Marvão - a collection of different photos from the web

Near Marvão, the village of Barretos

• The real Portugal - a small typical Alentejo village untouched by time.

• Cobbled streets surrounded by beautiful olive groves, cork oak trees and ancient pathways.

• Set in the Natural park of Serra de São Mamede and 10 minutes from the historical towns of Marvão and Castelo de Vide.

• Bull festival in the village, held every second week in August (Festa Largada de Touros) where the brave men of the village entice the bulls to charge. This is followed by music and dancing well into the night.

• A number of small cafés and a small village shop for a few essentials. For a wider choice there is a large supermarket (Pingodoce) in Castelo de Vide - 9 km, and a mini market in Santo António das Areias - 2.5 km.

The medieval town of Marvão

• An imposing and peaceful town on the highest crest of the Serra de São Mamede Natural park.

• Was used as a place of refuge by Ibn Marúan, a Moorish warrior, during the 9th century.The Arab domination ended with the military campaign of the Christian forces led by D. Afonso Henriques, the first king of Portugal.

• Picturesque walled town of of white houses, narrow cobbled streets, Gothic arches, Manueline windows and the magnificent castle, with panoramic views of the surrounding countryside.

• Municipal Museum in the church of Santa Maria and nearby there is a tourist office for more information.

• Chesnut festival held at the begining of November with the streets lined with stalls selling genuine Portuguese handcrafts, artists demonstrating their traditional skills, various street artists and folk music. And of course chestnuts and delicious chestnut cakes.

Interior Decorated after the summer 2008

After spending two weeks in the summer painting and a long weekend in September transporting, and arranging furniture we were very tired, but very satisfied.
The next phase will be the garden and plunge pool in Janurary/February 2009.

Summer 2007

Photographs of the cottage painted by us in the summer of 2007

MARVÃO - A RESTORED SELF CATERING COTTAGE

Welcome to my blog about the restoration and conversion of a our small cottage in the village of Barretos, located near Marvão, Alto Alentejo, Portugal.
We went to see the cottage, a ruin then, in the summer of 2005, fell in love with it, and the village where it is located. It finally became ours later on in that year.
We sketched our ideas for the rebuild and conversion and hired a local architect and engineer to make to sure the plans were approved by the local council. It only took one month for the approval.
We met with some builders, and decided on the recommendation of João the engineer, and chose Francisco Batista from Castelo de Vide. We waited for about 9 months until he could start as he was busy with other projects. This turned out to be the right choice as we now have become friends. A good relationship with your builder is essential.
You will now see from the folllowing pictures and posts the devolpment of our Cottage, which will be ready to rent in the summer of 2009.
See the original advert above taken from a real estate magazine.