December 5, 2025
On the road again. Skylar played chauffeur one last time which got him to the airport. For the first time in about a month, we were without family or passengers.
On Noah’s suggestion, we set Google maps to Porto with an added destination of Óbidos, “the cutest little town…” Only a little over an hour from Lisbon on the freeway, we saw the reason for his enthusiasm. We could see the large castle overlooking the town below. Following signs to the castle we found the road blocked by Mickey Mouse dressed as an elf and several tour buses busy parking.
Óbidos has embraced Christmas and created a medieval-themed Christmas extravaganza for children and adults. Although slightly distracted by the many adult elves encouraging the busloads of excited school children to be safe, we were more taken in by the medieval aqueduct stretching away from the castle walls for almost three kilometers.
Within the castle walls was a perfectly preserved medieval town with small craft shops, cafés, several churches, of which one has been turned into a stunning bookstore. We walked through the town, tempted by store owners with free samples of port, wine, cheese, and pastries.
Rather than head into the thick of the Christmas extravaganza complete with an ice rink and jousting arenas where the school children were probably well-lubricated with the vats of hot chocolate, we decided to make a quick lunch stop on a quiet side street. Our waitress spoke English and Nick recognized the clip of the words to be somewhere in southern Africa. He nailed it as she was from Namibia, and had learned Portuguese in Angola. She was just nineteen and it was her first day at the restaurant. We couldn’t help but leave her a good tip, which she deserved.
Back in the car, we decided to make a short detour to Nazaré, a world-renowned surfing destination known for its giant waves. There is a large, deep underwater canyon that amplifies the waves. The town had a very southern California vibe with a Portugal twist. Approaching the north viewing point, we came across hundreds of camping vans with surfboards attached. The waves were a tame eight feet, but the angry, cross waves were scary to me. Nonetheless there were surfers in the middle of it all. Not smart, dude.
Porto turned out to be just as, if not more so, vertical as Lisbon. Our Airbnb is clinging to a steep cobblestone street that backs up to a rock cliff that goes straight down to the street about 50 feet below. From our second floor (European) loft apartment we could see the line of temporary Christmas craft shops set up along the street. As I had hoped we are in the middle of town. What I didn’t expect is that Porto is under construction.
We have found a great deal of construction in all of the countries we have visited. In Porto, they are adding another metro line which means many of the streets are torn up and construction fences are everywhere. This is true at the bottom of our street where the Porto São Bento train station is blocked by street construction. Although I am happy for the people of Porto and their future transit system, I am not excited about the jackhammers and dust and fences. Clearly, we will have to return in a few years.
A couple of months ago, we booked a tour of the Duoro Valley which included a couple of wineries and a boat tour. Our guide picked us up bright and early and took to the crowded cobblestone, narrow streets as if he were auditioning for a “Fast and Furious” sequel. We later found out that the last sequel of that series was filmed on the very road we were perched on as we drove the Duoro Valley.
Unfortunately, we did not get the usual beautiful blue skies for our tour. It was a grey day, with storm clouds and some fog at higher altitudes. That did not stop the Duoro Valley from being gorgeous. The mountains, terraced with rocks lined with grapevines, never ceased to amaze us. The vines on each hillside had different patterns to take full advantage of sunny slopes.
Our first stop was Quinta Dafonte Domilho winery. The current owner had taken over from his father who had kept a job while working on the vineyards during his free time. He followed in his father’s footsteps in having an outside job, but eventually also gave up his job to run the winery. The current owner’s son is only seventeen and will be making some of the same decisions as his father and grandfather.
We tasted whites, rubies, and reds, all of which were quite good. To complement the wines, they provided olives, jams, almonds, and olive tapenade plus some bread. All of the products, with the exception of the bread, were grown and produced on the premises. Our winery guide played a game with us testing our culinary skills. He gave us three jams which were produced from products grown on the property, and challenged us to identify what they were. If we failed, we were destined to work in the fields for a day for each wrong answer. There were four of us and we collaborated. We got only one correctly, so we will all be returning to Portugal to fulfill our contract. Nick and I bought all three of the jams and will put some of you to the test!
Well sated with our Portuguese breakfast of olives, jam, bread, and wine, we headed to the river where we would catch a small boat to cruise the valley for about an hour. We were greeted by an enthusiastic gentleman who looked every part of the sailor and had the stories to prove it. He also had plenty of Duoro Valley history for us.
Lunch was to be served at our last stop, Casa Santa Eufémia Family Estates. We were greeted by the winemaker Alzira Carvalha, a woman in her early fifties clad in jeans and sneakers, clearly ready to hit the vineyards as soon as our tour ended. We were shown into what had been one of original winemaking buildings built in the mid-1800s, now remodeled into an attractive tasting room.
In the late 1800s, her great grandfather purchased the property. It was a hand-to-mouth living for him. But when refugees and soldiers came back from WWI, hungry, and without jobs, he provided them with a place to live plus food in exchange for helping him plant the vines. Eventually, the workers were able to purchase their own vineyards and help grow the port wine business of the Duoro Valley.
The cook for our lunch served us and made sure we had plenty to eat. It was a typical Portuguese dinner of pork roast and slow cooked ham with roasted sweet potatoes and a leafy cabbage vegetable in olive oil. All was served with a variety of wines, ending, of course, with the tasting of ports along with rabanadas, a Portuguese dessert, similar to the French pain perdu, that is served traditionally at Christmas. The soaking liquid for the bread contains port wine. We could barely roll out to the waiting Mercedes van for our ride home.
Our last morning in Porto was slow as the weather had become rainy. We opted to spend the day on a Hop on Hop Off bus system, sitting on the upper level of the double decker bus, despite the rain, so we could see everything. We did make it around Porto, but we did not Hop on and off…just on, and at the end, off. Although there was a canvas top covering the top level of the bus, the sides were still open and we got wet. All worth it, though.
Tomorrow we head to Spain. Cindy Wyss was enamored with Vigo in Spain near the Portugal border when she walked through it earlier this year with her brother Tim. We will check it out, along with Santiago de Campostela as we head north to Aviles.
© Wendy Platt Hill 2025
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