Eglantina Monteiro is the creator of Companhia das Culturas.
Details matter: the way things are done influences our decisions. This is one of the big, albeit subtle, changes.” Eglantina Monteiro thus summarizes one of the most important transformations that the pandemic has brought and that takes shape in her personal project, Companhia das Culturas, a hotel that connects the local with the whole world.
Eglantina has one of those hotel lives that fascinate us. She studied Philosophy and Anthropology, and her participation in various investigations –with the Museum of African Art in Dakar, the University of Coimbra and the Lisbon Academy of Sciences– has led him to spend long stays in Alto Río Negro, among other destinations, where she collaborated with indigenous communities of the Amazon.
“I miss teaching, contact with the new generations. Each one has their own questions, perspectives on life and cultural expressions, and it is very stimulating. deal with those concerns on a daily basis.”
Professor Eglantina Monteiro, at the head of Companhia das Culturas.
Until the year 2000 she taught Anthropology of Art at the Porto School of Fine Arts. “My students and their workshops were my fieldwork to explore symbolic thought and aesthetics as a universal manifestation”, she tells us. When she moved to the Algarve to maintain a farm that has belonged to her husband's family her for seven generations, she was transferred to the Department of Sociology and History of the University of the Algarve, more institutional.
"That's when I decided to quit and dedicate myself to the Companhia das Culturas project. The idea was to give a new meaning and profitability to the old constructions that until the 1980s supported agricultural production in the area and that, at the beginning of the s. XXI, they were almost in ruins.
One of the rooms at Companhia das Culturas, Ecodesign & Spa Hotel.
For seven years they developed an almost archaeological work with the architect Pedro Ressano Garcia. “We did not want to erase the different traditional techniques –clay, handcrafted brick, limestone and clay– nor the spatial organization of what had been an important plot of land for the production of honey, cereals, olive oil, cheeses, legumes, fruits... There were also herds of sheep and goats, transport and working animals and more than forty workers living on the property.
Our purpose was to adapt the old buildings to new uses. What we offer our clients is to stay in a farm deeply connected to the ecosystem of the Algarve Barrocal (‘dry garden’), one of the most precious Arab heritages: cultivation of olive, almond, carob and fig trees, which is fed by groundwater”.
Organic breakfast at Companhia das Culturas.
Following the Mediterranean traditions, They have also built a hammam where native plants are the basis of their skin and wellness treatments. And, given Eglantina's curriculum, a connection with art and anthropology could not be missing, embodied in a residency program that combines visual art, crafts, ecology and architecture.
The hotel has eight rooms and four houses, yoga room, GPS for hiking, picnics on the farm, retreats... When they were forced to close their doors due to the pandemic, Eglantina directed most of his team to work the land.
“I made an intuitive decision and it worked. Some of us were already familiar with these tasks, others were not, but we got by. It was exciting and decisive for the restaurant, which defined its menu and concept of traditional gastronomy with a contemporary perspective. We use 80% of our own products and we have chickens, lambs and pigs living outdoors; fish and shellfish are also local”.
The Companhia das Culturas project has rehabilitated a traditional farm in the Algarve.
“The pandemic has increased interest in the biodynamic farm and orchard.” There is no TV or background music and there is a critical spirit towards white brands, which hide who and how they produce them. "Ecological and social conditions are not separated and customers are increasingly aware of their ability to influence supply and production methods." Eglantina is also the architect of the eco amenities firm 8950, which can be found in his hotel.
Health and wellness area, in Companhia das Culturas.
Companhia das Culturas is based on the observation of the environment and those who visit them. “It's my new field job. The world passes before us and we perceive cultural changes: consumption, social values, trends, etc. The encounter between the local and the distant, key for tourism and hospitality. Every year is different and Covid-19 accelerated a transformation: what was a trend (green) has become a necessity, people prefer smaller hotels. Our rooms are exterior, we have large social areas and we never had a buffet. It is curious, by maintaining the old structure of the house It turns out that we are up to date!”
In the construction of the hotel, the agricultural history of the farm has been respected.
***This report was published in *number 146 of Condé Nast Traveler Magazine (Summer 2021) . Subscribe to the printed edition (€18.00, annual subscription, by calling 902 53 55 57 or from our website). The summer issue of Condé Nast Traveler is available in its digital version to enjoy on your favorite device