Portugal's River of Gold on the Viking Torgil
10/10/24 to 10/29/24

Click on the above link buttons that will take you directly to a particular page or area of the review; or you can just click through to the next page at the bottom of each page.

Page 1 – Pre-Trip in Madrid, Spain Part 1
Page 2 – Pre-Trip in Madrid, Spain Part 2
Page 3 – Lisbon; Ship, Cabin, Entertainment, Activities
Page 4 - Cruise Day 2 & 3
Page 5 - Cruise Day 4 & 5
Page 6 - Cruise Day 6 & 7
Page 7 - Post-Trip in Lisbon, Portugal Part 1
Page 8 - Post-Trip in Lisbon, Portugal Part 2; Return Home

Preface

I wanted to do a Douro River cruise for a long time, but just had other trips that took priority. In March 2023, my buddy Jim asked if we were interested in doing a Douro River cruise in October 2024. Since nothing was planned and there were many new places I hadn’t visited, it sounded like a great idea. Plus, Cathy had nver been to Portugal. What made it even better was that we would do a 5-day pre-trip visit to another place we hadn’t been to, Madrid; as well as a 4-day post-cruise stay in one of my favorite cities, Lisbon. We chose to do our own pre and post stays rather than go through Viking. It gave us the additional time we needed to do the tours we wanted to do. After we booked the cruise, Jim’s brother Steve and his wife Jamie also booked the cruise. We had plenty of planning time to find private tours for the six of us. We had great expectations for a wonderful and fun vacation.

Pre-Trip in Madrid, Spain

We booked great flights from Miami to Madrid through Lisbon. They would get us to Madrid at 10:15 AM, which would allow us the whole afternoon to see some sights. Our flight out of Miami was to leave at 4:30 PM on October 10. About a week before we were to leave, Hurricane Milton became an issue. It was forecasted to be very strong and go through Florida on Oct 9. With the storm’s track being well north of us and a day before we were to fly, we were hopeful it wouldn’t prevent us from flying to Madrid. Every day, the storm slowed down and kept moving slightly more south. Our stress level increased. The storm did go through Florida on Oct 10, but it was far enough away where it didn’t close the Miami airport, although our flight did leave 2.5 hours late. We were still thrilled that we would be able to get to Lisbon, where there were plenty of flights to Madrid, especially since we were flying TAP Air Portugal.

As we were landing in Lisbon, the plane quickly aborted the landing and made a steep climb. The pilot told us that a plane came onto our runway. We eventually landed and found that we had new flights to Madrid. We landed at 2:30 PM, four hours later than planned. It took almost an hour to get our luggage. For some reason, they changed the carousel and never told us. Eventually, someone found out and told everyone else.

Madrid Day 1

From the airport, we used a service we have used several times, Welcome Pickups (https://www.welcomepickups.com). They provide an excellent service where they meet you in the airport at a reasonable price. As we left the airport, we were thrilled to be in a mild climate with a 70-degree temperature, about 20 degrees less than the highs we were having in south Florida.

We were staying at the Hotel Preciados (https://preciadoshotel.com/en/). It is a very nice centrally located hotel. Since I didn't take a photo of it for some reason, I used the below from their website.

Our room was on one of their higher floors where the roof line made for angled ceilings. It was attractive and comfortable.

We had a small balcony where we could look out on the pretty street below.

The bathroom roof had a steep angle that went through the shower area. It also had a skylight, which was nice. Except that there was a problem where it couldn’t be totally shut. But it wasn’t a big issue.

We originally planned to go to dinner with Steve and Jamie, but their flight was delayed, and they missed a connection in Frankfurt. As a result, they didn’t get to the hotel until close to midnight. We walked around to get familiar with the area and find a place for dinner. We found a nice restaurant close to the hotel for some appetizers and drinks, Preciados 33. We were most impressed with the olives that were provided with drinks. We found them to be good at all the restaurants we went to. We ordered a ham/cheese plate, a delicious artichoke dish and Cathy got octopus.

After dinner, we decided to stop in at our hotel restaurant for a shared dessert. It was an interesting type of apple pie a la mode.

After the very hectic travel day, we looked forward to a long night’s sleep.

Madrid Day 2

We met our friends for breakfast. It was great to be back together. We hadn’t seen them since the prior year’s Oceania Vista cruise from Montreal to Miami. We are making a habit of cruising together in October. We have two more cruises booked together for October 2025 and 2026.

The hotel has a very nice breakfast buffet. The dining room looked like a library.

We only had one thing planned for the day, other than walking around the beautiful town, lunch at a special restaurant. Before our walk, I went up to the hotel’s rooftop terrace to see the view. It would have been a better view in the sunshine.

Unfortunately, there was a light rain, which made it less desirable to walk around the city. We did a little walking with our umbrellas but came back to the hotel sooner than expected to kill time before lunch.

