FROM QUARANTINE

Although our life is less than exciting I am doing a blog anyway.  Perhaps I should call it the "blog from boredom."

We discovered that our quarantine hotel is brand new and opened the day we came.  As far as I can tell the only guests are isolating.   The room is very nice but one feature causes me to wonder if the Portuguese are perhaps a bit quirky.  Along side the bed is a window that can be opened allowing a full view into the shower and the toilet beyond.  Thus one can lie in bed and watch one's partner shower, or fulfill other needs.

The food from room service is good but definitely Portuguese.  Seafood predominates.  I haven't seen a wine list and the wines they send are always from the Douro.

From the balcony we can chat with our neighbours on either side.  One neighbour is a retired cop from London who travels the world on cruiseships giving lectures on police work.  He said his best lecture was from his time in Colombia chasing Escobar.

This morning two rapid tests appeared outside our door.  We both tested negative but I don't know what that means as I assume we must test negative on a test that can be validated.  I am now wondering if perhaps I had a false positive as I can't imagine how I could have Covid and not pass it along to Betty.

                                                    PORTO

We started our last full day (Palm Sunday) on the Viking Hemming with our daily Covid spit.  After breakfast I, but not Betty, joined a 3.5 hour walking tour of the old city of Porto.  This is a lovely city, and both of us were looking forward to our four days on our own to explore.  Note the blue tiles on the inside of the railway station.

When we went to the restaurant for dinner, we were surprised by how empty it was.  Covid had struck the boat and over half the passengers had either tested positive or shared a bed with someone who had.  We thought we might have been lucky but later that night a knock on the door dashed out hopes.  Although Betty's results were negative, mine were positive.

In the morning (Monday) we were put in a van and transported to a hotel somewhere on the Douro River.  My interpretation of Portuguese law is that we will be locked in our room for at least 7 days.  We have no real idea of when we shall return to Canada.  Betty will miss her pre-surgery appointments and perhaps miss the surgery itself.

Viking Cruises is putting us up in a very nice hotel and paying the bill, including room service for meals and wine. I expect to spend a long seven days reading chick novels that Betty had downloaded on her e-reader.

Tomorrow (April 12) Betty will be "celebrating" something ending in a zero.  I did manage to grab a bottle of Champagne (the French stuff) from the boat as we were escorted off.  I am sure Betty would appreciate reading any e-mails you might care to send her.  bs.johnson@ns.sympatico.ca

                                                                         SAILING DOWNRIVER

By Thursday morning we had reached the Spanish border, which was as far upriver as the boat was allowed.  We took an all-day tour to the Spanish city of Salamanca, home to one of the four first universities in the world.  On the way there we had a Shakespeare stop (to pee or not to pee) for fresh orange juice and coffee.  Note the hanging hams in the picture.  These came from pigs that only ate acorns.  Once in Salamanca we had refreshments and saw some traditional dancing.  This was followed by a walking tour of the city.

At the end of the tour we had a couple of hours of free time.  Betty badly needed to sit so we entered the first place we came across.  This was a tapa bar and Betty asked the waiter to bring us four tapas of his choosing.  In a flash came a calamari sandwich, a burrito, a mixed seafood sandwich and a Spanish omelet.  We washed down these delicious treats with a bottle of sparkling water and four glasses of Rioja Roble.  The bill came to 15.40 Euros ($ 21.56 Canadian).  It was only after I had tipped that I noticed a tip had already been included.

The day was long but we did make it to the boat in time for a pre-dinner drink.

On Saturday we decided to skip the included ship's tour (which appeared to have some difficult walking.)  We opted for a relatively expensive trip to the Tavora-Varosa wine region.  Here the scenery was even more beautiful that in the Douro and our tour ended with wine tasting at a very small winery.  We ate some great delicacies and one of wines was one of the best still whites we have ever had.  The particular vintage that we tried only had produced 700 bottles, and to my great surprise, the owner even agreed to sell me a bottle.  Sure hope the bubble-wrap does its thing in my suitcase.

Since tomorrow will be our last cruise day, before our 4 days on land in Porto, I shall comment a bit on the cruise.  This is our 21st cruise, but our first river cruise.  River and Ocean cruising are very different; one chooses the river for scenery and the ocean for amenities.  On an Ocean ship there is a library, a spa, an exercise room, laundromats, a theatre for evening entertainment and multiple restaurants with lots of options.  None of these exist on the river boat, and in the one restaurant there are only a few options, despite the food being well prepared and presented.

