Douro Valley - a UNESCO World Heritage. No wonders why!

The place where the Port wine was invented is a UNESCO World Heritage. No wonders why!

In the picture below you can see the point where Douro and Tedo rivers meet.

Almost all the wine made on both sides of Douro River is sent to Vila Nova de Gaia, about which I talked a bit here.

So that might be the reason why not many people come for wine tasting at all the vineyards (‘Quintas’ in Portuguese) on the Douro Valley. But I highly suggest to come, because it’s kind of close (one hour and a half by car).

You can reach some of the vineries by getting off the train at Pinhão Railway Station (Estação do Pinhão). Take a moment to admire the charming tiles on the walls, showing local scenes relating to the port wine trade and landscapes!

The bodyguards of the Douro Museum (Museu do Duoro)

What is inside must be precious! Let’s see!

We didn’t buy a guided tour and for sure it would have been more interesting, but you can find synthesized explications for a lot of interesting things about the region and the local customs anyway. This way you have a lot of time for the best part for me, the nature!

Port is a sweet wine with flavors of raspberry, blackberry, caramel, cinnamon and chocolate sauce. That’s why people usually have it with dessert. This museum shows the main four categories of Port wine and the differences between them (sorry, but I remember only the basic ones):

• Ruby Port: it’s red and it’s better to drink it in the first three years;
• Tawny Port: it’s aged, has caramel flavour and it needs to be decanted before serving;
• White Port: the grapes are white… obviously… and it’s perfect for ‘Port and Tonic’ – the wine version of ‘Gin and Tonic’;
• Rosé Port: it has strawberry flavour.

Portugal – the country with the best dusks no matter where you are

Thank you for reading!

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