A Full day was scheduled for our Douro Valley excursion and every bit was needed.  It was over an hour drive to where we boarded our boat for the boat trip portion of the day.  This was a 2 hour introductory trip of the area. 
Granny approaching the boarding area.
This is our boat coming in to dock.
Granny ready to enjoy the cruise.
Along the way we pass orchard after orchard.  Most of the orchards display a sign in large letters to let you know who owns that particular parcel.
There are some larger boats (below right) that take multi-day trips up the river to the Spanish border.
Granny and me enjoying a glass of port.
After our boat trip we stopped at Quinta de La Rosa for a little snack at their restaurant - Cozina da Clara.
Maybe snack is the wrong description.  More like a Gourmand Break FEAST!
Granny ready and waiting.
Appetizer  - Very good but
don't remember what it was.
Cold tomato soup
Iberian Pork
Chef's special cod.
Truffled mashed potatoes to accompany the Iberian pork
Orange Pie with Lime Sorbet
Fresh fruit platter
After lunch it was off to visit the vineyard and see the port making process.
The vineyards fill both sides of the river and the vines are planted in rows that are sometimes horizontal, sometimes vertical and sometimes on a diagonal.  The direction of the rows depends partly on the topography and partly on the grower's judgement as to which way will support the most vines.
We were fortunate to be in Douro at harvest time.  They had picked the grapes and were procesing them.
 The grapes were dumped onto a conveyor belt and people were separating them and occasionally picking out bad ones.  Fron ;there, the grapes drop onto another conveyor belt that lifts them to the machine that appears to extract the juice.  Click HERE to see a short video of the process.
The fermentation process of port is fairly short.and at the proper time it is stopped by the addition of wine spirit.  The wine is then aged in stainless steel tanks, barrels or bottles.
Barrels of port wine aging.
Bottles waiting to be filled.
Our tour is done and we say goodbye to the beatiful Douro Valley.
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