Shelby's Travels

Day 14. Final day. Maybe my favorite day.

Today, I took a wine tour in Douro Valley, about 90 min East of Porto for winery tours and tastings! In July, I went to Napa Valley with my parents and up until that point, I thought I didn’t really like wine… but after that experience, it’s totally opened me up to new taste and opportunity, and now here I am! Choosing and paying to do a wine tour in Portugal! And let me tell you, I actually enjoyed every wine I tried today! 👏

Harvest happens in September into the first couple weeks of October. So we are definitely past time for the vibes to be green and beautiful with grapes, but we still got to see them and learn all about how they are made and of course taste.

Stop 1

Stop 2

With lunch! I think this was the best meal of my trip too, tied with that octopus from last night. Vegetable soup, pork with potatoes and cabbage, followed by an apple dessert, similar to a Dutch apple pie. oh also with olives and olive oil from the property, which were amazing!!! So I think there’s hope for me and olives! Lunch was served with the same red and white from the first stop but also with a tawny port.

Stop 3 : boat ride on the Douro River with a bubbly white

Stop 3.5 on the side of the road for view pics!

Stop 4 : MORE DOGS 😍

The last place was really cool. We met with the owner and winemaker. He explained how it’s a family estate passed from generations and when he got the reigns he changed the whole process and doesn’t use barrels anymore big rather the equipment in the picture above. He explained the whole process and how now he doesn’t have to add any chemicals and it’s all organic. It was really cool to hear how he has a vision for this new process and kind of wine and then taste how it’s different than the others we had throughout the day. This was my favorite wine too!

I also met some really lovely people today and had some great conversations. Mainly 2 folks from London and 2 from Montreal. Exchanged info from both sets and got invited for visits, who knows?!😁

Okay folks…. That concludes this round of posts, tomorrow is a pure travel day so this will be the last one. Thanks for following along if you made this far (mom, dad, grandma)😅… until next time…. You know the drill, probably April/May. Who knows where I’ll end up next!

Obrigado!