I spent a month in Portugal last May doing research for the next book which is called ‘Spices, Silks and Sandalwood – The Portuguese Maritime Empire in Asia’, which will be out in November.
After a few weeks in Lisbon I travelled north to Coimbra, Aviero, Porto and the the Douro Valley – which brought me to the town of Pinhao, at the junction of the Douro and Pinhao Rivers.
The Demarcated Douro Region was the worlds first wine region to have its boundaries officially marked by Royal Decree in 1756, and it produces Port and Douro DOC wines.
The rivers, hills, mountains and vineyards provide wonderful opportunities for hiking and for sampling the various wines in the numerous Quinta’s that are offering winetasting.
On arrival in Pinhao, an afternoon walk around town led me to ‘The Writers Place’ but it was closed. The next morning I went downstairs for coffee. There was only one other person in the coffee shop at that time so we engaged in conversation. It turns out that Antonio was the owner of ‘The Writers Place’, and also a Poet and Philosopher. We talked for at least an hour and I got an invitation to go there for lunch. Which was a magnificent salmon salad, courtesy of the owner.
I was able to meet with Antonio again and continue our philosophical discussions. I am still trying to follow his advice on ‘living in the moment’. And I also met Rodrigo Dias, a Portuguese writer visiting the region and taking a sabbatical from his day job to complete a Young Adult novel. A wonderful opportunity to meet with fellow writers and discuss life and writing.
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