by Jim Bellomo | Nov 5, 2024 | Uncategorized
Whew! We are home, but to be honest, I am still having a hard time remembering what day it is. Hopefully, I will get over that soon. Jet lag is pretty much over, but real life is intruding into my travel life. It’s so much fun (sarcasm here) getting home to more than 200 emails I had been just throwing into a folder in Mail to be read when we were home. Now, I have to read them and respond to them. I want to go on vacation again.
Our trip home was pretty decent. The airports got the wheelchair stuff for Kathleen correct this time. British Airways surprised us with two decent Indian meals on two flights. We stayed overnight at a Terminal 5 hotel (Sofitel) and found that we liked the Terminal 3 hotel (Hilton Garden Inn) we had stayed in last June a lot better. Our flight was on time, our luggage showed up quickly, we looked at the camera in passport control, and we were out of there in less than 15 minutes from when we got off the plane. Our Welcome Pickups guy grabbed us, and with the light traffic after 7:00, we were home in no time. Kathleen was off to bed. I got the mail, watched the Dodgers win the World Series and then hit the hay. A good end to a great trip.
Madrid
Going back to the very beginning, we liked Madrid a lot. We stayed at the Hotel Preciados in downtown. As you may recall, we toured for three full days: one in Toledo (our best day), one in Segovia (another great day), and one in Madrid itself, which could have been better. Read all about those in previous posts. The summary of Madrid was that we had a great time, and we’ve now been there and done that. It’s now crossed off our list, and we won’t be going back. A nice city, but it was no Edinburgh or Amsterdam for us—but we are glad we visited once.
Lisbon with Viking
The next stop was Lisbon before our Douro River cruise. As soon as we got there, we met Marianne, who was amazing. She was not only the person directing our pre-cruise stay in Lisbon but also the Program Director on our entire river cruise. She proved to be one of the best parts of the whole 10 days we spent with Viking. Her laugh, her sense of humor and the fact that she was always UP and always FUN made her someone we will remember for quite a while. More about Marianne later.
Sadly, as you have read, when we were touring Lisbon with Viking, Fatima, the worst guide I have ever experienced, ruined the entire experience for me. Not only would she not shut up, but she insulted me, too.
Our Douro River Cruise
OK, this is what you have been waiting for—how was the cruise? In a quick word, it was awesome. We love river cruising. We really didn’t discover how much we liked it with our Christmas Market cruise on the Danube last winter because it was so darned cold. So, if you have done a Christmas Market cruise, go back and do a warm weather cruise like the Douro and see what you missed.
One of my absolute favorite things about this cruise was seeing the cruise. By that, I mean that on our Danube cruise, most of the movement on the river was accomplished either at night when we were asleep or during the day when we were on an excursion. My absolute favorite part of our Douro River cruise was sailing on the river. I think I mentioned in a previous post that I could do this cruise again and never get off the ship. Seriously, my favorite days were the ones where we spent the majority of the time sailing on the river and watching Portugal go by.
Shore Excursions
Don’t get me wrong, the shore excursions were just fine. If I had to rate them, I would put Salamanca, Spain as #1 because it was like going back to what Europe used to be in the early 2,000s before over-tourism started. I also enjoyed the short visit to Castelo Rodrigo. I mean, the castle was nice, but the best part was that it was brief. We sailed most of the day and then did about a three-hour excursion to a somewhat interesting place. Probably my third favorite was the second half of our first day when we visited the Mateus Palace. What snoozer. But the second half of the day was to visit the Sandeman winery, where they make their wonderful port wine, and be shown around by a guide who really knew what she was talking about and made the tour fun. That was it. The rest of the days, the excursion was either blah (Favios), or we didn’t go (Lamego).
The ship/boat
I really have yet to spend any time discussing the ship itself. Unlike the Viking Longship, we sailed on the Danube, the Douro River boats (you can put a boat on a ship, but you can’t put a ship on a boat, and I think you could put a Douro River boat on a big ocean-going vessel) are smaller due to the smaller locks they must get through. So, instead of carrying up to 190 passengers like the Danube boats do, the Douro River boats carry a maximum of 106, and ours only had 99. That makes so much difference. It’s much more intimate. You get to know most of the crew because there are only 36 of them. And they all do all sorts of jobs. One of our favorite people onboard was Mitra. His official title (on his name tag) said, “Bar Chef.” He was the best bartender on board, and he really kept things going in the lounge. But he was also the sommelier in the dining room and helped out waiting on tables or restocking the buffet as well. Our favorite server in the dining room, Ovi, not only served us dinner but also was the crew member who walked us to our stateroom on embarkation to show us how everything worked. She often worked in the lounge serving drinks. The lady got around.
Embarkation/Disembarkation
Speaking of embarkation…those of you who have suffered through a three-hour embarkation as we did in May 2023 to get on Koningsdam in Vancouver or anything like it will LOVE embarkation on a river cruise. Especially this one. Since we had spent two days with Viking in Lisbon before we boarded the boat, they had everyone on one of four “luxury motor coaches,” and they staggered their morning departures, which meant that each of the “luxury motor coaches” made it to the ship about 15 to 20 minutes apart. So when we arrived, we went up the gangway, and they asked us our names. We were escorted (us by Ovi) to our stateroom, and our luggage arrived minutes later.
