Wine is king in the Douro Valley(1)
Ever since the Romans brought the first grape seeds to northern Portugal more than 2,000 years ago, their vineyards have been growing and cascading down the terraced hills lining the Douro River. It is said the Great Wall of China and the demarcated hillsides of the Douro Valley are the only two man-made things on our planet visible to the human eye from the moon. How lucky we are. We don't have to travel to the moon to enjoy them!
Up until 1985, the Douro was a wild, untamed river. To transport their wine from the vineyards to Porto, the coastal gateway to the Atlantic Ocean, meant growers had to either use small boats and navigate the shallow parts of the river or else have their loads pulled upriver by men and oxen. From the center of the wine making region at Pinhao to Porto was only a journey of 130 miles, and the Douro was the only way in and out of the valley. Via river road, it took a week round trip.
When the Portuguese government finally completed the construction of five locks in 1985, everything changed. For the first time, the Douro River could be navigated upstream. The river was controlled. A whole new world of commerce began. In the last 25 years or so since this beautiful pristine area of northern Portugal was exposed to the world for the first time, the Douro has become one of the most important wine rivers in Europe, on a par with the Rhine, the Loire and the Mosel.
More than 30 different types of port plants line the river's banks as it stretches more than 150 miles from Spain to Portugal before emptying into the Atlantic Ocean at the city of Porto. The port vines grow particularly well in the temperate climates of the Douro's rolling hills, and the locals believe their sweet success is because the "grapes can feel the river flowing."
When this area of Portugal was named one of the last 78 sites in the "New 7 Wonders of Nature" and Porto was named a UNESCO World Heritage site, the world of tourism took special note. Uniworld Tours, one of the leading and most innovative river cruising companies that we sell, rushed in early for permission to give their travelers something new and unique: a destination — in some places without roads — that can only be reached by boat.
