APT’s luxury Douro river cruise reveals Portugal’s hidden cultural treasures
Wine, women and sad songs take guests right into the heart of Portuguese culture on this cruise along the Douro River.
“In flamenco, they say: you left me, I will kill you,” reveals the velvet-voiced, vermillion-dressed singer, her bare shoulders shimmering in the golden light of the dazzling Arabian Hall in Palacio da Bolsa, the historic stock exchange in Porto, the second largest city in Portugal. “In fado, we think a different way: you left me, I will die.”
This insight speaks to the sense of melancholy that thrums through the traditional music of this country. “In Portugal, we have a beautiful but dramatic word: saudade,” she continues, pacing in front of three soulful-looking musicians. “When Portuguese people tell you they feel saudade, for sure they are really in pain, and almost dying for something or somebody.” And she launches into song, her voice reverberating around the ornate, gilded glory of the room, all of us captive to its rise and fall. For one long, drawn-out moment, she sounds like the saddest woman in the world, the guitar building and then stopping abruptly, like a sudden heartbreak, shaking us back into reality.
Our time in Porto, Portugal’s second-largest city, nestled where the Douro River flows into the Atlantic Ocean in the country’s north, marks the culmination of our nine-day Douro Delights river cruise aboard APT’s custom-built 58-suite MS Estrela in its inaugural season. Our group is privy to this exclusive performance after a guided tour and cocktail reception amid the grand, columned hallways overlooking the Palacio’s glass-domed Hall of Nations. Tonight is one of two APT Signature Experiences on our itinerary, alongside a raft of shore excursions. The first was a private, port-flowing lunch among enormous wine barrels in the sublime surrounds of Quinta da Pacheca, established in 1738.
Much of our trip has focused on soaking up the liquid treasures of the Douro Valley, the world’s oldest demarcated and regulated wine region, and home of port wine. This evening opens another door into Porto’s history and culture (fado is classified as an intangible cultural heritage of humanity by UNESCO), even its architecture. Touring the neoclassical-style building, we see the desk where Gustave Eiffel laboured over Porto projects, including the 1877-built Maria Pia bridge.
The following day we’re out of our finery and ready to get our hands dirty amid the happy chaos of a cooking class helmed by Vitor and Jorge of Cook in Ribeira. Our kitchen’s island bench heaves with glistening prawns, slivers of jamon, plump green and black olives, chillies, garlic, rosemary, eggs, lemons, salted cod and almonds. Vitor flourishes a match, igniting the alcohol in an oval-shaped terracotta dish resembling a rowboat, its three horizontal “benches” bearing a coiled Portuguese sausage. Whoosh! The smell of charring meat fills the air.
With that, it’s on for young and old. Each group is assigned a dish, with Vitor and Jorge darting around, issuing instructions over the rising hubbub. Did I mention there’s wine? Rather a lot of it? One of our group, who declares herself not much of a cook, has taken charge, topping up our glasses regularly and generously with “swimming pool wine”; it’s a vinho verde, or green wine, named for the verdant region of its origin. It’s devilishly refreshing, and apparently perfect by a pool on a summery day.
“A nossa!” cries Vitor. “To all of us!” “A nossa!” we cheer, raising our ever-brimming glasses. The key to today, he says, is to drink some wine, be relaxed, and taste the fruits of our labour. We’re certainly starting to relax. “We forgot the soup!” exclaims Vitor. Soup duly reinstated on the stove, we press on, cooking traditional Bacalhau a Bras; salted cod mixed with eggs and tiny potato fries, generously sprinkled with punchy olives and parsley for a hearty, flavoursome meal.
Almonds are stirred in a sticky concoction of milk and sugar until we determine it’s ready, using what Jorge calls the “Moses technique” of tracing a line with a spoon through the centre until the two sides remain parted. It’s poured into the partially cooked pastry base and placed in the oven to produce Tarte de Amendoa. I’ve since baked this traditional almond pie on repeat at home, such is the sweet-salty, nutty joy of the thing. The whole class is a nutty joy, really. The freewheeling, sensory-rich experience draws our group out of their shells. A former catering company owner displays an elegant deftness in baking almond pie; a quiet, retiring bloke becomes a cheery waiter; and our rogue “sommelier” doubles as a comedic side-act.
My final morning follows a tip from one of the friendly MS Estrela staff, shared over a glass of port the previous evening. A short walk from where we’re docked on Vila Nova de Gaia, I stumble upon streets seemingly suspended in time at the tiny fishing village of Afurada de Baixo. The tiled facades alone make this well worth a meander. They are ornate, almost-jewel-like in parts; gloriously worn in others. Tiled paintings of fishing boats and motifs of Jesus crown doorways at which aproned ladies chat conspiratorially or water pot plants, and bags of bread rolls hang on the doorknobs.
Industrious folk are busily lighting wood fires in various contraptions right on the street, ready for the day’s catch. I perch at a blue-and-white chequered table against a restaurant’s sunshine-yellow wall, sipping cold beer and watching locals bundling in for lunch, expertly stripping flesh from the skeletons of perfectly cooked fish. It’s a small, true moment in the daily life of this proud city and what our fabulous APT tour guide Barbara calls its wonderful “human scale”.
In the know
The nine-day Douro Delights itinerary aboard MS Estrela between Lisbon and Madrid starts from $11,195 a person, twin-share. An earlybird sale offer of $7295 a person is valid until November 30, unless sold out.
Nikki Wallman was a guest of APT.
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