The rain had stopped. We got a couple Ubers to take us to Restaurant Botin (https://botin.es/en/home/). It was founded in 1725 and is the oldest operating restaurant in the world. Famous artist Francisco de Goya worked at the restaurant before being accepted into the Royal Academy of Fine Arts. The restaurant is also mentioned in an Ernest Hemingway novel. We were at the restaurant at opening time, 1:00 PM.

We had to walk up three flights of stairs to get to the top floor where our table was waiting for us. This was an issue, especially for Kathleen who has been having some mobility problems. But she made it up.

We ordered some sangria that arrived in a lovely container. We took the opportunity to have photos of each couple with the container.

The food was pretty good, but the main reason for being there was to be able to eat in the oldest restaurant in the world. Pretty special! I had an outstanding gazpacho.

The other items we had were:

Roast suckling pig Roast suckling lamb

Grilled filet of veal Sauteed mushrooms with cured Iberian ham

Homemade Caramel Flan Crema Catalana

After lunch, we enjoyed a walk through a beautiful part of the old town. So many beautiful buildings. I also liked the sign outside of a well-known shop for mushrooms.

We came to the San Miguel Market which is supposed to have a very nice food court. They are making lots of renovations to it. We didn’t go inside since we just had a large lunch.

We next headed to Plaza Mayor, the central square of Madrid. It dates back to the 15th century. We passed through the large arched entrance to the plaza.

I liked the colorful artwork on one of the buildings, but it was obstructed by a bandstand. Spain was the host of the 2024 Hispanidad festival. It commemorates Spanish heritage with many cultural events around the city. The event lasts for ten days. We arrived during the last three days of it. Next year Mexico will be the host country. Many of the events were in Madrid, with the Plaza Mayor bandstand being a major venue.

There was a large equestrian statue of Prince Phillip III in the center of the square.

After leaving the square, we saw an interesting statue of a fallen angel.

We stopped at the Plaza de la Villa. It contains some of the oldest buildings in the city dating back to the 15th century. There is also a bronze statue of Álvaro de Bazán, a 16th century Spanish admiral.

We soon came to our main destination, the Plaza de la Armería. We first saw the Almudena Cathedral, that sits on one side of it. Construction of the church began in 1883 and was consecrated in 1993 by Pope John Paul II. A statue of the Pope was placed there in 1998.

We then walked toward the main plaza to see the royal palace on the other side. Earlier in the day there was an event with the king of Spain and a large parade. Some of the streets near the palace were closed off, since the king was at the palace. They also had some fancy horse mounted guards riding around.

As we came into the square, we could see a different entrance to the cathedral. On either side were statues of Peter and Paul.

Looking across the square we could see the impressive royal palace. We would tour the gorgeous interior in a couple days.

There was a news camera crew and reporter standing on the cathedral steps. We assumed that they were waiting for the king to leave the palace. Cars would leave with guests but not the king. We walked to a viewpoint at one end of the plaza overlooking a pretty part of the city.

Looking back, we could see a different view of the cathedral.

Jim and I decided to walk back around to the other cathedral entrance we first saw to check out the interior. The main door was exquisite.

Upon entering the cathedral, we could see that it was quite different from what we were expecting. There was lots of color and different types of stained glass.

The statues were quite beautiful.

On the way back to the hotel, we passed by the opera house. At one side was a statue of Queen Isabel II.

Later we went to dinner at a different restaurant nearby the hotel. After dinner, we walked around and saw a nice-looking building. We also paused to listen to a group playing at a different Hispanidad bandstand close to our hotel.

We went back to the hotel for the night. We were looking forward to the next day’s tour. We planned several for the vacation and this one would be a very good one.

Madrid Day 3 - Toledo

I have previously used a very good tour company that I used several times in Spain and Portugal. I asked them if they did tours from Madrid. They didn’t but they recommended a company named Destino Toledo, (https://www.destinotoledo.com/en/). Was it ever a great recommendation! We got two outstanding tours from them. The first was to the town of Toledo.

Our tour for the day started at 9:00 AM. A driver picked us up in a van and took us to Toledo where we would meet our guide. The seats were arranged facing each other, so I was able to take a photo of the girls.

When we arrived in Toledo, we met our awesome guide, Fernando. What an outstanding guide! Just a very knowledgeable, professional and fun fellow. He gave us a great tour.

Our first stop was to the original gate to the city. Toledo is known as the "City of the Three Cultures" for the cultural influences of Christians, Muslims, and Jews throughout its history. We would see all these influences.

Our first stop was to see the city from one side of it. With the city being surrounded by the Tagus River on three sides, there are lots of great views of the beautiful city.

We next moved to a different location with another amazing view of the city. Fernando took a group photo for us from this location with the great view.

We then moved to a different location where we saw an entrance gate to the city. There was also a small dam that was recently damaged.

