#60 North to Tomar and Porto
Part 2 from my Trip to Portugal
On day 4, we packed up and boarded the bus for the drive north to Porto. We drove north on a beautiful toll road. The guide told us about all the road construction and improvements that followed the entry into the European Union. She also mentioned that the thrifty Portuguese people won’t use those roads because they think the tolls are too high. We could see some of the cork oak trees that comprise part of the world’s largest cork producing countries.
Cloister at the Convent of Christ Tomar - Photo by Joan Naidorf
On the way, we made a stop in Tomar to visit the ancient monastery there. The town of Tomar was created inside the walls of the Convent of Christ, fourth Grand Master Knights of Templar in Portugal in the late 12th century. Tomar was the last Templar town to be commissioned for construction and one of Portugal's historical jewels. After the knightly order was dissolved it passed to the Order of Christ, who played a huge role in the maritime adventures in the Age of Discovery.
And of course, after our morning tour, an interlude was spent in the town of Tomar to have lunch. First, we hustled over to the site of what claims to be the oldest Synagogue in Portugal. After 1492 with the expulsion of the Jews from Spain, the town’s Jewish population increased further with refugee artisans and traders. However, under pressure from the monarchs of Spain, the King soon proclaimed by edict that all the Jews remaining within the territory of Portugal would be after a short period considered Christians, although simultaneously he forbade them to leave, fearing that the exodus of Jewish men of knowledge and capital would harm his bottom line.
dining hall Tomar Convent photo by Joan Naidorf
Jews were largely undisturbed as nominal Christians called New Christians for several decades, until the establishment of a Tribunal of the Portuguese Inquisition by the initiative of the clergy in the town. Under persecution, wealthier Jews fled, while most others were forced to convert. According to online sources: hundreds of both Jews and New Christians were arrested, tortured and about 1,000 were executed in autos de fe, in a frenzy of persecution that peaked around 1550. Many others (c. 38,000) were expropriated of their property.
The Synagogue of Tomar is the best-preserved mediaeval synagogoe of Portugal (not saying much since there are only two pre-expulsion Synagogues in the country), built in the mid-15th century the Jewish community of Tomar. Since 1939 it houses the Jewish Museum Abraão Zacuto, with pieces related to Jewish history in Portugal. It is very small indeed with an enclosed archeological dig next door believed to be the community Mikvah, ritual bath.
The site has been renovated to reflect a very small and plain rectangular space. Some relics with Hebrew writing from Lisbon are displayed on the walls of the small sanctuary. Next door are the remains of the ancient Mikvah, the ritual bath.
We walked across a short wood and ironwork bridge to a lovely wooded river island area with a cafe. For a very modest sum, we enjoyed two lunches and a beer outside on the terrace. We even got our little dog fix when the three pooches at the next table wanted lots more attention than their humans could deliver. This was a lovely interlude before hopping back on the bus.
We were left with a relatively short drive northward to Villa Novo de Gaia or just shortened to Gaia, on the riverbank opposite Porto. We boarded the river cruise ship and check out the views from the deck. Gaia is the VERY important place where nearly all of the port wine produced in the Douro Valley is aged and stored.
After the first dinner on board, we went on a short “illumination” cruise for a few miles east and west to see the river cities of Porto and Gaia under the night time lights. In contrast to most river cruises that reposition overnight, the Douro River boats only cruise during the light of day. The gorges are too narrow and curvy to allow night time navigation. The advantage is lots of morning time to sit on deck or the lounge to watch the beautiful valleys of terraced vineyards and olive trees go by.
Douro River Lock photo by Joan Naidorf
After starting eastward on the Douro River, our first day included stops at Quinta de Rueda where we toured the vineyards, the wine making area, and of course, had a port wine tasting. To make Port wine, the grapes are allowed to go through the crushing and fermentation process with the yeast found naturally on the skin of the grapes. When about half of the natural sugar of the grape juice has been turned into alcohol by the fermentation, the wine maker adds a neutral spirit, 77% alcohol, to the mixture. The fermentation stops before all the sugar in the juice has been turned into alcohol and some of the natural sweetness of the grapes are preserved in the finished wine.
Quinta de Rueda in the Douro Valley photo by Joan Naidorf
This particular vineyard has pioneered pink port which they produce to use in cocktails and sell in cans. It looks like new age wine marketing for people who like pink. In the evening, we visited Quinta da Avessada, at too high an elevation to produce true Port. It was the first farm in the region to plant the Moscatel Galego grape variety and to produce the Moscatel de Favaios wine. This is also an aged and fortified wine produced with a golden color and residual sweetness.
We attended dinner at Quinta da Avessada event room with authentic cuisine and traditional entertainment. This was one of my least favorite meals on the trip but I will say, the bar was set pretty high. The local table wines served at this vineyard and on the cruise ship were pretty average and this sailing was sold as a special wine cruise. I will go more into that later.
Castelo de Rodrigo Pillory photo by Joan Naidorf
On the next morning, we travelled to Castelo de Rodrigo, a small fortified village perched high on a hilltop with centuries-old walls, steep narrow streets and fantastic views of the surrounding plains. The town has a sweet little church and an ancient pillory. I had heard the term pillory: to expose to public contempt, ridicule, or scorn. Here was an example of one of those ancient structures where public announcements and punishments took place.
Sign in Castelo de Rodrigo photo by Joan Naidorf
This town also has the remains of the community Mikveh ritual bath of its Jewish community. A sign marked the historic where the medieval Jewish quarter once stood. Unfortunately, this area of the Mikveh was littered by garbage and overgrown with weeds. We rejoined our group to taste locally grown almonds, olives, cheese, and wine. The shops had a nice selection of local crafts and the ubiquitous cork products one sees all over Portugal.
We walked back down the hill to our coaches and back to the ship for a wine lecture and tasting. This wine cruise on AMA Waterways featured award winning Texas winemaker Paul Bonnarigo, founder of the Messina Hof Winery from Texas. Texas? Yes, we were told that it is the fifth largest wine producing state in the US. The man, a wizard of winemaking and a marketing genius was dressed in a track suit of garish psychedelic colors, a signature red cap and a fluffy white beard. If one could get accept the whole visual, you could learn a whole lot from the man with decades of interesting experiences.
From the company website Messina Hof | A Top Texas Winery & #1 Producer of Texas Wines : Paul V Bonarrigo was born in the shadow of Yankee Stadium, graduated from Columbia, served in the Navy during Vietnam, and studied winemaking at UC Davis while stationed in California. He and his wife Merrill founded Messina Hof Winery & Resort in 1977 in Bryan, TX, helping to pioneer the wine industry of Texas. A sixth-generation winemaker, Paul’s passion for wine stems from a family rich in winemaking traditions.
Somehow Paul and his wife Merrill had shipped many cases of their various wines to the ship so that we could enjoy multiple tastings. The stories of how her found the sites for his vineyards and acquired various grape varietals were fascinating indeed. What seemed like sacrilege, he also provided a tasting of his Texas-made port style wine. When he was not allowed to use the traditional method of adding spirits to the fermentation barrels to stop fermentation, he devised a method of “serial inoculation” of fast-growing yeast to raise the sugar content of the wine. He sells it as his Messina Barrell Reserve Port. I hesitate to say that while cruising through the home of authentic and quintessential Port wine, the taste of that Texas stuff stood up quite well.
My next installment will feature more cruising and a day trip to Salamanca, Spain.
