Without planning to do so, I realized upon finishing blogs about our Viking Douro River Cruise through Portugal that I had written Ten Chapters, just as I previously had written Ten Chapters In France about our Viking Rhone River Cruise through Provence.
Our recent Portugal cruise brought us to Salamanca, Spain, for one port, whereas on the Rhone cruise, we had stayed in France. But they had the same familiar rhythm, sort of like tuning to the same Sirius XM Water Colors channel, knowing we'd be unlikely to hear Led Zeppelin or Mozart.
We liked the meals onboard --- which for Julie and me is essentially all of our meals --- better in France, though perhaps that is a matter of personal taste.
The views while cruising, on the other hand, were better on the Douro than the Rhone overall.
Thinking about the countries visited on those cruises --- Portugal, Spain and France --- reminds me of something I failed to mention. According to our tour leader Inis, the three countries entered an agreement to build a continuous high speed rail track between the countries to encourage tourism and commerce.
At great expense, Portugal completed their part on schedule. France also completed theirs.
Unfortunately, Spain failed o comply, according to Inis, so Portugal had a train track to nowhere.
I couldn't verify the details of her story, but in looking for that, I found a Spanish article reporting that a high speed rail project between Madrid and Lisbon was scheduled to be completed by 2034.
The article mentions that originally Spain wanted to have high speed rail between Madrid and Paris in time for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, but France failed on its part.
That article claims the problems included a 150 km stretch between Montpellier and Perpignan in France that requires slower speeds. The key factor to my way of thinking would have been that the trains in Iberia are wider than the standard in the rest of Europe, which is also mentioned in the article.
I recall learning during our Uniworld Rhine and Moselle River Cruise that a couple thousand years ago, the Roman Empire standard for chariot wheel width played havoc with attacking Barbarians who failed to recognize that reality about the standardized Roman roads crisscrossing the vast Empire.
In an article written in French about the subject, I assume all blame would be cast on Spain and Portugal for that error in judgement of making their trains extra wide.
What I do believe is what Spain's Olive Press published in the article about Spain's part. "Toledo is the main stumbling block to construction on the Spanish side, partly due to most of the city being protected by UNESCO, partly due to disagreements as to the location of the railway in a geographically complicated city."
The train development issues underscores the problem of sorting through government regulations and environmental concerns in one country, much less multiple.
Just as with my Ten Chapters In France blog, this "Table of Contents" has been so longwinded that it is probably one of eleven chapters about our cruise.
Anyway, here are links to the Ten Chapters In Portugal:
Cruising to Mateus Palace & Gardens with Mr. Sandeman
Barca d'Alva for Castelo Rodrigo
Salamanca, Spain, from Vega Terron
The Heart of the Douro River: Pinhão, Favaios and Quinta Avessada to Régua