Disembarkation was just as efficient. We were given a list of when every stateroom would be getting off (we had been asked in advance how we would be leaving the ship) and told to put our big luggage out in the hallway outside our rooms 15 minutes before we would get off. Then, at our appointed time, we got up and got off. Simple as that. It really pays to be on a smaller boat.
Our stateroom
Our stateroom was a suite. There, I said it. We splurged and booked a suite. It wasn’t that much more, but it got us some things we really wanted. The first was an actual extra room. We had both a living room and a bedroom. Not to mention a walk-in closet and a smallish bath (smaller than on our Danube cruise). So when I would wake up really early, I could sit in the living room and work on photos or on a new post without waking up Kathleen or needing to get completely dressed and go to the lounge.
The other reason we LOVED this suite was…free laundry. Yes, folks, we could send out as much laundry as we wanted, and it was included. On our Danube cruise, we had sent out a few things because we had already been in Lisbon for a few days, and then we did Prague and Nuremberg as a pre-cruise extension, so when we got on, we needed to have some things washed. But the prices were OFF THE CHARTS! As I recall, I got one pair of jeans, two pairs of socks, and two shirts, and it cost me $20. On Viking Torgil, we got to the ship with lots of dirty laundry from four days in Madrid, two nights in Lisbon and a single suitcase each. We immediately sent out all our dirty laundry (they gave us two really nice-sized bags to send it out in) and had it back early the next day. From that point on, I pretty much sent out laundry every day. Whatever I wore the day before, send it out! And it got to the point where it would come back on the same day.
If you would like to see photos of the suite, you may have to wait. I suddenly realized when we got home that I had never really taken any pictures of the suite. I had a couple (the bedroom and bathroom) but missed the living room. But never fear; you will be able to see a whole bunch soon because Mike and Cathy had the same type of suite we did, and Mike always does an awesome job of taking ship/boat/stateroom photos. His review of the cruise with all those photos should be out soon (HEY MIKE—is the review done yet? ?). When it is done, I will post about it, and you can find it right here at www.thepreismans.com. In the meantime, here are a few photos I took of our room.
The bedroom.
The bathroom
The shower. Smaller than on their ocean ships.
Our walk in closet
The Food
Everyone wants to know about the food on a cruise. We have found that Viking does a “fine” job of food on its ocean and river cruises. By that, we mean we like the food. It’s not gourmet, and it doesn’t hold a candle to Oceania. But our most memorable meals on this trip came when we were off the boat (lunch in Toledo and lunch in Cascais come to mind).
On board Viking Torgil, we had a wonderful British chef named Michael Bee Venet. I say he is wonderful less for his culinary skills than for his wonderful personality. Every night, he would preview the meal at our pre-dinner destination talk. He was hilarious. He also regularly stopped by everyone’s table. At breakfast, he would often come around with a special baked good and serve it to us himself.
But we thought his food was oversalted. Sometimes, it was just finishing salt. Some soups were fine when you got down below the surface, but those first three spoonfuls were very salty. We also thought the food was better at the beginning of the week than at the end. It wasn’t bad, just not as good. On a scale of one to ten, it was an eight when we started and a six when we finished.
By the way, when you take a Douro river cruise, you eat all your meals in the dining room. It is totally casual. I think we only saw anyone in anything dressy twice. OMG— people wore shorts in the dining room. We wore jeans and tennis shoes. On our Danube cruise, there was a small buffet area at the front of the boat, but not on the smaller Douro boat. It was the dining room or hunger.
All in all, the food was good and plentiful, and we had nothing to complain about…or wait! I want to complain about the bread. It was too good. Seriously, it may be the best bread I have had on any cruise. Delicious—and I ate way too much of it. Oh, and there were fewer veggies than we would have liked as well. Kind of like our ocean cruise on Viking Venus in June; there was a lot of red meat, which we try to avoid at home. Here’s a gallery of some dishes we ate on this trip. I will try to tell you where we ate them, but if you like great food, check them out. All were shot with my phone, so feel free to look at them on yours. Remember, you can click them to enlarge them and scroll through. I’ll start with some photos of where we all ate.
At our usual table in the dining room on Torgil.
And all of us at the Fado dinner.
Kathleen and I at Botin Restaurant, the oldest in the world. Opened in 1725.
The gazpacho at Botin
The suckling pig specialty of the house at Botin.
They also did young lamb.
But pretty much everyone had the pig.
Botin had great desserts. Especially this Catalan version of creme brûlée
And some flan for Mike.
While in Madrid, Cathy, Mike and I went to a tapas place one night. They had amazing eggplant.
As well as patatas bravas.
When I Madrid, you have to try churros and chocolate.
One day in Madrid Kathleen and I had this awesome salad for lunch and…
this wafer thin pizza. Salad was great. Pizza was not.
