Taking the Kids: A trip to Portugal
Aboard CroisiEurope's Amalia Rodrigues, named, we learned, for the most famous star of Portugal's Fado music, we were the only Americans and there were only about a dozen English speakers (although most of the passengers and crew spoke some English). I was thinking how much fun it could be for American kids to vacation with kids from across Europe. We certainly enjoyed getting to know people from Australia, Singapore, Belgium and France, among other places.
Typically, 10 percent of the guests are from North America and their packages include excursions. Be forewarned that the cabins are small but, as other passengers noted, "we're really just in the cabins to sleep." People like to hang out in the lounge, drinking coffee and tea; playing cards and board games and watching the spectacular scenery -- the vineyards and olive trees that are planted in precise terraces up the slopes. Kids will love the experience of going through the locks and dams -- we went through five on this trip, including two that were among the largest in the world -- one nearly 10-stories high!
There are also specific hiking and biking cruises and others designed for foodies and wine lovers.
We were also glad to take advantage of the "dynamic" -- read that more active -- excursions like the hike along the Douro and a bike ride across a Roman bridge in Salamanca, Spain (a two-hour bus ride from where the boat docked). We were rewarded when we returned to the ship with a delicious paella dinner.
We walked through the impossibly small houses in Alfrueda (some not much more than one room) decorated with Portugal's famous painted tiles. Alfrueda is home to a communal wash house where local women come to wash the family laundry in large tanks, leaving clothes out to dry in the sun. "They just prefer to do it that way," says our guide Isabel Silva.
Another day, we discovered that field trips are the same year round when we took a ride up Porto's hills on a historic electric tram and visited the popular Tram Museum, watching the school groups giggle and jostle each other and feed the pigeons outside.
We sampled too many of Portugal's popular custard tarts -- Pasteis de Nata -- and lamented we were visiting too soon for grilled sardines, which local restaurants cook on big grills outside.
Next time!
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