TRAVEL SECRET 1:
Portugal’s Fountains of Well Being Historic spa resorts across Portugal are being reborn for the modern traveler. And, new luxury spas are dotting up across the landscape. The country has always been thought of as "a garden by the sea," with green inviting landscapes, and in some places the waters are known to be therapeutic.
Now spa towns like Luso, Curia and Porto Santo Island, are attracting a new generation of spa-goers with upgraded facilities and the latest spa treatments, all amid beautiful, natural settings. Since Roman times, the water in Portugal has been used for therapeutic purposes, healing the sick and helping people to relax. Today's spa resorts also offer the chance to relax outdoors with a game of golf, bicycling and hiking, canoeing or swimming. Monfortinho Spa: Some 2000 years ago, the Romans enjoyed the therapeutic properties of the Monfortinho springs. Today the spa, which sits on a wind-protected plateau, has its own micro-climate. Hydro-treatments are offered year-round. Visitors can drop in to the historic village of Monsanto, considered one of the prettiest and best-preserved in all of Portugal.
Luso Spa: May through December is spa season the Luso Spa, located at one of the most well-known springs in Portugal. Located at the foot of the Serra do Buçaco hills, the spa offers visitors healing waters and a great location in the ancient settlement of Luso. In the Serra nearby, Portuguese and British generals joined forces to fight Napoleon's invading armies.Curia Spa: Pure waters are the hallmark of this spa, which also happens to have an ideal location for travels between the town, Curia, and Luso and Buçaco, a mountainous region in central Portugal. The spa is located within Curia Park and is surrounded by rich gardens. A nearby lake is used for relaxing boat trips.
The Palace Hotel da Curia serves guests with an Art Deco style. Porto Santo Sands: Porto Santo's island is rimmed with fine golden sand beaches. The water is clean and warm. The waters of Porto Santo are rich in iodine, calcium and magnesium.
Porto Santo offers the only Thalassotherapy clinic in Portugal. In addition to beauty treatments, visitors can opt for treatments that are said to prevent and cure bone and muscle ailments and to help with stress and fatigue. The island now has three spas – all new.
Caldas de Monchique Spa: Located in the green valley of the Serra de Monchique hills, this spa is still unknown in this part of the Algarve region because it's off the beaten track. Romans used the Serra waters, which they called sacred, to treat bodily and spiritual fatigue. The spa is an excellent location from which to explore the region's traditional architecture and its abundant fruit trees and gardens. In the nearby town of Silves, guest can visit a castle made of red sandstone, in a region that was once the Moorish capital.
TRAVEL SECRET 2:
Come to the GardensPortugal is full of luscious gardens from north to south, where visitors can catch a cool breeze on the warmest of days and, possibly, learn the secrets of Portugal's history. In the Bussaco forest, perched on a mountain above the town of Luso, visitors can stay at what was once a palace for the King of Portugal. Now it is a luxury hotel and the gardens surrounding the hotel are a national park. Miles of pathways meander through baroque sculptures, centuries-old trees, and lakes and waterfalls. In Coimbra, the Garden of Tears is so named because here a love story to rival Romeo & Juliet played out in the 13th Century. The garden occupies a spot along the Mondego River.
In Sintra, now a UNESCO World Heritage site, two palaces offer plenty of gardens for exploring--Royal Pena Palace and the 18th century Seteais Palace. The grounds surrounding the Quinta da Regaleira estate, built in the middle of a dense forest, are Quinta da Regaleira are said to hide symbols the Masons, the Knights Templar and the Rocicrucians.
Vast gardens can be found surrounding the sites and monuments throughout the city of Lisbon, such as the Parque das Nações (Nations Park), Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, Belém Cultural Centre, Estufa Fria, Jardim Amália Rodrigues, Jardim Botânico da Ajuda, Jardim do Campo Grande, Jardim das Amoreiras, Parque Eduardo VII and Monsanto Park.
The baroque Gardens at the Palácio Nacional de Queluz were inspired by France's Versailles. A wide variety of flowers blooms on Madeira Island, often referred to as the "floating garden of the Atlantic." With six distinct climate zones, much of the island has been protected and its gardens and parks carefully maintained.
Visitors can explore the Madeira Botanical Garden, Monte Palace Tropical Garden, Palheiro Gardens and the Ribeiro Frio Forest Park, among others. And, each April the island stages the Madeira Flower Festival.On the island São Miguel, visitors can use the Terra Nostra Garden Hotel as the starting point for exploring the calderas, geysers, steam vents and springs of the Furnas Valley. Here a former orange grove has been transformed into botanical gardens, filled with exotic trees imported from every corner of the Portuguese empire.
The Solares de Portugal-- the network of 96 manor houses, family homes and stately palaces that offer lodging throughout the country with visits to these gardens
For further information:
please contact: eugenio@altatours.com
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