Casa Olinda

4 bedrooms incl. one private suite, 3 full baths and one half bath, sleeps 8-10
This stunning villa is located within walking distance of the village of Begur in the Costa Brava. It has been carefully designed in a Mexican architectural style with plenty of colors, large spacious rooms and lots of light. The villa has sea views towards the cove of Sa Riera. It has a large private garden and private swimming pool. It is ideal for a large family or two families taking a holiday together as there is plenty of room, an ideal location for visiting guests

This lovely Mexican-style house offers two stories with 300 square meters (3000sq.ft.) of living space on a 1500 square meter property just five minutes' walk below the medieval village of Begur. The property includes a lush private garden around a swimming pool at the foot of an ivy-covered cliff, all hemmed in by a tiled terrace skirting the entire house.

Broad pergolas wrapped in twisting vines of wisteria shade tables on either side of the house, and a little orchard sits on the gentle slope to one side. The master bedroom lets out onto an expansive thirty square meter private second floor terrace with views over the Mediterranean and its iconic Medes Islands.

A second bedroom is wrapped in its own terrace with a bridge to the top of the adjoining cliff. A spacious kitchen and a long living/dining area flank the rustic tiled entrance hall with its grandfather clock and open stair. Across the arched breezeway, the independent 'casita' has its own living room and en suite bath. The main hall is crowned with a pair of hand carved antique wooden doors painfully brought from Morocco. Two foot (30cm) thick walls on all sides preserve the quirky Mexican colonial tradition in which it was built, with gaily painted interior walls, rough baked tile floors and antique and rustic wood furnishings.

Nonetheless, the twenty-first century is alive and well, with high speed wi-fi in every room, and wide screen flat panel TVs, DVDs, and multi-language satellite television. The open-plan kitchen is state of the art, with a five-range gas stove, built-in charcoal grill, dual electric convection ovens, a dish washer, and washer and dryer in the adjoining pantry. A professional gas grill lets your grill master take the cooking outside, too. This house is furnished for living, and we live there most of the year, so you'll find nothing wanting. And since it was only completed a few years ago, all the amenities are modern and new.

The house sits on the steep hillside leading from the village center to Begur's most popular beach, Sa Riera. The Cap de Begur is a fan-shaped outcropping of rocky cliffs interspersed with deep cove beaches. The Cap is crowned by the picturesque Castell ('castle') around which the little town was built. From the ramparts of the Castell, one can look out over the nearby towns of Palafrugell, Palamos, Pals, and in the distance Dali's home town of Cadaques and even the French Pyrenees.

Besides the obvious tanning, bathing, and leisure opportunities offered by the town and its beaches, the area offers many, many opportunities for more organized activities for kids and grown-ups. Horseback riding, sky diving, spearfishing, sailing, go-carts, and of course the obligatory golf courses are just a few of the nearby attractions. Culture buffs will eat up the medieval towns, roman ruins, churches and old 'masias' (manor houses). Foodies will drool over everything from tapas to prime rib, while leisure professionals can just lay by the pool, drinking in the sun, the view and the Mediterranean breeze over a good summer read.

Please take a look at our other property next door. Across the bridge and up a little path, we can accommodate up to 18 people between the two: