… by CruiseCompete CEO Bob Levinstein …
A week lazily cruising through Douro River is a relaxing experience. Beautiful views, good food and wine, and excellent, welcoming service are the main pillars of the trip. A greater understanding and appreciation for the country of Portugal, its people, history and several key industries was perhaps the best souvenir of the trip.
Arrival.
Porto airport is fairly small, though the walk from the gate to customs seemed to take a very long time after a 3-flight, 20-hour travel day. Options to get to Porto included buses, taxis, and train, but I opted for an Uber. My driver arrived in less than 5 minutes and I was at the Hilton Oporto in 25 minutes more. A beautiful hotel with a high-end spa and indoor swimming pool, the Hilton is about a 3-minute walk to where the cruise ships board and the river walk tourist area. Worried about the summer’s flight disruptions, we arrived two days before the cruise just to be safe. As we had no major travel issues, we had an extra day in Porto.
Porto.
The city of Porto (or Oporto, take your pick) only has a population of about 240,000 people, though the metro area claims 1.7 million. It is built around the beautiful Douro River, which forms part of the border between Portugal and Spain as it makes its way between cultivated hillsides to the Atlantic Ocean.
It’s hard to describe just how pretty Porto is, so I will let the pictures I took for this story do the heavy lifting. The river is surmounted by cliffs and bridged by high spans. A gondola takes tourists up to the heights where there is a cliff-edge bar, appropriately named “The View” for snacks and drinks, as well as a public park that often features live music to listen to while watching sun set over the river. The bridge itself is walk-able at both the highest level and down below to cross the river, and a ferry is also available.
The river is lined with outdoor cafes, often within ear-shot of busking musicians. Five out of the first six musicians we heard were singing in English, with two out of the first three singing Elvis Presley songs when we first heard them. Combined with the jet lag, it was a bit disorienting. Most of the people we met spoke at least some English (often very good English). Surprisingly, fewer seemed to speak Spanish than English though many spoke Spanish as well. Portugal is a very international country as many young people travel abroad to find work, and tourism is an important part of the economy. Regardless of language, everyone we met was very welcoming and did their best to accommodate.
We found a cafe where we could listen to the only performer who was singing in Portuguese at that point. The cuisine varied among different cafes, but the one constant was port wine on the menu, either alone or mixed in cocktails. While the region does produce non-fortified wines as well, it’s really all about the port.
Since 1759, the Douro Valley region surrounding Porto has been designated as the only place in the world that can label its wines “port.” While grapes are grown all along the river, the climate of Porto is better for aging, so the harvest is shipped down river and all of the major port houses have large presences in the city, made obvious by their very large signs to promote their tours and tasting rooms. We visited the Ferreira winery while waiting for our cruise to start, learning about the history of the town, the wine, and how it’s made, viewing the impressively huge wooden casks used for ruby port and the smaller wine barrels for the tawny ports, eventually finishing in the tasting room to sample these varieties plus a crisper white port. When the cruise tour visited the Calem cellars after returning to Porto on the last day of the cruise, we opted to relax onboard instead. Other passengers told me that the port they tasted there was the best of the trip.
Ed. Note: If you are wondering about the name, Riviera River Cruises boats are traditionally named after famous authors: Emily Bronte, Thomas Hardy, Oscar Wilde, Geoffrey Chaucer, George Eliot, Lord Byron, William Shakespeare, and William Wordsworth.
Book this cruise yourself! 7 Night – The Douro, Porto and Salamanca Rive.. MS Douro Elegance (cruisecompete.com)
2022 Sails: Aug 26, Sep 2, Sep 9, Sep 16, Sep 23, Sep 30, Oct 7, Oct 21, Oct 28 2023 Sails: Apr 4, Apr 11, Apr 18, Apr 25, May 2, May 9, May 16, May 23, May 30, Jun 6, Jun 13, Jun 20, Jul 4, Jul 11, Jul 18, Jul 25, Aug 1, Aug 8, Aug 15, Aug 22, Aug 29, Sep 5, Sep 12, Sep 19, Sep 26, Oct 3, Oct 10, Oct 17, Oct 24, Oct 31
This Cruise visits: Europe River Cruises, Douro River Cruises See Europe Shore Excursions
The ship.
We boarded The Douro Elegance on a Friday afternoon in July. Though our cabin wasn’t guaranteed to be ready until 5 PM, it was already all set when we arrived around 2:00. The boarding process was just a matter of showing our passports and vaccination cards, and we received our keys.
The Elegance was launched in 2017, but seems even newer as it was out of service for almost two years during the pandemic. With three decks, she can carry up to 126 passengers, though our complement was about half that number to be served by a crew of 36. The ship is 262 feet in length and 36 feet wide. This is the maximum width to fit in the five locks on the Douro, and pretty close to the maximum length.
The ship has three decks. The top sun-deck features a small pool, deck chairs, and a large shaded area for lounging as well as the bridge for steering the ship. The main deck consists of the reception area, the bar/lounge, and the “aquavit” (not to be confused with the Scandinavian liquor of the same name), the open front part of the ship where passengers can enjoy the voyage from rocking chairs and other deck chairs, and of course the upper-level cabins. Below are more cabins, as well as crew quarters and the dining room, as well as a small workout room and spa.
MS Duoro Elegance
Cabin.
As with the majority of ship cabins, ours was on the small side, though very well-designed to be livable and useful. A bed, night stands, two chairs, a small table and a small padded chest/foot-rest were the furnishings, and there were also shelves and closet space. Moving the life jackets under freed up extra storage space at the top of the closet allowing us to stay fairly organized throughout the trip. I had the same complaint with the bathroom that I often do—a lack of counter space. But once I hung the towels on the door and used the shelf under the sink, the situation improved greatly.
Cabin service was excellent throughout the week, with the cleaning crew coming through twice per day to make beds, straighten up, and leave chocolates on our pillows. As we never completely adjusted to the time change and were often in our cabin at odd hours, they were extremely gracious in accommodating us.
The Crew.
One of our guides told us that the best thing about the cruise was the river, and her second favorite thing was Salamanca. I disagree, as the best thing about the cruise was the crew.
The crew of the Douro Elegance is mostly Portuguese, with the odd Brazilian here and there. Most are fluent in English with many Spanish-speakers as well. From the first moment we can aboard, we felt very felt welcome and cared-for at every turn. Many of the crew were new to the ship and were in the process of being trained which resulted in the occasional mixed-up soup order, but this really had no negative impact on the service. It was clear from the beginning that all of the crew—from the captain and hotel manager on down—really cared about providing a great experience to all aboard.
Two incidents stand out in my mind that bookend the voyage. The first night was spent with the ship docked in Porto. After experiencing a Porto karaoke bar until the wee hours, we returned to the ship hungry after failing to find an open restaurant nearby. The night clerk went out of her way to go down to the kitchen and returned with a plate of bread and cheese to tide us over.
On the final day of the cruise, after everyone had checked out of their rooms and the other passengers had been taken to a hotel (they were all on the same tour package), we had some time to kill before heading to the airport and were napping on the lounge chairs on the top deck. As it was a misty morning we wrapped up in towels against the chill. Despite the cruise being effectively over with the crew busy preparing for the next sailing, we woke to find folded blankets placed neatly next to us in just case we needed them. This is a cruise line that really understands service.
The River
The Duoro was probably given its name from the word “duro”, which means “hard” in both Portuguese and Spanish. Before a system of dams and locks tamed the river, rapids and flooding made lives difficult for those navigating and living alongside it. The alternative explanation, that it means
“golden”, may refer to its color at sunset, or the way the river was formerly a vital transportation link in the wine business in the past and the main source of the area’s wealth.
The river’s headwaters are in central Spain, and it flows down along the border between Spain and Portugal then out into the Atlantic Ocean near Porto. Tamed by hydroelectric dams in both countries, it is a lazy, calm flow that winds through the countryside. Portugal’s longtime dictator Antonio Salazar is credited for having had the foresight to install a system of five locks, keeping the Portugal run of the river open to shipping where the Spanish side is not. These days only tourist boats—both day trips and “hotel ships” like the Elegance run the river, with no commercial fishing or shipping. Though there are no more rapids, there are plenty of tricky shallows, so sailing only happens during the daytime with all boats moored overnight.
