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By tourist standards, the Solar de Alvega is located off the beaten path; however, what a perfect opportunity you have to visit interesting historic places of Portugal and to live in a real manor house of Portuguese aristocrat, Conde Caldeira de Mendanha.
The manor house of Solar de Alvega.
The main entrance.
The interior is from the beginning of the 18th century. It feels like the last King of Portugal used to sit on this chair and his beloved slept on that bed. The proposed facilities reminded one of the middle of the 18th century rather than the 21th: the room lacked not only central heating, but a kettle and a mini-bar as well.
One of the bedrooms.
For heating devices on these January days, we only had a fireplace and an air-conditioner, and at first the beautiful ancient house with a tiny family chapel caused mixed emotions. On the one hand, “Oh, God, what a vintage interior,” and on the other, “Damn, how we are going to warm ourselves?!”
To be honest, it was not warm in these five antiquely furnished rooms, and a bit damp. After check-in, gracious Gisella, exercising a housekeeper role, followed us to the room and said, “It is quite cold in your room. Which temperature would you like to set?” We answered, “+25, please!” True amazement flashed in Gisella’s kind brown eyes.
One of the bedrooms.
Another bedroom.
I wonder, if owners of hotels ask themselves, what their foreign tourists might miss? For example, our room was provided with a huge plasma TV, but all we needed after a long trip was a cup of hot tea. Of course, we only had to go down the beautiful marble spiral stairs and ask Gisella or Susanna for tea, but we did not want to disturb those lovely women while they were sitting and watching their favorite soap opera. We were the only guests in the hotel.
On the other hand, when we came back to our house in the evening, tired after our trips, Gisella and Susanna cooked a traditional Portuguese dinner (always delicious) with wine and served us at a table near the big fireplace in the hall at the time appointed by us.
The dinner room.
The breakfast room.
Dessert, pear in red wine.
We felt ourselves the rich, owners of the manor, surrounded by servants, and always got freshly baked hot rolls for breakfast. It is no surprise that Irina brought home a couple of extra kilos from that trip!
The main hall.
And the most important thing: storks nested on the roof of Solar de Alvega and many neighborhood houses. Before, I had only seen them on television, and now I watched them through the window of our room.
By the way, not far from there…
Welcome to Portugal–an amazing and interesting country so different from its neighbors.
Happy travels!