Portugal

My Golden Frontier Trip to Portugal ~ Duro River Cruise

Olah

Briefly put: wine, olives, river, almonds

We left Chatham at 6AM and met up with other travelers once we got to St Louis, including our guide from Golden Frontier, Craig Simoneaux and his wife Jodie

On the flight from St Louis to Philadelphia, someone was in my assigned seat,  Lucky me. I was reassigned to a seat in first class (the short trip tho).  I got a little teasing by the rest in the group "aren't you special" and "they had to shift the weight in the plane".

We had a real long layover in Madrid...9 hours.  Do a selfie with with the Davis Cup

 They had ham on the hoof.

 Once we got to Porto, Portugal, we got on our ship, The Duro Splendour.  It is one of 3 similar ships.  Our luggage went to our room by our porter while we were greeted in the lounge with a glass of orange juice.  Our dinners on the ship arrived with white gloves!!!  When we return from an excursion, we are greeted with a damp, scented towel and an orange juice by the staff.

I was assigned room 205 with Paula.
 The lock on time lapse video:

The ship docked at Pinhaou while we were having Mass.  Our Saint of the Day was Charles Borromeo.  After Mass, Paula and I went on an excursion, I for a glass of local wine at "The Writers Place"
and she for gifts for family.  She bought 5 Portuguese table cloths and because I was with her, she threw in a thimble for both of us.  Here's the photos from the Pinao train station on TripAdvisor. 

After dinner we had a demonstration of how to open a vintage port wine.  This is not an actual video but I never knew about this tong thing.

Tuesday we went to Vega De Terron (boarder Portugal -Spain).  The Duro Splendour could go no farther up the Duro River so we moored there and took the bus on the excursion to
Castelo Rodrigo.  We had hearing devises called "whispers" so our guide could talk to us away from the bus's microphone.  We were greeted there with samples of various flavored almonds and even a glass of wine.  

I walked all over the village looking for this pillar that was used for announcements and also public punishment and I found it just before we left for the bus.  I pretty much got my exercise in and I was walking right around it too.  As you can see, the buildings hid it a bit.

The church had a Jesus in a coffin.

 This statue depicts "The Way of St James".  Here is a wooden statue

Seems many statues of Mary have real donated hair.

 Here's my selfie on the steep walk way

 We were told on the bus that we would be greeted with an almond sample and to only take one.  However, there were samples of many different flavors.  We even had a sample glass (not a sip like some wine tastings) wine that seemed to have an almond flavor to it.  Here I am standing in front of the souvenir shop with lots of articles made of cork.

 A house that says casa Roza.  Paula took this.  I had to add my hand for a little contrast in the silhouette. 

When we got to the bus, I wasn't late at all. It was here that I pulled out my "flat Lincoln" by an 1864 graveyard.

Wednesday we went to Salamnca in Spain.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salamanca

We had free time in the morning before lunch to tour the cathedral.  This is because of siesta time in the afternoon.  Here we are at the shell house.   See link.   The Interior photos that we saw on our walking tour with our Spanish guide (Locals are required by law to have a local guide so our Portuguese guide had to step aside)

 

Since it was November, there was a display for "Day of the Dead" Inside the Shell House

  This is the ceiling inside the shell house stairway.

Our guide showed us this influence entrance to an old building of the 3 religions, Christian, Jewish and Muslim influence.






















Inside the old cathedral for 5 Euros.  It's medieval.  Note that on the exterior rebuild column, there's a devil with an ice cream cone and an astronaut from the 1980s reconstruction influence (see photos on line above. 

 

 Chapel of Solitude

We had lunch and flamingo dancing  then a walking tour. 

On the way back we were told this joke about the WC:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qww6tiaOLp0VU3-Wy7LUuaRncdGchZ1uMKOQhN0iXn4/edit?hl=en#

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santiago_de_Compostela_Cathedral

We had Mass in the dining room  

Here's the captain's bridge but apparently he's not a captain.  Captain is a rank so he's called sailor.

This is the ship's webcam as we go through the lock.  It's televised on one of the TV selections.

View of the river as we entet the lock.

Here I'm on the top deck doing a selfie in the lock with onlookers on the bridge behind me.

Nov 7
We went to visit the Mateus gardens. 