Stuffed peppers in Segovia
I think our best meal was in Toledo. This is my pork. Amazing.
Mike and Steve had the boar cheeks. They raved about it.
But the dessert—manchego cheese cake—was the best of the trip for rme.
They had some interesting deserts.
A pizza we had later in the trip In Salamanca, Spain.
Chorizo on the table in Segovia.
Some really great Segovian chorizo.
As always in Portugal, I ate a lot of octopus.
Lots of octopus. I think I had it at least four times. Probably more.
Of course Cathy had to have a burger. Sometimes you just need a taste of home.
When we stopped for lunch between Lisbon and Porto we got chicken or…
Portugal’s national food—reconstructed cod.
Onboard Mike got the biggest tiger prawns we have seen.
And a nice risotto
Something else we ate on board. I can’t remember what it was but it was good.
A delicious orange cake on Torgil.
And I got a hot dog! It’s a Bob thing. Only he understands.
When we stopped in the Lebanese place in Lisbon, the tabouli was excellent.
At the Fado show we got some decent soup.
My entrée at the Fado show.
I almost forgot the “Steve Test.” For those of you unfamiliar with the Steve Test. I call this the Steve Test because my brother Steve came up with it. I think it’s brilliant. This is the entire test: If you eat in a restaurant while traveling, and if that restaurant is near you once you get home, would you go there again? If it were in your hometown, would we eat there regularly? For this trip, the places that passed the Steve test were Clandestina in Toledo, the Lebanese restaurant behind the TimeOut Market and a few of the meals on Torgil, but the ultimate A+ on the Steve Test went to the Chicken restaurant in Cascais on the day we toured Sintra. I know my brother believes it’s the best chicken he has ever had.
Entertainment
If you have been reading my stuff for a while, you know we have kind of given up on shows. Besides, they really don’t have shows on river cruises. However, they did have some great entertainers come on board while we were in ports, and Mike will have photos of those, I am sure. He can stay up later than we can. But I did want to mention two of the best entertainers I have ever seen on a ship—river or ocean.
The first is not really an entertainer but a server in the restaurant. He was kind of in charge of singing Happy Birthday to anyone celebrating one. He also was a total clown. He has a great voice, but what really makes him GREAT is his face. He can turn it into the absolute funniest looks you have ever seen. Here are a few shots of our buddy Agus doing his thing.
He was singing to a woman who was celebrating her birthday.
See what I mean about his face.
No accompaniment.
He has a thousand of looks.
And is truly an amazing performer and a really nice guy.
He was so special that I am going to try to add a video I took of him. If it works, it’s right here. IT WORKED!
The other amazing performer on the ship was our wonderful, incredible, marvelous, fantastic Program Director, Marianne. We had heard that she was going to sing one night after dinner in the lounge. We were both pretty tired, but I persuaded Kathleen to go, and were we ever glad we did. She was all those adjectives I put up above and more. It might be the best show I have ever seen on any ship or boat. For sure, it was the most fun. And now that I got the Agus video to load, here’s a little bit of Marianne’s show.
Besides being the best Program/Cruise Director we have ever sailed with (35+ cruises), she is one of the nicest and most caring people you will ever meet. We would take a cruise she was on just to sail with her.
To Sum Up
How much did we enjoy this river cruise? For the first time in more than twenty years (since we took our first Panama Canal cruise on Celebrity’s Infinity in 2004), we don’t have an ocean cruise booked, and we don’t think we will take one in the foreseeable future. We have booked a Chobe River cruise in Africa, a Columbia River Cruise, and a Great Lakes cruise, but that’s it. We can’t think of anywhere that big-ship ocean cruises go that we still really want to see. We aren’t saying we wouldn’t go if friends wanted to go together, but we have been there and done that just about everywhere ocean cruises go. I guess we are now river cruise people.
WAIT! I almost forgot the best part of the entire trip—getting to travel once again with Steve, Jamie, Mike and Cathy—our October gang. We will all do it again next October when we cruise the Columbia River between Washington and Oregon.
No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man. —Heraclitus
by Jim Bellomo | Oct 30, 2024 | Uncategorized
Yesterday (our last day in Portugal), we (everyone except Kathleen, who was still battling her cold) woke up early and were met by our guide, Alex, from Top Ten Tours.
We tried to tour with Alex when we were here in December, according to Mike’s recommendation, but he was booked. Since Mike was with us this time, he set it up, and we were so glad we got to tour with Alex on this return trip. He met us right on time and drove us to the Pena Palace in Sintra. He had everything prearranged, and we were in the first group through the palace. His knowledge of his subject was outstanding, and his delivery was fun but informative.
Sintra was the summer home (even though it is less than an hour from Lisbon) of the Portuguese Royal Family (when they had one), and it is at a higher and more humid elevation, so it was cooler in the summer. The palace is incredibly colorful. I will say that the further away you are, the more beautiful it looks. That’s because it really needs a paint job. Two hundred-year-old buildings have gutters that really leach out onto the paint. You will have to see my photos to see what I mean. No matter if they are dirty, the Palace is magnificent, and I hope you like the images. BTW: I was amazed when I started processing them because of the blue sky and the incredible light; these are right out of the camera. Don’t forget; if you click the first shot, you can scroll through with your arrow keys or by swiping. And PLEASE…don’t look at my photography on a phone. Please…
Heading into the Pena Palace..
