If you’re visiting Porto, we would definitely suggest that you visit the Douro Valley. Even if you are not a wine fan, it is a beautiful area to see and discover.

We went and we didn’t visit any wineries. We enjoyed the getting there, the towns, the boat ride and the people. Let me tell you a little bit about it.

I enjoy planning and coordinating travel, so we got there by ourselves, though there are many options for tours that you can arrange. We took a train from the Sao Bento Train Station up to the town of Pinhão. It’s a scenic train ride that follows along the Douro river. It took just about two and a half hours to get there.

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Clickety clack, clickety clack the wheels of the train pass over the tracks. Scenery flashing by as we sit and relax.

Clickety clack, clickety clack can barely be heard over the old guys yelling in front and in back.

Alas, our train was filled today by sociable folks with no volume control.

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We left the gaggle of guys behind when we arrived at the town of Pinhão. It’s a small town in the heart of the wine region and is known for its beautiful tiled train station, and is also an embarkment point for many tourist boat trips.

There are a few hotels, restaurants and shops in town and a couple of wineries are within walking distance of the train station. The boat docks are located just behind the train station along the river.

We didn’t bring a bag full of treats for the ride, so, before doing anything else, we stopped for a snack at Café Imperio. It’s located right across the street from the station and is like stepping back in time. Want something fancy ? You’ll need to go somewhere else. Want a quick beverage, sandwich or snack ? Then step right in. It’s been a café since 1929.

After our lunch, we took a walk along the main street and just watched the traffic back up. The problem stemmed from the number of buses dropping off and picking up groups of people. The people seemed oblivious to the fact that they were the reason for the traffic as they made their way slowly onto their buses.

To get away from some of the chaos, we walked down to the dock area and found a bench in a small park to wait for our boat.

The boat cruise we chose was a two hour tour and included a glass of port wine. The weather and the water were idyllic, but I still worried about a ‘three hour tour, a three hour cruise’.

Our boat left right on schedule and off we went. No intricate waterways, just up the river and then back down. Along the way we passed by some beautiful terraced vineyards, some wonderful Quintas (Estates), saw the huge vineyards of some big name Port producers like Dow, Croft and Graham’s and saw some vineyards that were overgrown with weeds or plowed under as a result of phylloxera replanting.

Peruse the photos and enjoy the tour…

As you can see, the scenery was lovely, the day was nice and we enjoyed ourselves.

After our boat tour, we had about an hour before the train came, so we stopped back at Café Imperio for a glass of rosé to pass the time away.

Just before our train arrived, the classic early 1900’s train appeared. It’s an old fashioned steam-engined train that only runs on weekends. There are people in period costumes who entertain the passengers at each stop along their route. It was fun to see both the train and entertainers.

Once we were on our way, the ride home was pleasant enough. We eventually arrived back in Porto and were ready to clean up and relax for the evening.

However, there was some kind of divine intervention that delayed us from getting home. We would be hard pressed to explain why these things happen, but we walked right by a gelato shop and couldn’t pass it up.

Two scoops of pistachio for Sue and one pistachio and one dark chocolate for me helped to align the spirit world.

And then the day was complete….