20111101  Douro River to Spain

Owen Photos        Dolores Photos

Wow. Good day..

Up, breakfast, etc. The ship was underway at 0730 and arrived at the first dam (Valeira) around 0900. Impressive lift of 109 feet, with a gap of about one foot on each side of the ship to the walls.

We started getting into more desert climate, lots of overgrowth, some signs of old vines being left to fend for themselves. Fairly nice day – 48* in the morning to 64* in the afternoon.

We wandered up the channel, which got more and more narrow. In some places I think we had 40 feet clearance on each side – and we were still doing 12 knots. They must know this place.

We had another Ba'rbara Sa' lecture, this time on Portuguese society and culture. Interesting, but her voice keeps putting me to sleep. 

We went under the highway bridge at Barca d'Alva, Portugal and a few hundred yards upstream from there to where we backed in to the port of Vega de Terro'n, Spain. The three tour buses showed up a little later to take the tour people to Castelo Rodrigo. We (all six) decided to skip that.

Marylou and Dolores elected to stay at the ship. The rest of us hiked from the ship up to the highway, across the bridge back into Portugal, then down a long set of steps to the riverfront and toward Barca d'Alva. We hiked along; Jim kicked up a rock that to me looked like a mouse, so I jumped. Then something made a weird noise and Glenn jumped. It was probably the fisherman we saw just after that and to whom we waved.

We kept hiking into town. We passed a small snackbar-looking thing, then went along the cobbled main street a bit until we got to Chico's. It's a snackbar-bar-everything. We asked for beer (3) and vinha verde (1) and got them – with the beers in frozen steins and the wine from a tap. We sat at a table just over the sidewalk, where the cars would usually park, next to two more tables. People were sitting and talking and arguing, and having an occasional drink. This is All Saints day and a full holiday in this area.

We hiked back up the Douro to the visitor's center, where we purchased a few more things and headed back along the water to the ship. We found a shedding tree, and Glenn played with a nut until he figured it was a walnut. He ate part of it – we're waiting to see if he's ok in the morning.

We gathered on the sun deck with our wine and chatted with others. Had a ball. Went down to our cabin to change into somewhat dressy clothes for the captain's cocktail party – champagne and hors d'ouvres in the lounge. Then to the captain’s (whom we still haven't seen) dinner, a full-blown knock-down-drag-out thing I couldn't begin to finish. But we had a wonderful time at table with stories and jokes and laughter.

The end of the dinner featured Baked Alaska, very nice.

Then the evening entertainment began – flamenco dancers and singers to note that we're in Spain. They were quite good, and the voice of the singer was outstanding.

Dolores & I just couldn't take any more, so we headed for bed. It's 2322. 'Nite.

20111102  Salamanca, Spain & Barca d'Alva, Portugal

Owen Photos   Dolores Photos

We did our usual breakfast, and did it early to enable an early start to today's tour. We left the ship at 0805 by bus for Salamanca, Spain.

The first few miles were very winding and slow going until we topped the grade out of the Douro valley and started across the plain of Spain. The geography turned to cactus and dry land, but with fields. The fields didn't have associated houses, but we found out later the farmers live in the villages and go out to their fields to work them.

I'll admit I snoozed a little on the way, so it seemed short to me, but it took over an hour-and-a-half to get to the nice hotel Alameda there. We used the WC and returned to the bus for a city tour. That tour let us out at the Plaza Major.

The city tour guide then took us around the New Cathedral, as differentiated from the Old Cathedral. I don't have the years of construction. The New Cathedral appears as antiquated as any we've seen and has the usual chapels and gold overlays and huge pipe organs covered with gold from the new world, etc.

The weather forecast warned of rain, and here it came. We dragged out our umbrellas and followed our guide in walking next door to the old part of the University of Salamanca, the third oldest in the world. We were shown an example of an old lecture room (*very basic*) and newer ones. The process of becoming a graduate and PhD was explained to us. Lots of students running around, even though this was a quasi-holiday (All Souls). 

We returned to the hotel for lunch. This took place in a very nice banquet room, served by waiters in black suits and bow ties. The dishes included a mixed salad with tuna in the bottom and other things in it (white asparagus, for instance). All the wine we wanted. The paella was served next. I'm not much on mussels, so I split mine between Gayle and Dolores. The rest (shrimp, octopus, rice, etc.) was very nice. The dessert was a tiny ice cream and cake-ish thing that was tasty. I'm a little curious as to how much that cost Vantage (and thus, us).

Still raining, but the afternoon was given to us for “free time” and we weren't about to miss that. The rest of the six stayed at the hotel, sitting in the huge waiting room and drinking free white wine. Dolores & I headed south on Toro street for the Plaza Major.

The problem was that most everyone had closed for siesta time. Few stores were open outside the lunchrooms and dining places. The portable stands inside the plaza were all closed. We finally found a souvenir store on the far side of the plaza where Dolores could get a tee-shirt and city pin.

Now it was pouring and we walked back in it, under our umbrellas. Sort of nice just walking along in the rain, but my shoes started getting soaked. We were happy to get back to the hotel. We waited a little bit, then boarded the buses for home. Leaving the city our PM, Rui Barreiro, mentioned that we should fell honored since it almost never rains here. But we were here on a day when it rained!! Hmmm...

On the dock, Rui Barreira captured Gayle and Jim and took them to Chico's (Xcicos) for a beer or wine. They joined us later and told us about it.

Back at the ship, we had wine in our cabin while watching a slide show of pictures taken today. I proved to Jim I can take in all his pictures at the end of the trip so we can share. I tried getting Glenn's camera to connect but it wouldn't and now that particular cable is screwed up and/or my old Canon camera connector is screwed up. We need more work in this area. I'll use the Kodak video camera for tomorrow.

Dinner was a “Portuguese Barbeque”, mostly quite good. I didn't get into the sardines.

Post dinner, the only thing going on was the musician in the lounge so we unanimously retired to our cabins.