Where Port Wine Originates! and other Pinhão, Portugal Things to Do Tips

This view of the Douro River is typical of what you will see between Peso da Regua and Pinhao. This part of the river is actually close to the eastern end of the demarcated region whose grapes are officially allowed to be transformed into Port. The region runs eastward from here to the Spanish border and also includes production areas on some of the tributaries of the Douro. Port wine made its debut in the 1600s and, over the years since then, the slopes of the river banks have been terraced to provide more wine-growing land.

Leave a Comment

Directions: Douro River between Regua and Pinhao

As we reached the end of our intended drive along the Douro, we pulled into the small town of Pinhao and found a parking spot along its main street. Just across the street we were amazed to see the most beautiful building - their Train Station! This 130-year old building is decorated with blue 'azulejo' ceramic tiles characteristic of many buildings throughout Portugal. This photo shows the local tourist information part of the station, on the street-side of the building. This train station was once voted as the 'most beautiful in Portugal'. I may not know much about art, but I know that I was immediately impressed by the looks of this building!

Leave a Comment

Address: Pinhao, main street beside the train tracks.

I took a walk across the tracks to get this better overview of the entire train station. Altogether, there are about 24 different blue-glazed scenes depicting various stages of work involved in the production of Port wine from this designated area of Portugal. The train station itself was built primarily for the transportation of thousands of casks of wine down the river to Porto.

Leave a Comment

Address: Pinhao

The idea of using decorative ceramic tiles was introduced to Portugal by the Moors. Over the years, their use for floor, wall and ceiling decorations became even more prevalent, with widespread use in the country by 1500 onward. The tiles depict many different scenes and come in a variety of styles. Those on the Pinhao train station were created in 1937 using the traditional blue and white pattern. Here, Sue is standing by one of the scenes on the end of the railway station that depicts one of the activities required for the production of Port wine. To the left, the train tracks pass the station and, although the Duoro itself cannot be seen in the photo, it is not far away from this junction where the River Pinhao flows into it, as the steeply sloping vinyards attest (that hillside looks almost like the one by Sue's shoulder!).

Leave a Comment

Address: Pinhao