{"id":5571,"date":"2024-11-05T13:16:30","date_gmt":"2024-11-05T19:16:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/willingtowander.com\/blog\/?p=5571"},"modified":"2024-11-05T13:16:34","modified_gmt":"2024-11-05T19:16:34","slug":"how-to-recover-from-the-camino-in-portugal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/willingtowander.com\/blog\/how-to-recover-from-the-camino-in-portugal\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Recover from the Camino in Portugal"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

After two big physical challenges, we finally planned some time for rest and recovery. Some part of doing a shorter Camino was making sure we had enough time in our EU Visa to explore the wine country of Portugal! This actually isn’t the first time we used wine as incentive to complete a challenge, one of our first trips together was to California wine country where we ran a half marathon and spent a week recovering and visiting wineries! Now, almost 10 years later it is to try one of our favorite wines at its source, Port!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Making our way to Wine Country<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

We started this adventure with a 20 minute walk to the bus station in Santiago de Compostela. It was a full bus of Pilgrims heading towards Porto, most of whom likely did the Camino Portugese as Porto is a popular starting point for that route for a similar 2 week trek to the Primitivo. One such couple sat across from us and we ended up chatting off and on most of our way to Porto. It was fun to compare the routes, and they also gave us a few tips about the Douro Valley region. I am thankful they warned us about getting reservations for wineries because everything was sold out until our last few days in the area. They also suggested a small family winery that wasn’t very far from our hotel that turned out to include a very special tasting, but more on that later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Ham and Cheese filled bread that was so tasty I forgot to take a picture first!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After about 3 hours we made it to Porto, and we had plenty of time to make our way to the train station. We had a delicious warm bread filled with ham and cheese that I forgot what it was called, and then boarded our train to the town of Peso da Regua. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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View of the Douro River from the Train<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We had about a mile walk from the train station to our hotel, which was a tiny place that felt like a little house that had been converted. We got there on a Thursday and spent the first few days relaxing and nursing a cold I got at the end of the Camino.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Another view of the river from the train\/<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The breakfast, although small, was really delicious. They had some big cakes, delicious bread for sandwiches, and they would make fresh scrambled eggs for you if you wanted. This was some of the best scrambled eggs I have ever had, so good I never remembered to take a picture, whoops!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A Crash Course in Port<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Our first winery we visited didn’t seem too far away so we decided to walk there. Should be easy now that we’re not carrying bags, right? It was quite hot and the cars flew by a bit quick so we were starting to regret our decision, but we still made it with plenty of time. The tour was fairly large but we heard them turn away a few people at the door that didn’t get reservations. So glad for meeting that couple on the bus that gave us the heads up! I think most times of the year you could probably show up last minute, but it was in the middle of harvest season so they didn’t have as many tours. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Walking along the road to get to the winery<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

They started by showing us their barrel room, which was huge, and was original to the winery. Something with Port compared to other wines is they are actually put into barrels that have been used before, and in some cases, for decades! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Old barrels for Tawny port, aged for decades<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We have the relationship with the British to thank for Port wine becoming what it is today. Since the cost of French wines were so high for the British in the end of the 17th century, they turned to Portugal and a special treaty was made to trade Portugese wine for British textiles, and especially the richer varietals from the Douro Valley. Unfortunately, the wine would sometimes sour by the time it reached Britain by sea, so they started adding Brandy so it would make the crossing and be fit to drink. Further advances in bottle styles lead to storing them on their side, allowing for aging, and the first Vintage Port was produced in 1775.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Dona Antonia Adelaide Ferreira<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

