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Spectacular Estói
Maureen Brindle discovered the enchanted historical
village Estói a few kilometres from Faro, and find one of the hidden treasure that you should not miss! Also not to be missed are the Roman Ruins at Milreu

Whilst we were in the Algarve last Summer we made a visit to the village of Estoi just outside Faro, what a lovely place, nestled in the sleepy streets there are restaurants, shops, bars and  a large imposing local church, worth going inside as it is beautiful.
On leaving the church go uphill to the Palacio de Estoi. Here is a brief history of the palace - it was constructed in the 18th century by a local nobleman, it belonged to the family until the last descendant died in 1875 who had requested in his Will that the palace be sold and the proceeds to go to the poor people of the area, in fact they built the local Primary school with the money.
The palace was then left empty for eighteen years until a local wealthy landowner bought it and started to restore it.  The restoration work was started in 1893 and completed in May1909 amid great celebrations and for the vast amount of money and energy he expended in restoring the palace and gardens in 1906 King D Carlos I bestowed on the owner, Jose Francisco da Silva the title of Viscount of Estoi.
The Viscount died a bachelor at the age of 86 in 1926 after which the property then passed to his cousin where it stayed in the family until 1987 when Faro Council acquired it, restoration has been ongoing since 1993. There are signs that it will become a pousada and what a wonderful place it will be to stay.
We were not able to go inside the palace due to work being carried out but we did walk around the gardens, again well worth visiting, surrounded by orange trees, palms and balustrades, ornamental fountains, various statues the most famous being the copy of the Three Graces which is in the lower blue and white tiled terrace, many of the tiles depict the history of the place and the people who had lived there. We spent a good few hours enjoying the palace and village.
Our next stop was a short ten minute walk downhill from the main square to the Roman ruins of Milreu, which dates from the 1st or 2nd  century AD, it is thought that the buildings were originally a large farmhouse which was then converted into a villa built around a courtyard, it probably belonged to a very rich Roman family as there are the remains of a Temple overlooking the site which was converted into a Christian basilica in the 5th century. There is a very good museum which tells the history of the site by maps, photos and models. This again was a place well worth visiting.
I know we will be going back to Estoi for a second look maybe we’ll see you there!
The Romans at Milreu
The ruins at Milreu reveal a complex built in the third century, consisting of a large main house, farm buildings, baths and a temple. The original buildings from the first century have yet to be fully excavated.
A house with a peristyle and atrium was built in the second century and used – with only minor changes – until the end of the third century. At that point, changes were made, especially in the pars rustica.
The residential area, now open for visits, used part of the previous villa and was based around a central peristyle with 22 columns that encircles an open patio with a garden and its respective water tank. The villa was decorated with mosaics showing marine fauna on the west side of the peristyle. This theme is repeated on the walls in the small frigidarium, part of the baths on the western side. The images show exceptionally large fish, an intentional detail since, when seen through the water, they not only appear to be moving, but also decrease in size.
The temple is dedicated to the water gods, and was thought to have been added in the fourth century, enabling the owner of Milreu to have a place for private worship.
Finds from later periods emphasise the fact that Milreu had a long tradition as a place of worship, showing that in the sixth century, the pagan building was transformed into a Christian church. It was also used as a cemetery during the Islamic period. Only when the vaults collapsed in the first half of the tenth century was the site abandoned. However, in the early sixteenth century, Milreu gained a new lease of life when a house – a unique and superb example in the Algarve of that type of civil architecture with cylindrical buttresses – was built on the long abandoned ruins.
Support and restoration work is being carried out on the mosaics and archaeological structures to develop the site and open it to the public. A Reception and Study Centre will be built for visitors and the sixteenth-century rural house will be restored and turned into a museum. The subsoil inside this house also has traces of the Roman occupation. Support documents for visitors are currently being prepared.