This manor house is best known for the image that appears on Mateus Rosé bottle.

Since so many were photo bombing, I decided to choose someone I know ~ Wanda.

This is my selfie taken on the steps down to the lower gardens.

This Matese house/garden is where they get the shape for the famous port wine from this region because of the semi submerged female statue in the reflection pool.
See photos here since we couldn't go inside.  It was also raining.
http://en.roteirododouro.com/heritage/mateus-palace

On Friday, Nov 8,  the captain had open small group appointments to see the bridge.  That evening we had a special "captain's dinner".

Nov 8
Friday we went by bus to Lamego to see the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Remédios, (remedies)  built in 1750. It is believed that the Virgin Mary fed baby Jesus her holy milk and know to have remedies.  We had Mass there.   There 638 steps but I only counted 606 coming down.

 Fr John celebrated Mass here.

Then I went to the Lamego Museum which had old artifacts of the Cistercean Order

 This is st John the Evangelist.

 These are reproduction nets with waves in the background.

 This is a 13th Century statue of St Peter in the museum made from carved chestnut.  Church of Saint Pedro de Balsemao in Lamego.

In the afternoon (2:30), I was on a group appointment tour of the captain's bridge while we were enroute to see the screens and panels and talk to our "sailor".  Paula asked for a selfie.
 Nov 9
We got to see Porto, with the help of Paula and her uber app, we went to see the I visited Livraria Lello in Porto. Place they filmed Harry Potter.

We had a nice fancy evening at Quinta Da Pacheca.

Nov 10
We stopped at the Coumbra University and toured the old old old university.  Years ago, students were wealthy and the locals took advantage of this.  Students then wore these robes to identify them as a protected class.    When our bus arrived, we were approached by students selling pens, pencils and magnets to help with tuition.

Here are some photos of the old museum on campus.

 The ceiling

 This room was a waiting room for students lined with old photos of chancellors

 These 2 photos were taken in the old library before I was told it was forbidden.  I thought it just meant "no flash" photos.  There's supposed to be bats there but they are sleeping during the day.  Very dark inside.

 Statue in the courtyard.

This was our local guide showing us the student jail.  Chancellors would be able to punish roudy or drunk students within the confines of the campus anywhere from 3 days to 3 weeks.  If still bad, then the student would be chained to these steps in the nude like this.  My guide looked at me and said thank you for taking my picture like this.  His nave is Tiago Boavida.

We had lunch and I bought a gold handmade shawl that was made in Viana do Castelo.
It was 75 Euros so not cheap but quality.  Not something made in China.


Then we stopped at Fatima for only an hour and a half.  Some on the bus were British on and extended tour from the Duro Splendour which didn't go straight back after the cruise so the trip was no-so tailor-made for our pilgrimage.  It was Sunday so those not affiliated with Golden Frontier got to shop and tour the chapels and we barely had time to use the facilities and have Mass.  But it was nice to see Fr Alan Hunter and Fr John Nolan (our pastor) con-celebrate Mass with the Portugese priest.

 The local priest welcomed the American pilgrims visiting in English but the rest of the Mass was in Portuguese.  Fr Alan is on the left and he got to say a part in English.

As soon as Mass was over, I visited a few shops before getting on the bus.  Sometimes pilgrims would burn candles but now some are using wax body parts for parts of the body that needs healing (or perhaps have already been answered)

 Some pilgrims were know to kneel or crawl so I noticed these knee pads at one of the shops.

Since I didn't have much time, here's my rainy selfie of the cathedral I didn't get inside.

Arrived at Hotel Marques de Pombal in Lisbon.  Went to expensive restaurant recommended by hotel. Now I know why. 6 of us went there and 2 left after seeing the menu. There was fresh fish on ice tray roller cart with the eyes. So first class that the waiter even used gloves and a table crumb brush. I had truffle rissoto.

Monday Nov 11
We went to see the palace in Sintra and Paula chose to go back to Fatima to see more.    I decided on quantity rather than quality.   Shortly after the bus took off, we stopped to let John off since he wasn't feeling well.  When we got there, the printed tickets we were given by our guide on the bus were invalid.  We had to buy new tickets which are to be reimbursed.

Yep, a king size bed.

 This woman was restoring the tiles.

