A Day in Pociho

Another day, another excursion! This morning we headed to the village of Freixo de Numao at the top of the Douro valley. Our tour guide met us up there to explain some of the architecture of the town. The village itself is quite small but it is nice to learn about an authentic old Portuguese village. As with the other villages we have been too, this one used to have many more people living there but many have left for other areas.

Our guide, also known as the Portuguese Indiana Jones, taught us about the inheritance laws of Portugal. In Canada our history follows British common law, but here in Portugal, their law comes from Napoleonic laws. So inheritance laws involve splitting properties equally among children, rather than one person inheriting. That can cause complications as properties continue to be split as the generations progress.

After touring through the village, we stoped at a local manor house that has been passed down over 400 years in the same family. Dona Isabella invited us in and we got to see how she has maintained the house. She also makes her own port wine (not a licensed wine) and her own flavoured almonds.

Dona Isabella showed us how she makes cinnamon almonds. She adds sugar and almonds and slowly caramelizes them, adding cinnamon at the end. She also makes other flavours including coconut, chocolate, orange, lemon and ginger. We got to taste the almonds she made and they were very good!

When we returned to the boat, we had a traditional Portuguese barbecue. It was very good. We were able to try a number of meats and each had a sardine as well. The desserts were very good and it was hard to pick a favorite.

In the afternoon, we attended a cooking class with Chef Joao and Pastry Chef Joana. We learned how to make the famous Portuguese tart called a pastel de nata, a small flaky pastry filled with creamy egg custard, usually dusted with cinnamon and powdered sugar. The story goes back to the Jerónimos Monastery in Belém, Lisbon. In the 19th century, monks and other religious communities commonly used large quantities of egg whites for starching clothes and other purposes. This left them with lots of leftover egg yolks, which were used in sweets and pastries. When the religious orders were dissolved in Portugal following the Revolution, the monks' recipe became associated with a nearby bakery in Belém, which began selling the famous pastry in 1837. You can now find them througout Portugal.

Finally, today was laundry day on the boat. We sent a bag of laundry before breakfast and we had it back when we returned from our excursion at 11:45. We have nver had such neatly folded laundry!