Conde met us at the airport just as he said he would. After a quick coffee we were driven from Porto airport to the property about 50mins drive through the beautiful sunset and Portugese country side.
We were impressed by the property when we first arrived, located amongst traditional farm steads along side a wild forest the setting is superb and tranquil. The white building is immaculate and gleamed in the setting sun light, the long driveway leads past fruit trees and lush grass to the rear of the property, no parking problems here!.Through the secure gates a large walled court yard gives a view of the property. It is a modern take on the traditional farm building of the area. Conde has enhanced the best parts of traditional old way of life and bought the rest bang upto date. A bread oven and barbeque are built in brick to the outside of the kitchen complete with a laundry and sink alongside, Cooking a meal here after a perfect day on the beach is a joy.
A nice feature is an ancient water pump by the enterance to the kitchen and it works! still drawing water up from an original well,
The kitchen is shady and cool in the hot weather, equiped with every convienience you could possibly require but Conde showed us some fantastic places to eat out that we only made breakfast and drinks in the kitchen , if we had a meal at the house we loved the outside cooking most of all because in the UK it rains a lot!.
The lounge has comfortable seating and a TV . A down stairs bathroom was again just perfect, upstairs the large bedrooms had a lovely clean and fresh feel. We stayed in bed and looked across to the forest and saw doves, buzzards, swallows darting trough the trees as local farmers tended the crops next door, It was so peacefull we did not want to get up. The bathroom upstairs is very spacious and again fully equipped.
When we did explore in Condes car we visited miles of pure unspoilt beaches, walked in the forest between the pines,Hired a surf board at Bara and rode some powerful Atlantic waves, saw stunning architecture of Coimbra, took a boat trip on the canals of Aveiro,watched the sunset with a cold beer at a beach bar in Bara,
Rowed our own boat at Paria de mera lagoon , partied with Conde until 4 in the morning at Figueira da Foz, Dined on platters of fresh sea food with the finest Port wines and tasted delicious suckling pig with champagne .ALL FANTASTIC TIMES.
We have visited 5 times and cant wait to go again, SUPERB!
