Douro River

— One of the things we had decided in advance we’d do while staying in Porto (Portugal) was to take a cruise down the Douro River. We thought it would be a relaxing day. We were right about that, and what we did not know at the time we booked our cruise was how scenic the entire day would be. It is no wonder that this area is sometimes called the Enchanted Valley. The entire valley is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This is where Port wine is produced. We started out early taking a train from Porto to Peso da Régua, the heart of the wine country. There were vistas all around us once we got into the valley approaching Régua. The train would sometimes travel right along the Douro River, and sometimes it’d go high above it. After about two and a half hours. we left the train in Régua and board our small ship for the return trip to Porto. For about 5-to-6 hours, we navigated slowly down the Douro River and enjoyed stunning vistas such as the one shown here, near Santo António de Ribadouro. We had a delicious lunch on the boat, and the boat also had to go through two locks (out of five) in the Douro River. We ended up on this magnificent trip back to Porto at the end of the afternoon.