Silver Coast, Portugal
Portugal's Silver Coast (Costa de Prata)
With the investment in infrastructure making tell tales signs all around Portugal in recent years, the Silver Coast is now accessible well within an hour’s drive of Lisbon’s international airport.
The Silver Coast area is fast becoming a hit with tourists looking for a taste of rustic Portugal but with the amenities and conveniences of the Capital. With its Southern counterpart, Algarve, being the main tourist destination for decades, the price rises of late have meant those in love with the charm and mystique of Portugal looking for somewhere more lenient on the pocket, and The Silver Coast does not fail to deliver, with prices at a much more affordable level and quality of construction far in excess of even the most pernickety of buyers. Buying Silver Coast property is becoming a ever increasing hit with Europeans looking for top quality properties at low prices.
Lifestyle and Investment
There are many towns and villages along the Silver Coast's stunning sea side, packed with some of the most dramatic coast lines and country side anywhere in Europe, couple this with the ever increasing investment in infrastructure and you need not worry about the modern conveniences we have all grown accustomed too.
Many local events draw in crowds from all over Portugal, and further a field from the most Portuguese event IN Portugal, The Torres Carnival, wine Festivals in Bombarral, Montejuntos populr Cadabal festival, and many fuits food wines and festivities in Caldas da Rainha, Peniche Alenquers, Sobral. In fact if you stop at any town or village along the coast you will most likely find something going on to keep you entertained for awhile.
Silver Coast Property - Whats on?
Exploring the tranquil towns, villages and countryside of this beautiful region will confirm to you that here is a place that genuinely has the best of both worlds. Whilst offering a life of rural calm amidst the spectacular scenery, at the same time it is perfectly equipped with access to all the modern facilities of transport, healthcare, education and leisure that make life a pleasure for all generations.
The Western Region enjoys entertainments and events throughout the year: concerts, art exhibitions, the Torres carnival - the most Portuguese event in Portugal’, the Caldas da Rainha ceramics and fruit fairs, the Bombarral wine festival, Peniche's Festas da Nuestra Senhora da Boa Viagem, the Montejunto popular festival (Cadaval), Alenquer's Feira da Ascensao, festivals in Sobral, Monte Agraso and Arruda dos Vinhos, Feiras da Cebola e das Tasquinhas and hundreds more fairs, festivals and popular gatherings. The region has many hotels with superb facilities and innumerable restaurants, bars and lively venues which ensure that one's first visit to the Western region is never the last. For golf enthusiasts the Western Region is the new destination in Portugal.
Golf Courses at Praia d'el Rey (18 holes)and Rio Maior (18 holes) are complemented by 9-hole courses at Consolação and Porto Novo. The natural abundance of the area is enhanced by beautiful fine-sanded beaches, where the sands shimmer like silver, at Santa Cruz, Porto Novo, Areia Branca, S. Bernardino, Consolação, Peniche, Baleal, Foz do Arelho and Salir do Porto. Local crafts can be found in Peniche, which is notable for its lace, and in Caldas da Rainha, which is one of the most important centres for ceramics in Portugal. The new Peniche recreation centre is a base for water sports, with a haven of fishing and scuba-diving in Berlenga. Santa Cruz and Peniche (Supertubos beach and Lagide beach) are the places for surf lovers. The Obidos lake has sailing, rowing and windsurfing. Montejunto, Serrado Socorro and Santa Rita beach are the main locations for paragliding and hang-gliding. The Santa Cruz aerodrome, with its flying school, offers flights in light aircraft and gliders. There are equestrian centres in the Hotel Golf Mar, in Marquiteira (Lourinha), in Atouguia da Baleia - at the Quinta das Tripas and the Quintas de Bom Sucesso - Lourinha, S. Sebastido - Arruda dos Vinhos, Quinta da Ferraria and Cortisada - Rio Maior.
Buying Silver Coast Property, what about the health care?
Healthcare facilities are modern and efficient and offer a good range of public and private services for all your requirements. In addition the region offers several thermal baths: Vimeiro (digestive system, circulatory system, respiratory system and skin), Cucos (metabolic and endocrine systems, rheumatics, muscular and skeletal systems) and Torres Vedras and Caldas da Rainha - the oldest in Europe (respiratory system, rheumatics, muscular and skeletal systems). So with these facilities when buying Silver Coast Property you don’t need to worry about falling ill.
Silver Coast Property and good food!
Gastronomy in the region is rich and varied: there are many delicious pork dishes, oven baked kid, stewed rabbit with rice, celebrated fish stews, baked or boiled sea bream and rock bass from Peniche, eels and cockles from the Obidos lake and shellfish from the beds at Porto de Barcas (lagosta suada - 'sweating lobster' - is a delicacy which can only be found in the Western Region). The gastronomical influence of history is evident in trouxas de ovos, lampreias de ovos (sweet dishes made with eggs) and cavacas (light crisp cakes) from Caldas da Rainha, bean pies from Torres Vedras and paes de lo (sponge cakes) from Landal, Painho and Rio Maior. All are complemented by the taste and aroma of apples and pears.
The Western region is also one of the largest wine growing areas in Portugal and indeed the world. The area boasts full-bodied, aromatic red wines with excellent alcoholic content: the wines of the south (castas Camarate, Periquita and Tinto Miudo) are lively when young, intense yet well balanced and with an exquisite bouquet when aged. The white wines of the north are deliciously fruity (castas Arinto, Fernao Pires, Vital). Out of this diversity, the wine-growing areas of Obidos and Alenquer, Arruda dos Vinhos and Torres Vedras were born in 1989. The region is also known for its light wines with lower alcohol content, and for the only DOC (controlled standard of origin) classified brandy in Portugal - Aguardente Vinica from Lourinha.
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