Castelo Rodrigo and Pasteis de Nata

In the morning, we traveled to one of the twelve historic villages of Portugal (“Adeleias Historicas de Portugal”), Castelo Rodrigo. 

The former castle complex was built by the Moors and changed hands multiple times through conquest starting in 1170, but remained Portuguese since 1297.

Today, only a ruin of the core castle remains.

In the small village surrounding it, only about 70 people now live, primarily relying on tourism for their livelihood.

The area is known for the almonds grown here, which are offered everywhere in the village for tasting and purchase.

Unfortunately, it was very windy and cold, so we took refuge in a small café after our exploration until the journey continued.

Our next stop was the highest point in the area with a view of the castle and landscape.

Here there is also a statue of Christ, similar to the one in Lisbon and Rio de Janeiro - just significantly smaller.

The journey continued past olive and almond trees.

We made another stop at a viewpoint directly at a plantation with olive trees. 

There are griffon vultures here, but they were perched on their rocks at a considerable distance.

Then we returned to the ship, with which we traveled along the Douro towards Porto in the afternoon.

As a small diversion, there was a brief presentation by the pastry chef on the making of the typical Portuguese Pasteis de Nata.

In the evening, the opening of a vintage port wine bottle was celebrated. To prevent cork pieces from landing in the bottle, it is removed in a special way: First, the neck of the bottle is heated with a special pliers, then water is poured over it to break the glass and the upper neck of the bottle, including the cork, can be removed.