Welcome back for Part 3 of this narrative of our recent trip to the Iberian Peninsula. Part 2 described our travel from Lisbon to Porto, via Coimbra, and our journey up and down the Douro River. In this episode, I’ll describe three of the shore excursions we took during the river cruise.

Mateus Palace and Gardens (November 13): On Wednesday the 13th, after sailing from Vila Nova de Gaio to a pier near Lamego, we disembarked at 2:30 PM for a 20-mile bus drive to the Mateus Palace located in th...