Madrid, Lisbon, and Douro River Cruise
Jim and Andrea Siscel
May 2023
Following our Amsterdam to Antwerp River Cruise we flew to Madrid spending three nights before continuing to Lisbon and the Douro Viking River Cruise. The Madrid and Lisbon visits were provided by Viking. We toured Madrid by motor coach and a walking tour. There were three couples besides Andrea and Jim that were doing the pre-Portugal tour in Madrid. We visited the famous Prado Museum and viewed masterpieces of Goya, Velazquez, and others. The next day we enjoyed a highlight of the trip when we toured and had a seven-course lunch at the oldest restaurant in the world, Restaurante Sobrino de Botin, which opened in 1735.
We then flew to Lisbon for two nights. We visited the Jeronimos Monastery and the Belem Tower while viewing much of the city by motor coach. In the afternoon we visited the National Tile Museum learning about the blue-and-white ceramic tiles known as azulejos. We even painted our own tiles.
We then travelled by motor coach to Coimbra University where we visited the library lined with 300,000 books. We had lunch accompanied by fado music. We continued to Porto, Portugal where we boarded the Viking Torgil, holding 95 passengers. A smaller ship was needed to travel up the very narrow in places Douro River. The ships cannot travel at night on the Douro River. There are five locks on the river, the deepest one in Europe at 142 feet.
Next stop was Regua where we visited the Mateus Palace of Mateus Rose wine fame and Gardens. Continuing we stopped overnight in Pinhao. The next day we continued to Baca d’Alva. We stayed on board as the offered trip was to Salamance, Spain was eight hours long and we didn’t feel taking it. At Baca d’Alva we had a huge buffet of Portugese food. Now it was time to turn around and head back to Porto. We stopped in Pocinho for the night. The next morning we took the trip to Favaios Bakery enjoying fresh-from-the-oven bread. We visited the local museum of wine and bread and the local cooperative port winery where we sampled some Port. We had an excellent lunch before stopping at Sandeman for another Port tasting. We met the ship in Folgosa and headed on to Regula for the night.
Our trip this day took us to the Cistericans Monestery and another wine tasting. An early king of Portugal upset that the Catholic Church was impoverishing the people while enriching the church. He gave the church members two weeks to leave Portugal. The local people then destroyed all but one wall the monastery using the building material for their own buildings.
Returning to Porto, the last day of the river trip, we took the leisure tour on foot and bus of Porto. We saw the Cathedral, train station with beautiful blue tiles and then a bus tour of the city. In the afternoon we had our last Port tasting at Ferreira Winery, just three blocks away from the ship.
Off to the airport the following day, first to Madrid, then to Amsterdam. Stayed at the hotel at the airport before a 10.5-hour flight the next day back to Seattle.
Jim and Andrea Siscel
May 2023
Following our Amsterdam to Antwerp River Cruise we flew to Madrid spending three nights before continuing to Lisbon and the Douro Viking River Cruise. The Madrid and Lisbon visits were provided by Viking. We toured Madrid by motor coach and a walking tour. There were three couples besides Andrea and Jim that were doing the pre-Portugal tour in Madrid. We visited the famous Prado Museum and viewed masterpieces of Goya, Velazquez, and others. The next day we enjoyed a highlight of the trip when we toured and had a seven-course lunch at the oldest restaurant in the world, Restaurante Sobrino de Botin, which opened in 1735.
We then flew to Lisbon for two nights. We visited the Jeronimos Monastery and the Belem Tower while viewing much of the city by motor coach. In the afternoon we visited the National Tile Museum learning about the blue-and-white ceramic tiles known as azulejos. We even painted our own tiles.
We then travelled by motor coach to Coimbra University where we visited the library lined with 300,000 books. We had lunch accompanied by fado music. We continued to Porto, Portugal where we boarded the Viking Torgil, holding 95 passengers. A smaller ship was needed to travel up the very narrow in places Douro River. The ships cannot travel at night on the Douro River. There are five locks on the river, the deepest one in Europe at 142 feet.
Next stop was Regua where we visited the Mateus Palace of Mateus Rose wine fame and Gardens. Continuing we stopped overnight in Pinhao. The next day we continued to Baca d’Alva. We stayed on board as the offered trip was to Salamance, Spain was eight hours long and we didn’t feel taking it. At Baca d’Alva we had a huge buffet of Portugese food. Now it was time to turn around and head back to Porto. We stopped in Pocinho for the night. The next morning we took the trip to Favaios Bakery enjoying fresh-from-the-oven bread. We visited the local museum of wine and bread and the local cooperative port winery where we sampled some Port. We had an excellent lunch before stopping at Sandeman for another Port tasting. We met the ship in Folgosa and headed on to Regula for the night.
Our trip this day took us to the Cistericans Monestery and another wine tasting. An early king of Portugal upset that the Catholic Church was impoverishing the people while enriching the church. He gave the church members two weeks to leave Portugal. The local people then destroyed all but one wall the monastery using the building material for their own buildings.
Returning to Porto, the last day of the river trip, we took the leisure tour on foot and bus of Porto. We saw the Cathedral, train station with beautiful blue tiles and then a bus tour of the city. In the afternoon we had our last Port tasting at Ferreira Winery, just three blocks away from the ship.
Off to the airport the following day, first to Madrid, then to Amsterdam. Stayed at the hotel at the airport before a 10.5-hour flight the next day back to Seattle.