winery which makes Sandeman port.
Amongst these terraced vines is the switch-backiest driveway I've ever attempted.
We bought a bottle of late vintage ruby port and stopped along the drive back down the hill to take a before and after picture.
After we got back we took a quick dip in their wee little pool and had a couple glasses of port.
Back porch.
At dinner in the town of Peso da Regua I was very happy to park like a European.
All of the sudden, all meals were served with rice. This was some sort of fried rice amuse bouche.
My dinner was the toughest 'veal' steak in the world with an egg on top.
Rebecca ordered squid which was fantastic.
It was a long but great day.
No comments:
Post a Comment