This is one of a series of articles providing an extended review of the Viking Portugal’s River of Gold Cruise which we took in August 2019 and extended with a drive back through Portugal to Lisbon after the cruise ended. The introductory article is here with a review of the first days in Lisbon.
After sailing to Pinhao, we left early the next morning to tackle the narrowest (and shallowest) part of the River Douro on the trip to Barca D’Alva. Everywhere you look as we sailed up-river was terraced and some famous names appeared on the vineyards – Crofts and Royal Oporto among them:
Another calm and beautiful morning and very relaxing just sitting on the top deck of the boat as we made our way. The water in the river is almost like a mirror and the view off the stern was just magical:
The sides of the valley started getting steeper and in this next view you can see just how narrow the navigable portion of the river has become with the red and green buoys marking the safe part for a boat:
With the riverbank being so close, the small waves from our bow reflected back from the edge into the river itself and I found myself looking at the strange shapes that these wooden piers made with the reflections:
And a small colorful boat moored by a riverside home gave some great reflections:
As we moved further up the gorge, you can really see why the boats only sail during the day. Not much room for error here! And just imagine what it would have been like trying to take barrels of wine down this stretch before the dams were built!
Just around the corner is the next dam, The Valeira dam and this image was taken as the boat had ridden the water in the lock to the highest level and I was looking back into the gorge we had just travelled through.
And, if you ever wondered why the infrastructure on the top of the boat can be lowered, here is the headroom (literally) as we sailed out of the lock:
And a view looking back at this dam showing just how calm that day was:
Just around the next bend we entered another rocky gorge that the river had carved its way through over the centuries. Solid rock on both side of us:
You can also see what a massive task it must have been to build the railway line along the Douro – the track emerges from a long tunnel to be carried on a bridge before the next section tunnels into the rockface.
Once through this gorge we were back in the more expected landscape of endlessly terraced hillsides as far as the eye can see. This one belongs to the Taylor port company:
And the views of all these grapes was certainly making me think a glass of wine would be nice, although it was only 11am.
I told myself I could wait until after lunch and contented myself just watching the world go by – including the train that was heading down the riverbank towards Porto. I would imagine that this is a fantastic train ride for the views that you must see. Not quite as good as being on the water, perhaps!
From time to time, we would also see other river cruise boats. This one is the
Finally, after lunch, I achieved my dream – a glass of white wine with the vineyards reflected in the glass. I had to practice quite a few times to get this right!
Shortly afterwards, we docked at a small pier to leave the boat and take our afternoon trip to see the ancient hilltop village of Castello Rodrigo. The castle here in this small walled town was supposed to have been built in the 6th Century but it was not until 1297 that it was incorporated into Portugal under a treaty with Castille. The castle itself is somewhat of a ruin but other buildings have been attached to its walls over the years, such as this stone tower:
The views from here are magnificent – you can see way into Spain as well as to the deep valley of the Douro where our boat is making its way on to Barca D’Alva. The old church of Rocamador was nicely positioned in one of the highest points of the town:
The town has many signs of its age and history with this street sign showing where the synagogue used to be:
And, or course, there are always stray cats interested in what is going on:
And if you didn’t get enough to drink on the boat, there was an opportunity to taste some local beers. Bit odd in such a wine region perhaps!
Many of the houses had been nicely renovated, but not all:
There was (of course) an opportunity to buy some local souvenirs, but after our free time wandering around the town, we were back to the coach for the final leg to the boat. Along the way, we stopped at an overlook known as Miradouro Alto da Sapinha as we approached Barca D’Alva and were presented with these magnificent views over the countryside down to the river:
And with the view still in our minds, we drove down the winding road back to the boat and with plans for our next excursion to the Spanish city of Salamanca.
