July 14, 2024
Cruising the Douro River
Yesterday was a long day of driving from Lisbon to Porto to board our boat “Amadouro”. It’s a small boat that has 50 rooms. So there is about 100 of us, plus staff.
On the way here we stopped in Tomar to see the Convent of Christ, a 12th Century religious complex built by the Knights Templar. It was built over several centuries each ruler adding their own touch. Some of the architecture is rather incongruent with earlier versions of the building. It is always humbling to walk the corridors, see the rooms that people several centuries ago lived, worshiped and died.
We had a good lunch in the town of Tomar with some new friends from this trip. Bob had a pulled pork sandwich and I had soup. The sandwich wasn’t at all like the type we are used to. It was delicious and not smothered in BBQ sauce. My soup was great. It had some type of bean, with a light broth. We drove the rest of the way to meet our ship in Porto. I have to say, the bus drivers are masters at maneuvering the large vehicles through tiny streets and turning around!
Our room on the ship is the last one down the hall on the 2nd floor. It’s perfect because it’s quiet. We unpacked, finding unusual places to put our clothes and other stuff. This morning I couldn’t remember where I had put my underwear but then remembered that it was in the nightstand drawer.
We had a meeting in the lounge to go over the safety rules. It was the best time ever! Usually it’s a horrible thing that you have to wear your large orange life jacket to the muster station and wait for the bells. This was all of us sitting in the lounge, drinking wine/champagne listening to the head guy entertain us while showing us how and where to go with our life jackets on if need be. This cruise is put on by Neil Cooper who is one of our favorite winery owners in Red Mountain. So it’s different in that everyone is kind of “related” through Neil. It’s been fun to meet and eat/drink with new friends.
Dinner was so good. More wine! I had the fish in a most unusual cream sauce. Bob had beef tenderloin, very good. We sat with our new friends and had a great time. We met another fun couple in the hallway as we were going to our room. I decided to take one of our “special” sleeping pills as I have not slept more than 3-4 hours each night since we left. I woke up this morning at 6am and felt so much better for having slept longer. Yay!
We went through our first lock after breakfast and it was so cool to stand on the top deck and watch it all.
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