roadtrip portugal - casa mãe

Casa Mãe - Lagos

The second stop of our roadtrip was in Lagos. We stayed 3 days at hotel Casa Mãe, a very special place by the city walls of Lagos.

Last year we found the Casa Mãe magazine in a bookshop in Lisbon. At that time they were still building the hotel. In this magazine there are interviews with all the designers, craftsman, chefs, gardeners. We already knew we would like to visit Casa Mãe one day...

Casa Mãe is much more than a hotel. It opened in October 2016. Casa Mãe is about colloborations with Portuguese designers. Overlooking the old historic city and the sea, Casa Mae comprises three very different houses combining old and new, traditions and modern design.

They have managed to preserve the traditional skills and techniques, experimenting with new ideas and designs. For example the handwoven rugs by GUR you can find everywhere in the building. The hotel also has it's own organic vegetable garden and out of town farm.

Perfect base to explore the well-kept secrets of the wild part of the Western Algarve.

a fish called peixe

Our portuguese peixe found it's place on the locker.

Enjoy the weekend everyone!

plants & plates

The spider plant - chlorophytum comosum - has never really been away, because it's so easy to maintain and multiply.

One of the most interesting points of the spider plant is its ability to rapidly propagate itself. A spider baby from the mother plant will often root and within a year it's producing babies of its own, you can give out to your family and friends.

I've send a couple of spider babies to my niece in London and I hope they will survice the journey.

The small green harlequin pot I brought from Anthropogie in Londen and the leafs plate I found at Portazul in The Hague.

small shells paradise

Shells from the best souvenir shop we have ever visited, last summer in Portugal.

Imagine a shop full of shells, rocks and fossils. The owner was an old hippy who made the chains and mobiles himself. His shop was great, classic music in the background and special paintings on the wall (not for sale). He looked very happy and was so proud of his shop and showed us his bedroom on the mezzanine of the building, very romantic and totally zen.

portuguese beach finds

A collection of ropes we found in the last two weeks.

During our first day on the most south-eastern beach of the Algarve, we found lots of small fishing rope pieces.
A day later we went to the Natural Park Ria Formosa (one of the 7 Natural Wonders of Portugal). On the barrier islands, which only can be reached with small boats, once again we found many pieces of rope and orange floating corks.

So we started to collect them on each beach visit during our roadtrip in Portugal.

At home I have washed the ropes in the baththub and here they are drying on the bathroom floor. I will put them in a big glass jar as a beautiful souvenir of our holiday.