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Help me find my perfect Portugal

Help me find my perfect Portugal

Old Mar 11th 2018, 9:38 am
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Default Help me find my perfect Portugal

Well we are coming to the end of or 3 month fact finding/property search on he Silver Coast. I really like this area.Scenery,hills,greenery,history and interesting towns. Property wise we have found nothing.We are looking for a bungalow,but they are going like hot cakes.Estate agents are pretty much a waste of time. Properties are with multiple agents and none tell each other if it has been sold.Any who do reply, offer us something we have already seen or not on our wish list. They tell us something is sold but 3 weeks late it is still on their site.
What I have realised is that although I am happy here it is perhaps not for us.
I know it has been a pretty wet and windy winter,but here it is just TOO wet.
We have lived on the Algarve,but now find that it offers us nothing to keep us interested.No history not too scenic and just too hot in the summer.
SO....... can anyone out there help us find our Portugal home?

OH likes the Alentejo,but I'm not a fan.He'd be happy to live close to the Spanish border,but I'd prefer to be an hour or so from the coast at most.
Don't want to live in a town centre but a village nearby with some facilities.
Oh... and no further north than where we are now.

Right! I know I'm being picky and I know that doesn't leave much,but any thoughts,suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
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Old Mar 11th 2018, 10:17 am
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Default Re: Help me find my perfect Portugal

Somewhere like Mertola maybe?
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Old Mar 11th 2018, 10:21 am
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Default Re: Help me find my perfect Portugal

Originally Posted by ouriquejan
Somewhere like Mertola maybe?
Good suggestion Ouriquejan.

We visited Mértola last year and its a good match for that wish list
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Old Mar 11th 2018, 10:37 am
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Default Re: Help me find my perfect Portugal

How about Castro Marim ? Lots of the older houses are on one level.
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Old Mar 11th 2018, 11:09 am
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Default Re: Help me find my perfect Portugal

Absolutely Sandyeo, in that area there are a lot of lovely towns, villages. not too far away from the hustle and bustle if needed.
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Old Mar 11th 2018, 11:12 am
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Default Re: Help me find my perfect Portugal

You seem to be describing our area, just south of Alentejo on the West coast.

Houses are being snapped up here too though. Good luck!
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Old Mar 11th 2018, 1:15 pm
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Default Re: Help me find my perfect Portugal

Originally Posted by AliceCaroline
Good suggestion Ouriquejan.

We visited Mértola last year and its a good match for that wish list
That place, can't recall the name where the mine was, just north west of Mertola looked a nice place with a "lake beach"
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Old Mar 11th 2018, 2:52 pm
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Default Re: Help me find my perfect Portugal

Mina de Sao Domingos
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Old Mar 11th 2018, 2:52 pm
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Default Re: Help me find my perfect Portugal

And Serpa is quite a good place too. Been there many times.
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Old Mar 12th 2018, 9:39 am
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Default Re: Help me find my perfect Portugal

Originally Posted by toots sweet
Well we are coming to the end of or 3 month fact finding/property search on he Silver Coast. I really like this area.Scenery,hills,greenery,history and interesting towns. Property wise we have found nothing.We are looking for a bungalow,but they are going like hot cakes.Estate agents are pretty much a waste of time. Properties are with multiple agents and none tell each other if it has been sold.Any who do reply, offer us something we have already seen or not on our wish list. They tell us something is sold but 3 weeks late it is still on their site.
What I have realised is that although I am happy here it is perhaps not for us.
I know it has been a pretty wet and windy winter,but here it is just TOO wet.
We have lived on the Algarve,but now find that it offers us nothing to keep us interested.No history not too scenic and just too hot in the summer.
SO....... can anyone out there help us find our Portugal home?

OH likes the Alentejo,but I'm not a fan.He'd be happy to live close to the Spanish border,but I'd prefer to be an hour or so from the coast at most.
Don't want to live in a town centre but a village nearby with some facilities.
Oh... and no further north than where we are now.

Right! I know I'm being picky and I know that doesn't leave much,but any thoughts,suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Don't know your budget, but were also looking at Portugal a few years back and couldn't find much for our budget. Everything that seemed affordable (especially bungalows) were very far inland, old, or in the middle of nowhere.