The colors just do it.
Triton is holding everything up.
See what I mean about the sky.
Looking back towards Lisbon.
And back at parts of the Palace.
With Lisbon in the distance.
It truly is a cool place.
Lots of yellow and red and some blue.
As well as typical Portuguese tiles.
Looking out to sea.
And back in the Palace.
The roof to the chapel.
A small sundial.
The clock tower.
It is truly an original place.
Back to Trident.
This is a close up of what he had around him.
And a close up of some of the tiles.
The tower.
The courtyard of the Palace.
You know how I love gargoyles. This guy seemed nice.
The red tower again.
Looking through a window at the castle below.
Another view to Lisbon and the Taugus River.
And back at the Pena.
Can’t get enough of this clock tower.
Inside, I liked this wood carved statue.
And this wood carving of a great battle.
This is a close up of the wood carvings.
More towers.
More gargoyles. This one is a gutter spout.
Catholics of the time believe only God could make something perfect so there is one tile here that isn’t.
Can you find it?
This is in the village of Sintra, below the Pena Palace.
A very cute little village that has gone touristy.
We were here in December and almost by ourselves.
I shot this builiding in December but the light was better yesterday.
Looking UP at the castle in silhouette.
And another view of the village.
And my attempt to capture the village building and the castle above it.
We spent almost two and a half hours at the palace, and then he dropped us in the village for some shopping and photo time before picking us up again to take us to lunch in Cascais at a local restaurant that served basically the best chicken I have ever eaten and french fries. What more could you want? We were obviously the only non-locals there, and Alex made us promise not to name the place. He said if you’re going to find it, you will have to tour with him. Suffice it to say that we would all do this tour again just for that lunch. Here are a few photos I took in Cascais.
The wavy tiles in front of the municipal building.
An enormous tile painting.
This inlet is part of the Atlantic and there is a bridge across it.
Who knew there was a bridge across the Atlantic? This is what was on the other side.
After lunch, we were off to The End of the World (where Europeans originally thought the world ended or you fell off the edge), a beautiful place. See the pics. Don’t forget; if you click the first shot, you can scroll through with your arrow keys or by swiping. And PLEASE…don’t look at my photography on a phone. Please…
The End of the World.
The lighthouse at the End of the World.
The rocks below the lighthouse at the End of the World.
The abbey above the rocks, that are above the lighthouse that is at the End of the World.
That about sums up our tour with Alex. He was an excellent guide, and he knows where to find the best chicken I had ever eaten and could never replicate.
Back at the hotel, Kathleen was awake and feeling better, so we all went out for one last farewell meal together at the rooftop bar of the hotel next door to ours. The two hotels are under the same ownership, so we got a discount for dinner, but it still wasn’t worth it. I forgot the old adage that if you get a view, the service and food probably aren’t that great…that was the case here. But I did get a few great photos of Lisbon at night to close out the trip.
The castle was all lit up.
Along with the city below it.
But it is clearly the star.
And so is the year-round Christmas Market in the square about a block from our hotel.
And that concludes our 21-day journey all over the Iberian Peninsula. We had an awesome time, and I will be back tomorrow with a breakdown of our flight home, our night in London and all the fun stuff that happened in between. Then, I promise by the weekend, you will get a full report on the cruise and the trip, highlighting the best parts.
An Editor’s Note: If you like reading about traditional ocean cruising, please check out my British buddy Wansbrough’s cruise blog, which you can find by clicking here. He and his lovely bride (who is a vegan, so you get a new perspective on cruise food) are currently doing a circumnavigation of Australia, and I am loving reading about it. He blogs every day, and you will like it if you are into traditional ocean cruising.
There’s a great tradition in storytelling that’s thousands of years old, telling stories about kings and their palaces, and that’s really what I wanted to do. —Aaron Sorkin
by Jim Bellomo | Oct 28, 2024 | Uncategorized
After the cruise (besides the day it took to drive down), we planned to spend three extra days in Lisbon. Each day had one major planned event or tour, and the rest of the day was spent either seeing sights or nursing a cold. I have decided that since we were in Lisbon before (if you missed it, just search Lisbon) last December, I didn’t need to take as many photos. With daylight savings time here in Portugal still in effect until Sunday morning, taking an “early morning, pre-dawn photo walk meant missing breakfast and being late for a tour.
