June 2025 - Europe (UK and Portugal)

Sunset in the Douro Valley

We loved the A-ROSA cruise. The lack of organised excursions (because they were German-speaking) was a blessing in some ways as we were able to use the ship as a floating hotel and do our own thing during the day. The weather was cool and wet a few days in the first week but hot in the second so we spent some time happily lolling on the Sun Deck.

Our time in England was terrific. It was wonderful to see M & A and share their excitement at becoming parents. We had a mixed bag of weather – rain and cool in York and Chester but pretty good in Oxford and amazing in London.

We had two stints of a couple of days each in Oxford and did different things to what we did last year. This time, we concentrated on literary topics so we toured the Oxford University Press Museum (free but you need to book ahead online), the Bodleian Library, the Ashmolean Museum (free) and we did a private, literary-focused walking tour. We also wandered through Jericho and along the Towpath beside the Oxford Canal to a Sunday roast at a thatched-roof pub, The Perch.

We stayed central this time as we did not have a hire car to worry about – Mercure Eastgate (a fabulous location two minutes from Matthew’s College, Queen’s) and Malmaison Oxford. The Malmaison hotel is a converted prison and we stayed in a transformed prison cell! We also toured the Oxford Castle & Prison. I am very excited to have a hotel review about the Malmaison stay published by the national travel publication, “Escape” - https://www.escape.com.au/destinations/europe/uk/review-malmaison-oxford-england/news-story/6b9c265fc9a19f803027b8b0b5705355

We travelled by train to York for a few days. The train tickets were expensive and the trains were overcrowded (both people and luggage) so I don’t think we’ll rush to travel by ordinary train in the UK any time soon.

York, though, was a jewel and we loved walking around and exploring. We did a walking tour, toured the thirteenth century Minster (Cathedral), attended Evensong at the Minster, did a Viking experience, visited the National Train Museum, visited an eclectic history Museum…We were lucky enough to be given a York Pass so we packed our couple of days.

We hired a car for the weekend and took M & A to Chester for a weekend. It was a four plus hour drive and, in retrospect, was probably a bit too far for what was effectively a day but none of us had visited before so we were glad we did. There are lots of beautiful Tudor buildings in the Old City of Chester and Victorian buildings to look like Tudor buildings.

We stayed in London for 8 nights – longer than usual given how expensive a city it is but we wanted to attend the ICC World Test Championship Final (cricket) at Lord’s and have a couple of spare days as well. M & A joined us for a few days too. On our own and together, we had fun watching cricket (even if Australia lost!), attending the Globe to see “Romeo and Juliet” (a Cowboy-themed production!), catching a production of Elton John’s “The Devil Wears Prada”, exploring Marylebone, Greenwich (including the Cutty Sark), experiencing afternoon tea (four times!), the Cartier Exhibition at the V&A, the Ted Lasso pub in Richmond and a fair bit of the Monopoly Board…we were certainly not bored but we were a little tired!

We were sad to wave bye bye to M & A but excited to fly to Lisbon and start our adventure with Viking. I had never been to Portugal before and Andrew had been to Lisbon only for work 30 odd years ago.

Viking picked us up at the airport and their care has extended into each day. This is a hallmark of their service and we think a reason that they attract so many repeat passengers.

Lisbon was not the highlight we hoped. By the time we arrived, we did not have the energy to explore. We were staying in a beautiful hotel (part of the trip) but it was not near the Old City so, unusually for us, we weren’t tempted to explore. Maybe we just needed a rest after our busy London stint? Andrew was able to finish the A-ROSA cruise YouTube episode and I got some writing done.

That left one full day in Lisbon. We had an included tour in the morning of Belém and bought a pastel de nata from an old pastelaria (pastry shop). Warm and crispy, it was delicious! I have a high bar for a Portugese tart when I get home!

In the afternoon in Lisbon, we wandered around on our own and we did see some terrific sights. It was a religious public holiday (Corpus Christi) so Museums were shut (other than the Maritime one which we visited in the morning with Viking). Maybe that meant there were more tourists wandering where we were wandering but it seemed crowded and it was humid and Lisbon is verrrry hilly. Not my favourite place but lots of people rave about it so I think I need to give it another go.

The next morning, we boarded our assigned coaches and drove the three hours odd to Porto stopping at Coimbra along the way. The oldest university in Portugal (one of the oldest in Europe) is in Coimbra and we had a guided tour there (the same guide as the day prior in Lisbon) and lunch accompanied by live musicians singing and playing guitar to traditional “Fado” music. We made some new friends with some fellow passengers.

