We were tanned, well-nourished and relaxed when we started our 10-hour journey to Cinfães in the Douro Valley. Our time at the beach was over and we were going to meet Paige’s friend and her family again (we’d stayed with them earlier in Jordan). We rented a large, modern house in the countryside with a pool. The kids could play together as a large group and the adults could take turns supervising. Additionally, a three-day reprieve from school work was in place!
We arrived at the Airbnb and were immediately struck with the surroundings, everything was green. The south of Portugal and France had been unbelievably dry with everything appearing yellow. That was definitely not the case in the Douro Valley where there was a mist every morning. The area was hilly (too hilly to run) with windmills on many of the summits. One day I ran up to one of the windmills and did my standard Don Quixote impersonation. But the windmill won and I tweaked my knee on the descent, ending my exercise routine for a week. Fortunately, I could rehab my knee in the pool with the kids. We all teamed up to help our friends daughter get comfortable in the water. It took less than a day, and by the end of our stay, everyone was swimming laps unaided.
We used our rental cars to explore, as there were some small towns and wineries in the vicinity. There was a specific wine we had to track down and during the self-guided tour, I stumbled across signs for the Camino de Santiago (the yellow seashell markers on a bright blue background). I was oblivious to the existence of a “Portugese” route but quickly got excited and spent the rest of the day chasing markers all over the town (and taking way too many pictures of signposts). Hiking the Camino is a lifelong dream of mine and we purposely kept it out of the round-the-world endeavor. But now I was beginning to have a little bit of regret. Paigey reminded me that it was something we purposely left for another time in our lives. Next time!
Where we stayed:
- Airbnb: Large, spacious, pool….emphasis pool
By the numbers:
- Hazard level of the laneway to our accommodation: 10 – the tightest switchback I’ve had to navigate (can’t believe I didn’t dent the rental car)
- $ damage done to the car for an unrelated incident: 115 Euros – Apparently I scratched the rim parallel parking
- Cost of a Pizza Hut Buffet: 9 Euros – I still think of this missed opportunity
Ciao for now
Mike
Family Travel Countdown 