Immersive Experiences

Thursday, November 6, 2025

Castelo Rodrigo

As we passed through two more sets of locks today, we enjoyed the peaceful, rural scenery of the Douro River Valley. The banks of the river were lined with vineyards, and cherry, olive, and almond trees. Rustic stone buildings were scattered here and there, some in ruins, and some showing signs of being occupied and cared for.

Sailing through a narrow passage

As we progressed toward our destination we were entertained by the chef with a chance to learn how to make pastéis, and another chance to taste them. I have the recipe, and I will send it to anyone who is interested. It is easier than it looks.

The pastéis demonstration was followed by a Portuguese language lesson taught by one of the tour escorts.

After lunch, we arrived in Barca D’Alva, a small Portuguese town on the edge of the Spanish border. We disembarked for our tour to Castelo Rodrigo, a medieval fortified hill town that has been home to Arabs, Christians, and Jews over the centuries. The roads were narrow and winding but our bus somehow managed to make all the turns and get us to the old gate to the town - along with two other buses from our boat and several buses from other boats. Meanwhile, the weather had become quite blustery, and it was starting to sprinkle. 

Our tour of the town wasn’t much. There was a lot of standing around in exposed areas tying to keep warm and avoid getting blown away. We walked past a crumbling castle but our guide (Inês, again) did not have much to say about the castle as we plodded up a steep road.

We stood outside a tiny church, backs to the wind, waiting while other groups went in and came back out, and I was beginning to think we would not be going in at all when Inês finally said we could go in. The church’s interior was tiny, dark, and unadorned, and Inês did not offer any commentary. 

Unlike the charming, bustling hill towns of Tuscany, this little town seemed deserted and forgotten. There are only about 50 residents.  We never saw anyone who looked like they lived there. Many of the buildings looked abandoned. We saw one small cafe and two or three gift shops clustered around the entrance. No markets or shops or any other signs of life were visible after we left the vicinity of the gate.

This tile points the way for pilgrims following one of the routes of the Camino, which runs through Castelo Rodrigo.

The cobbled streets were quite steep, and difficult to walk on due to the unevenness of the stones. We had to walk down a very steep couple of blocks to get to the former Jewish neighborhood. We were told that Jews fleeing the Spanish Inquisition settled here and coexisted peacefully with the Christians - until the Portuguese Inquisition was launched in 1536. (So, for 44 years?) 

We walked down “Sinagoga Street” but we were not shown the synagogue,  or the remains of one. We were told, for example, that the Jews survived by using strategies such as having small doors to their houses. This made it awkward to enter a house, so that the occupants could clobber anyone who would try to enter and arrest them. Inês showed us a face carved into a stone over a doorway. This is not something I would expect to see over the door to a Jewish house, but I am not familiar with the customs of Sephardic Jews. We were shown a carving that Inês claimed was a mezuzah. IMHO, a mezuzah would be on a door, not on a window. It would not be carved into stone, but would be attached to the doorframe. 

I find these various tales and factoids improbable. We were not given any details about how long the Jews lived here or what happened to them. I was dismayed that the real history was glossed over in favor of gimmicky and questionable anecdotes.

Sinagoga Street
The flat slabs in the center cover utilities that were installed relatively recently.

This was once the town’s cistern. A mikveh (ritual bath) was located next to it. 

Note the Moorish-style doorway on the right. That is where the mikveh was accessed.

One of the former Jewish houses, with a small door

Inês points out a gargoyle of some kind carved into the stone. It was believed to protect the house. Note the little niche on the right containing a statue of the Virgin Mary

One of the Jewish houses had this inscription over a window, that may have once been a door. Maybe this is Hebrew script, maybe it is Arabic.

This window may have once been a low doorway that was partially filled in later.

I have highlighted a carving on the windowsill that Inês claimed was a mezuzah. 

I didn’t spend a lot of time on it, but I did my own research on the internet, for what it’s worth. I found sources that suggest a different story. Jews may have lived in Castelo Rodrigo since the early 1200’s, and possibly for many centuries before that. The “cistern” is actually the remains of the synagogue. The writing above the window is Hebrew script and is a quote from one of the Psalms.

View of the valley below Castelo Rodrigo

When we returned to our boat, we were welcomed back by the senior officers, who offered us hot chocolate plus Bailey’s. That certainly hit the spot.

For dinner, the chef set out a bountiful spread  billed as “A Taste of Portugal.”  I really like being able to try a lot of the local foods, especially when they are served in a buffet format and you can taste many dishes. Most Portuguese food seems to have had very humble origins. Lots of bacalhau (dried salted cod), sardines, pork, chicken. Rice, beans. Pastries and puddings.

