A dream place on the Alentejo Coast

Help us to preserve a unique ecosystem and to finance the installation of a new Glamping tent. By supporting this initiative, you are invited to lunch, attend a workshop or stay overnight at Figueirinha Ecoturismo.

With a great diversity of locations around the world, Glamping is asserting itself as a trend that attracts all types of travelers. Glamping is a form of ecological and environmentally friendly accommodation. In places where the energy and materials used in the construction and operation of residential tourism are particularly high, Glamping has the advantage of using some elements of the surrounding nature in a perfectly sustainable way. Solar energy, toilets and composting, permaculture, are some examples. Glamping provides you with a direct contact with nature in an extraordinary way. It is an opportunity to relax and recharge your batteries. Instead of waking up and walking out the door of a house, you wake up and leave the tent directly into the countryside and into the fresh air.

Figueirinha Ecoturismo is a dream come true for journalists Paula Carvalho Silva and Alexandre Coutinho, who acquired Herdade da Figueirinha dos Condados in the mid-90s, with the aim of transforming it, later, into self-sustainable rural tourism . This true Alentejo hill, over 100 years old, is located just over 25 kilometres from Vila Nova de Milfontes, close to the village of Monte de Estrada, in the parish of Relíquias (Odemira Municipality).

We came to Alentejo at the beginning of the concept of rural tourism, over 30 years ago, first as tourists, then in search of a different pace, in a region that turned out to be our adopted home. Here, in Vale Figueira, we found what we were looking for: a place with a soul, full of positive energies, inherited from other families who lived here in the past. We called it Figueirinha Ecoturismo but the booklet contains the much more pompous name of Herdade da Figueirinha dos Condados. It is a small courtyard of 2 hectares that meets all the requirements we ask for. We wanted water, houses to rebuild and isolation and that's what we found. In the middle of the field, we use all the resources that nature provides us. The sun allows us to be self-sustaining in terms of energy, water from the wells feeds us into the biological pool and the land gives us part of the sustenance with the products we grow in our organic garden.

Interior de uma tenda de Glamping

About the author

Alexandre Coutinho - Journalist and free lance author, 56 years old, born in Lisbon, where he completed his Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Social Communication. He began his career in 1986 at O Jornal, joining Expresso in 1988, where he was editor of the economy section (1998-2000) and where he worked until the end of 2010, then creating the publishing house Contra a Corrente (2011) and embarking on the adventure of opening a rural tourism on the Costa Alentejana, in 2012. From 2007 to 2014, he was also editor of the aviation magazine Sirius Magazine and, in 2015 and 2016, he was director of the magazine Avião. In addition to collaborations in several publications, he is the author of books individually or in co-authorship, such as the historical novel “O Mensageiro de Fidel”; the political marketing study “How to Make a President”; “Microcredit in Portugal - A New Opportunity”; "Auto Palace - A Century of Life"; “The Brotherhood of Romeiros”; "TAP Air Portugal"; “ÓculOs - History of Optics”; "50 Years Porsche 911 in Portugal"; and “Land Rover in Portugal”, among others. He edited the collective work “50 Lojas com Histórias” for Expresso.

Plataforma exterior com mesa e cadeiras

Budget and due dates

With the use of crowdfunding, I hope to raise the necessary amount (2500.00 euros) to finance the installation of a new Glamping tent in Figueirinha Ecoturismo. In addition to the development of the project, it was possible to build a wooden platform and acquire the solar panels that are essential for the electrical energy system. As soon as the necessary funds are collected, the project will be completed within a maximum period of two months. Within 45 days, starting on the 17th of July 2020 and ending on the 31st of August, I think it will be possible to mobilize, through crowdfunding, many enthusiasts of sustainable tourism, fans of the outdoors and contact with nature, in addition to the many friends of Figueirinha Ecoturismo.

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