A dip into Portugal and the Douro Valley

We spent four days in Portugal during our Spanish road trip. We hadn’t originally planned to visit this country, but we had a few extra days to fill and were so close, we said, why not? It was definitely worth the small detour.

We found a lovely Airbnb about an hour east of Porto, near a quaint town called Amarante with a very cool rock bridge on the river that you can walk across.

We stayed in a small bungalow (one of three) on the owner’s property, on a steep hill overlooking a river. We were able to swim and paddle board, which was so nice because it was hot - about 30 C.

We caught up on some homeschooling (more on that later… I’m not procrastinating, I promise) and took some time to enjoy the property. We also spent a day in the Douro Valley, the area where much of Portugal’s wine and Port come from. It’s about a 40 minute drive from where we were staying.

This area is absolutely incredible. First of all, it was scorching hot… about 33 C the day we were there. The views in the valley are spectacular, with villages and homes built right into the mountainside. It seems like every square inch is being used to grow some sort of crop, mostly grapes for wines, right to the top of the mountain.

We went on a hike that started in a town called Samodães. We had a hard time finding the start, but once we were on the path, it was very clearly indicated with red and yellow paint marks.

We had actually seen these initially in France along many hiking and walking paths.

The path started in a village then snaked its way down the valley through vineyards and along people’s properties. We passed an elderly man and woman driving their tractor along the steep path. The woman looked about as old as the hills we were walking on, and kindly told us to be careful walking down.

We weren’t able to complete the loop because it was so hot and we got a later start than we hoped, but we took in as much as we could, including seeing grapes and olive trees and magnificent views.

After the hike and some lunch, shade and water, we visited a vineyard and did a wine tasting. The timing was quite perfect as they had already started picking the grapes for making white wine. Our tour guide told us that it started a couple of weeks earlier than usual because of how hot it’s been this summer. Because of this, we were able to see the workers bring in the grapes and sorting through them before they were crushed and sent through a pipe into the vats below.

This winery, Quinta do Vallado, has been in operation for about 300 years, though under a different name. They make 1.5 million bottles of red wine, white wine and Port every year. They age the wine in French oak barrels that they only use about 3 times. This was a really cool room to see. Don’t be fooled by Ella’s face…

She actually enjoyed the experience, especially because when we tasted wine at the end, she got ice cream.

The kids did really well, and we rewarded them by taking them to a water park the next day. (It just happened to be 4 km from where we were staying!).