Douro Delights

Porto is one of the most immediately captivating cities in Europe and arriving by transfer to MS Estrela, moored on the Douro waterfront with the city’s famous azulejo-tiled facades and port wine lodges rising on both banks, is a genuinely distinctive introduction. July in Porto means warm Atlantic evenings and long golden light on the Ribeira waterfront. The illuminations cruise around Porto this evening gives the finest possible first view of a city whose medieval centre, Dom Luís I Bridge and hilltop Sé Cathedral are all visible from the water in a way that no land-based tour can replicate.

A full day in Porto with APT’s Freedom of Choice programme giving genuine flexibility to experience the city in the way that suits you best. The 16th-century Old Town, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, contains the São Bento railway station whose vast azulejo tile murals depicting Portuguese history are among the finest examples of the art form in the country. The Ribeira waterfront quarter, with its colourful medieval houses, outdoor restaurants and traditional rabelo boats moored below, is the heart of Porto’s tourist experience. The cable car ride gives the finest elevated view of the Dom Luís I Bridge and the Vila Nova de Gaia port wine lodges directly across the river. The evening Palácio da Bolsa Signature Experience, a cocktail reception and fado performance in the extraordinary Arabian Hall, is one of the finest exclusive evening experiences on any river cruise in Portugal.

MS Estrela departs Porto this morning and the Douro begins immediately. The river passes through the urban fringe of Porto before the landscape opens into the Vinho Verde wine country of the Minho region, the vine-covered hillsides rising steeply from both banks. The Freedom of Choice today offers two completely different ways to understand northern Portugal: the medieval UNESCO World Heritage city of Guimarães, considered the birthplace of the Portuguese nation where the country’s first king was born in 1109, or a visit to Quinta da Aveleda in the Vinho Verde region, a family-owned estate producing wine since the 1870s whose gardens and wine and cheese tasting represent one of the finest quinta experiences available on the Douro.

Régua is the commercial capital of the Port wine region and the Douro Museum, purpose-built in the former railway station building, tells the story of the valley’s wine culture with extraordinary depth and visual quality. The azulejo tile panels on the museum’s exterior, depicting the history of the Douro wine trade, give a sense of how deeply the vine culture is embedded in Portuguese identity. The Signature Experience today at Quinta da Pacheca, a 16th-century estate in the Lamego municipality, combines a traditional Portuguese lunch with wine tasting and views over the Douro River that represent the finest single winery experience on the entire voyage.

The Douro between Régua and Pinhão is the most visually spectacular stretch of the river, the valley narrowing into a steep gorge with vine terraces climbing every hillside in the extraordinary stepped pattern of the schist stone walls that have been built and maintained by hand since the 18th century. The Freedom of Choice today offers two contrasting experiences: the elegant baroque Sanctuary of Our Lady of Remedies in Lamego, whose 686-step granite staircase zigzags up the hillside above the town to the church at the top in one of the most dramatic processional approaches in Portugal, or the Palácio de Mateus near Vila Real, the baroque manor house featured on the label of Mateus Rosé wine and set in extraordinary formal gardens designed in the 18th century.

Pinhão is the most celebrated village in the Douro wine country, the town itself tiny but surrounded by some of the most prestigious quinta estates in the region. The Pinhão Railway Station is worth visiting on its own terms: the azulejo tile panels covering the station walls, depicting scenes of the grape harvest and the transport of port wine barrels down the river by rabelo boat, are among the finest examples of functional tile art in Portugal. The quinta visit in the afternoon gives direct access to the terraced vineyards that have produced some of the world’s most celebrated port wines for over three centuries. The Captain’s Farewell Dinner this evening is the last meal on board MS Estrela before tomorrow’s transition to land.

MS Estrela reaches the Portuguese-Spanish border at Barca d’Alva, the most remote point on the voyage and the place where the Douro becomes the Duero as it crosses into Spain. The castle ruins at Figueira de Castelo Rodrigo on the hill above the border town give views across the Iberian plateau that stretch far into Spain on a clear July day. The medieval town of Figueira de Castelo Rodrigo itself, largely unchanged from its 13th-century layout, gives a sense of the frontier history of this disputed border region across which Portugal and Spain have pushed back and forth for eight centuries. The final night aboard MS Estrela crosses into Spanish waters as the river continues toward Salamanca.

Disembark MS Estrela at Vega de Terron this morning and transfer to Salamanca, one of the finest university cities in Europe and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The University of Salamanca, founded in 1134 and one of the oldest in the world, anchors a compact old town of extraordinary Spanish Renaissance and Plateresque architecture, its golden sandstone facades warming to amber in the afternoon light. The Plaza Mayor, considered the most beautiful main square in Spain, is the natural centre of any Salamanca visit. The House of Shells, covered in 300 carved stone scallop shells and now a public library, is one of the most photographed facades in Spain. The afternoon transfer to Madrid brings the journey to the capital where the evening is yours in one of Europe’s most vibrant cities.

Your Douro Delights journey concludes this morning with your transfer to Madrid Barajas Airport. Eight nights have taken you from Porto’s illuminated waterfront fado to the vineyards of Quinta da Aveleda, the prestigious lunch at Quinta da Pacheca overlooking the Douro, the azulejo tile panels of Pinhão’s railway station, the castle ruins of the Portuguese-Spanish border and the golden sandstone of Salamanca. Ask your Cruiseabout specialist about extending your Madrid stay before flying home.