The views to the city and scenery around were just gorgeous. Toledo is one beautiful place.

Our first destination was to the Monastery of St. John of the Monarchs. It was built between 1477-1503 by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. You know, the ones who sent Columbus to discover America. The heads have been replaced on a couple of the statues. With them being new and white, they do stand out.

Close by was a statue that Ferdinand called “Jesus with a hula hoop”. It does look like that.

We then walked to the Santa Maria la Blanca Synagogue. It is considered the oldest synagogue building in Europe still standing. It was completed in 1205 AD and built in a Moorish style. It was converted to a church around 1401 AD because of anti-Jewish sentiment. It is now a museum. They still have Hebrew on the upper walls.

We then went to the Santo Tome Church. It contains one of El Greco’s finest works, The Burial of the Count of Orgaz. There was a short line waiting to enter the church to see the painting. When we entered, the room was quite crowded.

I took several photos of the painting.

Probably the most interesting thing in the painting is that El Greco painted himself into it. He is the middle person with a beard next to the man with his arm up.

There was a much longer line to enter when we left.

We walked down the pretty streets of Toledo.

Fernando took us into a shop. He wanted to show us the largest marzipan statue in the world. I can now check that off my bucket list.

Fernando next took us to a building to show us something special. He walked up to the door, and it was locked. We were disappointed. He then pulled out a key and opened the door for us. Now that was cool! Another couple came up wanting to go in too, but Fernando told them that it was closed. We felt most special.

When we entered, we saw some old very old ruins of Roman baths. The thermal baths were used until the 6th century. They once covered nearly 25,000 square feet and were the social club of the city where legal agreements and business dealings were closed. Most of them were destroyed in 1500 AD and used for other construction. These ruins were discovered in 1986 when a house was being renovated. They are still being restored. We were very fortunate to be able to see them.

We next went to the Museo de los Concilios y la Cultura Visigoda or the Councils and Visigoth Culture Museum. It was a beautiful building with interesting collections.

It was time for lunch. The tour companyrecommended a couple restaurants for us to choose from. We chose one called Clandestina. It was a great choice!

The main courses were outstanding.

Boar Cheek, onion and almond cream Iberian Pork Shoulder

BluefinTuna Cheek

The desserts were amazing, especially the manchego cheesecake.

Manchego cheesecake with honey ice cream French toast, toffee and coffee ice cream

After the wonderful lunch, we walked through the lovely streets of Toledo.

We came to a woman sitting in a chair with a violin. Fernando told us that she is a very well-known musician named Ana Alcaide. She was apparently performing to collect funds for a charity. We were sorry we didn’t hear her play while we were walking past her.

Close by was the Toledo Cathedral. We stopped at one of the doors to the cathedral where Fernando pointed out the very high knocker/handles. He told us that they were that high for people who visited on horseback. 6’ 8” tall Steve was able to just reach them.

We then went around to the other side of the cathedral to Plaza del Ayuntamiento or Town Hall Square, where we saw the large town hall.

Across from the town hall was the ornate entrance to the cathedral. Groundbreaking for the cathedral was in 1227. The last major addition was completed in 1493.

Above the arch was a relief depicting the last supper.

Upon entering, we were blown away by the size of the lofty building with an incredible high altar.

We had to look way up toward gorgeous stained glass high above where we were gawking at the beauty in the lower areas of the cathedreal.

The choir area was most impressive. They had two beautiful groupings of organ pipes.

The Desencion Chapel was quite a unique one. I had to put my iPhone through the bars to take a photo of the interior of it.

There were so many areas with organs all around the church.

There were so many beautiful things to take in. I have included a lot of photos, but could have put in so many more.

The artwork in the cathedral is truly amazing. Rick Steves said about it, “The cathedral's sacristy is a mini-Prado, with masterpieces by the likes of Francisco de Goya, Titian, Peter Paul Rubens, Diego Velázquez, Caravaggio, and Giovanni Bellini, not to mention 18 El Grecos.” The most famous of the paintings is the Disrobing of Christ on the high altar.

One of the most important objects in the cathedral is the Monstrance of Arfe. The ten-foot-tall piece is made of the finest silver and gold and covered with gems. The room was packed with visitors trying to take photos of it. I took photos from all sides to get the full beauty of it.

When we were getting ready to leave the cathedral, Jim told me I had to check out the chapterhouse at the other end of the building. I hustled over there and was rewarded with a truly amazing room.

This was certainly a highlight of our visit to Toledo. It is one of those churches you will never forget. As we left the church, I took some photos of the Archbishop’s Palace across the square.

When we got back to Madrid, several of the group were ready to call it a day. Both Jim and Kathleen had bad colds that were keeping them up at night. The rest of us had less severe cold symptoms. We hoped that they wouldn’t get worse. Cathy and I went to a nice pizza restaurant for dinner.