a jornada: A Quinta in the Douro

I have to share about a place we visited only briefly, for an afternoon and one night. As we traveled back home from Spain, we drove through the Douro, the northern part of Portugal east of Porto. The Douro is a mountainous region in which grapes are grown for the delicious wine Portugal produces.

The views are spectacular as the vines and quintas or farms, seem to cling to the mountain sides in. I am familiar with vineyards and the many acres of grapevines I grew up around in the midst of in the central valley of California, but these vineyards are planted on the sides of mountains, terraced with stone walls. Olive trees are interspersed with the grape vines causing a beauty almost indescribable.

The grapes, as in California will be harvested in the next weeks producing wines and ports that we have come to enjoy very much.

The quinta we spent the night at was built in approximately the mid 1800's by a Viscount, and was an official government residence. A relaxing afternoon at the pool overlooking a valley of vineyards, rooms that had originality and character, a breakfast that was so delicious, and a walk through the main house (I need to say "palace"), and many huge banquet rooms used currently for numerous weddings, filled our short stay. As we enjoyed our morning walk around the quinta, we realized it was much larger than we thought when we first arrived.

Again, words are hard to describe what my eyes and senses experienced. A few pictures will have to do… Enjoy!