CONVENTO

1/4 WHY It’s a love thing... We fell happily in love with this town’s beautiful, crumbling homes. We hoped that with the proper love we could breathe new life into their proud old stones. We found that the block of high blank walls a few steps away from our houses and apartments held more than just cats and rubble. Once, Convento was where village girls working in Olhão’s thriving canning industry would live. Convento was a safe place, a place where the girls’ dormitories circled a peaceful cloister, a place of sanctuary from their hectic work lives. Slowly, carefully, we have re-imagined this space. What were dormitories are now spacious light-filled bedrooms, with high wooden ceilings that allow the air to stay fresh, and your dreams to soar. We’ve fashioned bathrooms from blush-veined Alentejo marble. A quiet corner has become a library: please do leave us a book or two... What was a fish salting vault is now our kitchen and refectory, from where we offer breakfasts of olives grown in the hills that fringe the town, and Alentejo cheeses from the market, and just-baked breads, and local hand-stirred jams, and Algarve dried fruits soaked in citrus, and sweet juice from the heavy oranges of Dona Celestina’s trees. For prices and booking see BOOK

Convento The Architect 1/3 WHO We are a local family and an extended family from around the world. We are two architects, a teacher, and an agronomist fond of history. We are a manager and therapist couple, passionate about traveling, well-being and hospitality. We are the stonemasons and artisan carpenters, the gilders and painters, the poet and the church candle-stick maker that have come together to help Convento to be. We are your hosts, who will help you feel at home. The welcoming friends you will meet in Olhão. Your private guides with the best tips and suggestions to enjoy the best of the city and Ria Formosa Reserve. Like you, we love travel, but not tourism. Like you, we find luxury in simplicity. Like you, we adore peace, light and very fresh, local food. We first came to Olhão a decade and a half ago, since when we’ve been faithfully restoring and managing a handful of quietly simple houses and B&B's for our guests and friends. To know what we like in Olhao click HERE . (For Guests Only) For prices and booking see BOOK

1/10 WHERE Olhao is a salty, soulful (and sometimes smelly!) working fishing town on the Eastern Algarve. Olhao is not quite 15 minutes by cab from Faro international airport. Olhao is thriving markets, a cobbled Arab medina, friendly barrios and a sauntering seafront where thousands of swifts greet each sunrise and dusky pink sunset. As the tides slide out, the seabed reveals herself as miles of gardens where a thousand generations of Olhanenses have dug for juicy clams. As you ride the slow ferry to the island village of Culatra there’s time to breathe the briny air, then to stroll the boardwalk over lonely dunes to share her wild, white sandy beach with oystercatchers and cockle-draggers. As the pristine sweet waters of the Rio Formosa National Park mix with Atlantic waves you can be perfectly alone. A sprinkling of bars that will serve you a jarro of wine, a long caiprinha or just a freshly presse orange juice. Aromas of salted sardines grilling gently over charcoal fill Olhao’s evening air. Plates of just-dug clams swimming in garlicky olive oil are yours for the asking. For a few euros, super-fresh fish from Olhao’s abundant seas are your for the asking, too. They arrive with juicy salads and potatoes that taste like potatoes ought. The Eastern Algarve has a kind climate, where fruits, vegetables, animals and people live happy lives. Olhão enjoys around 300 days of sunshine each year. It does rain sometimes, but rarely for too long. Winters are mild, and Convento has underfloor heating throughout. Spring is long, as is summer, when a shady corner or a splash in the pool become very welcome. At this time, there are festivities all around the Algarve with the peak in August when Olhão hosts the Festival do Marisco, the largest seafood feast in the country. Autumn is often glorious: the year before last we were still swimming off Culatra on November 15th. For prices and booking see BOOK