The lock system is fascinating to navigate, lifting ships as high as 115 feet to clear the dams. Clearing a lock is an interesting experience. On the way up, the ship enters what looks like a very tall garage; at 40 feet wide barely wider than the ship. The huge door either closes like a book or drops down like a guillotine blade, and thousands of gallons of water start to pour in to lift the ship. Several of the locks have overhead obstructions that require the crew to hinge down the sunshade and other items on the top deck to fit underneath. In some instances when exiting locks and sailing under low bridges, passengers were instructed to sit down as there was no room to stand, or even exit the top deck all together. Under one bridge in particular, there was less than a foot of clearance between the top of the bridge and the bottom of the span, but the crew ably slid us underneath with no problems.
The Douro Valley is primarily famous for wine, but is also produces olives, almonds, and cork, and trees producing all of these commodities dotted the landscape. Portugal is home to between 50% and 70% of the world’s cork production, most of which is used in the wine industry. However, many other interesting products made from were available locally, especially belts, shoes and handbags. Despite my preconceptions about cork, these fashion products were very smooth and appeared to be durable.
We were also able to see cork trees pre- and post-harvest, and learned quite a bit about how the product is produced and regulated. A few fun facts: it takes 43 years for a tree to mature to the point where it can begin to produce cork to be of sufficient quality to be used in champagne bottles. Fortunately, cork trees can live up to 300 years, and the earlier harvests do have uses in wine bottles, the fashion industry, and insulation. Cork has even left the planet in this last capacity, as NASA uses hundreds of pounds of Portuguese cork to insulate fuel tanks and protect other parts of spacecraft from both the heat of friction and the cold of space.
Passengers.
Time spent with other passengers is always a highlight of cruise travel. In this particular trip, all of the passengers aside from myself and my companion were from the UK, with most between sixty and eighty years of age. We met some very interesting folks with careers as diverse as the investigating international fraud for the UK home office, to owning and operating a machine shop, to driving one of the legendary London black taxi cabs. In speaking with the crew, I learned that different sailings can have very different age and passenger profiles. The sailing the following week, for example, was set to host a significantly younger crowd.
Food.
The main meals aboard ship were served in the dining room, with an additional afternoon tea in the lounge on some days, depending on the schedule. While we only made it to breakfast twice (jet lag was tough to overcome) those two meals were excellent. A wide range of foods was available buffet style, and the omelet bar was very good.
Lunch was my favorite meal. Again, it was served buffet-style with the omelet station serving something cooked to order—usually pasta, but on one day a perfectly slow-cooked pork roast, juicy and tender. The savory salads (think pastas, vegetable, fish, etc. rather than greens) were my favorites, but the sandwiches, hot dishes and a full cheese and dessert spread had many excellent options as well. We passed on the lunch-time wine though most passengers did not. A local red, a white, and a rose were always available, and which wines were served changed throughout the cruise.
Dinner was always served with wine as well. While a very reasonable fee ($139 per person for the week) was supposed to be charged for unlimited beer and wine, the cruise line decided to waive/refund this fee for all passengers. While I never found out why they chose to do this, the cheer from the passengers when it was announced made it clear how much it was appreciated.
Dinner was usually served at 7:30PM, and passenger were requested to arrive around that time because with a very small kitchen on board, it was difficult to coordinate all of the dinner’s courses and serve everything hot with the added variable of people arriving late. Each dinner began with a menu, most having two or three different selections each for appetizers, soups, main courses and desserts. Some of the food was really outstanding, especially the local Portuguese dishes, though some was not to my particular taste. Each dinner had something to recommend it, and there was always too much food.
The couple of times we were on board for tea time, the fare was simple but quite good. Sandwiches, cheeses and desserts were plenty to make a complete meal even though it was designed to be more of a snack. This was a not a trip that anyone went hungry on.
Special events.
A few nights we special events on board. One evening, we were taught how to make “natas” the Portuguese national dessert that is a small custard-like pastry in a tiny pie crust. On another, a band came on board to play traditional Portuguese music and many of the passengers danced. But the most memorable evening was the opening of a vintage port with an old-fashioned port opening ceremony.
