We awoke to beautiful weather, in the 50’s. 3 buses left at 8:30. Two were going to a wine tasting at Quinta do Tedo, a 35-acre vineyard and winery in Pinhao. We signed up for the hike in the vineyards – I wanted to test my new knee. The hike was described as a very strenuous hike through the vineyards, climbing up steep uneven terrain. Right up my alley. The countryside is beautiful, and we drove on very narrow curved roads to get to the winery.
We had 2 people from the ship who accompanied the 15 or so hikers, and from the get go, it was hard. 4 of them dropped far behind the rest, and we hadn’t started the climb, yet. It reminded me of the rocky climbs in the Galapagos, but I did well, and so did Carl. Filippo, our guide, took this picture near the top.
We only hiked about 45 minutes because the 4 stragglers couldn’t finish. We were able to join the others for the wine tasting. This region grows grapes for port, and the port was delicious. As we climbed, we tasted the grapes, and they were very sweet.
As soon as everyone returned to the ship, it departed for Vega de Terron. We walked the sun deck before attending Matt Bailey’s first lecture on the history of the Spanish & Portuguese languages. The pace of the activities has been very nice.
Filippo spent 1 hour after the talk helping me resize photos so that I could insert some into this blog. I’ll have more time to work on this tomorrow.
Dinner was spent with Canadians from Ontario and Vancouver, and the food was delicious. It’s been a great day.