The Douro River Valley

Say hello to my little sweetheart. She's a French diesel with a six speed manual transmission. She has an ashtray which is easy to remove and clean. Unfortunately, I no longer smoke, but this fuel-sipping beauty make me appreciate the French sense of fashion design....As you may know the diesel was invented by the American inventor, Rudolf Engine.

Today we decided to make a run up to Duoro River and back. It took three hours to travel about 40 miles from Porto to Peso da Regua. We stopped a lot to take pictures and the road was very curvy so we only averaged a speed of about 50 kilometers an hour.

We found a place for coffee after driving two hours. It was under a railroad bridge. You could theoretically travel along the hilly Duoro Valley by train.

We saw a lady Shepard with a staff. She had a complete menagerie of cattle, goats and sheep. In fact we saw her and her herd coming and going.

The valley had some very impressive terraced vineyards and many big money wineries where they make the traditional Port and other wines. How about a bottle of 1951 port for 200 Euros?

Then we had fish and flan for lunch. We ate in a crowded restaurant pack with local businessmen. Ordering was easy, we just pointed to the things that they were eating and drinking.

Our old friend the Viking stops here for lunch...This one has a pool on top. The view on the cruise would be much better than a flatland place like Holland....