PORTUGAL 2022

PORTO

Welcome to Porto! Portugal’s second city has everything you want in a luxury travel experience, balancing its rich history with vibrant modernity. Walk the cobblestone streets leading to the Porto Cathedral, Palácio da Bolsa and the extraordinary Church of São Francisco before the first serious collation.

Soothing and sublime, rich and relaxed, and best enjoyed at a leisurely pace, aptly describes both Porto’s cuisine and its eponymous wine. Steeped in tradition and made with care, Porto’s cuisine combines the old with the new, marries vintage preparations with modern touches and adjoins tastes of the past with nods to the present.

VILANOVA DE GAIA

Nobody can leave Porto without crossing “to the other side”, to Vilanova de Gaia, where major port producers have their warehouses. You’ll be standing where barrels of wine and port have been loaded and unloaded for hundreds of years. You’ll get to know about the different types of port (tawny, white, crusted, vintage), and the slow development of the wine inside the porous oak barrels.

As you visit Port cellars from centuries past, traverse the long-trodden paths of winemakers now gone, and taste wines likely bottled before you were born, you feel a rebirth — you will have lived, breathed and drank the living history of the Douro.

SEAFOOD

Follow the smell of barbecue at the harbor district of Matosinhos in northern part of Porto, where restaurants, each with its own outdoor grill on the street, propose superb fresh daily caught fishes.

DOURO VALLEY 

Let’s leave to the magical Douro Valley, home of Portugal’s most famous wine region.

To experience the Douro Valley is to experience the river Douro, a slice of life that flows through Castile and León in Spain and into Portugal, running through the famous valley, where all facets of life — commerce and community, soul and spirit — merge with the majestic waters, towering canyons, whitewashed quintas and granite bluffs above, before rushing forward into Vila Nova de Gaia and Porto, where she coalesces with the Atlantic.

Be ready for vertiginous rides and a warm welcome to one of the most famed quintas, enjoy wine tastings and a charming, bowered vineyard lunch. There’s 2,000 years of winemaking history in the Douro! After lunch we’ll drive to Aveiro, the Portuguese Venice.

AVEIRO, THE PORTUGUESE VENICE

Wandering around the town of Aveiro gives us a nostalgic feeling that we are in Venice, but in smaller dimension. Channels, bridges, colorful houses and an intense university life set the pace. The Aveiro estuary occupies an enormous 47-kilometer marshy area, where the eel and salt flats proliferate. Traditionally the moliceiros, flat-bottomed boats and bow curved, painted with scenes of the fishermen’s life who used to collect seaweed from the bottom of the channel to use as fertilizer in the fields. And don’t forget to try the ovos moles, sweet egg yolks with sugar and water created by the nuns of the Convent of Jesus. They are shaped imitating marine elements, such as fishes or shells, and wrapped in wafers.

VISTA ALEGRE

Motebelo Vista Alegre Hotel where we stay was built to boost the historical heritage of Vista Alegre. Fábrica da Vista Alegre which began its business activity in 1824, in buildings close to the Chapel Nossa Senhora da Penha de França (1699),
has since then undergone successive renovation and expansion works. The entrance bears the
name Vista Alegre – Fábrica de Porcelana in azulejos, as well as the establishment year and the
100th anniversary date. Enjoy your free afternoon and evening to explore the museum, the chapel, the palace and the shops of Vista Alegre.

ÓBIDOS

Next will be Óbidos. Located on the western central coast of Portugal, Óbidos is an ancient fortified city, a perfect medieval silhouette with a fortified castle where the Literary Man hotel is home to about 50,000 books. Óbidos is one of the most spectacular towns from the North of Portugal and became the nineteenth UNESCO City of Literature in December 2015. Enjoy a free morning in this charming town before we meet for a local genuine lunch.

ÉVORA

After lunch we’ll reach Évora, that shows a stunning combination of Roman, Gothic and Baroque architecture for which it has been designated a Unesco World Heritage Site. You’ll find a Roman temple from the first century, a medieval convent and superb sixteenth-century facades lining up side by side in its narrow, cobbled streets.

ÉVORA

Let’s explore Évora in a magic walking tour. “Queen of the High Alentejo” and one of Portugal’s best preserved medieval cities, Évora is ideal for immersing yourself in the past. Sheltered by its 14th century walls, its narrow streets lead to amazing architectural works: medieval cathedrals and cloisters, Roman ruins like those of its temple, a picturesque square and a surprising church covered with human bones and a Neolithic site. Évora is also a lively university city.

WINES FROM ALENTEJO

The fascinating Alentejo unfolds a land finely aged. You’ll travel among medieval whitewashed villages, rolling hills, mountain forts, olive groves and a constellation of vineyards in the land of largest producer of cork in the world. The local food is neither peasant nor sophisticated, it is rustic and rich; Alentejo is known as Portugal’s gastronomic soul. And the Herdades (wineries) are part of its culture and identity and are definitely a must visit on an Alentejo journey. Estremoz will cross our path towards an unforgettable evening.

COZINHA ALENTEJANA

Évora, the capital of this sun-baked land also reveals the best of the cozinha alentejana.

Besides the good wines, the cuisine is rich and varied, with Roman and Arab influences. The bread serves as a base for all regional gastronomy. Recipes that dominate are based on pork and lamb meats, river fish and the sea. The famous açorda – a delicious but humble soup -, for example, dates back to the presence of the Muslims, who dominated the territory for about 500 years. The tradition of the Conventual confectionery in Alentejo has its origin in the convents and monasteries of the region. A true gastronomic journey to discover typical Alentejo food can last for weeks, if not months. The regional dishes are many, passed down from generation to generation, perfected, celebrated.

So, we propose a hands on cooking class with a local chef to learn how to make some of the most popular recipes.

Free evening to explore Évora on your own.

LISBON

Her ports have seen Vasco de Gama embark to reach India, Fernão Gomes launch to explore the African coast and Columbus dock en route to Barcelona with word of his discovery of the Americas. You can’t describe Lisbon’s present without mentioning her past. Home to three UNESCO World Heritage Sites — Jerónimos Monastery, Sintra and Belém Tower the city is seductive.

What about Lisbon’s cuisine? The Atlantic plays perhaps the most dominant role in Lisboan cuisine — the region boasts over 365 original recipes for cod alone — and you’d be hard pressed to bypass the aroma of grilled sardines in the small, antiquated quarters of Bairro Alto and Alfama during the Popular Saint’s Festival in June. But Lisbon’s culinary profile is anything but staid. Whether you choose haute cuisine or café fare, Lisbon’s penchant for perpetual reinvention ensures you the utmost in gastronomic acquaintance and inspiration.

SINTRA

From Lisbon, drive northwards towards the mountains and reach Serra de Sintra. For romantics the world over, the former royal residence of the Kings of Portugal, Sintra – UNESCO Heritage Site – conjures up fantasies of fairy-tale castles and noble mansions, mystic forests and exotic gardens laced with waterfalls and mossy walls, lofty peaks lost in mist that suddenly dissolves to reveal views of grand estates, vineyards, wildflowers and the ocean.

THE END OF THE WORLD

Then let’s head west out of Sintra a few miles down to Cabo de Roca, this wild and rocky cape being  Europe’s westernmost point.  And a few miles away, at Guincho beach, where well-toned surfers and windsurfers challenge the waves,  the numerous seafood restaurants -where the produce is everything – are ready to welcome eager visitors.

FAREWELL DINNER

Our farewell dinner… a Lisbon’s gourmet feast we cannot reveal.

END OF JOURNEY

Following breakfast, private transfer to Lisbon airport at your appointed time or continue your journey if you decided to extend your trip.