Douro Valley, Portugal

The ride from Santiago to Douro Valley was quite pretty.  We even stopped in a little town called Ourence by the Douro River, and soaked in a community hot spring pool by the roadside.  Totally free of charge!.

Then we reached Pinhao for our two nights stay in this beautiful resort.

 The view from our hotel window:

 Pinhao is a little hill village by Duoro River.

 A view from our breakfast table.

 The yard of our hotel:

 Went on a little hike to the hill and took a picture from above.

 





We rode on a private boat over a stretch of the Duoro Rio.  The Terrence of grape vines was simply magnificent.

Today port wine is exclusively produced in Duoro Valley, as a designation of origin to protect quality.. The first detailed account of port production came from Englishman in 1678.  They described it as "very agreeable, sweetish and extremely smooth"

We visited a winery and had a cooking lesson:

We will now head to Porto, our last stop on this tour.