Day 9 Porto to Peso da Regua

The stay at the Hotel da Bolsa in Porto was a good one. The location was excellent and the staff couldn’t try harder. I think we had the best room in the hotel. The view was as good as any view we experienced in the city and it was very large by European standards. If anyone happens to stay at the Hotel da Bolsa, request room 604.

When asking several people about the drive from Porto to Peso da Regua each one said “the drive up the river was a beautiful ride, but it had many, many twists and turns”. As it was only 85 miles, and after having driven the Amalfi Coast, how hard could it be? Well, it took three and a half hours to drive those 85 miles with only two traffic lights, a couple of stop signs, one quick stop for gas, one little wrong turn, AND you could drive as fast as you wanted. The road goes up mountains, down mountains, around mountains, and never in a straight line… very exhausting and absolutely beautiful. Grapes everywhere and all terraced (picture taken from our room on Regua). They have a saying here that “God created the earth, but man created the Douro Valley” and it makes sense to me. The only way to harvest the grapes is by hand and then they have to carry them down the mountains. These are tough guys. Anyhow, it was one thirty until we checked in the Hotel Regua Douro which is right on the river with a great view. We immediately walked up the road a piece and stopped for lunch at Joao Alges, a little café run by a cute old couple. He seated us and told us what they were serving for lunch—at least I think that’s what he was doing. He said three things and I repeated the last thing he said then he walked away and came back with plate of fish, potatoes, carrots, and two hard boiled eggs. A little later a lettuce, tomato, and onion salad appeared along with some vino tinto. The same thing happened for dessert, this time she stopped by the table, said a few things, I repeated the last and magically a flan with some caramel sauce arrived. Neither they, nor we had any idea what the other was talking about, but we could not have asked for anything better. Why is it that we live right on the Chesapeake Bay and cannot go in any restaurant and get a respectable piece of fish? Here we can’t get any less than great. Oh well, with full bellies, a walk through the whole town only took an hour and then it was time to go back to the hotel and unpack. I think I like this place.

The hotel restaurant was supposed to be one of the two finer dining spots in town. It was the easiest alternative, so that’s what we did. The restaurant was on the top floor of the hotel and it looked rather weird walking in, as it was 8:30 and there was nobody in the entire place except for two waiters. Who cares, we ate there anyway. The menu looked good and they even had an English version. What a bonus, knowing what you’re ordering. I got the roasted rabbit with cornbread and chestnuts and Sylvia had something that looked, but did not taste, like lasagna. The rabbit was very good and the lasagna not so. It was a pleasant meal with a good view and superb service. As we were leaving a little after ten, some other customers were just arriving. Geez, I’ve got to learn to stay up later.