After a hapless day of traveling (just call us “wrong way”), we took Jiver back to the Airbnb and went out to seek internal nourishment. We had a couple of recommendations for places to eat from a local friend in Porto and found Taberna do Jéréré to be close, by and by some miracle, Google actually got us there! Holy mother of wow! I had the chef’s seafood special, and Joe had a veal steak. (Roast, more like! Well, look!) While the seafood dish was like a baked seafood surprise. It was dee-licious! Crab, shrimp, and cod, all baked with mashed potatoes and vegetables in a cream sauce. Waugh! It was all crazy good. And chocolate Charlotte cake for dessert. All for about 40 Euros for two with apps and wine!
Veal steak at Taberna do Jerere.
After dinner, we strolled back to our place and found that Jiver had eaten the entire bag of doggie downer treats! OMG, the bag said one per day per 20 kg. of dog! Well, we hoped they wouldn’t kill him! The fact that they didn’t and only gave him horrendous gas tells how useless they really were! He was fine and ready to whine the next day!
View of the Douro river and vineyards from Quinta do Popa. 
Important safety tip posted at Quinta do Popa!
From Régua, we drove to Quinta do Pôpa, a dog friendly winery way up on a hill overlooking the river that had the most fantastic view as well as wines and port. Quinta do Pôpa is a small winery on the way to Pinhão that has the most user-friendly website of all the wineries I looked at. I signed us up for our visit and ordered a cheese plate for us to have while doing our tasting without having to make a phone call. The staff was awesome as were the wines. They asked us if they could take a picture of us with Jiver to use online to show that dogs are welcome, and we said, of course. C’mon Portugal, more places like this, please!
After a fabulous time at Quinta do Pôpa, we drove toward Pinhão and our next stop, which was Quinta do Monte Bravo, a working winery that doubles as an Airbnb. Several times we asked ourselves, is this right?! The road was so full of turns and so deserted. At one point we drove across what looked like someone’s driveway! Finally, we saw the sign on the winery. This place is way off the beaten path but is so beautiful and tranquil that it was worth the effort to get there. Teresa greeted us and took us to our room, which was lovely and spacious for an Airbnb. The only sounds were of chirping birds. Now, this is a vineyard retreat in the heart of the Douro valley!
Jiver, right at home on the gorgeous bed in our room at Quinta do Monte Bravo!
We were supposed to go to another winery that afternoon but decided to stay at Monte Bravo and walk the vineyards instead. We were there for two nights and had dinner on-site in a building where they feed the workers during harvest. It was amazing! Teresa cooked for us. And her husband Pedro, the proprietor joined us for some pleasant conversation, which was a mix of English and Portuguese. The food and wines were outstanding. Suffice it to say, that a good time was had by all!
theroadtoportugal.com 