Pinhao, Portugal Port Reviews

Lunch at Quinta de Avessada was wonderful with excellent entertainment. Later a visit to the grand Mateus Palace.

Visited: Jul 10, 2018

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This excursion included a visit to a winery in production (interesting), the age-old Favaios Bakery, (delicious) and then lunch at the Quinta da Avessada (winery). This was the highlight of the trip! The meal was a complete soup-to-nuts extravaganza in a beautiful setting, and the owner of the winery, who spoke at the luncheon, was just a hilarious comedian! A wonderful day!

Visited: Aug 11, 2017

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Pinhao: Another hour ride to Castelo Rodrigo. It is a cute, ancient town, but you only spend an hour or so there, as there really is not much to see and do. The tour was a total of 10-15 minutes. There is a very cute church there, but the guide didn’t even go over the interesting things about that church, which was the usual way of these very boring guides. You have around an hour on your own. The guides told us to wait to by cork at this stop and there were literally 3 shops, with very little in them. While the price of cork was better than other places, there was little to choose from. As with other days, we were in the bus for 2 hours for just over an hour spent at the destination. PS, there is someone that comes onto the ship with good cork prices and handmade items (purses, wallets and jewelry mostly) on the last night that is worth the visit and her presentation on cork was good too.

Visited: Jun 02, 2017

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This port was basically a docking port and Viking used buses to bring us to wineries and other areas. The port was relatively desolated and uninteresting.

Visited: Dec 14, 2018

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Visited: Oct 14, 2018

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Ship’s mooring was in the middle of this small town; on a Saturday night. Just so happened there was a town festival that night, which lasted ALL NIGHT! Loud music (bands) and people strolling/partying made it impossible to get any sleep. People were able to walk right up to the ship, beneath the ship’s boarding ramp. Allowed NO safety perimeter. Poor choice for any kind of overnight port visit.

I think this is where we visited Sandman and Mateus Palace & Gardens. Long, winding motorcoach ride! Did Sandman first where we received only 2 tastings which are common in the US. No time to shop. Rushed over to Mateus Palace. Arrived when dark. Could not enjoy the ground and once again rushed through the tour. Another long winding motorcoach ride back to boat. Several people experienced motion sickness on each motorcoach.

We did an excursion can’t remember which. It’s all a blur and not familiar with names so can’t relate.

I did not pay much attention to all the piers as I was either preoccupied or there was little to do once off the ship after docking. What was interesting was the various locks we went through during the cruise.