It's the 1st of July 2023!!!!

 We have been back for 6 days now from the Portugal/Spain trip and time to catch up as the summer is going to be very busy!!!

To start - flights home fine and my suitcase made it home after it went missing for 6 days at the start of the trip and after 2 days home it was time for a recheck of my CA125 ovarian cancer marker lab - and after going up a little last time it went down!!!  Is it the Vinho Verde wine or port or all the walking, touring and giggling with friends.  This picture is from 3 years ago this week so thanks for all the good vibes, prayers and thoughts from friends!  And I'm happy to have lots of white hair!!!

Now stories of the trip:

Our last night on June 25 we walked a few blocks with our friends and the temp was 100 degrees but cloudy so "not bad" as they say in MN!  We did have reservations thank goodness and had great service and paella dish to share and a little wine and ice cream - great way to end a trip!  And we added an extra day on our own at the end!

24 June 2023 - Madrid - walked the town toured the Royal Palace former home of Royal Family.  It has a 120 seat table in the dining room and last week the President of Jordan was a guest so it was closed to tours.  The Royal family has no power as only elected officials do (guide told us crooks and carousers:))

We skipped the Prado Museum tour as we had been there in 2001 on a "road trip".  And the last dinner with what we now call "The Back Seat Bus Gang" and the two new couples want to travel with the four of us again - yep fer shur!

This shows the crown and the five coats of arms of different areas of Spain.

And the statue above is of Charles III who was the first King to reside in the Palacio Real (Royal Palace).

And a pretty plain photo of the royal family:  mom, dad and 3 siblings and one does not look super happy or maybe is just serious.

And we also toured a Market with LOTS of food and good smells and crowds but they did have toilets!

Hmmm - termina dulce means "sweet ending"!

23 June 2023 - We got off our small "baby longship" on the Duoro River today for a few hotel nights in Madrid.  First stop on the bus tour was Salamanca with it's 12th century Cathedral, 800 year old university (one of the oldest in the world) and we saw the huge ancient library and some of the old books can be checked out but not by everyone!  Then a tapas walk to have tastes of tapas, port and vinho verde wine.

So - we had 72 total guests on the tour and 3 divided us into small groups as usual and you could always opt for the "mellow yellow" group - slow moving, fearful of falling and "old" - I have not had to do that yet!!!

Noticed this political billboard and the red X's and probably not this guy's favorite people.

Got our "free" beer or whatever plus a Spanish "hot dog" - very interesting.

And a daily ice cream for a retired Registered Dietitian - "don't do as I do, do as I say"!

Very interesting tapas bar with lots of memorabilia.

Mostly we didn't have a clue what the tapas were but we ate them anyway with our fingers as that's all we had so notice the greasy fingers!

Other guests noticed this and after all my striped shirts they said I need this wine!

And yes - this is a head of a bull!

We visited the Salamanca Cathedral and lots of gold and the most beautiful choir loft I have ever seen.  Ross has been in church choirs ever since we met so we visit all the Cathedrals all over the world!

And yes this is the choir loft and the "big book" is the music for the choir director.

22 June 2023 - still on the boat.  The "boat" can only sail during the day as the Douro is very narrow and curvy and not a lot of city lights so we probably sailed at the most 2 hours a day and then slept in the port dock at night and toured all over during the day. 

Today we disembarked in Barca de Alva to visit Castelo Rodrigo which has been standing watch over the medieval village of Rodrigo since the 13th century when it's defensive battlements were built and fought over by both Spain and Portugal.

And since our buddy Greg is a professional musician the lounge musician sang and Greg played and they were both so happy and did the same again a couple nights later.  Lots of guests dancing to the music!

And from the boat MS Andorhina we rang the bell and got the picture from the Douro River Valley.

Castelo Rodrigo - lots of remnants of history of the protective fortress.

And the fortress watch window and most likely had a cannon to defend it.

All the doors to residences and everything else were very short and these were the doors to the jail - with our local guide.

Perfect for me the DJ - I need this license plate!

And many people on the tour heard that I love cemeteries so they pointed this out to me and I took a quick jog down to see it.  I didn't get to visit the biggest cemetery in Madrid with 5 million graves - on my bucket list if I get back there for the 3rd visit!

