manor for sale Borba, Portugal

In Fronteira, in the Alentejo region, an 18th-century palace of approximately 840 m² in its original condition. Fronteira has never been a stopover town. Its historic center was built around a few families and their homes, and the house itself preserves all of that history: seventeen rooms spread over three levels, nine living rooms, and eight bedrooms, with no recent alterations to disrupt the unity of the whole. The large rooms have retained their original fireplaces. Eight hand-painted 18th-century azulejo panels still hang on the walls. The vaulted brick ceilings, constructed using the abobadilha technique unique to the Alentejo, tell a part of this region’s history all on their own.

In the Alto Alentejo, in Crato, a palace dating from 1905, its cloister and a courtyard covering some 600 m². When the palace was completed in 1905, Portugal still had a king. Five years later, the Republic was proclaimed. The residence, however, has retained the self-assurance of its era – that of a society which built grandly and for the long term. It is best appreciated from the ground floor upwards. At the centre, a cloister opens the house up to the sky and extends into patios, gardens and then a courtyard of around 600 m². A wooden staircase connects the different levels. The reception rooms have retained their high ceilings, parquet floors and fireplaces, whilst six bedrooms occupy the upper floors. At the very top, a vast attic still awaits a purpose. On the ground floor, a self-contained flat retains its own entrance, ideal for those wishing to entertain. Portugal has changed its political system. The palace, however, has not changed its ways.