Pasteleira Eléctrica: the best way to discover Alentejo

An electric bike pedaling threw Alentejo's fields: choose this ecological way to discover the most secret places in this region with thematic routes specially designed for you.

Ecoland is a bed & breakfast located in a small village near Mértola, inside the Natural Park Vale do Guadiana, south-west of Portugal. We opened in 2006 and since then it has been a long story full of adventures, difficulties, but also many victories and joys.

It all started 20 years ago when I came to Mértola to work in a local development association, for an aromatic and medicinal plant project. I quickly understood that this was my place, where I wanted to stay for living. The dream of managing a bed & breakfast in the countryside came back to my thoughts and I decided to move forward.

A ruined house in a village winked at me. When I saw it, it was a kind of love at first sight. It was perfect: the walls were made of taipa (traditional construction with clay), with a small garden, and was located at the end of the village , which gave it a certain privacy. There was only a small problem: it had no roof, no windows and was completely in ruins ...

I raised the house and in 2006 I started to receive our guests. My son grew up, and so did I. Now, to complement the B&B, a new idea has emerged, but this pandemic crises came, fanned all the companies and families in the world, leaving us without ground. Anyway, we need to breathe again and react and put our claw in the form of sustainable projects, which provide income but also environmentally wealth and eco-friendly experiences. Cycling in an electric bike is a motto, an idea, a starting point for a new ecological and sustainable tourism project.

Mértola e o rio Guadiana - Mértola and Guadiana river

With this electric bike, you are going to cycle through the area. You just need to choose the route and it will take you to the most incognito places into deep Alentejo, where air is pure, the people are unimaginable and simple, where the nice taverns with good cheese and real bread still exist, and where exquisite wine tasting has also its place. After endless cycling, but with little effort, you can find the river or a pool and take a pluff! ….

Like this, discovering Mértola's region and the Natural Park Vale do Guadiana will be a pleasure. Overnight in our B&B, and during the day, be our guest on this adventure on aboard of this comfortable electric bike (from a renowned German brand), and navigate by GPS through different routes we have prepared for you. Discover the richness of the deep Alentejo, passing through the historic villages, taste the gastronomy and the local producers and talk to the people who survive here. Perhaps the Alentejo where I once found my place, may one day, also become yours.

Support this idea with a donation and help us make this project real. If you do so, we will we be able to get this idea on and propose it to our guest and all the people who visit the region! The economic viability of this project depends on your contribution. 

About the author

Our team is myself.

I receive guests, manage reservations, serve breakfast, do accounting, shopping, website and marketing… but now in my 40's, I start asking my son, friends and you. So, in a perspective of giving and receiving, I wanted to ask for your support to move forward in this new stage, this time, with pedals and showing how to discover the Alentejo, can be both healthy and reassuring.

I studied agronomic engineering in Beja and a master's degree in Greece in Biotechnology. When I returned to Portugal, I came to work to Mértola. Later I did another master's degree in Évora, in nature conservation. I have always been connected with aromatic and medicinal plants, directly or indirectly, the essence of life.

In this pandemic period, moving on to a new project seems absolutely crazy, but also standing still, crazy it would be. To be able to realize this idea in the near future, I count on you and with your participation.

Jardim e alpendre do alojamento - B&B house and garden

Budget and due dates

I thought it would be a good ideia to advance a part of the financing by purchasing the first electric bicycle on the one hand, so as not to make the campaign value too high and on the other, as proof that I really believe in this project idea and its viability. The acquisition of the first electric bicycle has already allowed me to start testing in the region, outline the routes and understand its acceptance in the national  and international market. With the collected funds we intend to purchase 1 more electric bike, 4 saddlebags, 2 helmets, 2 cell phone carrier bags and 2 GPS (anti-theft).

During july: acquisition of all the equipment: 1 electric bicycle, 4 bags, 4 helmets, 2 cell phone holders, 2 anti-theft GPS.

Pasteleira eléctrica

Images