Portuguese wine and wellness in the Douro Valley
Whenever we write something about Portugal we would like to do it in a whisper, but you can't write in a whisper. We would like, with the selfishness of every traveler, that the country was still full of secrets.
At the same time, we want to share what we see. We live with that internal struggle that is the struggle, too, of everyone who travels. Anyway. Traveling is not easy.
Today we want to write for the umpteenth time that Portugal is unique. Only there is it possible to build the story of a hotel from wine and health, two terms that, in principle, sound antagonistic. In Portugal you can.
The place where Port wines are born
When talking about Port wines, a set phrase is always used that, like so many, is real: “These are wines that are not produced in Porto” , but in an area in the interior of Portugal where wine has been made for two thousand years. They were exported from Porto, hence the name, but they are born there.
It is also often said that they are Portuguese wines with an English soul , since it was the English and Scottish who produced the best-known and oldest wines.
Port wines have been around for a long time, but it has been in the last decade when the word Port has entered the international wine conversation.
Due to the rugged landscape, the grape varieties and the wine tradition, Port wines are very difficult to replicate and nothing pleases a traveler, a gourmand or a hedonist more than something like that.
The interest in wines has had to do with the vindication of this area of Portugal, with a quite original rugged landscape, with the modernization of wineries, the opening of haute cuisine restaurants within an hour and with the opening of good hotels.
Six Senses Douro Valley, the place to find relaxation
In this region you can visit an Alvaro Siza winery, like that of Quinta do Portal; eat at a Michelin star restaurant, like DOC; take a cruise on the Douro and stay in a great hotel like the Six Senses Douro Valley.
The idea is coming home better than we left. That is the purpose of this hotel, the first of this Asian label in the Peninsula. The Six Senses Douro Valley has a double objective: health and well-being.
This objective is also shared by other hotels, but in this case well-being is also pleasure: here you eat, drink and enjoy life. Whether. Can. Intox-detox, we heard on more than one occasion.
A weekend at this hotel, located four hours by car from Madrid or an hour and a half from Porto, is a major set-up. It is therefore great for city people, screens and noise.
The hotel, located in a 19th century mansion, is focused on improving the health of those who come to it and it does so from different fronts: through the improvement of sleep, contact with Nature, physical exercise, treatments, cooking and , and here comes what differentiates it, Of the wine . Let's repeat the mantra: Intox -Detox.
How is all this reconciled? With nature and common sense.
Here you rest on Naturalmat mattresses and between sheets by Beaumont & Brown
It is not about trying to change your life in a weekend, but about realizing that it is possible to take care of yourself without dying of boredom , even in luxurious and sensual surroundings.
An ordinary day at Six Senses begins with waking up and pressing a button on a mobile. Not from ours, but from a gadget that has been monitoring our sleep all night.
Maybe we'll wear a bamboo fiber pajamas something anticlimactic (but very comfortable), that has controlled our body temperature. we will have slept on a 100% natural Naturalmat mattress and between Beaumont & Brown sheets.
These are just some of the elements that make up the Sleep Program , characteristic of the Six Senses and that measures sleep quality and teaches guidelines for better sleep.
What has been recorded by the Withings Aura Sleep Sensor, a little machine that we will have at the head of the bed, will be sent to an expert, with whom we will have a session in which we will learn to sleep. Is this possible to do.
We can continue the morning having breakfast where it can be one of the richest and most photogenic breakfasts in Portugal.
Do you know that you can learn to sleep?
Here there are sweet creams, regional cheeses, free-range eggs, yoghurts made at the hotel (you can attend a course to learn how to make them) and some juice detox . This word is not abused, something we appreciate. Only when it joins, yes, you guessed right: intox.
Throughout the day we have different options: we can sign up for some of the Yoga classes that are taught free of charge during the day or go to make trekking around the hotel with a person who will know every tree and every corner.
We can also go to one of the natural cosmetic classes that are taught in the Alchemy Bar , one of the most original spaces in the hotel. You can go out with your own body scrub or home air freshener. Weekly Two workshops with recipes are taught.
These types of activities are entertaining and plant the seed of how important it is take care of yourself carefully and without anxiety.
This links to the spa. There are many hotel spas, but good hotel spas there are fewer. The Six Senses is very good. Not only is it huge, something that is not a value in itself but helps, but it has a level of therapies, therapists and facilities difficult to find in the Peninsula.
The collection of saunas is great (the best? The herbal one and the one hanging over the field), the pool allows swimming, treatments are all personalized and the store has **well-chosen cosmetics like The Organic Pharmacy and Subtle Energies **.
There are usually not many good hotel spas. this is very good
There is the option to perform Six Senses Integrated Wellness, a check that will give information to the health coach to hold a long meeting with us and guide us in terms of diet, exercise and habits.
The Wellness and Spa Director is Javier Suarez , a Spaniard obsessed with teaching how to be healthy. He, very passionately, affirms that He "hates" programs already defined and without customization; nothing here is.
If we want more immediate pleasures we can get a simple manicure or pedicure. The surprise comes when in the middle of the ritual, they offer you a wine. Again, intox-detox.
To be healthy you have to eat. Mealtime is important here. In Vale de Abraao , more informal (within which nothing is tense here), meals take place and in The Dining Room , The dinners.
These are good times to see hotel guests, quiet the rest of the day. There are no restrictions in it, something that is appreciated. Yes, there are indications of what each dish that is eaten is and what benefits it will have on us. They will tell us if it is going to help us sleep, have more energy, purify and even improve resilience, like fish soup. This dish (there is no trip to Portugal without trying it) has a benefit that does not appear on the menu: it is beneficial for the soul.
attention with desserts
At Six Senses you eat with wine. The idea is that they are from Porto, as they are called all over the world. The best known are the traditional port, that are generous and that are eaten as an aperitif or with dessert. And watch out for the desserts, to cry, from the restaurant. The reds and whites deserve a lot of attention.
Besides eating, wine also sneaks into leisure. Every evening is done a tasting at the Wine Bar where the wineries of the area are better known. There are also more specific ones with such suggestive names as 'Port Wines: tradition, passion and knowledge' or 'The Great Port War'.
The other splendidly decorated public spaces of the hotel also invite you to enjoy wine, and Port is also a very social wine. In the fifth bar Furthermore, there are usually live music. Music is also health.
Another day, if we get up early (note, the sleep machine will measure it) we can jogging with nick yarnell , the hotel manager, who accompanies guests three days a week. Or can we do a tile painting class or give us, if the weather allows us, a bath in a magnificent swimming pool flanked by one of the oldest palm trees in Europe.
At night we can look at the stars, which is also a source of health, in this case, mental. The director himself states: "Here people relax very quickly." Sometimes that's all we ask of a weekend.
Wine tastings every afternoon