Former Hotel das Águas do Alardo

Castelo Novo

After his daughter’s health improved following therapeutic treatments at Castelo Novo, the railroad entrepreneur Gama Lobo built the hotel in 1921 to lodge all those who came looking for a health cure in the waters of the Alardo, seeking its therapeutic properties to mitigate kidney problems, diabetes and liver disease. The water was classifiied by professor Charles Lepierre in 1916 as being the purest water and an excellent digestive, with mineral-medicinal and hypotonic properties, stating that no other water in Portugal was known to be so free of minerals. In 1922 the concession licence was granted for its commercialisation, and it is still found today in Portuguese homes.