Same dream of the Portuguese route - you should contact this guy!
Geof worked in the White House during the Reagan Admisinstration -held a five year Portuguese residency card. Moved to Portugal and puchased an albergue on the Camino! He might be ready to sell!
About 10 km out of Rubaies is ---
Quinta Estrada Romana” (Farmhouse on the Roman Way), it is situated directly on an old Roman road that had become part of the Camino. There are directional signs hand-painted on a post at the entrance. The one pointing south said “Fatima: 300 Kilometers,” and the one pointing north says“Santiago: 125 Kilometers.”
It was built at the beginning of the nineteenth century, and Geof, a Canadian expatriate, took almost three years to restore it.
Paulo, the architect, helped them to undertake an authentic restoration, keeping much of the stone walls, the wooden beams, and the clay tile roof true to the period when it was originally constructed. He hired five local masons to cart the bricks, mix the cement, and lay the terracotta tiles: all by hand in the traditional way. The road there was built by legionnaires and is two thousand years old; you’ll see the Roman bridge down the hill. There are fifteen beds in the albergue and seating in the dining room for twenty-eight people. He did a lot of work in the orchards, the vineyard, and the gardens, where they grow much of the food for the restaurant.
Geof told me he had passed by this building three times on three different Caminos, and each time it had a “For Sale” sign out front. It called to him.
You know, the Camino helps to expand your idea of the possible. Many of us are so trapped in habitual cycles that we pass by open doors and fail to step in. It was on that third Camino in 2011 that I finally stopped here and walked through the open door.
We purchased the entire three-hectare estate and made plans to open as an albergue on the Camino.”
He has a weath of knowlege about pursuing this dream
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