About Us
Sandra
(1954) is the founder of Monte Rosa. She is proud to look back on how she exchanged her stable life as a teacher in Groningen in the 1980s for an uncertain existence starting a health food restaurant and juice bar in Portugal. With her idealistic entrepreneurial drive, the business grew to become the first vegetarian restaurant of Lagos. In 1993, she started her ‘Monte Rosa project’. Old farmhouses (‘Montes’) were rebuilt with care and love into comfortable guest accommodations, tastefully furnished by Sandra. For many years she was the hostess and cook. Her aim is to propagate of a healthy lifestyle, facilitate the meeting between like-minded people and encourage personal development and social awareness.
Theo
(1948) and Sandra met when they were in their twenties and colleagues at a school for children with learing and education problems. After his career as a gym teacher and his years as a managing director at a large educational institution, he and Sandra got back in touch. In 2011, Theo retired and he was able to visit Portugal more and more. He very much enjoys his supporting role at Monte Rosa. Theo has proven to be very versatile and always willing to help with any task that needs attention. For example, he has worked out a number of beautiful cycling routes. As a sports lover he likes to play tennis and regularly rides on his race bike. After an active period at Monte Rosa, Theo is now gradually finishing his working life and enjoys spending more time in the Netherlands with his children and grandchildren.
Marieke
(1979) fell ten years ago in love with Portugal. She decided to study Portuguese language and culture and lived for a while at the Costa Alentejana. In the Netherlands she worked as a freelance copywriter and gained experience in various PR and communication functions. The Portuguese landscape, the wonderful climate, the outdoor life rhythm of Portugal kept attracting her and in 2018 Marieke moved to Monte Rosa, with her dog Billy. Now she takes care of the administration and guest communication and is your host. As an enthusiastic hiker, Marieke can also organize and guide walking tours.
Arianne
(1990) is the daughter of Sandra. From her 3rd year she lived at Monte Rosa and witnessed how a small pension grew into a large rural guesthouse. Arianne gave her heart to Lisbon, where she studied communication, marketing and graphic design. Since April 2017, she lives in the beautiful historic centre of Lisbon, where she rents out a stylish 3-room apartment. With this apartment we offer the guests of Monte Rosa the opportunity to combine the tranquillity of the ‘Campo’ with the cultural activities of the city during their holiday.
For more information on staying in Lisbon: www.happystayinlisbon.com
Ivan
(1965) was born in Moldova, but has been living in Portugal for 17 years. As our garderner, he takes great care of the land of Monte Rosa. Apart from that he performs any type of maintanance job to make sure our rooms and houses are ready for guests at all times. Above all, Ivan has a great attention to detail. He’s intelligent and a helpful, quiet and sympathetic colleague.
Volunteers
We regularly welcome volunteers at Monte Rosa who are preferably versatile and able to stay for at least one month. They, for example, help in our perma garden, irrigate the land, help prepare dinners, set the table, do the dishes, clean the pool. And sometimes volunteers perform easy maintanance jobs or help our cleaning staff. If you are interested in working with us on a voluntary basis, please send an email with your CV, a picture of you, the period you are available and a brief description of yourself as well as your motivation to: