The house
Situated at the heart of the magnificent Douro scenery, this house has been rebuilt from the ruins of an old house that once stood there, maintaining its rural tradition while incorporating the practical side of modern architecture. It is located in Gouvães do Douro, a small hamlet four km from Pinhão, 15 km from Alijó and about 120 km from Porto. Shopping facilities, supermarket, coffee shops, restaurants, bank, post office, pharmacy, health centre, taxi and train station are four km distant.
Thanks to an interior décor representative of times gone past, the house reflects the historical setting of the Douro region. Located in a rural area, amidst vineyards and olive groves, it is an ideal point of departure to discover the beauty and grandeur of the Douro region – as well as its inhabitants, its customs and its traditions.
The luxury house is fully equipped, meeting the most demanding criteria of comfort. It comprises air conditioning, heating, satellite television, DVD player, Hi-Fi system, sofa-bed, folding bed, cot and consists of:
• ground floor with open plan living/dining room area, kitchen, bathroom
• 1st floor with three en-suite bedrooms (2 doubles, one twin), two of them with a balcony with wonderful views, living room, games room with snooker table.
• Outside, guests enjoy a magnificent swimming pool with wonderful views, terraces, bbq area, laundry room, separate WC, private car parking.
Breakfast included. Breakfast will be daily prepared and served in the house by an employee. Twice weekly maid service included in price.
Guests will find a large amount of tourist information in the house.
Meals in the house on request, menu available.
Breakage deposit on arrival EUR 250.
Sleeps six persons, breakfast included.
The Douro Valley
The Douro is a valley, a river, a vineyard, it is wine. Over the river, the human influence, who transformed the slate mountains into country and walls, an epic common effort of making different cultures meet.
Protected from the damp Atlantic hoists by the mountains of Marão and Montemuro, the production area was defined as wine area for the first time in 1757 - the first viticulture regulation of the world - in the northeast of Portugal, between Barqueiros and Mazouco, near the Spanish border. This is the wine country!
The area extends today over 250.000 hectares, whereby however the vineyard takes only 40,000 hectares, deep embedded in the Douro river basin, and in its tributaries: Corgo, Torto, Pinhão, Tua, Côa, amongst others. The entire area is divided in three sub-regions: in the west, the Baixo Corgo, in the centre the Cima Corgo and in the east the Douro Superior - with different microclimatic particularities, however always with cold winters and hot and dry summers.
The combination of these factors, as well as the selective choice of stocks is decisive for the quality and purity of the wines, which are no more than the effect of the harmonious marriage between the earth, the climate and the love and art of humans.
But the Douro is not only vineyard, wine, almonds, olive oil... It is also its people, the wine farmers, who shaped its history and traditions and the still untouched idyllic Quintas, with their inviting welcome.
But rather than reading about it, you should discover the Port Wine Route with your own eyes.