Day 4 - Duoro Valley

Getting 9 women, ready and out the door by 8:00 AM, is no easy feat, however, we did it!  Well most of us did it, there may have been a couple who were a little bit slow.  =)

The bus was waiting for us before we even walked out the door.  One more additional stop to pick up about 20 other people and then it was off to the Douro Valley.  It took about 90 minutes to get to our first stop, the small town of Pinhão, where we took a boat trip down the Douro River.

The boat we road in was a replica of what was used to haul the barrels of wine down the river prior to roads and trucks.

After the boat trip, we drove up the mountain to Quinta de Santa Julia.  This beautiful property includes a vineyard and dates back to the 16th century.  We had a tour of the property followed by wine tasting and lunch.

The grapes are just forming. According to the tour people, this use to not happen until the month of June.  The last few years it has been starting earlier and earlier.

Afterwards we headed back down part of the mountain for a Port tasting in the town of Régua.  I don't think any of us were really very excited about trying Port prior to coming here, we have found that at least a few of us actually enjoy it.  Typically it is either a ruby or tawny, which is based on the fermentation time and size of the barrel in which it is stored.

Tomorrow we leave for the neighborhood of Benagil, where we currently have very little planned. 

Looking forward to it!

Peace!