Planning our dream home with traditional Portuguese architecture

A the moment, hubby and I are obsessed with traditional Portuguese architecture. The plans for our new house are currently being drawn up and so every time we spot something interesting, we simply must take photos. Last week, we took a stroll through the old part of Portimao (our nearest city), taking in the beauty of tiled exterior walls, pretty front doors, Juliette balconies and everything else associated with traditional Portuguese architecture. You might remember me mentioning lovely old buildings in Silves a couple of week ago?

Traditional Portuguese architecture

We are truly blessed to call Portugal our home, therefore we’d like to make our new home something special. One that incorporates as much traditional Portuguese architecture as possible.

Portimao

Portimao is full of wonderful examples of some of the most stunning, and simple, designs from years gone by. Unfortunately it’s also full of hideous buildings erected within the past forty odd years. It’s such a shame that some of the most exquisite old traditional Portuguese buildings have been completely left to rot. I’d love to buy up as many of them as possible and breathe new life into them. Hubby has such wonderful vision, especially when it comes to old buildings, I just know we could create something utterly divine. One day, perhaps!

A simple outfit

Speaking of being creative, my outfit was a simple one. I teamed my brown chinos (which you’ve seen several times over recent months) with another wardrobe staple – a striped vest top. Vest tops are something I love as I’m lucky to have good shoulders, helped by the yoga, no doubt 😉 I do have quite a few of them in my wardrobe and believe they go with just about everything. They’re one of those things that can be dressed up or down.

I bought these black leather sandals from Primark years ago and they’ve lasted extremely well considering how much I wear them each and every summer. They’re great for evening too, with their little bit of sparkle. I’ve been searching for another pair of black sandals over recent months but I just can’t seem to find what I’m looking for. Hopefully I’ll find something suitable soon.

You might remember the handbag from previous posts too. It’s from Knomo and I won it in a Twitter competition a few years ago. It’s such a fab handbag as it’s meant for carrying a laptop, so it’s very spacious and padded enough to protect my Mac. I also use it to carry my camera sometimes too.

Prescription sunglasses

A few weeks ago, I wrote a post about my new prescription glasses. Then last week I picked up my prescription sunglasses. They’re the first pair I’ve ever had and I must say, I do love them. It’s very weird having to keep swapping between the two pairs whenever I go in and out though. But I didn’t want reactive lenses so I must put up with it!

Algarve weather

It was such a lovely morning walking around Portimao old town. I think the old buildings protected us from the heat though. As soon as we walked out into the open, the hot air didn’t half hit us! We’ve had some funny weather over the past few weeks, some days have been boiling hot while others have actually been quite chilly. It’s been most unusual for the Algarve at this time of year. I’ve a feeling that the heat is here to stay for a while though now.

Have you been to Portugal before? Where did you stay? Were you impressed by the traditional Portuguese architecture?

Street art

I’ve been wanting to show you these beautiful examples of street art in Portimao for ages, but only just got round to taking photos last week. Isn’t it pretty?