Juliana Cavalcanti in the Douro

POSTCARDS FROM

Relying on her passion for soulful places, by day, Juliana Cavalcanti cultivates multidisciplinary brand stories through interior & set design, branding & content creation for many of what have become Design Escapes favourite restaurants, hotels, retail spaces, brands & personal residences across Portugal.

Originally from Brasil, but now residing in Lisbon with her boyfriend Alex, we pull her away from her work to take a trip to the slopes of the world’s most beautiful wine region, The Douro. To see it through her unique eye for delving deep into rich & diverse cultures, taking inspiration from small & curious details & grand vistas.

Postcards from…is a series of love letters to Portugal & a collection of insider guides from our Design Escapes muses; locals & visitors that travel with their eyes open, led always by a quiet & authentic beauty.


 

All images by Juliana Cavalcanti.

Where are we waking up?

In a comfortable bed on a sunny morning in the Douro with the rays of light coming into the bedroom at Quinta da Corte, a small Quinta surrounded by vineyards with design by Pierre Yovanovitch.

How are we spending the morning?

Lazily & calmly, with an amazing al fresco breakfast with the view of the Douro river winding below just in front of us.

It's lunchtime, where are we eating?


After a walk around the vineyards, we’ll go to DOC for lunch & sit on the terrace, down by the river watching the boats pass by. We’re eating an incredible seabass with crayfish sauce paired with wine from a local vineyard, of course.

Okay, what are our afternoon plans?


In the afternoon, we will go to visit some friends that are wine producers for some "homey" feelings & a good wine tasting. We'll pass by my friend Mario's house to listen to a couple of his endless stories before continuing to Real Companhia Velha to visit Pedro Silva Reis, the best host in the Douro. His amazing property & variety of wines are filled with Douro history, & he’ll tell us a bit about his wine production process...of course, we won’t leave without a taste.

Where are we going for sunset...?


With wine & conversation flowing, we ended up staying at Real Companhia Velha, which has the most beautiful view across the river. We are there on top of the world, outside, drinking wine, speaking, & watching the colours of the vines' landscape changing while the sun goes down.

How about dinner...talk us through it.

We’ll head back to Quinta da Corte as it feels like home. They have a homecooked menu that changes every day & tonight is one of my favourites: pumpkin creamy volutée as a starter and softly cooked octopus with sweet potatoes afterwards. There we are back again, eating good food with the Douro river & the vineyards right in front of me, & all is how it should be.

After dark?

We’ll finish dinner & retreat to the living room, maybe meeting some other people that are staying in the hotel to swap stories over a glass of Porto wine, continuing, hopefully, some interesting discussions into the night.

It's home time, what souvenirs are we taking with us?

Amazing wines, of course!

What are we reading or listening to on our journey?

An eclectic mix that goes from real bossa nova to some soul…from Melody Gardot to Cigarettes After Sex & Maggie Rogers.


Where is home?

Home is back in Lisbon, my place of choice for the past 14 years with no intention of going anywhere else. I can´t describe rationally why I love this city so much - it´s just a sensation that it always gave me of belonging, of feeling in peace, of feeling welcome. A combination between city & ‘village’. The simplicity that it carries in its DNA & the proximity to nature - vast white sand beach in Sintra or peaceful countryside of Arrabida. The people I met along this journey that I can call ‘family’. The sun that shines for most of the year. So many things.