These Portuguese seem to know how to like life to the fullest and that includes food and drink. Either that or our cruise director is just plain showing off. He is of course from Portugal!
The countryside is beautiful even while not in the grape and olive tree areas, the roads are superior except in winding hilly area where they were not made to have buses of our size on them.
We had a 9:00 am start so Fellette and I went for a bit of a long walk after breakfast before joining the coach for the 45 minute drive to the town of Mateus. This is the town of Mateus, not the winery where they make Mateus. The winery took on the name because of the Chateau and estate that we visited today.
The gardens are magnificent, even in drizzle rain. We had an hour to wander the gardens before having a tour of the public rooms inside. [No photos.]
Next we drove another 45 minutes to a winery called Quinta de Avessada where they make 30,000,000 bottles of Muscat wine a year, for domestic consumption. We know it as Muscatel. A bit of a throaty, roughish, semi port wine. We had a spirited tour of the facilities by the current owner who looks and acts like Mr. Bean!
There we had lunch. My gosh, it went on forever and was delicious. Salad, soup, pork, beef, bread, potatoes, carrots and cabbage. Plus table wines. The deserts were too numerous to mention. We ended with Grappa! [A sort of Portuguese cognac!]. Wow, what a lunch.
Next back to the ship where we had a long nap before going for a very light dinner and then ended up at the lounge where we were entertained by Portuguese singers and musicians. Long and full day!
At Mateus.
3,000 litres of Muscat wines, ageing.
Cool trimming eh!
A view from the gardens.
Crossing the Douro River to the hills above where the vineyards are.
The Train Station at Pinhao.
One of the wings at Mateus.
More Formal Gardens.
That is a ladder for trimming the cedar hedge that slants in on both sides.
A giant tunnel is the result inside.
A panorama shot of a piece of the garden. I chopped off the top unfortunately!
Fellette and fellow passenger, Peter.
The Chateau as you enter the estate.
In the Town centre.
My much younger wife at the Folkloric show tonight!
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