Port comes in several varieties: white, tawny, and ruby. The different flavors depend on the type of grapes used as well as how the wine is aged. “Vintage” is a sub-category of ruby port, and is only bottled in years where the weather conditions are perfect for growing the best grapes. Vintage is the only type of port that continues to age in the bottle and so continues to improve in flavor profile for at least 15 years and often longer.
Unlike other ports that will remain flavorful for months after they are opened, vintage port literally turns to vinegar within two or three days so must be consumed quickly. The bottles must also be handled carefully as a lot of “sediment” (grape skins and parts of vines) is included as part of the process. In the 1800’s, before the cork manufacturing for bottle stoppers was perfected, simply pulling the cork out of the bottle was a recipe for disaster as it would often disintegrate and fall into the wine. These factors come together in the traditional vintage port opening ceremony.
We watched as a crew member heated special tongs over an open flame. He then held the red-hot iron to the neck of the bottle. He carefully applied cold water, causing to glass to crack and break the bottleneck with the cork still intact. After he applied this technique to three 14-year-old bottles of Porto Sao Padro, we enjoyed a very smooth port wine with very complex flavors.
Shore excursions.
Riviera maintains a fleet of luxury, air-conditioned buses, each capable of holding almost 50 passengers in comfort. As our sailing only had 63 passengers, two buses were easily sufficient for all us plus Mario the cruise director and our guides. Our driver always made sure to get the a/c running early to keep up with the weather, which on several days was much hotter than usual for the Iberian summer.
Our tour guide was a young woman named Inez (pronounced In-yesh). Sweet, funny, and enthusiastic, she provided a steady stream of historical and cultural information on the mostly-quick bus rides and on tours in port. Any question she couldn’t answer immediately, she researched so she could inform us later that day or on the next tour in her Portuguese-accented English.
Overall she was easy to understand, though there were a few moments of humorous confusion. It gave us pause to learn that they made “gems” in the orchard at Mateus Palace, until we figured out that she was talking about “jams.” Another passenger, either on Inez’ tour or with the guide on the other bus, was told to watch out for “big buckets.” She didn’t see any that day, but did encounter some very large buckets at one of the wineries we visited. When she inquired why she was supposed to watch out
for these big buckets, she was informed that the warning had actually been about “pick pockets.”
Each passenger was provided with a water bottle as well as a “whisper” –a small radio receiver on a lanyard with headphones that allowed everyone to easily hear the tour guide. Tours lasted long enough to enjoy the sights, but were not overlong, with many lasting just 2-3 hours.
Pinhao. Our first stop was at Pinhao. An unusual heatwave had the area in its grasp, and temperatures approached 100 degrees. After a pleasant bus ride, we disembarked at a hill-top winery with spectacular views of the surrounding countryside. We toured the cellars, learning about different types of local wines and how they are aged as well as some history of the industry. The general consensus was that the “fresh” (not fortified) wines we were served were not very good, but it was still an enjoyable experience.
Castelo Rodrigo. 1700. That’s not the date, that’s the number of years that this hill-top village has been occupied, as it was first settled in the 6th century near the Portuguese border with Spain. Later fortified in the 11th century, the original city walls and cisterns can still be seen and you can walk the city streets that have seen footsteps through the ages.
The history of the area is fascinating. Jews, Muslims and Christians once all lived together in this fairly small area, and their religious symbols can still be seen on walls and doorways. A small church, remains of a castle, a bell tower are there to be explored. The village also features one of the few remaining pillories commanded to be built in 1508 by Manual I. Used a place of punishment as well as a gathering point to announce royal decrees it is an interesting sight. Photo opportunities abound with the ancient construction in the foreground and the valley below spreading out behind.
Almond production is a key industry around the town, and spiced almonds of various flavors were on offer as samples as well as for sale. A two-level shop near the entrance gate sold a wide range of cork products as well.
On the way back to the ship, we stopped at a scenic overlook where Egyptian and griffon vultures wheeled over the valley below and landed on rocky crags. The largest griffons have wing spans up to 9 feet in length, and the magnificent birds were easy see despite the distance.
