To add that an alarm on her blackberry has gone off at 4 am every night we've been here, and today I finally wrestled her to the ground to make her turn it off, since apparently it only wakes me up.
Back to Ericeira, really glad to have found this town, no thanks to Rick Steve's, who only mentions it in one sentence of his guidebook. Gotta say, was less impressed with Rick on this trip than on last year's trip, which we were even less impressed with than his Italy guide. Consider me officially done with Rick Steve's.
Our plan for Monday was to meander our way up to the Douro Valley with two hill town stops: Coimbra and Viseu. Coimbra is home to Portugal's finest and oldest university and one of the oldest in Europe. That could only mean one thing: MELLOW MUSHROOM! The students still have to dress in black robes and capes for classes but unfortunately they were not in session so we missed out on seeing some Harry Potters. It was also the first capital of Portugal, andwe started our tour with a statue of Dom Dinis (aka Dennis Haskins NOT Dennis Hastings). The town/school were pretty cool, and retains a lot of the Moor influence in architecture. It was also hot as balls.
From here we hit Viseu, another medieval hill town, and one that apparently didn't even warrant a mention by Rick Steve's. We checked out the church and museum and then settled in for a 4 pm lunch of steak and sausage and Dao wine next to the town walls. Portugal is not quite as extreme as Spain with their eating schedules, but we have insisted on dining at the same time as our friends in America.
And then finally we landed at Quinta do Vallado outside Peso do Regua, our home base for wine tasting for next few days. The drive between here and Viseu was much like driving through Tuscany. Just breathtaking. WB took about 400 pics out the window. After a minor 15km+ detour, we arrived to the surprise that they were going to charge us 50e more for the room because of the extra rump. As such we are planning to make use of every amenity this place has to offer -- which is many. It is arguably the nicest hotel I've every stayed in. The house itself is from the 1700s. After a quick change into some terry cloth robes (and after being foiled for a late night swim because of "pool treatments") we say out on the patio lounge chairs, sunning ourself in the moonlight, drinking wine, eating sausage and cheese and talking about people from Penfield. What a magical place that is, especially from 1995-99.
We did squeeze in a quick swim in the moonlight and then stared at the stars for a while before calling it a night. Literally I've never seen the big dipper so big. We are now up and at them for a day of wine and port tasting in the valley. Don't hate that.
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