Before I get into what we did, I want to say a couple of things about the hotel we are staying in: the Hotel Portugal. We stayed here last December and really loved it. I can honestly say that after four nights here this time, I don’t think I would come back. The first time we were here, we had their basic room, and it was on the first floor (the lobby is on floor zero, as in most European countries). This time, we are on the third floor but at the very end of the hotel. This is an upgraded room. A little bigger and nicer. The only problem is that this hotel sits on top of the subway. So, about every 15 minutes, a train runs under it. In the first-floor room, we were in the center of the hotel, and we barely felt the train. In this room, at the end of the hotel, even in a third-floor room, we are truly feeling it. You would think a 737 was taking off next door every time a subway train runs by. They have also changed their superb (and included) breakfast from a table service to a buffet. I liked the old way better. I can still recommend this hotel, but they should have a warning on the rooms at the end that the noise would be much louder. By the third night, we had gotten used to it, but it was still a pain. Right now (I am writing this at 5:00 a.m.) no cars. They don’t start until around 6:00.
Day one—Lunch at TimeOut Market and a Fado Show
Our only plans for our first full day in Lisbon were to have a late lunch at the TimeOut Market and to attend a Fado show that night. In case you weren’t around for our first Lisbon trip, Fado is the national music of Portugal. Think of it as historical blues performed by two guitars and a singer. When we were here in December, we did a show that did not turn out well because of circumstances we weren’t prepared for. This time, we thought if everyone else wanted to try a show, we knew how to work it this time.
First, you have a big and late lunch. Because a Fado show is a dinner show, you will not even get in until 8:00 p.m., and by the time they take your order, get you wine and bring the appetizers, it will be close to 9:00. In December, we had done lunch at noon, and by the time the food came we were starving. Also, we didn’t plan well on our previous trip because we had done it our last night in Lisbon when we were flying out early the next morning, so we spent the entire show looking at our watches and finally cut out early as we had to be up to go to the airport a few hours later. This time, we went on a night when we didn’t have anything to do the next morning until our food tour at 11:00 a.m. (more about that later) so we could sleep in. We tried a different Fado Show at a place called A Severa. It was better than the other place but not by much. The service was better, but you are really paying for the show (which is free, but you must buy at least $45 of food and drink per person). The performances were good. You got your appetizers; they sang four songs. You got your entrées, they sang four songs. You got your dessert, and they sang four more. We made it through the entrée group before we had to bail because two of our party had those nasty colds and needed rest and to stop coughing. But it was just fine. It’s the kind of thing you need to experience once when you are here. So if you come, I can recommend this place.
But I forgot to tell you about lunch. We decided to go for a 2:00 p.m. lunch at the TimeOut Market. Think of this market as a HUGE mall food court. Restaurant booths with all kinds of food are all around a gigantic room with tables in the middle. Sounds great, right? Well, not so much at 2:00 p.m. on a Saturday afternoon. After Ubering over in two cars, we walked all the way around the perimeter of the room and found not a single place to sit for anyone, let alone six people together. The entire place was packed. You could barely move. We bailed. Crowds are no longer our thing. No food was worth fighting that. But the lunch gods were with us. I looked on Google Maps for a restaurant nearby, and it showed me a Lebanese restaurant called Mankooche. We all love Lebanese food, so I said I would go and scout it out while the others waited.
The only problem was I couldn’t find the restaurant. I walked back and forth on the street where it should have been, and Google Maps kept telling me, “You have arrived,” but I hadn’t. I could not find it. Finally, I walked a whole block past where Google Maps said it was, and when I returned to meet up with the group, I saw a small signboard with an arrow that said, “Secret Lebanese restaurant through this door.” Really. So we went in, and the food, service and ambiance were perfect. Just incredible. One of our best lunches of the trip. So, if you come to Lisbon and get knocked out of the TimeOut Market due to the crowds, this is the place you want. Hard to find but amazing. Here are some pics I took during that day. Captions will explain. No phones, please.
I did take a bit of a walk in the morning.
Found some cool streets.
Lisbon is a very walkable city…
…if you don’t mind the uphill.
Went back to couple of places I had shot from in December.
Then I had been alone.
Now the place is swamped.
Two big cruise ships meant a lot of people but I managed to get some shots with no one in them.
And the world’s largest bougainvillea.
And of course the #28, Lisbon’s most famous tram.
The TimeOut Market.
A solid mass of humanity.
Coming up to the Pink Street.
Found four people with umbrellas that matched the street.
Dancing around in the rain.
This is the party street at night.
Looked like Pepto Bismol to me.
But in the distance I saw a political march.
According to my translation of the signs…
…some of the people were in support of the police…
…while others were calling them crooks.
Who knows? It was interesting.
Day 2—A food tour with Fred
The one thing we couldn’t wait to do when we came back to Lisbon was to do another food tour with Fred from Eating Europe. We had done a different tour with Fred last December (he is a little scruffier now), and we had LOVED IT! So, we wanted to take the rest of our group on a tour to have a chance to experience Fred. His real name is Frederico, and by day, he is a humble food tour guide who has a vast knowledge of Lisbon and true culinary expertise. However, his real secret is that at night, he works as a stand-up comic. This means that besides great food and great info, you get hilarious laughs. I could tell you a lot more, but why bother? This is a MUST-DO if you come to Lisbon. Contact Eating Europe, choose any of their tours and specify that you HAVE TO TOUR WITH FRED! You will not regret it. That’s all I need to say. The food was great and included five stops for some of the best food we have had on the trip. Most voted at the end for the grilled chorizo at the first place we visited as their favorite food, not counting the pastries we had as dessert to finish the tour. But forget the food—this tour is about the amazing Fred, who loves food and his city.
