From the Douro

We cannot post on LCT from the boat. We can read only. Some sort of block. This is why you have not had posts.

I am going to send this to my office to post

The boat.
The Queen Isabel is a uniworld ship. The junior suite has a lot of storage room and a reasonable sized bathroom. Plus a nice desk for a computer and LOTS of plugs both 220 and 110. We were comfortable. The regular cabins looked small. Not sure that would have worked so well.

The food
Food has been overall fine. It does amaze me how river boats put out the food they do with such small kitchens. Staff have been outstanding doing all they can to please. The salmon and steak on the available anytime menu have been better than the featured items.

The weather
We are late in the season so the weather has not been kind. Ranging from sunny to cloudy to rain. Also quite cold at times. As we are about to embark on a trip on the mariner that will have hot weather ken and I do not really have warm enough clothes. Some of the others were smarter than us.

The tours
There was a long day tour to the Mateus Palace. The same Mateus palace that was featured on the Mateus wine we all drank years ago. This was followed by a dinner at a farm getting back to the ship at 9.00 pm.

We wanted to go the the first part of the trip only to the palace just about three hours. The manager and cruise director were so helpful. They put us on the tour bus to do the Mateus Palace and arranged a taxi to bring us back to the ship. That was perfect. The grounds were stunning and the palace just like the bottle. We really had a great day. Unfortunately it rained a lot but was not cold.

The next tour was about three hours. A ride to a medieval village on the top of a hill. Scenery was great on the way up and the village very authentic. There was a funeral taking place in the church. Would have been a great day but it was freezing cold . The little bar in the town was offering almond snacks and port tasting included in the tour. So we very quickly left the guided walk and went to the bar. A couple of hot coffees to warm up and then onto port. The snacks were good so we ended up having a good day. After a while the sun came out and the boys went out to take pictures that will follow at some point.

Right now we are embarking on long tour to Salamanca Spain. Two hours to the town and then about four hours to wander on our own. A walking tour is offered if you want to take it. We like free time. There is a lunch allowance and we plan on finding some more sea bass. It is outstanding here. There is a hotel hosting the group where we see a flamenco show before driving back to the ship. Five of the group opted to stay on the boat.