Douro River (Alta) Portugal

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Thursday - Day 2 Quinta Nova Winery Hotel - Douro Valley, Portugal

We arrived here yesterday afternoon from Coimbra after a beautiful drive through central Portugal. Stunning scenery, and it wasn't even totally sunny. The landforms remind me of Northern California, with lots of eucalyptus trees (imported from Australia that are harvested for paper) growing amid conifers of coastal cypress. The housing stock looks quite substantial and well taken care of. We went through only 2 or 3 villages, but there are a lot of folks living on the land in spacious housing areas. We stopped once on the 3 hour trip at a large Pronto station which had one person working it. It was huge though, with a restaurant attached.

The roads were in great shape. Our driver Louis explained that the EU Stimulus Money that Portugal received after the 2008 Great Recession had been spent on infrastructure projects. We have experienced great airports, rails and roads in this country. Our driver also explained that unemployment at fallen from 16% (2011) to about 8% (2016).

We reached the Douro Valley about 90 minutes after leaving Coimbra and then drove up the river to another 90 minutes to the Hotel. I have been in many great wine growing regions before; on the Rhine and Mosel Rivers in Germany and in Napa and Sonoma Valley in Northern California and the Washington and Oregon wine growing areas. I was aware what the Douro Valley looked like from pictures. But being in the Valley and overlooking the Valley from above is a whole different experience. I will try to include some pictures but the weather is being uncooperative today and it is raining fairly steadily.

The Quinta Nova Hotel has an interesting family history. It is fairly small, only 11 guest rooms, and was purchased by a very wealthy family that owns cork production factories as well as gas stations. It has a restaurant, a bar and winery and is surrounded by acres of terraced hills covered in vines that are just starting to bud and leaf out. The Hotel or (Quinta) is about halfway up the hillside, about 500 feet above the River and has great views. We are so lucky to be able to stay at this beautiful place...

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