Tuesday, August 15, 2023
Today there was also a choice of two early morning outings:
1. A drive up the mountains followed by a strenuous hike back down.
2. A walk into Pinhao (where we are docked) where we would be taken into different shops to taste their foods.
We chose option 1!
The bus went up and up and up on one of those winding edge-of-the-mountain roads. At every turn, the views were breathtaking. Houses perched upon the hillsides. The slopes in all directions were covered with terraces filed with row upon row of grape vines. (We could post a hundred pix here, but we will limit it to some of the best.)
The mountains are primarily schist and shale. Both of these types of rock are in layers. As a result, water gets trapped in the little cracks. The grape plant roots are able to grow into these cracks and absorb the water. So that, along with the excellent climate, make this a perfect region for growing grapes.
And speaking of climate / weather, once again we have been blessed with a perfect day....probably mid-80s and clear. Our guide told us that it is normally upper 90s and above at this time of year, and that the locals say the climate is nine months of winter and three months of Hell. Also, our guide said she does tours in different parts of the country. She lives in Porto, which is an hour and a half from here! It took us two days by boat! 😅😅 So here is a question for you, dear reader: which US state is closest in size to Portugal? The answer is at the bottom of the post.
Believe it or not, all of these grapes are harvested by hand! Along with the pruning and tending of the vines, this is a hugely labor intensive effort.
We set off down the dusty rocky trail, past rows of grape vines, olive trees, oleander, apple trees, almond trees, sunflowers, and some fig trees. The figs are just getting to full ripeness, so we were able to pull some off and eat them. Certainly not what we get at home!
We wound our way down down past more beautiful views and vegetation until we reached the spot where the bus was now waiting (the end was NOT all the way back into Pinhao; if so, we would still be walking!) All in all we walked about 2 miles, and descended 900 feet in about 1 hour and 20 minutes.
Then back into town (the ride back was a LOT shorter). We then walked a short way with our guide and into a store that sells Port (no surprise) and chocolate (surprise!!!!). They served us cold glasses with a little package of four different dark chocolate pieces. This is now the recommended way to end every hike! Alas...we at the chocolate and drank the Port too quickly for pix. Trust us, this was a worthwhile snack (and calories).
Then back to the ship. We had definitely worked up an appetite (despite the chocolate) and were very excited to see that today was the Bar-B-Q on the sundeck. Whoa...so many different choices and so delicious.
 |
Plus a dessert bar featuring 5 different sorbets and a dozen kinds of toppings and sauces, and mini churros. They forced us to take some of each.
Will we be able to eat dinner? Hard to say.
There was only an hour and a half available to relax and freshen up before our next outing: a visit to an olive oil museum.
This excursion was to take us back to the top, but in a different place than we were this morning. The road is a little too winding and narrow for our regular coach, so we went in smaller vans. Before we started off, the guide told us to put on our seat belts. This was the best advice we had on the whole trip. More amazing views, but the two drivers must have been in some sort of competition to see how fast they could get to the summit. We were in van number two, and it was never more than 3 feet behind van one! Many of the people were really feeling it by the time we pulled up to our destination.
It is a working olive oil and wine making company, but the tour they gave us was of the 200 year old building where they used to produce both. The docent showed us where the olives were first brought in and dumped onto a circular table. Then a grind stone would mash them, pits, stems and all.
After several hours, the mash would be spread on a fiber-woven mat. They would then put the mat onto a spindle, and repeat this 80 times. Sort of like a giant olive-mash gyro!
Pressure would be applied, and the oil (and sediment and mat fibers) would flow through a pipe at the bottom and into a tank. They would then add hot water (the "hot press method") and let it sit for a period. The sediment would sink to the bottom and the oil would rise to the top Then they would drain off the water / dregs and put the oil into a centrifuge. More hot water is added and the mix is spun around. More separation and then you have the final product.
He told us that, in order to be considered "extra virgin", the oil must have an acidity of 0.8% or less (who knew)? Some of the oil is sold as is, while other times they blend different oils together.
As to the manufacture of the wine, the docent explained that, this too, is a manual process . Actually, it's a "footual" process---the wine is still stomped by bare feet (preferably women's). We shared some silly jokes about finding toes in the wine--but that was probably because we became slap-happy from the tasting (see below).
To that point, we should have eaten less for lunch (or at the Port/chocolate pairing session). They led us in for a tasting of wine and oil. The setting was a lovely open-air terrace with a fantastic view of the countryside. If you zoom in on the photo below you can see our little tiny boat way down on the river.
On the table were several kinds of oil, a bottle of honey, some olives, and a basket of bread.
We were told to dip the bread in one pool of oil and taste it and then into another pool. The first contained 0.3% oil (a blend), the second, pure 0.2% oil. Some of the group said they could taste the difference; others could not. They also then served a white wine (followed shortly after by a rose and a red).
Then they had us put some of the honey (infused with Rosemary and which they also produce) onto our plates. He told us to dip the bread into the oil (either one) and then into the honey. WOW!!!!! The honey was sweet and also amplified the taste of the oil. Kids: try this yourself at home.
Fortified with the oil and wine, we bravely headed back to the vans. This time we purposefully chose van number one and sat closer to the front. The ride down was only a little less hair-raising than the one going up. Happy to be back on the boat!
There was a lecture scheduled for 4:30 about the wonderful world of cork. We were too wiped out to try to sit through that (and we have a history of falling asleep through such sessions), so it was back to the room to chill.
And then it was time to eat. Again.
 |
| A dainty Shrimp Louie salad with attitude--not the massive amounts of dressing and |
 |
| Pumpkin soup-quite lovely and light. |
 |
| Pasta with olives and shrimp. The chef definitely overdid it on the red pepper flakes, as it was unexpectedly searingly hot! But, again, a lovely presentation. |
 |
| Roasted Portuguese cod, although all of the cod served in Portugal is actually caught off the coast of Norway. And there is a lot of cod served in Portugal. We think we have enjoyed almost every possible iteration. Like the others, this one was quite tasty. |
 |
| Key Lime Pie. So good and definitely put out the fire from the pasta! |
Boa noite! See you tomorrow.
Love,
w&w
P.S. we love your comments. Keep 'em coming.
P.P.S. Portugal is 99.1% the size of Indiana. Did you guess correctly?
🚢🚢🚢🚢🚢🚢🚢🚢🚢🚢🚢🚢🚢
No comments:
Post a Comment