It is the penultimate day of Geometric January, and I thought I’d share another fascinating building in Castro Verde. MrB and I after a coffee decided to brave the Saharan dust and explore another part of the town. The stroll took us towards the fairground where we would eventually discover the delights of the mill, but en route my eye was caught by the top of a building. For a moment I thought the Saharan dust was affecting my vision!
As we walked past the front of the building I couldn’t really work it out. So we continued walking down the street with the aim of immediately walking back the other side. However we were distracted by the windmill as we had spotted you could go inside, and given MrB’s fascination for Portuguese windmills we didn’t want to miss out on the opportunity.
So it was another hour or so before we walked back and I was able to discover what the tower belonged to. The other side was even more extraordinary.
Amazingly this imposing building is not a public building, but ‘simply’ a farmhouse dating from the beginning of the 20th century. At time of its construction the farmer, Álvaro Romano Colaço, was using a new material – cement – and clearly he and his builders had fun with it. Whilst the tile coverings are not unusual for Portugal the rest of the decoration is.
