Set in beautiful countryside a kilometre or so out of Estói, north of Faro, these are the ruins of a Roman villa so large and grand it was originally thought to have been a town. The villa, inhabited from the 1st century AD, has the characteristic peristyle form, with a gallery of columns around a courtyard. The highlight is the temple, the fish mosaics and former central pool of which suggest it was devoted to a water cult.
Other tantalising glimpses of the villa’s former glory include the fish mosaics in the bathing chambers, which are located to the west of the villa’s courtyard. The remains of the bathing rooms also include the apodyterium (changing room; note the arched niches and benches for clothes and post-bath massage) and the frigidarium, which had a marble basin to hold cold water for cooling off post-bath.
Other luxuries included underground heating and marble sculptures (now in Faro and Lagos museums).
In the 6th century the temple was converted into a church, adding a small mausoleum, and in the 8th century it was converted into a mosque. In the 10th century it collapsed, possibly due to an earthquake, and the site was abandoned. In the 15th century, a farmhouse was constructed within the abandoned site (the house, much modified, that you see today).
At the entrance to the site, a small museum gives some context, including a scale model of the temple in its glory days.