After dinner we shifted our focus from Portugal to Spain, which is just over the bridge from us. Some flamenco dancers came from Salamanca to perform onboard for us. They were excellent and at the end, some of us had fun dancing along with them.

Today’s fabric is the polka dot print. Polka dots appeared in the 18th century as a printing error on fabric. The unpopular fabric had to be sold at a discount and was snapped up by field workers who used the fabric to make their traditional ruffled dresses. The field workers wore the polka dots when they attended livestock fairs and gradually the polka dot pattern became popular. The livestock fairs evolved into Seville’s feria, and the ruffled dresses evolved into flamenco dresses. 

The English term “polka dots” seems to have originated in the mid-1800’s at a time when the polka dance was wildly popular in the US. In Spanish, polka dots are called “lunares.” 

Photo from visitasevilla.es

Throwback Wednesday

Wednesday, November 5, 2025

Do you remember drinking Mateus rosé in the 60’s or 70’s? Well, I certainly do. We will soon take a trip down Memory Lane to Mateus Palace, which is pictured on the label above. But first, I will describe the morning’s activities.

A lecture on Portugal and the Douro Region was offered, but we did not attend. A second lecture, on cork, piqued my interest. Who could resist entering the lounge to see all the cork merch laid out by “The Cork Lady?” 

Cork trees belong to the oak family. It takes 25 years for a new tree to produce its first batch of cork. The cork is peeled off from the trunk from the ground up to the first branches, all the way around the trunk.It doesn’t hurt the tree to leave the trunk completely bare. After the first harvest, a cork tree will grow a new crop of cork in 7 to 9 years. When a trunk has been harvested, the last number of the year is painted on the tree so that farmers will know when it is time to harvest that tree again.

Portugal is the world’s leading producer of cork. There are cork shops (and wine shops) everywhere. Cork is lightweight, flexible, and buoyant. It is waterproof, flame-retardant, and decay-resistant. It offers thermal and acoustic insulation. I’ll drink to that!

Today we cast off from Vila Nova de Gaia and “sailed” to Lamego, where Viking Helgrim stopped briefly to disembark most of her passengers. While our boat continued on the river to Pinhão, the passengers traveled by bus to Mateus Palace.

Our boat passed through three locks today. The first lock we reached was part of a large dam.

  

At the biggest lock, the waiters passed out sangria during the transit.

The landscape along the route was hilly and verdant, and dotted with vineyards. 

At last we arrived at Mateus Palace and Gardens. It had been raining off and on. Now it was seriously raining. 

We had to walk to the palace from the gate. It was an impressive approach, even in the rain. Apparently, in Portugal, the word “palace” is not supposed to be used unless royalty has slept there. Thus, the Mateus Palace is not a true palace, even though it is called Mateus Palace. (I wonder if the Avenida Palace, our Lisbon hotel, is a legitimate palace.)

                                         

A second palace is reflected in the water as one nears the baroque mansion. But, wait, is that a body in the water? Is that a statue that fell over? 

The manor house was built around 1740. The reflecting lake was added in the 1950’s or 1960’s. The woman sleeping in the water is a sculpture installed in 1981.

The property is now owned by the Mateus Foundation, which is managed by descendants of the founders of the winery. The name Mateus comes from the location of the property. The family name is Albuquerque. Several family members still occupy a part of the manor house that is not open to the public.

After a while the rain stopped enough for us to wander in the formal garden for a bit.

On the way back, our guide, Inês, kept talking about the amazing railroad station we were going to see in Pinhão. (Inês is a Viking crew member and will be the tour escort for our bus for the entire week.) By the time we got to Pinhão, it was pitch dark. Everyone was tired and wet and ready to get back to the boat. But we drove past the turnoff to the dock and kept going to “see” the railroad station. The station was deserted and there were no lights on. The bus slowed down, but we couldn’t see anything. Then we came to a dead end and the bus had to slowly back up for a so that we could find a place to turn around and return to the boat. Maybe Inês started doing this tour in summer when it was light out at 5:45, but, as they say, that train has left the station. 

Back on the boat in time for a cocktail before dinner. Hugo gives a very short talk on the next day’s port every night. The chef talks about the local specialties on the menu. Then Hugo gives us a hilarious Portuguese phrase of the day. A phrase to describe chaos is “O fim do Munda em cuecas,” which means “The end of the world in underpants.”

We had dinner with our group, which I will call “LuAnn’s Group” in honor of the person who organized this trip but could not come due to last-minute shoulder surgery. There are 14 of us, including Ken and me. We don’t all fit at one table, but we will eventually get a chance to sit with everyone else.  Six of them are people we have not met before, but everyone knows at least one other person.

The passengers at large are not especially diverse. I would guess that all are over 55 and most are over 65. All but one Asian couple are white. There are four New Zealanders, and the rest are Americans. There is a group of 8 LGBT women, and there is one trans woman traveling alone. No scooters, wheelchairs, or walkers, but  a few canes. This is not a good trip for anyone with mobility issues.

