Sailing up the Duoro River

This morning we left the ship at 8:30 am and rode the bus for an hour.  Our local guide, Maggie (44), is with us for the week.  She is a Portuguese who was born in Angola and then ousted from that country when Angola was no longer a Portuguese colony.  After surviving that (some family members did not), life is good if you have a roof over your head and food in your belly! Our driver for the week is Maria (early 30’s). She can manhandle that bus with the best of them! We drove through the countryside to Guimaraes which is where Portugal was born.  We saw re-built buildings from the 11th and 12th century.  The town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site so much money and effort was put into restoring/preserving the history of the area. (After Rockford’s long winter, we so appreciate and enjoy the blooming trees, flowers, leaves, etc.). The bus left us at the top of the hill and our walking tour of the town was down from there. We had time for coffee before meeting the bus and heading back.  The ship finally left the dock at 1:00 pm.  We headed for the Atlantic and the mouth of the Douro (less than 1/2 mile) before turning around and heading upstream.  It is a beautiful sunny day so we sat on the top deck, read a book, and watched the countryside slide by.  We went through the first lock — a drop of 45 feet.  That is always fun to watch.  This ship is probably 3/4 as wide as the other river boats we have been on.  However, when going through the lock we were snug up to the walls. That certainly made me understand why our cabin is smaller.  Later this afternoon our cruise director, Manuela, gave a presentation on Portuguese political history, education, and economy.  Very interesting.  Wanted to add a food note: we have consumed lots of fish and pastries.