Salamanca. The bus ride to Salamanca was about an hour and 45 minutes, so we got an early start, with breakfast a half hour early and everyone on the buses by 8:30. After a short talk by our guide all was quiet and most passengers flipped the Spanish tradition of the siesta around and slept in the morning on the ride out.
We arrived at the Hotel Esteban for a quick bathroom stop, and then were off on our own to explore Salamanca. Known as the Golden City for the blonde sandstone from which it was constructed that shines like gold in the sunlight, it’s a pretty little city. We explored the small Museum of Art Nouveau, which at the time featured an exhibit of Salvador Dali’s illustrations of Dante’s Divine Comedy, and walked through the beautiful old (12th century) and new (built between 1513 and 1773) cathedrals and did a bit of shopping before getting out of the heat in a sidewalk cafe.
We found our way back to the Hotel Esteban for a ship-sponsored tapas lunch with an excellent selection of different local dishes. The entertainment was a small family troupe of flamenco dancers, with mother and daughter dancing and with dad on percussion. The show was designed to demonstrate the wide variety of flamenco styles, with several costume changes and flying shawls as well as fans and castanets and a great deal of talent on display.
Peso de Regua was my favorite stop outside of Porto. The countryside is absolutely stunning, with beautiful cultivated hillsides and trees. After an enjoyable half-hour drive, we arrived at the Mateus Palace, a former Portuguese royal residence. After taking a number of photos of the palace mirrored in the geometrically-planned reflecting pond, we were free to explore the formal gardens as well as wander among the vineyards and orchards. For the sake of novelty, I bought a bottle of beer made from grapes. It was interesting, sort of like an IPA but with some sweet wine-like notes. While glad for the experience, I fully understand why beer is not generally made from grapes.
After a trip back to the ship and a couple of hours to relax and change, we were again aboard the buses, this time for short trip to Quinta da Pacheca, yet another spectacular local winery. We were served an excellent, many-course dinner in a large ballroom, featuring some very nice cuts of beef, a large selection of cheeses, and an array of desserts. All were served with wines and ports crafted right on the premises.
A two-piece combo (violin and keyboard) played a variety of types of music throughout dinner and for dancing afterward, most of it recognizable to the crowd. With some encouragement from one of our bus drivers, a good percentage of the passengers did get up and dance, keeping the party going until it was time to head back to the ship.
Lamego. Here we started at the Santuário de Nossa Senhora dos Remédios, a chapel complex originally built in 1361 to honor St. Stephen, but in more recent years with a focus on the Virgin Mary. Built on top of a hill, the building itself is beautiful, but the real attractions is a series of descending plazas decorated with statuary and gardens.
After some time to wander the plazas and enjoy the view, we boarded the buses for a ride down the hill and had some free time to explore. Lamego is a beautiful little town with a wide main street and a long central plaza. While a museum, a cathedral, and a castle were all options, we chose to take some time to replenish a few necessities from local stores, and relax at an outdoor cafe.
Debarkation.
The ship returned to Porto late morning on the day before debarkation. As mentioned, we skipped the final winery tour, as we had already taken one in Porto and just relaxed on board instead. After another big dinner, we packed out bags and made it an early night. Breakfast was served at 8:00, and we needed to be out of our cabins by 9:00. While the rest of the passengers were taken to a nearby hotel to await the next stage of their packaged tour, we stayed on the ship and, as I mentioned, napped in the cool morning fog before taking a taxi to the airport.
Closing thoughts.
Overall, this cruise was a very enjoyable experience. Night-life and physical activity other than walking were fairly minimal, though there are some good bars and clubs in Porto that we did explore. But this trip was really about relaxing in a beautiful place with great food and service, and for anyone who appreciated that style of travel, this trip is for you.
Thanks to Riviera for sending a packet of travel documents before departure that answered all questions and providing emergency contact numbers just in case.
Many, many thanks to Riviera River Cruises for a fabulous adventure and AllThingsCruise.com for arranging this lovely cruise.
See sailings here Riviera River Cruises (cruisecompete.com)
Cover photo Oporto, Spain, courtesy Bob Levinstein; MS Duoro Elegance photo courtesy Riviera River Cruises
See also:
Riviera River Cruises Review ~MS Jane Austen~ The Seine, Paris and Normandy – All Things Cruise