We had some difficulty with the validity on the group tickets that we received and had to purchase our own.  We will be reimbursed.
After that tour, we had 3 hours to roam the shops in Sintra before leaving.  I toured St Martin's (St Martinho) Church and the Quinta da Regaleira for an extra 5e.

St Martin had a Mass in progress that was nearly over so after that I took the museum tour and went in the bell tower.  The lady that took me around had poor English and I sort of helped with some poor Italian but she was delighted to show me the treasures.   No photos in the museum part.   Apparently I was told I happened to be visiting on his feast day of Nov 11.

 An old sanctuary lamp.

St Martin was a 4th century Roman soldier who is known for a certain miracle. Riding on horseback in a snowstorm, Martin came upon a nearly naked beggar. Not having any money or food, Martin took his sword, cut his cloak in half and gave the cloth to the beggar. Legend has it that clouds dispersed, the sun came out, and Jesus said to the angels, He is a Roman soldier who is not baptized.

You must click that link for other photos on a sunny day. It was a 15 min walk uphill and well worth it.  I thought it was more beautiful than the Mateaus garden.  I think I was the only one from our group to go and they really missed out.

 This is the well with many levels you can go down through the spiral stairway.  You can see a man standing there.  I just went down to this level only.

 Here I am in one of the garden's towers.  You can see the cloud cover because we were on a high hill.

Here's a photo of the hunter's dining room years ago fully dressed out.

The chapel was inspired by Manini in Milan who commissioned the work by Guiseppi Guelfi in 1908.  Inside the above chapel on the grounds:

On the ways back to Lisbon, our guide stopped at the art museum and let a few of us off to tour.  I, along with a few Brits, got off to see it.  I wanted to see as much as I could for I knew I'd never be that way again and our guide promised a 20 minute walk back to the hotel.  Well I got lost and ended up with a 3 hour 5 mile walk.

Nov 12, Our last day in Portugal.  
We had a city tour of Lisbon on the last day.  While gathering for the bus, we had our group photo taken and Father John gave us a belated veterans prayer.  We had a nice tour of Jerónimos Monastery. We got in at a good time because as we exited, there was a long line. Occasionally we would see school children on tours in uniforms or matching caps.  Here in America, school tours seem to have matching tee shirts.

Here I am at the Belem Tower in Lisbon.  I didn't go inside because of time, ticketing and the line.

This is the memorial for the Portuguese revolution.  Only 2 casualties.  It is located at the end of their central park in Lisbon.

Here's the view down the park from this revolution monument.

Our local guide showed us a place where the locals would celebrate.  It is know as Alfama District. Great Lisbon earthquake occurred in the Kingdom of Portugal on the morning of Saturday, 1 November, Feast of All Saints, at around 09:40 local time.  Many lives were lost while in church and buildings collapsed on them.  The people of Portugal remembers this day of suffering.

This is a replica of the first intercontinental aircraft, Gago Coutinho Monument Fairey IIIB seaplane named Lusitânia  , before the Lindburg flight.

Just a little farther was Waterfront Promenade Belem. 

There was a map mural on the plaza where our guide taught us the history of this port and the importance of the spice trading.

The last meal was at the Lisbon Hard Rock Cafe. 

Our waiter really liked us and stood on a chair to take this.

Our return flight from Lisbon to London on British Airways, had a more Monty Pyton style video for the safety briefing.  Oh those Brits to keep a mandatory briefing humorous.  I realize hydrating is important flying but British Airways charges for everything other than water.   I had been up since 1:30 and wanted to keep hydrated.  I was the last to get on the American Airlines flight with such slow TSA and we never left a secure area on the connecting flight.  She really took her time and scanned this wand over my computer multiple times as if to intentionally cause delay.  I didn't watch any movies going to Portugal but I watched
Kursk and Wild Rose on the way back with American Airlines.

I'm really glad I brought my yellow rain coat.  Not just for the weather but easy to spot my in the group.
Our group had about 31 people from Golden Frontier and 12 of us rode the Chatham bus (or shall I call it our little party bus).  I'm really glad to travel while I still can.  There were a number of seniors on this trip with canes and even a motorized chair that couldn't get to some of the places that I went to.  Some had to stay on the bus. 

More photos here 
https://www.goldenfrontier.org/dir.cfm//Gallery//