Built in 1890, this train once carried Portugal’s kings and presidents, not to mention other guests like Elizabeth II or Pope Paul VI, before it was taken off the rails in 1970. Now, after a one-million-euro ($1.2 million) restoration, the luxury, electric blue “presidential train” is taking passengers again — though only on 25 days a year, when it leaves its home at the National Railway Museum to criss-cross the picturesque Douro valley for a 500-euro gourmet trip. Published in Daily Times, May 20th 2018.