!!!!!!PORTUGAL PROPERTY!!!

Location and details

Distance in relation to other major points of interest:

Lisbon	2.30 hours
Algarve	3.30 hours
Spanish border	10 minutes
Madrid	4.5 hours
Badajoz (Spain)	1.30 hours

1- Marvão 2- Alentejo Region
3- Algarve

Portugal: Marvão belongs to the Alto Alentejo region of Portugal, it is a mountainous and lush area included in a national natural park - Serra de São Mamede.

Portalegre district:The district is divided into concelhos, marvão is the largest town of the "Concelho de Marvão". The concelho has an area of 154,85 km² and a population of about 4.029 (2001 census), there are 2 Schools, lots of restaurants and bars a nightclub, and the capital of the district, Portalegre is only about 25 minutes by car. You can find all the major portuguese hypermarkets in Portalegre, it is also a great day out as it also has a castle and historic centre to visit.

Some photographs of Marvão and the surrounding area

Local swimming pool complex in sports centre, only a 8 minute drive from Marvão.	One of the breath taking views you can see from Marvão.

The local lake is used for drinking water for the local population, it is pure rain water and ideal for swimming in the summer. It is only about 15 minutes from Marvão.

This roman bridge is in Portagem, a local village about 8 minutes from Marvão. You can enjoy several good restaurants a natural swimming pool in the river and a sports complex with tennis courts and swimming pools.

Portagem's roman bridge.

Marvão also has lovely gardens where you can appreciate the view.

Entrance to Marvão's castle.

You can see rolling mountains and the distant planes.

Marvão is a very lush area of the Alentejo, in the photo you can see Marvão on top of the mountain.

Marvão's castle garden.

Marvão

Marvão is an established destination for visitors from all over the world. It features in all major travel books and the New York Times best seller “1000 places to see before you die”. The castle and walled town are sited at approximately 3000 above the Alentejo’s plains; the spectacular views from the town are panoramic for 360o. The well known motto for Marvão is “where you can see the birds fly below”.

The Portuguese government has recently spent millions of euros upgrading the infrastructure (electricity, gas, water, drains, cable, phone and is also installing fibre optic cables for high speed internet) to comply with UNESCO’s specifications in order to receive the World Heritage Site nomination. There is at present a shortage of accommodation and with the World Heritage Site nomination demand will rise. This house is very rentable either as a whole or for bed and breakfast.

This is a resort area, and within a few kilometres are lakes for swimming and sailing.

Golf course: 5 minutes drive away, there is a golf course with 18 holes, where in the near future a 4 star hotel will be constructed. It is very cheap, costing from €26.
http://www.bookyourgolf.net/Portugal_Golf_Courses/Ammaia_Golf_de_Marvao.htm

At Portagem, a 5 minute drive away, the Sever river has been dammed to create an enormous natural swimming pool. The banks of the river are lined with trees providing shade and picnic areas.
There is also a chlorinated outdoor swimming pool, children’s pool, tennis courts, restaurants and bars.
This area of outstanding natural beauty is a natural park (Parque natural da Serra de São Mamede). It is a protected area, so building is very restricted, so the surrounding area will be kept un-spoilt for future generations. The river Sever creates a green and bucolic area with great diversity of flora and fauna.

Marvão is only 10 minutes from the Spanish border, and 20 minutes from Valência de Alcantara, a pretty Extremadura town. This provides a dual country lifestyle. Every Monday in Valência there is a large vegetable and clothing market and the town is very lively. We do our shopping and then stop for a pre lunch drink with some tapas. In the summer there are lively festivals on both sides of the frontier, a lovely way to while away warm summer nights. Every weekend there is something to do.
Several international companies organize walking, bird watching and Japanese painting holidays.

The views are breathtaking and magnificent. On clear days, which are the majority, you can see as far as the Serra da Estrela mountains, in Portugal, and the Serra de Francia, in Spain (near Salamanca).

The castle and the walled town that we have today were built on this 862 meter granite outcrop surrounded by plains, as a defence for Portugal in the 12th century. In the 1st century it was a roman fort that was to protect the city of Ammaia, located at the foot of the mountain, whose archaeological remains can still be visited today.

We have a long established craft shop in Marvão and will be pleased to assist in re-location.

Easyjet now have cheap flights to Lisbon. Fly to Lisbon from just £30.99 one way, including taxes and charges. From Luton (London) and Liverpool.

Useful links for more information

Please contact us if you have any questions.

Recent New York times magazine article on Marvão
http://travel.nytimes.com/2007/04/29/travel/29explorer.html

Local council
www.cm-marvao.pt

Three dimensional Marvão site
http://www.3dmarvao.com/ (you have to install free plug-in)

Marvão entry in Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marv%C3%A3o

Objective info on Marvão, world66 travel information
http://www.world66.com/europe/portugal/marvo

Impressions of the historic walled town, pictures, comments
http://www.sights-and-culture.com/Portugal/Marvao.html

Property management and holiday rentals
http://www.villasandcottages.com

Marvão golf course
http://www.portugalgolf.pt/ingles/ing_marvao_menu.htm

Rich heritage in a poor border area

Marvão, a beautiful, whitewashed fortress town, lies to the east. Only the foolhardy and the drunk could have contemplated an assault on this eyrie. The Spanish tried for centuries to conquer the castle and only succeeded when a traitor let them in.
Link:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=T6&xml=/travel/2006/11/06/etalentejo06.xml

A spectacular sight from a spectacular site

The splendid site and 360-degree panorama alone would be reason enough to visit the medieval mountaintop village of Marvão, but the town itself (a candidate for the World Heritage list), is one of Portugal's most spectacular fortified villages.
Link:
http://www.golisbon.com/portugal/cities/marvao.html

Seeing for Miles From a Village High in the Sky

The village is high above the Alentejo region’s sun-baked plains.
From Marvão one can see the entire land,” José Saramago, the 1998 Nobel Prize winner for literature, wrote in “Journey to Portugal,” his 2001 travelogue. “It is understandable that from this place, high up in the keep at Marvão Castle, visitors may respectfully murmur, ‘How great is the world.’ ”
Link:
http://travel.nytimes.com/2007/04/29/travel/29explorer.html

Rich heritage in a poor border area

A spectacular sight from a spectacular site

Seeing for Miles From a Village High in the Sky