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| With total
respect for the glamour of the turn of the century, the hotel maintains
much of its original decoration, including, in some rooms and common
areas, 17th and 18th century tiles, signed by Victoria P., and ceilings
of precious Brazilian wood, worked and painted by Pereira |
| Cão.
The tiles, furthermore, tell the history of the golden age of the
Portuguese Discoveries, excerpts from "Os Lusíadas"
(epic work of the great Portuguese poet Luís Vaz de Camões)
and of the Arab occupation of the Iberian Peninsula.
Built as
the private residence of a wealthy family, Magalhães Barros,
it was later leased to a cousin, Henrique Bivar de Vasconcelos,
who transformed it into a hotel in the 1930s, at a time when the
first intrepid tourists discovered the Algarve and managed to arrive
at Praia da Rocha by boat.
The hotel
preserves its history and its treasures from a glorious past, and
with its simplicity, friendliness and dedicated staff, you
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to feel as if you were visiting friends and family with none of
the impersonal atmosphere of the large cosmopolitan hotels.
Curious facts
One of the
most outstanding periods of Bela Vista
is the 40s decade, the years of World War II. Portugal, being politically
neutral, worked as a place for the exchange, crossing of information.
The hotel, thanks to the comfort, isolation and self-sufficiency
that it could offer during those times, served as a privileged and
adequate local for the meeting of spies, secret agents and "postmen",
who knew the hotel's location by the sea.
It has
always kept its guestbooks, which are a "living" registration
of well spent vacations. The older ones include, among others, signatures
and comments by Sidónio Pais (former portuguese
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President) and his
train, by the king Humberto de Saboya, Fuljencio Baptista (after
Fidel Castro took the power, in Cuba) and by the great hero Mannerheim
of Finland's personal doctor, who left a signed manuscript, eulogizing
and describing the magnificent vacations they spent in the hotel,
from where the hero left after a two-months recovery and completely
re-established.
And one of the most
interesting stories tells us about
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| a less
well-intentioned employee kept the guest's letters and money, which,
purportedly, should have been sent by mail. He kept the money to
himself and never gave the letters away, hiding them in the reception.
Thirty-five years later, during the hotel's restauration, these
were discovered and sent away, some of them possibly being love
letters. Some time later, grandchildren and great-grandchildren
from the addressees arrived at the Hotel, coming from all over the
world, from Australia to the United States.
Silver and
golden weddings also happen quite often. Many couples choose the
Bela Vista to "re-create"
their honeymoon as it was 25 or 50 years ago!
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