I was also looking at urban plots of land, not too far from coast (max 15km) and didn't really find anything decent under 50K. Opted for Costa Brava in Spain instead and thought it was a lot cheaper for what I was looking for.
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Old Mar 12th 2018, 10:04 am
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Default Re: Help me find my perfect Portugal

We visited Alcoutim in October , it is one of the most attractive areas in the Algarve.
With good road connections to the coast it is certainly an area worth considering .
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Old Mar 12th 2018, 10:25 am
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Default Re: Help me find my perfect Portugal

Thanks for all the replies.However Castro Marim is near where we lived and we don't want the Algarve. Like Mertola to visit,but not to live and Alcoutim we have visited so many times and like Mertola like it but too touristy now.
Ouriquejan...Will take a look at Serpa.
Think we will take a look east of Lisbon and around Alcacer do Sal/Grandola ,although property prices are quite high and the scenery isn't as nice.
I'm being very picky I know. Think the north would suit us but not the weather!
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Old Mar 12th 2018, 10:50 am
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Default Re: Help me find my perfect Portugal

Sorry you find the Estate Agents not very helpful.. Toots Sweet..

. Maybe you are superimposing a UK standard on them?. They don't work in the way we were used to in either the UK or NL...Not super speedy. Don't usually call you back ,etc

. Property doesn't 'turn over' as quickly..and sales often fall through because of legal glitches...ie the 27 members of the family that own it can't agree on the sale ha.Its a tad different right now agreed ,with this sudden 'gold rush' on property added to it

So yes the house picture will often remain in the window until it is, in reality, sold. They do indeed share details..not a bad idea imo...
.
I was a bit confused by all you had written ..as you seem to love the area..but want something alien too it.. i.e. a bungalow.? Thats a British concept...Single storey anything is like hen's teeth in the whole of Portugal. Unless of course it is an old farmhouse Could you build?

Winters are relatively short..and you do need the rain.It will be always colder the further North you are.Hopefully this very wet and cold winter was a' one off'

As to the Algarve having 'no history' ummm... can't agree on that Its steeped in Roman and Moorish..Not to mention being the home of Henry the Navigator. The starting point of Hannibal and his elephant armies march on Rome.Then there is Peter Daughtry's tantalising idea that Silves was the capital of Atlantis . The extremely ancient stones he identified .. etc etc..We live here and have still not followed up everything in his book..

.It can get over 35 deg here agreed ,but unlike inland we have cool Atlantic breezes...Heh ho..You know all that though, having lived here already

What sort of history are you looking for then ? Castles,churches, Celtic,Roman ? Lots of interesting single sites dotted around ,

Your wish list is long.. and a tad difficult as you want coast. and culture.. but no further North of where you are !!.
I'm guessing the area around Cascais/ Sintra would be too expensive for you? and perhaps too far North.?

For me, most of the great history of Portugal is in the central region .. at least above and to the East of Lisbon... but i am happy to drive there or go on coach trips etc. rather than live there.
Places like the wonderful Batalha which looks so 'British village' to me ,but houses the wonderfully carved tombs of the original Royal Family including Phillipa (s) the British princess who started it all . Or indeed Caldas da Rainha with its Royal connections .Tomar and the wonderful castle of the Knights Templar... Mertola and Merida... etc... all unfortunately spread over a wide area though.
I thought I might be happy on the Peninsula de Troia with its purpose built huge ''campus' and golf course,next to the interesting Roman ruins of Cetobriga ..it even had a Casino..ha !
However sense prevailed and we saw it for what it was.. a mainly Lisbon/ Portuguese holiday resort.!!!empty in the winter.

Oh dear this is difficult for me ,never mind you !!

I think Liveaboard was right.. His area sounds ideal for you...Not too hot, near the coast.. Not too far from central Portugal...Good luck in your search

Last edited by GeniB; Mar 12th 2018 at 10:55 am.
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Old Mar 12th 2018, 11:02 am
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Default Re: Help me find my perfect Portugal

Okay, thinking about being nearer the coast, maybe somewhere like Odemira? Got everything there and there are some lovely villages heading towards the coast.

Or there is also Ourique

Yes, it is in the Alentejo, but not by too much. We're just about an hour and a bit from either the south coast or an hour and a half from the west coast. Depending on who's driving
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Old Mar 12th 2018, 12:03 pm
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Default Re: Help me find my perfect Portugal

Find the area you want to move to and pick a place to stay. Each day go out in a different direction and hopefully you will find what you want. If you find nothing to suit you find another area to go to and start again.
Draw up a list of 10 things you want and 10 things you don't want and see how you get on in e area you choose.

This is just how i found my place.

Peter
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