There were major interruptions of Port production and distribution in the 1800s with Napoleon’s campaigns throughout Europe, and an infestation of Phylloxera, an American pest that attacks grape leaves that devastated and closed many wineries before they were able to graft the Portuguese vines onto native American vines that are immune to the pests. One woman that helped many of the wineries recover was Dona Antonia Adelaide Ferreira, including the one we were visiting, Quinta do Vallado. Once the region had recovered, an institute was created both for the regulation and protection of the style of wine called Port. It established the first laws of this type restricting an alcoholic beverage to be from a certain region, even before Champagne!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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View over some of the valley and the main tasting, bottling, and barrels<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After the history lesson we ventured outside and worked our way up the hill between some of the vines. While you can find single varietal wines, I got the understanding that what is more common was to have a field blend, where several different types are grown in the same area and the grapes get mixed as they are harvested. Farther up the hill we were able to taste some of the grapes fresh from the day’s harvest before they were sent to be stomped or crushed. This was part of why we really needed reservations, most wineries reduce their tours during the harvest season since they are so busy!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Boxes of grapes fresh from the harvest<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Once the grapes are delivered, the boxes are emptied into a machine that removes the stems and are given a last quality check on the conveyor belt. Here our tour guide also explained that when the skins are removed from wine after the first period of fermentation, they are sent to the institute in what seemed almost like a tax, along with some untouched grapes. Some of this is testing, but it is also used in the creation of the fortified liquor that is added back later. They do not call it Brandy, but those that make the wine are unable to make this portion and so they must work with the institute to acquire it from approved vendors. This part I found the most fuzzy and definitely need another trip to Portugal to get the story straight, wink wink.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Conveyor for quality control and removing stems from grapes.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I was surprised to learn that especially for the Tawny port, the grapes are still crushed by the traditional method: human feet! They get volunteers to work 4 hour shifts for several days where 5 people would slowly march back and forth. The idea is that a human foot wouldn’t crush the seeds like machinery would, preventing the more bitter and woodier flavors from adding to the wine. Most of the grapes are crushed in the first several hours within the tank, but the continuous movement keeps the skins submerged so it will touch as much of the juice as possible, adding its flavor and color during the initial fermentation. Below I took a snap from the video they played since they weren’t actively stomping that week, along with a few of the tanks where this usually occurs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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For some of their other types of wines (not Port) they do have mechanical crushing and we actually saw them sending some of the grapes to these tanks from the conveyor belts that are on the floor above.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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After a visit to the newer barrel room we were brought down to a beautiful tasting where we tried a field blend, a few single varietals, and a 15 year tawny port. I think the field blend was my favorite, next to the port of course. I do sometimes find it takes awhile to become acquainted with a new grape before I start to enjoy it, have you ever found that?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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After our tasting we decided to treat ourselves to a taxi instead of walking another couple of miles back to the hotel on the busy road.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A Very Special Tasting<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The morning of our last full day in Peso de Regua, we had a surprise during breakfast. After the manager gave us our delicious scrambled eggs, she told us \u201cfarewell and safe travels\u201d….we thought we had booked another night! We quick checked the reservation while she was back in the kitchen and realized we had made a mistake, we reserved it only until the 30th of September, not through the 1st of October! While we could have probably asked for another day as it was a Monday, we first looked at one of the hotels closer to the train station where we would have to pick up a bus early the next morning anyway, and managed to book a room. So we packed up our stuff and left right at checkout time and then slowly made our way along the river since we had a few hours before we could check into the new place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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One of my favorite spots, so beautiful and relaxing!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We found a park on the way that was so peaceful to watch the river flow by, and reminisce about our travels so far. It is amazing that this was the first time in over 9 months that we have missed booking a day at a hotel! We found a cafe to get some lunch and managed to check in a bit early anyway, before a walk to the next winery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Another view of the river with one of the cruise ships, there always seemed to be busses and Cruise ships ready to take tourists around the region<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This winery was across the river but it was only a mile walk with much better shoulders, so it felt a bit safer for pedestrians. The couple on the bus to Porto had recommended this winery to us and I am so glad he did! I do prefer small family wineries, however it was good to already have the background from Quinta do Vallado the day before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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So excited for more port<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We got a personal tour from one of the three that run the winery along with her brothers in law, but her husband and sister in law are part of the business as well. She talked how they have been scaling back the winery as they have developed a small hotel and restaurant with an emphasis on in-season ingredients, and an interest to focus on fewer types of wines to maintain quality. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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She gave us some unique tastings, including \u201corange wine\u201d which is a white wine but it is produced like a red with its skin. I really enjoyed it, she explained that Slovenia is known for this style so now I have another reason to go back there! To cap off our visit, she gave us the most special tasting, a 65 year old Port! Last November for Mr. Wander’s milestone birthday I managed to find some Scotch that was older than he was, with a little help from his uncle, and a fancy bar in New York City. Who knew I just needed to fly to Portugal! I mean this was absolutely special and I don’t think she shares it with just everyone. I was flexible when she needed to move the tasting and to start ours late so she was thankful and that is why we were granted this extra experience. She did say she doesn’t serve anything younger than a 30 year old, which she gave us as well since between the two of us we could have the equivalent of two separate tastings. If you find yourself in the Douro wine region, I highly recommend Quinta de Tourais!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Several bridges over the Douro River<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We had a lovely walk back to the hotel over the river, found a quick easy dinner and got to bed before the early bus in the morning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Lisbon Layover<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

We boarded our bus early the next morning, and it was just a few hours ride to Lisbon. We navigated through the Lisbon metro to the mall next to our hotel, and I was impressed just how colorful all the stations were, each one had a different theme of murals, it was so pretty!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We had a quick lunch in the mall than meandered by some cool statues and fountains, waiting for check-in. I really liked this cat made from all recycled materials!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We went to our hotel for check in, and they even printed off some very important documents for us, our absentee ballot! The look on their face when they realized just what I asked them to print was priceless. While we didn’t manage to get everything filled out and to a post office before it closed that afternoon, we sent it from a different country and got confirmation that it did arrive in plenty of time to be counted! Phew!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Farewell cocktail in Protugal<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

That evening, we enjoyed some tasty cocktails and pizza by the water, as we said our farewell to Portugal!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Next Time<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Time to head back to a country we have already been to on this trip, and surprisingly it’s not the UK! At least not yet….(spoilers!). For three weeks we explore between the Black and Mediterranean seas through the country of Turkiye. We enjoyed immersing ourselves in hot air balloons, hiking through love valley and over cotton mountains, and tasting delicious Turkish dishes and of course, Raki!\u00a0Until next time, Adeus!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After two big physical challenges, we finally planned some time for rest and recovery. Some part of doing a shorter Camino was making sure we had enough time in our EU Visa to explore the wine country of Portugal! This actually isn’t the first time we used wine as incentive to complete a challenge, one […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5994,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[116,299],"tags":[300,305,301,303,304],"class_list":["post-5571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-europe","category-portugal","tag-douro","tag-lisbon","tag-peso-de-regua","tag-port","tag-wine"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t