Douro Valley is famous for having thousands of vineyards which is how Porto became famous for its Port wine.
The drive to Douro Valley was about 2 hours and we set out not knowing which winery we were going to visit since there was an overwhelming amount to choose from. The whole car ride to the valley was Alex yelling at kids to make an "executive decision" as to what vineyard we were going to. I was frantically calling up wineries trying to get reservations at some of the bigger wineries. All the wineries were only offering afternoon reservations though. In the end, Alex overruled the executive decision of Babbaloo and I by just pulling off to the first wine tasting sign he saw.
This winery was tiny and had been kept within the family since the 1900s. They did not even have labels on their wine; it was such a tiny place. The tasting room had one table in which a 63 year old man and his son who was about my age were seated at. They were from Belgium so we talked a lot about Belgium and Maastricht. I told them I biked to Liege a lot and they thought it was 100 km! I fact checked them to find it was only 33 km so I guess they really didn't know where Maastricht was. They were nice people and fun to joke around with.
The wine tasting consisted of 2 red wines, 2 white wines, and then 3 port wines which they were most famous for. They gave so much wine in each glass the 3 of us shared one tasting. The boys were joking that no one comes to Porto to buy wine, they all want to buy port. Port can also be opened and kept for years since it does not go bad. I liked the port wine much better than the regular wine and we took home 2 bottles with us.
Next on our Douro Valley wine tour we drove to the Douro river to see the viewpoint. It was a really pretty backdrop with the rows and rows of vineyards with the river snaking through them. Some areas on the hillside were so steep, the vineyard had to be placed pretty far apart. It was very hot in the Douro Valley which I loved and we went for a little walk along the river longing to be on one of the boat cruises.
For dinner we had the most incredible dining experience! There was a short wait for the restaurant Almada 133 so in the meantime, the host brought us wine and chatted us up. While we were waiting, we then met a boy from Hungary who ended up eating with us! He was a software engineer so him and Alex were really going at it. The restaurant was very intimate with maybe 6 small tables and the kitchen in the back. The waiters kept coming around bringing us more food and wine and shots. We had a lot to drink today! It was such a fun environment. The host kept introducing everyone to one another which made it a very homey environment. I ordered the black linguine and it was very good. I would go back to the restaurant just for the vibe! Best of all we were not charged for any of the alcohol!
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