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Newsletter December 2013
About us
We have had a busy summer with lots of guests and several active holiday weeks. When autumn came we started with a new team: Phil from England, Teodora from Romania and Fiona from Ireland.
Teodora and Fiona took up the garden and did a lot of pruning work. They also burned the leaves and sorted out the wood that is suitable for the wood burners in our holiday homes. Phil painted the inner doors of Casa Terra and abraded and polished the wooden floors of Amarela and Azul. Everything looks beautiful again!
Our neighbours helped us with harvesting the olives and friends came over to help us with picking the grapes. We are very curious about how the wine will taste next year! It sure is made with love!
New active holiday: vegetarian cooking
All former guests who have booked an active holiday at Maravilhas before know that John is a fantastic cook. His vegetarian meals are very tasty and very varied.
Often people ask him for recipes because they like the meals so much. At the request of many, John will give a course in vegetarian cooking next year! The course will take place from 4 – 11 October 2014. We will have all information about the course on the website soon.
John says about the course: “We will make a culinary tour around the world kitchen, from Italy to India. What are we going to do:
- We will learn several cooking techniques.
- We will learn more about the different products we use.
- We will make vegetarian dishes.
- We will offer the possibility for preparing meals with fish.
- We will visit local markets and supermarkets.
Everybody can join the course. You don’t need to have any cooking experience. It’s all about having fun and enjoying the meals we make together.”
We can alternate the cooking with walks in the beautiful surroundings of Maravilhas. A joint trip to the Atlantic west coast is also included. Doesn’t this sound mouth wathering? If so, don’t hesitate and book now for the course in October 2014!
Tip: walking holidays at Monte Maravilhas
Monte Maravilhas lies in the middle of a walking paradise! At Maravilhas you have two choices for a walking holiday: either you book a group hiking holiday or you come over for individual hiking. Just like last year we have already planned several organised hiking tours in 2014: in February, April, June, September and December 2014. You can find the exact dates in the agenda.
From the Maravilhas guest book:
“Thank you so much for the good care. It made last week a lovely holiday. The surroundings are absolutely beautiful and I loved the walks through the hills with our friendly and cheerful guide Monika. When we came home from the walks, tired but satisfied, we enjoyed the lovely meals in good company.
I feel completely rested and I will go home with a lot of good memories amongst which the senses of the flowering fruit trees and eucalyptus trees. You created a beautiful place in an environment where time stood still!”
Rianne (group hiking holiday September 2013)
If you prefer to walk by your own or with your own company, or if you want to be free to plan your own days, individual hiking will probably suit you better. You can stay in one of our lovely holiday homes. We have descriptions and detailed maps for 9 walking tours which vary from 8 till 17 km. Most of the routes are planned in the surroundings of Maravilhas but there is also one route along the west coast and there is one at the lake of Santa Clara.
Guests about… wintering at Maravilhas
Thanks to the mild climate in Alentejo, Monte Maravilhas is a wonderful place for wintering. The special wintering tariffs are valid from November till March. In the following months we still have several weeks available in our holiday homes.
Do you want to know what to expect in a Portuguese winter? Please find below some reviews of Maravilhas wintering guests.
“A lovely place to stay”
“Living at Maravilhas in the winter 2013: It´s really marvellous to stay here at Maravilhas, in the house Casa Mimosa! Coming from Norway it’s a real wonder to sit outside on the terrace with the morning coffee in the sun. The house has such a nice atmosphere, and the valley has a living silence; the word shanti was the first that came to me when I arrived here.
The area has plenty of deserted hiking tracks, with eucalypts forests, olive trees, orange trees and all kinds of other sorts of plants and vegetation. We especially enjoy the cork oak trees, which sometimes look like trees in a magical forest, they are bending and twisting; it´s like you can see the living spirit in them.
To go through landscape with farmhouses, which have black pigs, sheep, white horses, hens and chickens, even doves living in a house; all this fills you with peace and a sense of an everyday life which has stayed the same for centuries. A beautiful place to stay!” Maria from Norway (currently wintering at Maravilhas with Ronny for a couple of months)
“Our dream spot”
“We were looking for a dream spot, which is not easily found nowadays. Our dream spot: space, nature, quietness and privacy. We found it in Casa Azul at Maravilhas! During the daytime we walked beneath a clear blue sky with nature all around us. It was so calming. Thanks to the well placed location of Casa Azul we could have breakfast at the terrace outside in the sun.
A big surprise was the temperature at night: brrrr, it was cold! Fortunately we had very good duvets so we slept well and warm. During the evening the woodburner gave us the necessary and cosy warmth. A very important thing for us was to be able to stay in contact with our family and children at home through the internet. This was perfect too: the internet connection was very good and fast.
Our 2 months at Maravilhas passed remarkebly quickly! It was the first time we visited Portugal and we will definitely remember this holiday for a long time.”
Roger and Ann from Belgium (who spent 2 months in Casa Azul)
Friends of Maravilhas: wine tasting
During the painting week and group hiking holiday of last September, Peter Mier organised a wine tasting afternoon at Monte Maravilhas. Peter helped us at Maravilhas as a volunteer for 2 months. He’s planning to start a company which exports Portuguese wines to The Netherlands.
Because he’s still orientating at the Portuguese wine market, he wanted to get an opinion of the guests and the team of Monte Maravilhas regarding several wines. There were 10 in total. Peter explained us how to taste wine and as the hours passed we became more and more cheerful…
No matter which wines Peter will choose eventually: we would like to wish him good luck with starting his wine exporting company!
