The Douro River Cruise We Didn't Want to End

When the captain had no plans after us, we decided neither did we

We started the day with breakfast at the hotel, then walked down to the dock for our cruise on the Douro River. Shawn had chartered us a private, two-hour tour.

After a few busy weeks of climbing hills and generally pretending our legs were still in their twenties, it was time for an activity that was a little more relaxing.

Just us, our captain, and a boat.

And it was so much better than we expected.

Our lovely Captain, Barbara

We started out sitting on the back deck of the boat, under the canopy, but then quickly realized the view is much better from the bow, and the seats were comfier too.

Bean bag chairs for the win!

The weather was beautiful: slightly overcast when we started, then sunny and warm with a nice breeze towards the end. The river was calm and the views were spectacular. From the water, the Douro Valley feels completely different. The historic bridges, hillsides, and vineyards all seemed to come together into one giant postcard.

And, because the experience clearly wasn't relaxing enough already, our captain made sure we had wine to enjoy along the way (it’s 5:00 somewhere, right?). She brought us glasses to sip while we took in the scenery, and, whenever they got dangerously close to empty, she appeared to top them off again.

As we cruised along, we passed other tour boats, including some of the big, river cruise lines. We all waved at each other, everyone blissed out by the surrealness of floating through a screensaver.

This is how relaxed we were…

At some point, I jokingly mentioned that two hours was not going to be nearly enough. So Shawn, being the best husband ever, disappeared to the back of the boat to ask our captain whether she had another booking after us.

She didn’t.

Which is how our two-hour private cruise turned into a three-hour private cruise.

As we motored past our hotel, and the intended stopping point, he looked at me with that “I fixed it for you” face that I love.

Because when you’re floating peacefully down the Douro, enjoying the sunshine, the scenery, and a complete lack of obligations, the obvious response is not, “Well, we’d better get back.”

And so we didn’t.

A modern art structure at one of the wineries

Had to have our moment on the bow

By the time we made it back to the dock, we were relaxed, happy, and absolutely certain that getting off the boat was the worst part of the entire experience.