Day 3 - Porto and Douro Valley

Today's adventure started at 8:30 AM for a 1 1/2-hour drive by bus to Douro Valley. Choices were kayaking on the Douro River or taking an estate tour at Quinta de Pacheca. We choose kayaking because we never kayaked before and felt adventurous like the bridge climb never done it before but, now we can say that we have done it. Not sure what is more difficult the double kayak or single kayak. The double kayak both people must keep in sync with each other, or you will be going around in circles. Good thing we packed extra clothes and water shoes. Out feet got soaked from stepping in the water, and the paddle kept dumping water down the handle onto our legs. Not sure if there is a correct way to paddle and not get wet. It was definitely an upper body workout.

After we were done kayaking, we changed into dry clothes and got on the bus to meet the rest of our adventures at the Quinta de Pacheca estate for a private cooking demonstration. We were divided up into 3 groups and group 1 made an appetizer with beef, group 2 made an appetizer with cod, and group 3 made an appetizer with octopus. We enjoyed the appetizers and then the main dish of duck rice and for dessert we had Leite Creme a Portuguese, which is similar to a Creame Brule. We got to use a butane torch to caramelize the sugar topping.

After lunch we did a creative cork activity. We were showed how to take a template of a mickey head and grapevine leaf and trace on cork and then cut it out and glue with a hot glue gun onto a board, the size of a piece of 8 x 11 paper. We then took a cork wine topper and cut round circles for grapes and added them to the picture. At the end of the cork activity, we got back on the bus for a 1 1/2-hour ride back to Porto where we had free time and dinner on our own.