Duoro Valley -- Home of 'Port'

The Douro Valley could as easily be called the enchanted valley, such is the beauty and magic that its landscapes offer.

Departing from Porto, where the river flows into the sea and where the Douro wines (table wines and Port wine), produced on its hillsides also end up, there are various ways to get to know this cultural landscape, listed as a World Heritage Site. We went by road ... and found many distracting stops along the way.

For any wine to be called Port, it must be produced in an area in the Duoro valley. We took some backroad small highways and entered the valley down a narrow gravel road which passed several wineries and vineyards. The large clusters of grapes were hanging right there outside the windows of the car so of course, we had to stop and try some.  The grapes were very tightly clustered and we decided, after several samples, that the green grapes were by far the best grapes we'd every tasted


The highway travels along the river and crisscrosses it several times,  We could see vineyards and terraces along both banks and enjoyed the sight of boats cruising along the river.


Lamego is a beautiful town just outside the valley. There as been a town here since before the Romans came.  Lamego is home to a beautiful castle as well as some beautiful churches. 

We had seen the Bom Jesus in Braga, and learned of a church in Lamego based on the same design. Built on top of Mount St. Stephen (Monte de Santo Estêvão), between the 18th and 20th centuries, the "Santuario Nossa Senhora dos Remedios" ("The Shrine of our Lady of the Remedies") is located at the top of 686 steps. The entrance to the steps is fronted by the large gate here with its many fine statues.


A nice surprise was seeing a Baobab tree outside the church.  To me it looks a lot like a Hobbit tree... you could almost see Frodo and Samwise lounging in front for a second breakfast.

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