Our first night we elected to pay for an offshore excursion being a Port tour, tasting and dinner with paired wines at the 1890 Graham’s (Port) Lodge. What we didn’t realise was that the property sits high on the side of a hill and overlooks Porto. We had pre-dinner drinks on a terrace with views to die for. It was a wonderful first evening.

Included tours are a feature of Viking cruises. One a day, they are at no additional charge. There is usually a coach (bus) component and always a guided tour in English. They are a real bonus of travelling with Viking although we have had some long bus trips on this trip as the ports along the Douro Valley in the main are not towns. Unlike the French river cruise, we were more “forced” to join the organised excursions.

Tours every day took us to places including: a Port winery, a Muscatel winery and a baker. We saw gorgeous countryside (from the boat also). Dominated by steep hills, the scenery is green, green and more green.

One day, we skipped the included tour to hire a pontoon boat privately with our new friends. Ten of us spent a couple of hours going into shallower waters than our baby Longship could navigate. We took drinks onboard with us and chatted and laughed. That was a fun afternoon.

Something cool – where we were when we hired the boat, the Douro River forms the border between Spain and Portugal. There is a one hour time difference so the smartphones of those seated on the Spain side read an hour later than those of us on the Portugal side! Andrew decided to be a show off, dived in and swam from Spain to Portugal and back again!

We even had a day trip to Spain – beautiful, golden Salamanca. The university here is the fourth oldest in the world and the two Cathedrals 900 and 500 years old respectively.

A port I was really looking forward to was Mateus Palace as I remember Mateus wine from the 1970s and 1980s. I found out the night before that the wine and the Palace are not connected but for the image of the Palace being on the wine bottles! The Palace was interesting and the Gardens were stunning. We also had some rare downtime on the cruise with a whole afternoon of scenic sailing which was beautiful and relaxing.

Last stop on the itinerary was Porto. What a gorgeous town! Much bigger than we expected, one day wasn’t nearly enough to explore. In fact, we really only had the afternoon as we spent the morning recording the soundtrack to the YouTube episode we will release on this cruise.

We split up in the afternoon. Andrew badly wanted to do a Segway tour. I had little interest so booked myself on a walking tour. We both enjoyed the activities we did and, although we didn’t run into each other, we seemed to overlap most of the places.

We loved the Viking cruise. It was wonderful to visit places we had never been and to learn so much about the wine and, especially, fortified wine process. It was our third time cruising with Viking and we were very impressed. They leave nothing to chance.

After seven weeks, though, we’re glad to be going home. Both our daughters have had some health episodes whilst we’ve been away (unexpected and resolved) but we have felt dreadful being so far away from them.

In Writing Wins, I earned a commission by a national travel publication after almost two years of rejection!!! Yippee!! I have to file that story by mid-July so, hopefully, it will run soonish. I’ll document it here!!

My first story in Escape (and my first hotel review) was published – woo hoo! My first story in “The Road Ahead” (the RACQ quarterly magazine) also ran this month. I have three more to file with them this year so I have become quite the regular columnist there!! I also had a début story in a Sunshine Coast/Brisbane magazine called YourTime. Citro published a story about a special weekend with my daughters and there are a couple of other travel stories published by Citro and GoWorld as well – six travel stories in all and one flash fiction story:

• Crowd Control: 14 tips to dodge the European summer tourist crush https://www.joincitro.com.au/news/avoid-europe-crowds [Edited by Citro]

• A Taste of Turkey: Sweet delights and Timeless Wonders https://www.racq.com.au/articles/international-travel/delights-of-turkey

• Time to say ‘halo/hello’ to our closest neighbour in the Pacific https://issuu.com/myweeklypreview/docs/your_time_sunshine_coast_-_june_2025 (pp 40-41)

• Nice isn’t just nice https://www.goworldtravel.com/nice-french-riviera/

• A Weekend in Hepburn Springs: massages, memories and a little magic https://www.joincitro.com.au/news/weekend-hepburn-springs

• Review of Malmaison Oxford: the prison-turned-hotel in England https://www.escape.com.au/destinations/europe/uk/review-malmaison-oxford-england/news-story/6b9c265fc9a19f803027b8b0b5705355

• “Anniversary Dinner” published as a pdf in 10x10 Flash Fiction Stories