The 19th century manor at the core of our resort was at the top of a lot of stairs
The second stop on this Portugal Explorer was an easy 90-minute drive into the Douro Valley, the country’s most famous wine region. We stayed in the Six Senses resort, located high above the Douro River in a grand 19th century manor. Truth be told there wasn’t really a lot to do so there’s not a lot to say about it.
The food was good, though because of the isolation of the resort there were no off-resort restaurant options and after just a couple days of looking at the same lunch menu it gets a little old. And the weather was spectacular for this time of year – sunny and in the 60s much of the day.
Lunch on the patio at Six Senses Douro Valley surrounded by vineyards and with plenty of sun
Being right in the middle of wine country – literally surrounded by vineyards – we took advantage of the hotel’s offer to do a wine tasting. For €55 you get to taste several wines with a sommelier giving you a history of the wine, the region, all that. Some of it was interesting but there were two downsides. First, none of the wines they chose were particularly representative of the Douro Valley. That was really strange – they all had at least some non-native grapes, and in a couple cases all the grapes were not native to the region. The whole point for us was to learn more about this specific region.
The other problem was annoying: they listed the price as €55 but when the bill came they added a €5 charge for the little food nibbles you get as a palate cleanser. Sorry, you don’t get to advertise one price and then just add a little extra. There’s a happy ending to the story though. After I complained at the front desk and had them take the extra charge off we saw the next day that the advertisement for the wine tasting had been changed to reflect the cost of €60. Victory!
Our sommelier telling us about the Douro Valley wines without actually using typical Douro Valley wines
Otherwise our days were filled with a lot of reading and a fair amount of exercising. There was a really nice gym on site and there were some great walking trails along the river and into the vineyards. A few days walking and reading in the sun with nothing to worry about isn’t the worst way to spend time!
There was a trail from below the hotel that ran just about exactly one kilometer along the river, a pleasant part of every day we spent there
And then you could extend the walk up into the vineyards. Even in just three days I could watch the little green sprouts emerging on the vines – my sense is that in just another week or 10 days at most this will be way more green than it is now.
There was a nice pool but it being the start of April and all the water was too cold for most people. I went in, though, and while I was there we found that it wasn’t too cold for ducks, either, two of whom landed while I was in it. You can see them in the upper right of the pool!
There I am, even closer to the ducks
Another view of the vineyards. Our hotel is off in the distance, almost exactly in the center of the picture.
More wildlife! The hotel had two very calm dogs that hung around with guests. This one, Foxy, wasn’t very strategic: completely ignored you, even if you tried to make friends. But then at lunch time when there was food he was eager to be fed. Sorry, you weren’t friendly when I wanted you!