Lamego, Viseu District, Portugal
Well we managed to successfully navigate our way out of Porto in rush hour traffic this morning. That city is much bigger and busier than you would think! Once you’re out of the main part of town it’s surrounded by freeways going every which way. That made it quite quick to get up to the valley and the start of our day’s self driving tour.
The Douro valley is famous for its beautiful landscape of terraced vineyards and steep hills with the lovely river flowing through the centre of it. It’s the home of the world famous Port wine with many wineries along the route offering tastings. Driving through the valley is challenging with winding, narrow roads climbing up from the valley floor to high on the mountain tops. The views are quite spectacular. The little, mostly white, villages dotted amongst the hillsides add to the charm. I didn’t get anywhere near the speed limit on most of the roads we traveled today. The hairpin bends and the rock walls were much too close for comfort. It didn’t seem to bother the locals but I wasn’t that brave.
I’d like to have known the height of some of the mountains we drove up because looking down on the valley below was quite breathtaking.
At one point Sheila and I decided we’d drive into one of the wineries, I think it was called Quinta de Pego. It looked like it would have a great view since it was sitting part way up a hillside and we imagined ourselves looking over the valley while sipping a Port wine. Oh Dear! As we started to drive up the driveway we realised our mistake, too late! The road was so narrow there was only about 30cm on either side of the car. On one side was a high rock wall and on the other side was a 2 foot drop down to a row of grape vines. We snaked our way up to the top, hoping all the way that there was another way down and no cars were going to meet us head on. We eventually arrived at the top in one piece, couldn’t find another way down and were too scared to use the same road in case someone was coming up. We had to go in to what we had discovered by this time was a hotel that didn’t do wine tastings, and ask what to do.
We discovered that there was a sensor at the start of the road that turned on a red light and stopped any traffic from coming the other way, phew! We hadn’t noticed it when we drove in since it wasn’t red. We couldn’t have done a wine tasting anyway. You needed all your facilities in tact to take on that road!
Enid and Howard were also in the valley in their own car. We met up for lunch in Pinhao and then decided to join forces and take just one car for the rest of the drive. Howard was voted most competent driver having tackled some of NZ’s mountain roads so we went in their car. Enid was totally freaked out by the heights of the roads we drove over and they all refused to take on some of the roads suggested on our self drive tour. I don’t know why very steep, very narrow, cobblestoned roads on the edge of a cliff would get vetoed?
We ended our drive back in Pinhao without incident where Sheila and I collected our car again and headed to Lamego where we’re spending the night in Manuel’s Airbnb. It’s a lovely 3 bedroom apartment, very spacious and comfortable.
Manuel was charming and very helpful. He left us a bottle of port, homemade from his fathers vineyards and a local delicacy that I don’t know the name of but which we ate for dinner. It was like a dough cooked with ham inside. He said each region has different fillings. It was very tasty.
Manuel told us he thinks the Douro valley is one of the few places on earth where man has interfered with the landscape and improved it. I think I have to agree with him. It’s such a truly impressive sight to see the work that has gone into creating all those terraces that stretch from high on the mountain tops right down to the valley floor and back up on the other side. The enormous amount of rock that was moved is unfathomable. It went from a barren, unused, rocky landscape to green thriving vines and an industry that helps support a country. I can understand Manuel’s pride.
Suzanne
2023-06-08
Glad you survived driving on the narrow roads. It is an experience. We had a similar drive in Italy but we had a driver as Geof and I were not comfortable driving. Enjoy the next day. Are you going to Lisbon and Sintra?
Marl
2023-06-08
That road up the mountain does sound scary! The views though as you say are spectacular though.
Liz Davis
2023-06-08
Congratulations on surviving the drive. Definitely worth the effort though. Beautiful part of the world.