Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
and other flavourful dishes. It has a superb wine list, and an upstairs wine bar with an out-
door terrace. Book ahead.
Castas e Pratos
(Rua José Vasques Osorio; mains €13.50-25.90; lunch & dinner)
The coolest dining room in town is
set in a restored wood-and-stone railyard warehouse with exposed original timbers. You
can order grilled
alheira
sausage or octopus salad from the tapas bar downstairs or have
the seabass on seafood fumet with saffron filaments, or kid goat in port with fava beans in
the mezzanine.
PORTUGUESE
€€€
Information
Pick up a town map and local information at the
turismo
(
www.douroturismo.pt
;
Rua da Ferreirinha
505;
9.30am-12.30pm & 2-6pm daily Jul-mid-Sep, Mon-Fri mid-Sep-Jun)
, 1km west of the station.
Getting There & Around
Joalto buses run regularly to/from Lamego (€2.30, 20 minutes) and Tâmega/Rodonorte
has four daily departures to Vila Real (€6, 30 minutes).
There are around 12 trains daily from Porto (€10, two hours); some continue up the val-
ley to Pinhão (€2.75, 25 minutes, five daily). Around six trains depart daily for Tua
(€3.95, 40 minutes). If you've taken a train this far and suddenly realise you need a car to
visit the vineyards, your best bet is
Europcar
(
254 321 146;
www.europcar.com
;
Av João Franco; per
day from €82)
.
To get to the
cais fluvial
(river terminal) from the
turismo
, bear left at the Residencial
Império.
TOP OF CHAPTER
Alto Douro
Heading upriver from Peso da Régua, terraced vineyards blanket every hillside, with
whitewashed
quintas
perched high above the Douro. This dramatic landscape is the jaw-
dropping by-product of over 2000 years of winemaking. While villages are small and ar-
chitectural monuments few and far between, it's worth the trip simply for the ride itself
(scenic by car, train or boat), with panoramic vistas lurking around nearly every bend. Its
