Breakfast
The weather is so-so — overcast. It looks like it’s about to rain any minute now. Since morning, Volchemu hasn’t been left in peace — they keep calling about work — they have a project deadline coming up soon.
Portugal 2020
Day 2: October 2
Amarante - Douro Valley - Sabugueiro
Portugal 2020
Itinerary
We have breakfast in the hotel’s shared kitchen. For breakfast, we have Madeira’s traditional bread, Bolo do caco (this little loaf looked so appetizing in the shop that we decided to buy it), and camembert. The Bolo do caco bread turned out to be very tasty. What’s surprising, though, is that when it’s cold, it’s completely unremarkable. But as soon as you warm it up a little in a toaster or in the oven, it becomes really great — dense, fragrant, and delicious to eat on its own, without anything else.
We’re in the hotel mirror :)
Hotel in the center of a small town - a building with blue windows
We leave the hotel and head to the Douro River Valley, the birthplace of port wine. It is very picturesque here. The landscape is hilly, and vineyards grow on all the slopes. Low gray clouds drift across the sky, but the sun peeks out from time to time, which is very pleasing. While it is sunny, we stop to take photos of the river and the vineyards.
The Douro River and vineyards on the hillsides
Vineyard Hills :)
We keep going. On the way, we stop by a supermarket again (after all, to buy Portuguese wine :). We choose Auchan — it’s right on the way. We’ve never seen such a small Auchan before — it’s like a village store here. But it has everything we need. And they also sell wine barrels here :)
Wine barrels at the entrance to Auchan
We buy a little knife, a lunch box, nail clippers, and some groceries.
When we leave the store, it’s sunny outside, the sky above us is blue, but it’s raining. We never figured out where the water was coming from.
On the way, we stop and go for a walk in the forest. Volchy notices that the forest is shaggy — something strange is growing on all the trees; it’s unclear whether it’s a disease or some kind of symbiosis.
Shaggy Forest
It feels cool — we are heading up into the mountains.
Today we are staying in the small mountain village of Sabugueiro in the Serra da Estrela National Park. It is cold in the hotel house where we are staying. The house has two floors, with 3 rooms on each floor and a shared kitchen with a fireplace. I ask the hotel owner to light the fireplace. When we arrived, we were completely alone here. But by evening, the other two rooms on our floor are also occupied. We sit by the fireplace until late (and drink red Portuguese wine).
Evening by the Fireplace
This is not so much a fireplace as a beautiful stove. We watch the fire through the glass, and the stove blows warm air at us. It’s wonderful by the fireplace, nice and warm. You really don’t want to go back to your room.