After dinner we did not go to the Music Quiz. It was a long day.

By the way, the shape of the Mateus bottle was inspired by the water flask used by Portuguese soldiers in World War I. The label has been updated and the wine has been tweaked to make it a little drier, but the bottle shape remains and they still use a real cork stopper.

Today’s travel tips

Number One: Don’t buy stamps from the shop where you buy postcards. They are likely to be stamps issued by a private mail service. I have not had good luck with these stamps in the past - the cards were never received. On the other hand, I have not had good luck trying to buy stamps at a real post office in Italy. The lines are unbelievable and they are sometimes out of international stamps. Just mail the postcards after you get home. 

I won’t have a travel tip every day, but I have two today. Number Two: People, if you are eating in a restaurant that has cloth napkins, for God’s sake, do not blow your nose in your napkin. You will leave it on the table. Eventually the server will pick it up without being of aware of what you did. Then the server will come to my table to bring me silverware or food. I can’t tell you how many times I have seen this happen.

Today’s “fabric” is cork. Arguably, cork is not a fabric, because it is not woven, knitted or felted, and it does not consist of fibers. However, it can be used like a fabric, so I would consider it a fabric, along with leather, when it functions as one. Here are some of the cork items displayed by the Cork Lady. The cork felt soft and smooth.

Cloak and Swagger

Tuesday, November 4, 2025

Today we will be heading to Porto on our bus. Silvia, our excellent guide from yesterday, will accompany us today, also. 

Portuguese guitars
Photo from Wikipedia

On the way to Porto we will stop in Coimbra, a former capital of Portugal. Coimbra has many structures dating back to the Roman period, including an aqueduct. The Visigoths ruled the region from the 5th to the early 8th century, when the Moors arrived. 

The Moors remained in control (more or less) for the next 400 years or so, until the kingdom of Portugal was founded by Afonso Henriques, who became Afonso I, the first king of Portugal. Afonso I was a larger-than-life character who influenced the course of Portugal’s history. (In order to consolidate his power, Afonso I defeated the armies of his mother, Countess Teresa, in the Battle of Sāo Mamede in 1128.) Afonso I made Coimbra the capital.

The oldest University in Portugal was established in Lisbon in 1290, but was relocated to Coimbra in 1308, and became known as the University of Coimbra.

The beautiful tiled roof of this university building appears to be even more colorful when it is wet.

Over the centuries, many interesting traditions have developed among the student body. Some are still followed today. For example, the students must wear a uniform consisting of a black suit, white shirt, and a black cloak (think Harry Potter). Upon graduation, the suits and shirts are hung on a gate or building and eventually burned. The cloak is kept by the graduate forever. Students will sometimes honor an individual by throwing their cloaks on the ground for the honoree to walk upon. Students can be seen on campus, wearing their cloaks, selling postcards and pencils to tourists to earn money. 

Another tradition involves student singing groups. They sing fado music - emotional and poignant songs - on the street and in pubs and cafes. For most of the university’s history, all students were males, so the traditional singing groups are all male. They wear their cloaks and play traditional instruments, such as the Portuguese guitar. These groups are called tuna groups.

After a tour of the university, which was also being renovated, we went to a nearby venue for lunch. Cloaks were placed on the floor in our honor as we entered, and we obliged by walking on them. We were treated to some live fado music during the meal. Our lunch included a delicious soup and some bacalhau com natas (cod baked in a creamy sauce) with greens.

26 seconds of fado . . .

After lunch we returned to the bus to continue our journey to Porto. We finally arrived at Vila Nova de Gaia at 4:30, where the Viking Helgrim was docked, just across the Douro River from Porto.  

We were sad to say goodbye to Silvia here. She was such a warm person, and such an excellent guide. But we were more than ready to board and continue our adventure. Boarding was quick and easy.

Viking uses smaller boats in Portugal than in other parts of Europe. Our boat has 53 staterooms on 3 decks. We therefore have slightly over 100 passengers, plus 35 crew members. The captain, chef and many of the staff members are Portuguese.

Our cabin was ready for us. It is a category PV on Deck 2. 

At 6:30 we attended a welcome and safety briefing in the lounge. Dinner was at 7:30.

I chose this seafood stew. It was fresh and delicious.

A sweet piece of orange cake for dessert

After dinner there was a lecture on “Portugal Today.” We were tired, so we skipped it.

Today’s fabric is “burel.” Burel is a dense, water-resistant, 100% wool fabric used to make capes and cloaks in Portugal. It is a type of felt.

Photo of female student in traditional uniform and cloak.
Photo found on Reddit. I’m not sure who should get credit for the photo.