21 June 2023 - on the Boat.

Discovering the "secrets" of the Douro vineyards and spending more time on the water with views of the hundreds of vineyards on the hills in the Douro Valley.  Then a stop to visit the city of Pocinho to visit a wine estate and what else but taste more wine!

We did pass through another lock on the Douro but not as big as a previous one that was 115 feet tall - one of the tallest in Europe.

As I was up on the sun deck doing by walking laps I notied an ambulance pull up near our boat so a few of us were watching and it did happen to be a woman on the tour who spent the night in the hospital to "watch" her heart but was back on and touring the next day.

We did visit a vineyard with very well aged dusty and mossy wine bottles apparently very expensive.

And a little of the "white port" which is actually a yellow color and tasted pretty strong to me.

20 June 2023 - Pinhao Portgual stop on the Douro River

We did have a BBQ lunch, olive oil tour and got 3 plastic buttons for stops to get our free "treats" - lots of chocolate, hot dog and fries.  I did buy the olive oil as it was excellent and not expensive.  And of course I had to get an $18 t-shirt that says "Wine Not" - perfect.  When olive oil has more acidity it has a stronger and more "bitter" taste.

One of the best waiters who was French and called me his "mom" and we were very well treated as I told him I loved France.

And the vineyard guy - had to buy a shirt like this!

This is the machine that presses the grapes for wine...or maybe olives for olive oil???

18-19 June 2023 - on the boat on the Douro

Tasted Vinho Verde and toured the awesome charming Guimares.  The Douro River is 200 miles long from Porto on the Atlantic Ocean to Spain.  Guimares in a UNESCO World Heritage city regarded as the birthplace of Portugal and well preserved buildings and monuments.  From there a drive to Aveleda to taste "green wines" aka vinho verde - not really green just called that as it refers to age and not color.

The sign is the entrance to the Quinta (large house).  Average salary in Guimaires is 760Euros per month comparable to USD, rent is 3000Euros to rent apartment and now 50-80% are 6000Euros/month.

Quite a car and I think the license plates were from the state of Virginia!

Very interesting wood carvings on the vineyard - they don't look very friendly!

We did have lunch and along with it a cocktail making lesson with what else but port and wine!

Back on the sun deck of the boat doing my laps and there were always other people doing the same.

They had to push down part of the roof to get under this bridge on the Douro River - interesting but we did it.

This was the roof of Arthur's bar on the sun deck that can be lowered.

And a tour of the kitchen on the boat - wow - how can they serve 75 guests and probably just as many of the crew???

And another of "The Gang of Eight" enjoying another fun giggly dinner!

This was a starter and you could also eat the spoon.

17 June 2023 - our boat MS Andorhina is docked in Porto

And the best day - after my luggage was missing for 6 days it was finally delivered to the ship and our tour director Manuel was so excited he took a picture and showed both Ross, me and others - happy days and I'm not a worrier and don't carry a lot of expensive things - I'm a bit frugal but do love to travel.

Today we toured Porto and Ross and I had been there several years ago but we always learn so much on a tour.  We rode a historic tram, got on a water taxi for a cable car ride and had a robust walking tour with stops to taste "culinary treats"....and probably a little wine tasting.

We did take this tram and nobody tripped and it was specifically for tourist groups so not packed.

These were the bamboo woven seats and at the front is the place where the "driver" keeps it on the tracks.

And this is the cable car and it goes pretty high up with beautiful views of Porto.

View from the cable car and not sure why my eyes are shut:)

And our boat at the dock at Porto.

And best day of the week - got back to our room after a day of touring and my little 25" suitcase was waiting for me on the bed and nothing missing!

A little relaxing time on the sun deck of the boat - can't beat that and it was comfortable.

We did have entertainment in the lounge and several were training to be Catholic priests and pretty young.  It was a great performance.

This was one of the directors and the young priest who was excellent on the Portugese instrument.

And back to the tram - this is the young driver in training and he did great and tried not to get distracted or you could crash into a regular tram that has priority on the tracks.