Cruising the Douro Valley

What happens when a photographer spends 5 days on a river cruise up (and down) the Douro River in Portugal with Viking Cruise Lines? Yes, they come back overwhelmed with images – over 1000 in my case. But what sights and memories! If you enjoy calm days and pleasing evenings in gorgeous scenery and with perfect weather, this cruise could be for you! The boats are small – about 100 passengers – because the river gets very narrow and shallow in places, but the views of the thousands of vineyards that line the slopes of this valley in Northern Portugal are sublime! Since writing this article a couple of years ago, I have written an extended series of articles about this cruise and the days we spent in Portugal before and after the cruise. So, here is a deeper dive into this adventure with the introductory article about the pre-cruise activities in Lisbon.

Starting from the busy historic city of Porto, we left at dawn to start the journey. Even though the days had been warm, there is a certain mystery entering our first lock which is part of a chain that tamed the river. These five massive dams and lock gates were built over 20 years from 1964 to 1985 and finally ensured that modern boats could cruise the length of the river up to the border with Spain.

The lines of vines, many, or most of which are used to grow the grapes for Port – the fortified wine for which this region is famous – create fantastic patterns as they crisscross the hillsides to make the most of the soil and the sunlight.

Almost every surface is covered from the riverbanks to the highest hilltops, and all growing those luscious grapes.

After my camera is exhausted from another round of shots, what better than to sit on the deck of the boat and sample some of Portugal’s wine as we cruise along another section of the valley?

I always find it intriguing how the glass and wine acts as its own little lens – showing the view that is out of the main frame.

The small town on Pinhao is famous for its old railway station, and yes, the trains still run from Porto along the length of the river. What makes this unique is that almost every wall on the front and back of the station building is decorated by local art transformed into ceramic tiles, a process known as Azulejo. There are 25 of these panels, all created in the 1930s and fired in Aveiro on the Portuguese coast. Of course, I photographed them all, but here is an overview of the station and then one of the panels showing the valley as it existed back then. To be honest, it hasn’t changed very much!

If you are in need of prints to decorate your wine cellar – just let me know. I have lots of them!

At the head of the river (or at least the navigable parts) near the Spanish border, the views continue with this magnificent panorama from an overlook known as Miradouro Alto da Sapinha.

But perhaps my favorite memory of the trip is not this, but a lovely little picnic that we took on the hilltop in the Quinta das Carvalas. With their red and white wines available for tasting matched by some delicious local foods, in perfect weather conditions, with views stretching for miles, what could be better?

Unfortunately, we didn’t get to taste their signature port created in 1867 and yours for only 2750 Euros:

Rightly named “Very Old Tawny”!

But we did get to taste their more current wines in a beautiful setting! Cheers!

And, as the sun sets, we say goodbye to this gorgeous area of Portugal!

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And if you would like to learn more about this cruise with Viking, I came across a very interesting article about the whole cruise experience from Lisbon from Penny Sadler who writes the Adventures of a Carry-On blog.