Arriving here, after winding upwards on narrow roads that cut through wildflower meadows, is like stumbling onto a Merchant Ivory film set, so perfectly formed is the stone hamlet lost in the hills of Serra de Sicó. When the car stops, silence falls, broken only by the whistle of the wind and the distant honking of geese. Victor Mineiro, the architect of these seven fantastically renovated cottages and adjoining restaurant (local olives and wine, tremendous coriander-poached fish), will appear, all smiles and warmth, with Jack Russells Olivia and Jackie at his heels. He brims with enthusiasm for a project he has spent more than a decade working on, since he and partner Manuel Casal decided to breathe new life into the abandoned village. Gardens are lush and filled with blossoms: tiny wild irises, deep purple, have taken root under olive branches. There is a swimming pool and a set of yellow chairs in the shade of a medlar tree. But it is not just picture-postcard prettiness; there is also soul within these old limestone walls. Inside the little ochre-colored houses, sunlight floods across highly polished stone floors. Portuguese porcelain, old and new, and Mineiro’s eclectic artwork sit side by side in the sitting rooms; midcentury furniture and ancient Berber rugs create a lived-in charm. Kitchens have juicers to squeeze the fresh oranges provided, the fridge is stocked with farmyard eggs and Rabaçal, possibly Portugal’s best cheese, which comes from the goats that you occasionally hear bleating across the hills, and every morning warm bread, baked in a wood-fired oven at dawn, is hung in a cloth bag on your front door. Why come here? Gather your favorite people and rent all the houses: It’s a brilliant take-the-whole-place set-up.
Sleeps: 6
