Luxury Villas in the Algarve (Portugal)
Your Dream Villa
For sure it is a beautifully designed home with
many impressive and unique attributes. It should embody the
inside/outside living style of the Caribbean with its own tropical
lush gardens filled with palm trees, hibiscus and wild orchids -- in
addition, a private water front dock, with steps to the sea, surrounded
by powder white beach sand. The villa has three to five master bedrooms
and one or two junior bedrooms, all with facilites en suite. There are
two spectacular swimming pools--one on grade made of stone, one elevated
and secluded. All master bedrooms have spectacular views of the Caribbean
Sea--as do the living areas, outside verandas and master kitchen. In
addition, the property has its own tennis court and stand alone car
garage, wherby the entire estate is built on minimum one acre of land,
all enclosed by beautiful stone walls.
This is a dream - isn't it? Villas
A villa was originally a Roman country house built for the upper
class. According to Pliny the Elder, there were two kinds of villas, the villa
urbana, which was a country seat that could easily be reached from Rome (or another
city) for a night or two, and the villa rustica, the farm-house estate, permanently
occupied by the servants who had charge generally of the estate, which would center
on the villa itself, perhaps only seasonally occupied. There were a concentration
of Imperial villas near the Bay of Naples, especially on the Isle of Capri, at
Monte Circeo on the coast and at Antium (Anzio). Wealthy Romans escaped the summer
heat in the hills round Rome, especially around Frascati (cf Hadrian's Villa).
Cicero is said to have possessed no fewer than seven villas, the oldest of which
was near Arpinum, which he inherited. Pliny the Younger had three or four, of which
the example near Laurentium is the best known from his descriptions.
Renaissance villas
In 14th and 15th century Italy, a 'villa' once more connoted a country house,
sometimes the family seat of power like Villa Caprarola, more often designed for
seasonal pleasure, usually located within easy distance of a city. The first
examples of Renaissance Villa dates back to the age of Lorenzo de' Medici, and
they are mostly located in the Italian region of Tuscany (the "Medici villas") such
as the Villa di Poggio a Caiano by Giuliano da Sangallo (begun in 1470) or the
Villa Medici in Fiesole (since 1450), probably the first villa created under the
instructions of Leon Battista Alberti, who theorized in his De re aedificatoria
the features of the new idea of villa. From Tuscany the idea of villa was spread
again through Italy and Europe.
Excerpt of "Villa." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.
21 Oct 2006, 16:21 UTC. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 27 Oct 2006
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Villa&oldid=82831165
Image from "Image:Villa_Medici_a_Fiesole_1.jpg" Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.
Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 27 Oct 2006
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Villa_Medici_a_Fiesole_1.jpg
The Algarve
The Algarve ([...] from the Arabic [.] - Al-Gharb,
the West) is the southernmost region of mainland Portugal,
incorporating, amongst others, the cities of Faro, Albufeira,
Lagos, Olhão, Tavira, Portimão and Silves. The Algarve is one the
Regions of Portugal according to NUTS II subdivisions. The region's
administrative centre is the city of Faro, which has its own
international airport (Faro Airport) and public university
(University of the Algarve).
The Algarve is hilly, but traversed with rich valleys. Its highest
point is the Mountain range of Monchique, with a maximum altitude of
906m (Peak of the Fóia).
It is composed of 5,412 square kilometres with approximately 410,000
permanent inhabitants. This figure increases to over a million people
at the height of summer due to an influx of tourists.
The region is also the home of the Ria Formosa lagoon, a nature reserve
of over 170 square kilometres and a stopping place for hundreds of
different birds.
The Algarve is a popular destination for tourism, primarily because
of its beaches, Mediterranean climate, safety and relatively low costs.
The length of the south-facing coastline is approximately 155 kilometres.
Beyond the westernmost point of Cape St Vincent it stretches a further
50 kilometres to the north. The coastline is notable for picturesque
limestone caves and grottoes, particularly around Lagos, which are
accessible by powerboat. Praia da Marinha, Lagoa was classified as one
of the 100 most beautiful and well preserved beaches of the world. There
are many other beautiful and famous summer places such as Albufeira,
Vilamoura, Portimão, Lagos, Armação de Pêra, Quarteira, Monte Gordo and
Tavira.
Excerpt from "Algarve." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.
26 Oct 2006, 14:46 UTC. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 31 Oct 2006
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Algarve&oldid=83850083
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