Today’s walk: 9.4 km | 5.8 miles
Elevation: 587 m | -137 m
Altitude: 80 m to 636 m
(We climbed 1,926 ft in case anyone is wondering.)
*This doesn’t include the walk to the starting point.

Indeed, breakfast began at 8:00, and we were there nearly on the dot. It was a fairly typical breakfast of eggs, fruit, a pastel de nata, and cappuccino for me, but there were certainly many more choices. We also received our packed lunches which, compared to our Scotland ones, were rather small: a sandwich, an apple, and a small orange. I’m not complaining … we always thought the Scotland lunches included about twice as much food as we needed. I wouldn’t have minded a bit of a treat, but of course I didn’t need one!

As we left the breakfast room I noted the rain coming down. Go figure! And it was coming down quite a bit. I’d already assumed I should carry rain gear with me, but it looked like we’d be wearing at least our jackets from the start.

Going up to our room we finished our packing and took our bags down. Then back up to complete our prep for the walk.

As we went out the rain had diminished a bit and it was quite lovely. The route varied between road, cobblestones, and dirt paths.

The climb began. Rain sometimes fell enough I contemplated rain pants, but never really thought they were necessary. At some point the jacket came off as well (can’t exactly remember when now), and while it sometimes sprinkled it really wasn’t bad at all.

The navigation system worked well, and if one deviates from the path there is a very audible alert. We knew we were in for some steep ascents, and that was certainly the case (funny, though, that now that I’m in our room I can barely remember them!). There were gorgeous views along the way, and the cloud cover meant we were not too hot, which was nice. We went through a little village, São Cristóvão do Douro where we had an amazing view.

Hey, how about some videos?!

More climbing … and climbing …

(Confession: I’m not exactly sure where all these photos are … they are in order, but perhaps some are before and some are after places I’m mentioning.)

When we reached the village of Provesende we opted to stop for lunch. We saw another (younger) couple who had been sitting behind Dan at breakfast who had also stopped, so we joined them on a bench and chatted a while. They are from Switzerland, but of course can speak English so we could communicate. (Sometimes I’m so embarrassed by my lack of ability with languages!) It turned out that they are on the same Green Walks tour, so I’m assuming we’ll run into them again.

After Provesende we had some climbing, but nothing like earlier. We walked past a place with a name I recognized, Quinta Manhãs D’Ouro, but had no idea why. Continuing on we arrived at the village of Vilarinho de São Romão. I just love seeing these small villages — they are so picturesque, and I can’t help but try and imagine what it must be like to live in one. I’m thinking, too, that those who live there must be so fit, considering the steep hills and all.

Walking past an 18th century parish church, we continued down a cobblestone street.

When we reached the intersection of the cobblestone street and a tarmac road and that was the end of the schedule walk.

At that point Dan called the hotel and they called a car to pick us up “at the big tree” (at the end of that cobblestone road). The driver drove crazy fast (at least in my opinion) and I do marvel at how they all maneuver on these roads, but I never felt unsafe. When he neared our lodging I saw familiar things that we had walked by earlier. And then he turned in to the place I thought I recognized earlier. Turns out it was where we would be spending both tonight and tomorrow night (tomorrow is a circular walk).

Going inside we checked in and made our dinner reservation. We opted for the early time of 7:30. I still am amazed at how late people can eat in these countries and yet still sleep. 7:30 is even late for me. (And of course, being a musician, I have work at 7:30, so it doesn’t work due to that as well, but I’m guessing musicians here eat after work!)

We got into our room, pulled a few things out of our bags (mostly had to start charging phones for tomorrow’s walk), and relaxed a bit. There’s a lovely view from the upstairs patio, but it was too chilly and windy to sit and enjoy it.

Eventually we went downstairs to have a glass of wine. This Quinta makes their own wine, and we each enjoyed a glass of their vinho tinto. (Well look at that, I do speak another language! HAH!) The young man who had earlier let us in the door when we arrived served the wine and gave us so much information about the area and more. As we sat down to enjoy our glasses, he came over to chat a bit more. He’s quite the friendly guy!

Then it was back to our room, so we could shower (hooray, clean hair!) and relax until dinner. (Dinner is part of the package for these two nights of lodging because there is no nearby place to go otherwise).

Now normally we don’t eat pork, but when we are in another country we want to experience the foods they serve and eat, so pork it was, along with potatoes and what I think as Swiss chard. Plus another wine, this time from the town where Magellan (Magalhães) was born, or so they claim here (I read that four places claim him as theirs). We are in wine country, so it doesn’t seem fitting that we have wine (and of course port) here. Then a dessert that he called pudding and was somewhat reminiscent of crème brûlée. Oh … and he served us port, and told us that it was put in the barrel (or barrels?) the year his first son was born.

Dinner was so enjoyable because the server (also the man who earlier served us wine) was so kind and fun. He’s the son of the cook, and I suspect his parents own this place. At the end of our meal he said goodbye, because he goes now back to his home in Porto, where I believe his wife and children are.

Tomorrow we have a circular route, so we don’t have to pack our stuff up, and can sleep a bit longer. The route is longer, but the climb isn’t quite so big. Still, there is some climbing to do, and what with the increased mileage it might be a bit challenging. We’ll see!

Boa noite!

PS We are at Quinta Manhãs D’Ouro in Provesende.