Serta, Portugal - Sept 2024
Participants: Tam & Kev
Our friends Rod and Alison moved to central Portugal many years ago and Tam and I kept meaning to visit them, but with work and lack of holiday time getting in the way it never happened. At the start of 2024 Alison sent us a message saying that they were just finishing up their second rental property and would we like to come out and stay there to check out everything was ok before they put it on rental sites. Unfortunately we couldn't make May as had already committed to a cruise on the Celebrity Apex at that time, but it did get us thinking that we should get our lazy bottoms into gear and finally go out to see our friends. So we arranged to go out in September to spend 6 nights at Rod and Alison's before moving to Lisbon for 4 nights.
Their properties are called Casa Escondida and Casa Dos Cavalos. A search on either Facebook or Airbnb should find them. Rod and Alison also featured on the Channel 4 programme A New Life In The Sun which charted their progress as they renovated their first property.
Tam and I
stayed in Casa Escondida just outside Serta. This is in the
centre of Portugal approx 90 minutes from Lisbon. It's very
different from the Algarve in that it's almost entirely unspoilt
by mass tourism. A few Brits have bought properties here, but
there are no big hotels or sprawling complexes. If you want an
'away from it all' experience this could be right up your street.
We were really surprised at how beautiful the area is. Rod and
Alison were wonderful hosts and spent most days (and some
evenings) showing us what the area had to offer. They could not
have been kinder or more considerate and really made our stay
enjoyable from start to finish.
We flew into Lisbon and hired a car. Now I'd read on forums that car hire in Portugal could be fraught with danger in that there are all sorts of scams where they try to get you to pay for damage that was already there when you pick up the car, so we were a little bit wary. As it turns out it was all very easy and we had no problems. The poor girl from the hire company might not have thought so though as we took copious amounts of pictures of every tiny blemish and flaw as she stood around patiently! We used Rent Auto booked through the Zest Auto website. It was also pretty cheap at £135 for 6 days including £30 top up insurance.
There are two buildings. The one one the left is larger and contains the living room, kitchen and bedroom. The second seperate unit has another bedroom and bathroom. Perfect for 4 people.
There's plenty of room and everything there that you could want.
Our bedroom. There is no air conditioning (hence the fan), but it was never too hot at night. In fact we were surprised at how it cooled down in the evenings. This was the start of September and the temperatures were in the high 20's during the day, but the evenings were perfect and even got quite cool once or twice.
This covered area connects the two buildings and we had our breakfast and lunch here most days. On the day we arrived Rod and Alison came over and cooked us a meal on the BBQ. Rod also provided the wine. He asked me what I thought of it and I said it was nice. He said that he paid 4 Euro per bottle! In fact when we went to the supermarket we found that much of the wine was really cheap. If you paid above 6 or 7 Euro you were really going upmarket! This is definitely an advantage of staying in a less touristy area, everything is much cheaper whether you are using the supermarkets or the bars and restaurants.
The little lane through the olive grove leads only to the property, so you really are out on your own. It's gloriously private and quiet. There may or may not have been some skinny dipping going on at times, I'm not at liberty to say.
Tam - the garden was full of fruit trees - I loved the fresh figs, but there were mandarin trees, orange, persimmon and peach trees too. It was just so peaceful
It must have been quiet, Tam even had me playing a boardgame! The family will be amazed as I'm not a big fan of games. I usually just let them get on with it while I listen to music. Suffice to say that it's my glass that's empty. And I lost. Probably because I kept trying to find naughty words to put down.
Tam and I had a BBQ one evening with fresh fish bought from the supermarket where they have plenty of choice.
We probably pushed the boat out and spent 8 Euro on this wine. Very nice it was too.
I know what you're thinking - 'That's a big boy' - and you'd be right. The dog's impressive too. Rod and Alison have spent all their resources on getting their two rental properties together and now hope to have some time to finish their own house. This is Hamish, one of their two Old English sheepdogs.
Rod and Alison drove us around many places to show us the area. See, I told you they were wonderful hosts. It's quite mountainous with many valleys with rivers and lakes. Much more beautiful than we were expecting.
Here's Rod. We stopped at one of the little watering points to fill our bottles. It's fresh cold water from the mountains.
We stopped for lunch at one of the swimming places in the mountains.
You may notice something missing from the photos. Crowds. It's wonderfully quiet. I guess this is a major attraction of getting away from the main tourist areas such as the Algarve.
There's a boardwalk that runs along the valley to this little waterfall.
A few hardy souls were swimming. Actually we did go for a swim back at the spot where we had lunch. In all honesty they went swimming and I paddled up to my knees.
Next was a drive up to the top of a mountain where this monument stands on the geographic centre of Portugal both East/West and North/South.
Another day Tam and I drove out to a little town in one of the valleys crossing this bridge on the way.
The town is called Dornes.
We wandered around here for an hour or so. I think we encountered 5 or 6 people the whole time we were there. Most of the time it felt like we had the place to ourselves.
One evening Rod and Alison took us out for a meal and we stopped for this view of the dam before driving over it.
We had such a lovely time staying in Serta. You absolutely need a car if you come here as there's very little within walking distance to either of Rod and Alison's properties, but they are only a few minutes drive from the town of Serta and there are a few restaurants and bars as well as a number of supermarkets. If you would like a really quiet time than I can recommend staying here, driving around during the day to see the many beautiful places then relaxing in the evening around your pool without another soul in sight and the sound of the wildlfe around you.
Many thanks to Rod and Alison who were so lovely. I'm sure we will return in the future.
Tam - we had such a lovely relaxing time and it was so good to see central Portugal and all that it has to offer. The wonderful countryside and the peace and tranquility was a fantastic start to our holiday. As Kev said Rod and Alison were the perfect hosts and nothing was too much for them - it was so much fun to spend time with them.
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