Trás-os-Montes, Portugal

In Trás-os-Montes, farm to table is the way of life. The locals raise animals, smoke their own meats, cultivate large vegetable gardens, grow grapes for wine and tend to impressive flower gardens. The landscape is one of micro-climates and dramatic landscape changes. There are rolling green hills covered with terraced vineyards, native cork forests, arid stretches of olive groves and springs bubbling—literally— with the region’s famous mineral water. The landscape also tells the story of conquest and migration that defines the region, from Roman ruins to quiet tiny towns that illustrate the mass migration to Portugal’s big cities in the 20th century. Now, generations of rural abandonment are being reversed as young people leave the cities for a rural way of life. As a result, a new Trás-os-Montes culture is emerging; it continues to be based on the land, dependent on neighbors and traditional, but it is also contemporary, innovative and emerging. During this week-long trip in Portugal’s north, we’ll experience it all.

Trip highlights: Cook with two young chefs trained abroad in the world’s best restaurants and came back home to contribute to the deeply agricultural way of life they missed. Meet a fifth-generation farmer whose diversified crops protect him from climate change and allow him to support his community with full time jobs, just as his great-great grandfather did. Bake rye and wheat breads in a wood-fired oven. Stay with an innkeeper who hand-embroiders her linens, makes the jam at breakfast and bakes the best orange cake we’ve ever tasted. Be surprised: the food will be rustic some days, refined others, but always made with local ingredients and immense care. That’s the Trás-os-Montes way.

Who you’ll travel with: Célia Pedroso and, on this first departure only, Associate Director of Education April Dodd

A sample of what you’ll eat: Meats smoked in traditional fumeiros; tender beef from local Maronesa cattle; wood-fired sourdough breads; homemade quince preserves; vegetables cooked in the finest Portuguese olive oil; red and white wines from local vineyards; chestnuts and mushrooms gathered from the forest and stewed with chicken; cakes doused in orange syrup and, of course, pastel de nata, the famous Portuguese custard.

Per person cost: $5,500 (Single room supplement: $1,250)
Nonrefundable deposit due at booking: $500