That covers our first and second days in Lisbon (except I forgot to mention that Kathleen missed Fred because her cold was so bad ?). Our third and last day will be in the next post because we visited the amazing Pena Palace in Sintra, and I have a BUNCH of photos. Stay tuned. We are off to London for the first leg of our trip home and I will probably get that one done tonight.
Comedy has to be based on truth. You take the truth and you put a little curlicue at the end. —Sid Caesar
by Jim Bellomo | Oct 23, 2024 | Uncategorized
Kathleen and I started coming to Europe in 2002 when we went to Italy for the first time. Since then, we have been back at least 20 times. We genuinely love this continent. But I am sure you have seen the protests due to over-tourism. That’s a problem many tourist destination cities are having, with too many people showing up and using up all the local resources and overcrowding cities, especially cruise ports. But our visit to Salamanca, Spain, was like going back in time—a European city before tourism discovered it. Don’t get me wrong, there were still souvenir shops and tourist cafes, but it just reminded us of the first time we were in places like Venice, Florence, Barcelona or Palermo.
Our day (like most days when you cruise the Douro River) started with a long ride on a “luxury motor coach” from our mooring spot on the river up the canyons and then a long drive on the plateau above the river. This one was our longest ride but with the biggest reward. It was also (at nine hours) the longest we would be away from the Torgil. Again, I can’t stress enough how great the “luxury motor coaches” Viking uses here on the Douro are. They are truly luxurious. It helps so much to face a 3+ hour drive (round trip) on a bus when it has so much legroom, decent WiFi and an excellent guide who tells you what you want to know and lets you look out the window (on the way there) or sleep (on the way back).
After a “comfort stop” about halfway there, we arrived in Salamanca around 10:00 a.m. with no expectations. Our first stop was the local Mercado (market). It’s not a big market—about one-tenth the size of La Bocadilla in Barcelona or about one-quarter the size of Pike Place Market in Seattle. Viking had arranged a cheese, sausage and wine tasting. And as our guide, Marianna, said, “It’s 5:00 p.m. somewhere.” The tiny bites (billed as tapas—which they weren’t) were just right for that time of the day. I skipped the wine. It has become my experience that if they give you red wine in the morning at a stand-up spot in a market, it’s not going to be the best wine ever. Here are some shots I took in the market and on the river that morning. No reminder is needed for my regular readers.
Early morning on the Douro.
It is such a peaceful river.
And the natural beauty is everywhere.
Now in Salamanca, the first building we saw.
Where this man was relaxing but had been there far too long.
Outside the market was a woman cutting something.
After the “tapas,” we were broken up into smaller groups, and each group got a local guide who let us explore the city further. We got fortunate with our guide, Maria Carmen (she said to call her Mamen). She was one of the best we had on the whole cruise. She knew her city and had a wonderful sense of humor. Sadly, she was not with us all day, but just enough that we truly got the flavor of her city. Her part of the tour started in the Plaza Mayor (I think every Spanish city has one of these) and took us through the University to the old and new cathedrals. They were genuinely unusual cathedrals as they were attached to each other, and you could move freely between them. Mamen got us right up to the steps of the new cathedral before she let us go off on our own—one note here about how great Viking was on this tour. Once we were no longer touring with Mamen, they had made arrangements in advance that if we just showed our Viking lanyard (attached to our Quiet Vox listening devices—see the one on Mamen’s neck above), we could get into many attractions and Viking paid the entrance fee. That’s classy. I think the best way for me to show you what we saw later in the tour is to post the photos with some short and sweet captions. Don’t forget; if you click the first shot, you can scroll through with your arrow keys or by swiping. And PLEASE…don’t look at my photography on a phone. Please…
Our starting spot in Plaza Mayor.
One corner of the plaza.
Now out of the plaza and moving through the city.
Down narrow streets.
To a nice church we couldn’t go into.
But had a great tower.
Now further along to another old church that is now a library.
With a statue and fountain outside.
And next to it the library with a beautiful façade.
Lots of steps.
This wall with seashells. Mamen said to come back later when the sun was on the wall for diagonal lines.
Mamen explains the sculptures on the walls.
Like this one.
And this one…
And this one…
And this one…
And this one…
And this one that had a very creepy legend about if you could spot it you had good luck with the ladies but then ended up dying and going to hell.
The blue skies and great buildings kept calling my lens.
Just beautiful.
After our first day of rain…
…these skies have been our constant companion.
From in the courtyard of the library.
Looking out.
Reminded me of the shots I got in the Belém monastery.
And now the cathedral.
In front of this cathedral was another church.
Looking up at the new cathedral façade.
And above the doors another set of characters.
Including a spaceman added a long time after the building of the cathedral.
And another shot before I went inside.
