Charming Villa with Heated Pool & Large Garden near Sandy Beach, Hiking and Golf

About Sophie Vandebroek & Jesus del Alamo

We were both born in Europe and now live in Boston, MA. Jesus teaches at MIT and Sophie recently retired after several decades in the technology industry. We have 6 grown-up children who still love to come spend time at Casa da Figueira. Sophie's parents bought Casa da Figueira when she was a teenager in the 1970s. Casa da Figueira is a charming traditional Portuguese villa that has been in our family for 5 decades. We do yearly upgrades and maintenance to keep it in exceptional condition while maintaining the authentic atmosphere. Casa da Figueira is decorated with original art pieces from artists from all over the world. If you enjoy beautiful surroundings, inside and outside, Casa da Figueira is the place to be. We recently renovated the kitchen and we have renovated the bathrooms, build a beautiful pool and surrounded the large property and tropical yard with a traditional white wall so its safe for children to run around. Each January we do significant maintenance so please do let us or Amelia know if something needs to be upgraded. Keeping a traditional Portuguese home in exceptional condition requires on-going maintenance work. Our own six children, now young adults, have enjoyed coming to Casa da Figueira at all ages. We are looking for individuals or families who will enjoy Casa da Figueira as much as we do and who can help cover the costs of maintaining this beautiful exclusive property and keeping Amelia, our truly amazing housekeeper who has worked for my family for over 25 years, employed. We are very much looking forward to hear from you. A comprehensive folder with information about Casa da Figueira, Praia da Luz and the Algarve is available for your use. Please do add your personal comments and suggestions so our other clients can benefit from your experience. We hope you will enjoy Casa da Figueira as much as we do. Looking forward to hear from you! Sophie Vandebroek & Jesus del Alamo (Casa da Figueira owners)

Sophie Vandebroek & Jesus del Alamo purchased this Villa in 2007

Why Sophie Vandebroek & Jesus del Alamo chose Praia da Luz

Casa da Figueira, a traditional Portuguese villa with heated private pool and tropical gardens is paradise for us. Casa Figueira is a 2 min walk to a safe and large sandy beach. The Casa is located in Parque da Praia, the "beach park" build in the 1960s. In fact, you can hear the waves while enjoying breakfast on one of the three terraces. A 70 m cobblestone walkway gets you to a small street that is just one block from the beach. The Algarve has 40 fabulous golf courses, with the Boa Vista Course just 5 min from Casa da Figueira and 15 wineries. The villa is also one block from a nature trail that goes up the cliffs and is ideal for jogging, walking, biking or to witness amazing sunrises or sunsets. The eastern limit of the beach of Luz is marked by the famous “black lava rock” noticeable since all the other cliffs are golden orange. Praia da Luz retains the charm and character of a traditional Portuguese village yet offers excellent facilities to complement the safe and sandy beach. The narrow village streets meander up from the beach, past white-washed houses, an 16th century Fortaleza turned into a romantic restaurant and pretty yellow church offering many different religious services, to the village center with many restaurants, grocery stores, and a few pottery stores. The Algarve’s long Moorish control, its Mediterranean climate, and its abundance of fine sandy beaches endow the Algarve with a unique character. Separated from the rest of Portugal by rolling hills, Algarve, the southernmost province, with its abundance of sun, sardines and tuna, is an ideal vacation location. The closest city to Praia da Luz is Lagos. While Lagos is a very historic town, it has a refreshing, relaxing charm with lots of cozy restaurants, many bars, live music, local art shops and an active marina. A daily fresh fish market, weekly vegetable market and monthly flee market provide unique charm to the town.

What makes this Villa unique

To answer this question, here is great feedback we received from one of our recent clients: 'We had such an incredible time. Your villa is charming, and obviously taken care of with a lot of love and attention. Amelia was wonderful, very helpful, and very patient with our questions. We walked everywhere, took tons of pictures, the views were stunning, and ate at pretty much all the places you mentioned. My husband went diving in Lagos, and all the guys went golfing up the road. We found the bakery and the soup shop. Quejadas were declared our breakfast food. We took a ride down to the fort in Sagres, and spent a day in Tavira exploring. That was an incredible crash course in history. We took plenty of pictures of the bridges, fort and churches. We climbed the mini mountain behind Casa da Figueira and walked all the way around it. That was more than enough exercise for me, but would not have missed it because the views and changing colors were perfect. By mid week, the guys were checking out the 'for sale' signs and comparing prices. We met all kinds of people, who were very kind. Needless to say we are not an overly quiet group, animated conversation being the norm, so at all the restaurants we went to, the owners came over and talked with us. Lots of stories were shared, and lots of advice was given. We were very surprised to find the beach being dog friendly which was great. We also had a person at the beach who made sand sculptures every day. There are so many other things we experienced on this trip that I am sure I am forgetting. In short, I have never had such a relaxing and thoroughly enjoyable vacation in my life. We all had a wonderful time and would consider doing it again.' - Janie, Ed & Travis Gschrey, New York State, USA Also very unique are Casa da FIgueira's tropical gardens and many mature fruit trees (for you to enjoy).