                                         DOURO RIVER

We spent most of Monday bussing from Lisbon to the pier across from Porto.  En route we stopped at the beautiful medieval city of Coimba where we did some shopping.  We visited Coimba University (the oldest in Portugal).  They have a medical school where lobotomies were first developed.  The students at Coimba still wear academic gowns to classes.  However, they have a tradition whereby upon graduation they take off their gowns and discard them in the street.  Male students also take off the rest of their clothes and hang them on the gates of the university.

At our lunch stop we were beautifully entertained by two guitarists and a fado singer.  One of the guitars was a Portuguese guitar, which I would describe as a cross between an acoustic guitar and a banjo.

After a pleasant evening meal of traditional Portuguese food we had a good night's sleep.  On Tuesday we first visited the Palais da Mateus.  Those of you who have drunk Mateus wine or have used the Mateus bottle as a candle holder would recognize the villa from the picture on the label.  However, there is no connection between the palace and the wine, except that in the 1940's an upstart winery paid a tiny sum for the use of a picture for their label.  .The palace was built in 1742 and has been lived in continuously ever since; the family now in its 15th generation.

We had a spectacularly beautiful drive up the mountain to the Sandeman Winery, which makes exclusively port wine.  In Douro the best grapes are reserved for port.  This I consider to be a terrible waste of good grapes and, in fact, I didn't drink most the the ports offered me at Sandeman's

Upon our return to the ship construction forced the bus to stop over a km from the boat.  Walking back was a great struggle for Betty and we are those going to skip Wednesday's tours to allow her knee a rest.

The Douro River is very beautiful but we took a break from the scenery to attend a cooking class, where I got tips on making Pastel da Nada.  Those of you who have eaten my pastries at recent dinners can look forward to improvements next time.

After 20 ocean cruises Betty and I are finally having our first river cruise.  River cruising is quite different than ocean cruising and perhaps in a later blog I'll give some comparisons.

                                                                LISBOA

After a long overnight from Montreal we arrived at 9:00 Saturday morning in Lisbon.  The airport is large with a particularly long hike from baggage to the exit.  Fortunately, I had convinced Betty that we must share one large suitcase and I was thus able to manage both her wheelchair and the bag.  We had been given stickers for our jackets and were spotted by a Viking rep at the exit.  We were driven to the hotel where we were met by our Cruise Director.  We were asked to attend a 1/2 instructional talk at 6:00 that evening.  We were also given materials for Covid testing.  Each morning until the end of the cruise we must provide saliva samples for PCR testing.

I spend a good part of the afternoon trying to scout a walkable dinner restaurant.  I kept being told that they were already overbooked.  Eventually I was sort of told at  large pub that if we came at 6:30 (way too early for the Portuguese) they would try to find us a table.  As we had skipped lunch we were very thirsty and hungry by 5:00 so we went to the lobby bar and ordered two glasses of a Dao and munched on olives and nuts.  The Dao was the best Portuguese wine I have ever tried.

At the instructional lecture we had two glasses of Muscatel each, a wine I usually avoid.  They were also good.  At 6:30 we skipped out of the lecture and headed to the pub.  The pub was almost empty when we arrived, but by the time we finished our meal people were lined up out into the street hoping to score a table.  Our meal started with prawns grilled in peppers and olive oil.  Betty ordered a steak and got a tasty piece of veal smothered in a cream and peppercorn sauce.  I ordered a francesinha sandwich (which my broker said I must try when I got to Portugal).  A francesinha sandwich starts with a slice of bread on which is laid a large veal steak done quite rare.  On top of the steak are an uncured and a smoked sausage both cut lengthwise; then several slices of ham.  Over this is poured about a pint of hot Port sauce before the second piece of bread is placed.  Then several melted cheeses smother the bread before the whole thing is topped with a fried egg.  The bottle of Douro wine that washed down this concoction was perfectly adequate but not quite up to the standards of the hotel Dao.

On Sunday morning we had a very tasty breakfast at the hotel before we were taken on a bus tour of the city.  Lisbon is very clean and claims to be the fourth safest city in the world.  The tour lasted for about 4 hours and gave a good overview 

On Monday morning we will be coached to Porto.  Along the way we will stop in the university town of Coimbra for a tour and lunch.  Then at 4:30 (assuming our Covid tests have been negative) we will board for our cruise up the Douro River.