Now that Mamen had let us go, I decided to tour the cathedral quickly before heading back to Plaza Mayor, where Kathleen awaited. I am truly glad I did. I don’t usually take a lot of photos of the insides of churches. I leave that to my buddy Mike. In fact, Bob (my best Canadian friend) and I like to make fun of Mike for all the cathedral photos he takes. Don’t believe me? Wait until Mike posts his review of this trip, and I will link it so you can see 10x the photos I took in this church…and all the other churches in the world ?.
But this cathedral was so beautiful, I just kept taking photo after photo. See for yourself. Pretend the usual warning about phones is here, OK?
This spot was awe-inspiring.
As was this one.
The doors were very traditional but some of the art was very “interesting.”
Like this piece which was as big as a garage door.
Which was right across from this very traditional chapel.
And that was right next to this more modern piece which was as high as a three-story building.
Which was across from this very traditional altar piece.
All of these were in this wing of the new cathedral.
Including this huge door.. It was the size of two garage doors, side by side with five more doors on top of them.
I couldn’t get into the middle of the cathedral so this seems off-center.
Sorry.
One of the side chapels.
The pulpit.
Looking to back of the cathedral from the center of the choir area.
The stalls in the choir area. Intereting carving.
The back side of the organ.
The knave leading to the old cathedra.
Looking towards the altar of the old cathedral.
The up close view of the altar of the old cathedral.
Looking up at the dome of the old cathedral.
Maybe, the founders of the old cathedral are buried here.
The last room in the old cathedral.
Once outside two photos of the cathedral looking back.
This is number 2.
They do nice manhole covers.
One last thing before we leave Salamanca. While waiting with Kathleen, I took did street photography and want to share them. It’s the best thing a photographer can do to capture the heart of a city.
I love the look of European school kids.
And old men in bright jackets on the phone.
And people trying to figure out where the hell they are.
Locals looking in disgust at tourists.
People with dogs…
And college professors coming out of tobacco shops fully dressed for success.
After our excursion, I met Kathleen, and we grabbed a snack (a pizza and two glasses of wine for less than 12 euros—what a deal), met the rest of the gang, had a gelato (so we could have a place to sit), met up with the big group and then went to an old casino (now used as a convention/banquet space) where Viking had snacks for us. We skipped them (pretty dry sandwiches), but we were returning to the ship in less than 20 minutes, which was GREAT! We had a fantastic time in Salamanca, which to me is what Europe used to be like. Sadly, I am sure if I came back in five years, it would be overrun as well.
Overtourism is like planning a dinner party for 12 and 12,000 showing up. —Elizabeth Becker, noted tourism expert
by Jim Bellomo | Oct 20, 2024 | Uncategorized
We are on board and sailing. Sorry about the lack of posts yesterday, but it was a very busy day, and I am still not sure I will get this one out today. There are lots of things to take pictures of, lots of food to eat and lots of other stuff going on. So away we go.
After our long bus ride from Lisbon to Porto, we boarded the Viking Torgil. And I took the photo at the top of this page from our verandah on the ship. We are in Suite (yes, we got a suite) 320. It’s an actual suite with a living room and a separate bedroom. It’s really nice. And it has a balcony and a verandah. I will take some pics later and let you see it.
One thing that is totally different about this river cruise from our Danube Christmas Market cruise last December is that the ship sailed down (or was it up?) the Danube in the middle of the night. We would go to bed in one place and wake up in another. This does not happen on the Douro. The authority that makes the river’s navigation rules will not allow ships to sail in the dark. There seems to be some discussion of when dark really is (the ships go by what is called Nautical Twilight—about an hour before actual dawn), but they can’t start moving until then. So that means we get to see a lot more of the river…which is beautiful. We left Porto early in the morning (around 6:00 am) when it was still almost dark. I was up and shooting when we pulled out and here’s my first set of photos of Porto in the dark. A bunch of bridges and some great churches and hotels are lit up. It was just beautiful. So, take a look at my first batch, and I will be back with the narrative in a few minutes. Don’t forget; if you click the first shot, you can scroll through with your arrow keys or by swiping. And PLEASE…don’t look at my photography on a phone. Please…
The city as we left.
This beautiful hotel is totally lit up at night.
It just draws your eye and my lens.
This church did the same thing.
Here’s the hotel again.
And the general harbor area.
As we sailed on, it got lighter (that is how the earth works…I think ?), and we got to see much more of the river. When you sail the Duoro, you soon discover that about half the buildings you see are very old and, in many cases, abandoned. But they are great subjects for photography. The other subject that grabs the eye is the terraced vineyards. You will see them throughout my photos on this trip. Here are a few more from later in the morning (I had to stop to eat breakfast ?.) By now, you know how to see them.
See what I mean about buildings…
they just keep coming.
But sometimes you get a rower.
Or a whole bunch of them.
In differeent skulls.
And more buildings.
And more.
And more
And terraced landscapes.
A palatial estate.
A statue in a town we floated through.
Another villa.
Passing another cruise ship going west.
These are the boats that dredge the river.
