Day One: Vila Real

Overall a very smooth flight to Porto, got our bags, a quick but not great coffee, and picked up the rental car.

(Below: you know I love plane food! Surprisingly fresh salad, pasta and chicken entree, and super fresh tiramisu.)

On the road to Vila Real, it’s about an hour outside of Porto. I thought we would be driving along the Douro River but it was actually a bit north so did not get to see any particularly nice views.

Vila Real is nothing like I imagined. I thought it was a small remote town with a castle somewhere walkable. However this is much more similar to a small city and nothing really walkable. I’m super happy that I booked us massages upon arrival since there wasn’t a huge amount of other things to do nearby and I was feeling sooooo groggy from the Xanax.

Arrived at the very pretty hotel around 1:30pm but they didn’t have the room ready yet so suggested lunch first. The lunch was not good.

Fresh bread was cold (huge pet peeve of mine), sausages were over cooked, and octopus salad was the best part and still not very good in my opinion. But the disappointing lunch was acceptable because following lunch we got to nap! 🙌🏼 That 20 minutes was everything for me!

Massages were good but the girls massaging us were definitely like 16. The massage also included access to the spa area so got to spend some time in the sauna and steam room.