The little café directly opposite the camara (council) in Idanha a Nova seems like the perfect place for a cup of coffee and some “torrado Portuguesas” – great big doorsteps of toast slathered in butter. They are yummy, and we head to our new first base, the camara, where, after a few minutes wait we get put in front of old Senhor Smiley (not) again. I am wrong as he really is smiley today. It would appear popping in to say thank you had had a rather positive impact all round.
Kimberley has prepped a load of questions in Google Portuguese which is not ideal but is as good as we have right now. Our new best friend tells us after two questions, to write them all down in an email and send them in. We leave after five minutes realising this time, he is right, and we need to take some time to put the right questions in the right way. It will also give us time to research how the mayor and council are thinking. Their priorities for the area. What makes them tick. We still have two great meetings lined up for today.
We embark on the thirty-minute drive to Castelo Branco and, as we are travelling Kimberley comes across this quote from the mayor of Idanha. “Come and start over in Idanha a Nova.” This seems perfect as does this on the council website: “Idanha-a-Nova wants to be the alternative and that’s why it will launch the RESUMEÇAR Program. An ambitious project that will position Idanha as a municipality where it is possible to reconcile well-being and proximity to nature with entrepreneurship, innovation and professionalism.” I could not have put that better myself.
There is now a strategy in play which fits perfectly to what we want to do with CasaBo, in bringing friends and family to experience a different way of being. It also probably means that we will be able to do more “green and off grid living” than maybe we had planned. All good news and yet again the universe has come through by sending us backwards at the camara before it is time to go forwards.
Arriving early in Castelo Branco we can see the centre of town has been cordoned off for a bike race. The Volta a Portugal is coming to town, and this is big for the area. We settle at a café in the heart of town to go through what we want to say to the estate agent. We have lunch and go to the meeting. My stomach is churning as we are about to make an offer on our dream plot of land.
Offer made. Offer rejected. They come back with a counteroffer, and we accept. How lovely. I mean how fantastically, unbelievably, amazingly, gobsmackingly, fantastic!!! We transfer the reserve of €6,000 which means the property now comes off the market until our negotiations are concluded. Lots of smiles and handshakes all round as we have probably paid slightly over the odds for CasaBo. Let me tell you straight though. You can’t pay over the odds for something that is perfect.
Off to the solicitor we go. She has been recommended by many on one of the Facebook groups in the area. Even on first meeting, she strikes me as supremely competent and proves amazingly so, when she comes up with an idea we had not thought of to do with the classification of the land which would take us one step closer to being able to build a house on it.
She feels the sale could go through very quickly and tells us what to do next. You can’t beat getting good people around you. You also can’t beat getting the experience of doing things for yourself. We settle down at a spot to watch the conclusion of the stage in the cycling race. It is won by an American rider who was involved in the first break away of the day and managed to stay out there right up to the finish to win by 15 seconds.
We are rocking and rolling after our day and chatting about everything to do with CasaBo. The different areas. The priorities. The baby steps. We set off for a weekend away to the east coast of Portugal and Lisbon which also promises to be very different again. More tomorrow.