July 15 2024 

                                                  A trip to Casa de Quinta

Yesterday we boarded the bus for a drive to Casa du Quinta.  It was a 45 minute trip through lots of small towns, it was up and down and a twisting drive. It was beautiful.  

Around noon we arrived at a large estate that was owned by Contessa Maria and her husband.  Maria was a Contessa as a child and became a Contessa when she married her husband.  This estate was owned by the husband family for generations and was sold.  Maria was able to design scarves to make money to buy the estate back.  It is now a huge estate with many bedrooms, meeting rooms and is wedding venue.  Maria treated us exuberantly with open arms, saying “You are beautiful!  You are amazing! I am so glad you came to see Maria!”  Over and over.  “Please follow Maria, she will show you the beautiful gardens and the beautiful home!”  She told us to have some green wine that was made at the estate.  (Green wine is wine that was recently made.)  “Have green wine.  It is low in alcohol so you can drink and drink and drink!”  The wine was very refreshing and we also had these little pastries that are like a pizza folded over.  I finally figured out that the lady leading us around and shouting “It’s beautiful!” Was Maria.  She spoke about herself in the third person.  “Maria wanted to buy her husband’s estate back so I decided to earn money designing and selling scarves.”  Long story short Maria has turned the estate into a bed and breakfast, event venue, classes, anything to get people there so Maria could make money.  The gardens were beautiful, the dining room was two rooms and each room held a table for 50+ people.  I kept chuckling at Maria and her  sales pitch.  

We were shown to a barn like structure that was set for the 100 or so of us at tables of 7.  We had the most delicious lunch.  Salad with a nice dressing, then came mushroom Risotto, Pork wrapped in bacon, sweet potatoes, rice, fruit, and greens.  Servers just kept coming with huge bakeware spooning delicious food onto our plates.  The seasoning and sauces were very good.  Unusual flavors that made us eat more than we should have.  The Pork was a round small piece that was so tender.  Lucky for us a guide was sitting at our table and told us a lot about the seasoning and cooking.  The pork is soaked in Lemon and orange juice for two days and then seasoned and cooked with the bacon around it.  Oh!  I mustn’t forget the crème brûlée for dessert.  Another large spoonful of excellent food.  We boarded the bus for the ride back and nearly fell asleep.  Here I am with my close personal friend Contessa Maria.  

                                     

We’ve been through 3 different locks now.  The one this morning was a big one.  Bob got some great pictures of the locks.  We had a little bit of our port we bought in Sintra on our minuscule balcony and watched the walls “move” as we went through the lock.                                                                                                             

                                                                   

                 

                                                                       

This is how close the boat is to the sides of the locks. 

 

We took a long nap that afternoon because of the green wine and some leftover jet lag.  Dinner was excellent as usual.  We have met some very nice people.  Everyone is somehow connected to Cooper Winery so we have something to talk about as a conversation starter.  We are having such fun!

PS.  You can look up the Casado Quinta on the web.  It’s amazing!

Love to all, BC and GC