Lots of green everywhere.
I liked the orange on this house.
I find this photo very restful.
Mour houses
These guys were fishing and one of the crew says they throw the fish that are too small back down the tubes.
Saw a heron/crane/bird.
This is the ultimate calming photo. Totally serene.
Terraces again.
Houses again.
Birds again.
Another ship coming…
…and going.
Houses again
See
A different kind of fisherman.
A cool winery.
A close-up of their tile.
More terraces and a building
Another calm spot on the river.
And a beautiful rock formation.
One of the great things about being on a boat this small is that you get to know every person on the crew. I have made friends with a sailor who works with the captain (who is only in his 30s—YIKES! I have kids a lot older than that), and he asked the captain if Mike, Steve and I could join them in the wheelhouse. That was cool. Watching him navigate the river and the locks is something. The Douro is a twisty river with some very narrow spots and five large locks we have to go through. The depth also varies from 100 meters to as little as three meters. That’s almost scary, but our captain does a great job. And it was nice of him to let us tour his work area.
Our captain may have been young, but you should see him pilot this boat. He had to transition five locks on the Douro, including the Carrapatelo Lock, Europe’s highest lock. If you have been through the Panama Canal, imagine a smaller lock that is 35 meters high. That’s just over 114 feet high. Sailing into that lock is scary. And what made it worse was that it started to pour just as we arrived. My photos of our transitioning this lock don’t do the experience justice, but here they are.
Sailing into the lock.
The walls are VERY close on both sides.
Looking up 114 feet.
It really makes you feel small.
Especially once they close the gates behind you.
We are finally there.
And sailing out.
This was most of our morning and early afternoon. Around 2:00 pm, we docked at a tiny port town called Lamego. I need to note that there really aren’t any places to tour directly on the river. To tour, you must get into a “luxury motor coach” and drive. Sometimes, it is a short distance (in the case of the tour I am about to tell you about to the Mateus Palace) or sometimes long (as in the case of where we are going today—Salamanca, Spain). Either way, it means some time on a bus. But again, these are the nicest buses we have ever had for our tours. Lots of space, about two-thirds full and genuinely a nice bus. They even have WiFi.
As I mentioned, our visit on this day (Saturday) was to the Mateus Palace (if you are in our age bracket, you probably remember the Mateus rosé ads on TV as a kid) and then on to Quinta do Seixo. The palace itself was a bust. Or maybe I am just worn out from visiting palaces, libraries and monasteries. After the ones we saw while visiting Madrid, this one seemed shabby. It was dark and dreary, but the guide was fun. If you are a Parks and Rec fan, imagine your tour guide was April Ludgate. She even looked a little like her. Here’s my pics of the Palace. They did have nice grounds and we had plenty of time to walk around them. So much so that I even resorted to flower photos, which I never do. But some came out, so I thought I would show them to you anyway. Don’t forget; if you click the first shot, you can scroll through with your arrow keys or by swiping. And PLEASE…don’t look at my photography on a phone. Please…
Entering the gates of the Mateus Palace.
They say the palace is Baroque. I say if it’s baroque, fix it.
Sorry, I had to say that previous caption.
In the reflecting pool is statue of a sleeping woman.
The chapel next to the Palace.
inside the chapel.
A rose.
Looking into the garden via a long, dark tunnel.
The gardens.
A zen garden.
Some cool arches.
Some pretty flowers.
Another rose. Smelled as sweet.
This is my best rose. Really different.
The Arnold Palmer tree.
A diorama in the palace. All done in miniature.
The library in panoramic.
After the Palace, it was back on the “luxury motor coach,” and we headed off to the Sandeman Winery for a tour and a port tasting. This is where we ran into the best guide of the entire cruise (so far), Manuela. This woman was funny and knowledgeable, with a breadth of experience that made her great at her job. She seemed to have done just about every job in the winery, from being a tour guide to crushing grapes (yes, they really do crush grapes by stomping on them just like “I Love Lucy), and you could tell she loved all of it.
One other thing about this winery. It sits on top of a hill. A very high hill. With a one-lane road (not one lane both ways, just ONE LANE) and, our “luxury motor coach” went up this hill. Looking out the side away from the hill was not for the faint of heart. Here are the photos from the visit. You know the drill.
On our way to the winery, we passed our boat heading to meet us up the river.
The Sandeman Winery logo. We were repeatedly told, “He’s no Zorro.”
Looking down from the winery to the road we came up on.
Manuela, our awesome guide.
She knew EVERYTHING!
And was a superb model for the perfect light I had in the darkened hallway.
A whole lot of bottles of port.
In barrels as well.
Inside the winery, these are the vats where they crush the grapes.
Looking down to the village where we would meet the boat.
Thought I would frame the shot with olive trees. Kind of artsy.
Looking down on the village again.
And our boat is now arriving.
After we safely drove down the hill (how do those drivers do that?), we were back on board for dinner and bed. It had been a very long day, and I hope you enjoyed traveling along. I have to go now. It’s time for Salamanca, Spain.
All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full. —King Solomon
