Not So Serious Yoga and Wine Retreat - Introductions

Once getting settled into my room at Quinta Camarena and cleaned up from a day of exploring, it was time to meet the entire group at my retreat. Turns out there are nine of us in total, eight women and one man...three of us are traveling solo and a few have done yoga retreats in the past. What a great mix of people, with everyone bringing their own travel stories, yoga experience, sense of humour and of course love of wine.

We started the introductions on the outdoor deck in the beautiful evening sun with a glass of port wine and tonic water...I must stay it was pretty good. Here we met Vera and Cam...husband and wife who put a labour of love into creating this organic, self sustaining, environmentally conscious venue. With Cam’s background as a freelance photographer for over 20 years in NYC and Vera’s experience in the corporate world, they’ve come together to create a unique and special place that has really felt like home from the moment we all arrived.

It did not take long for us to realize the incredible network Vera has developed with local producers to source the ingredients for all our meals, snacks and wine selections. She has also brought in local chef’s each day from the community to prepare these meals. Along with each meal, she takes time to share her knowledge of how things have been harvested, produced and prepared...so much time and dedication has gone into every detail. First up was local olives and homemade sourdough bread, with pesto made with peas that are in season. 

After enjoying our appetizers and drinks, we were escorted into the main area for our dinner...and what a treat it was. Lentil loaf, crunchy veggies millet of cauliflower for our main meal and carob cake with orange topping for dessert was prepared by Cafe Nativa...and of course our meal was served with a local red Portuguese wine...Herdade do Cerro Verde. Already I can tell there will be a lot of food pictures!

To top things off, we had beautiful music playing in the background that created a nice and relaxing atmosphere as we all chatted and got to know one another, while marvelling at how delicious everything was.

After dinner most of us were fairly tired either from traveling or touring around Portugal prior to the retreat, so it was an early night...not to mention we have an early start with yoga at 8:30am, so we all need to get our beauty sleep.

Until then...share in the experience.

Lisa