Carl's lecture on the Douro/ship reflections/ people notes Tuesday while Cruising 12/17/2013

 CRUISING WITH A TEACHER

 

 

I was up on deck in cold wind and rain for about an hour.  It was a little uncomfortable, but wonderfully beautiful.  I can enjoy the sights along the river from my room, but it is not the same as the panoramic view of all of it from the deck.  Just now we are driving out of the rain. 

In Regua we have chosen to skip the market tour and go only to the art museum.  Elizabeth at first wanted the market, but then switched to the art museum with the rain.  I just don't want to hear about or see foods that I can' really enjoy once I am back home. 

Breakfast was good, overeasy eggs on top of a pumpernickel nut bread with lots of mushrooms.  I had a taste of muesli with almonds and figs that had no stone.  It was all good with delightful Marta serving us as always cheerfully.  What fun she is on the boat of old fogies!

 

Everyone is friendly here, but these are not the most interesting folks we've met and don't match up to the people on the French tour. Perhaps our stress with my arthritis makes it harder to connect with others this trip. Also, I am surprised that no one seems to have wine as avocation.  I suspected plenty of wine talk from folks who taste all over.

 

Shirley is the only one I know traveling alone. She is with us often and very friendly.  She is a wonderful photographer.   Also, she shared an app for getting jazz and other sorts of interesting music on the phone. 

She took the best photo of us and after we were home we posted it on Facebook and got plenty of hits from people who liked it.  It certainly was more popular than my comments on dinosaurs.

 Carl, our cruise guide did a lecture with slides on the Douro.

James Forrester did the first map of the Douro in 1840 and the year my grandfather was born in Elton, the poor fellow was on a pleasure boat with his girlfriend and perhaps some gold when it went over and he drowned in 1861, the year my grandfather was born.

 

JAMES FORRESTER AND HIS MAPS  BOOK 

There are 3 sections of the river and the climate changes as well as the growing along the water although I can't really tell. 

Porto is greener.

The middle is dominated by wine growing.  In 1986 when Portugal joined the EU new wine regulations were instituted that discriminated against small growers, so most of them have gone to red  and white wine, table wine. 

I thought the sugary port would limit my choices, but the red table wine is everywhere.

In the middle also is where the Ribelas were active back in the 19^th century. 

We are currently the only ship navigating this river.  Amazing, really.  Our ship has 2 engines , 8 cylinders diesel 1200 HP.  Carl gave us a tour of the instruments in the captain's room.  There are very small wheels and a clutch in the middle.

They use both a GPS and radar to navigate, but they trust the radar more.  They use both radio and the traditional large bells to announce the need to use the locks.  On the side of the boat are bumpers and rollers.  This morning the boat did bump and set us off balance a bit.  There is no other sense of being on water here, no threat of sea sickness.

 

People in this area cannot find work unless they are growing grapes or willing to commute.  The country was at 5% unemployment, went to 17% with the monetary crisis, but young people are at 40% so many migrate to Brazil or to Angola where there are plenty of jobs.  Sad.

Many of the houses here are abandoned.  Many are just summer houses.  We are seeing more people now. 

Prices in these smaller towns are less than Porto and Porto is less than Lisbon.  I think I'd like a rail trip to one of these small towns and some easy time there. 

There are no salmon in this river and above the first lock there are only fresh water fish.   

It is against regulations to fish from the large ship because the motors attract the fish and give fishermen an unfair advantage.  A license is about 15 Euros.  Perhaps I'd like to fish here sometime.  There are no police patrolling the river.  It is that safe.

In September, there are patrols who watch for forest fires, especially in the eucalyptus which burns 5 times faster than pine and requires fast action if set ablaze.