Sometimes you just need to take a break and fly from reality and not worry about what is left behind. Many times you wish to do it and few are those times that you actually decide to do it. So, when I was invited to do a two days trip to the north of the country with my family I thought, 'why not?' The route was quite simple: spending the night in a hotel and leaving early in the morning to do another small trip to a tourist boat that would take us through the waters of the beautiful Douro.
The weather was quite nasty, the whole journey to the north was made under buckets of water, but the view on the other side of the bus window was amazing. Mountains and mountains of green and sometimes, huge perfectly rounded rocks with hints of river here and there, grazing fields and old stone houses.
At the end of the first day we arrived at our hotel, which was in fact, a XVII century old convent converted into a four stars rustic hotel, the Hotel Rural Nossa Senhora Do Carmo, located between Douro and Serra da Estrela. Everything was picturesque: the eating area was in, what was once, a church with the buffet placed in the altar and all that lightened with soft light - some corners were really shady, in a beautiful way - and we had live music during dinner time. It was a pleasant and relaxing moment and it made the perfect beginning for the night. I'm not going to talk about the bedroom cause it was a simple room with antique furniture, however the windows were fantastic! They were enormous and the windowsills were so large and long that I even thought for a moment sleeping on one of them and just gaze at the night sky whilst I fell asleep; even the bathtub was placed under one of those windows. I really was tired and sleepy so I chose the comfy white bed instead.
Unfortunately, our staying was brief: we got up really early, with the bedroom's phone ringing as an alarm at 5am so I didn't explore the hotel and it surroundings as I wanted to. It was a two hour trip to the boat, hence the early waking time.
When we arrived to the boat, we were served both breakfast and, later lunch. The rest of the day was spent on the boat with only the river, the mountains and its vineyards for company. Besides the blissful view, we also passed through barrages, it was quite a phenomenon: grand and slightly scary at the same time. The all Douro is just beautiful and peaceful, I can't find better adjectives to describe it. I hope the pictures can show you a bit of the experience.
I loved getting to know Douro, despite the fact that it was all done in a bit of a rush, to be honest. The tranquillity of that view, however was a much needed soothing balm for me; I was able to disconnect, even if just temporarily, from the stress and obligations I usually find myself in.
You can find more information about the hotel here :)
Lots of Love, Helena
