Page 1 of 1

Meeting in the Douro/Porto

Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 12:27 pm
by Frederick Blais
I've got my date set for this year trip to the Port Land. I'll arrive on the 8th and leave on the 22nd of September.

Anyone planning to be around within those dates? It would be great to meet and have a few glasses.

Re: Meeting in the Douro/Porto

Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 3:35 pm
by João Rico
I think i will be very around.....

Re: Meeting in the Douro/Porto

Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 3:53 pm
by Andy Velebil
Argh, I will just miss you Fred. I arrive on Sept 27th.

Re: Meeting in the Douro/Porto

Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 6:33 pm
by Frederick Blais
Andy Velebil wrote:Argh, I will just miss you Fred. I arrive on Sept 27th.
Yeah :cry: I'd been in touch with Roy trough email to try to meet this year. Right now with the price of the fuel it was just not possible to get to Seattle for 4 days and spend 1200$ on a ticket. As For Portugal, I'm taking the last direct flight from Montreal of this season on the September 7th. I was lucky as the price did not moved, or almost from what I was lurking in May, probably because it is a charter flight. While there was a 40% increase in the Seattle flight :roll:

I'll still have 1 week of vacation to take for the remaining of the year, so I'll try to take them for a port gathering. Next year is South Africa/Madagascar and Mozambique. We'll see what we can manage, I really want to get more in touch with the Port crowd of west coast or UK. But being in the middle of UK and West Coast.... 8--)

Re: Meeting in the Douro/Porto

Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 6:49 pm
by Glenn E.
Frederick Blais wrote:I'll arrive on the 8th and leave on the 22nd of September.
My wife and I are taking my parents to Portugal this year and we'll overlap your trip slightly.

We arrive on the 20th and will be spending the nights of the 20th - 23rd at Quinta de la Rosa in Pinhao. We'll then be heading to Porto and will spend the next 4 nights at the Pestana Porto before flying home.

I'd love to get together with you if you'll be in the Pinhao area at the end of your trip!

Re: Meeting in the Douro/Porto

Posted: Sat Jun 28, 2008 4:21 pm
by Derek T.
My flights are booked :D

I will be flying over on the evening of Thursday 18th Sep and spending 2 days with Frederick in the Douro and we will then go to VNG on 21st Sep before both flying home the following day.

Hopefully our paths will cross when we are in the Douro, Glenn :wink:

João, are you in Oporto? If so, Fred and I plan to have dinner (and perhaps one or two glasses of port) at Vinologia on the evening of 21st Sep and we would be delighted to see you there if you can make it?

Derek

Re: Meeting in the Douro/Porto

Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2008 9:43 am
by Frederick Blais
Glenn we can probably have lunch in Pinhao on the 21st before we go back to Porto.

Re: Meeting in the Douro/Porto

Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2008 10:21 am
by Glenn E.
That would be awesome!

As I recall, we reach Porto fairly early in the morning. We plan to rent a car and drive straight out to Pinhao, but the jet lag would probably make dinner on the 20th a bad idea. So lunch on the 21st sounds great!

Re: Meeting in the Douro/Porto

Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2008 2:34 pm
by Derek T.
Glenn E. wrote:That would be awesome!

As I recall, we reach Porto fairly early in the morning. We plan to rent a car and drive straight out to Pinhao, but the jet lag would probably make dinner on the 20th a bad idea. So lunch on the 21st sounds great!
Great!

Glenn, can we please not swap the bottles we have for each other when we are in the Douro? I will be travelling light and have booked my flights with no hold luggage to save time (and cash) and cannot carry your bottles onto the aircraft.

Does anyone know a good place to eat in Pinhao?

Derek

Re: Meeting in the Douro/Porto

Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2008 5:02 pm
by Glenn E.
Derek, I think that's a good idea. I'm probably already going to have to ration what I can bring back so adding two more bottles to the return trip would only make it worse. I was hoping to use an intermediary to trade them at the end of July during my next trip to Dublin, but no one responded. I need to book the trip tomorrow, so I probably won't book a stay in London unless someone speaks up quickly. But either way, we'll find a time to swap 'em!

As far as good place to eat, I know of two but can't remember the name of either of them! One has a roman sounding name and is on the corner across the car bridge over the Pinhao river. The other is a cafe-like place right on the waterfront a block or two downstream from the pedestrian bridge. I prefer the former place because it is nicer and has a better menu, but the latter feels more local.

Re: Meeting in the Douro/Porto

Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2008 5:52 pm
by Derek T.
Glenn E. wrote:As far as good place to eat, I know of two but can't remember the name of either of them! One has a roman sounding name and is on the corner across the car bridge over the Pinhao river. The other is a cafe-like place right on the waterfront a block or two downstream from the pedestrian bridge. I prefer the former place because it is nicer and has a better menu, but the latter feels more local.
OK, Julius Ceasar's Imperial Colluseum Emporium it is then :wink:

Derek

Re: Meeting in the Douro/Porto

Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2008 7:34 pm
by Frederick Blais
Derek T. wrote:
Glenn E. wrote:As far as good place to eat, I know of two but can't remember the name of either of them! One has a roman sounding name and is on the corner across the car bridge over the Pinhao river. The other is a cafe-like place right on the waterfront a block or two downstream from the pedestrian bridge. I prefer the former place because it is nicer and has a better menu, but the latter feels more local.
OK, Julius Ceasar's Imperial Colluseum Emporium it is then :wink:

Derek
Yes that restaurant is very good.

Re: Meeting in the Douro/Porto

Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2008 8:24 pm
by Glenn E.
After a bit of research, I believe the restaurant in question may be called Pont Romana (the Roman Bridge).

Re: Meeting in the Douro/Porto

Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 2:10 pm
by CeesB
My first post here. From September 22/October 1 I stay in Regua. Maybe I can meet more Portlovers there.
I want to be in the Douro at harvest time,it must be the best time to be there. I want to see how Port is made and join the harvest activities. I`m looking forward to make the beautiful train ride from Porto into the Douro.