Costa Nova, Striped beach houses and seafood restaurants in Costa Nova, Portugal.
Costa Nova is a narrow coastal strip in Gafanha da Encarnação, Portugal, lined with wooden houses painted in bold vertical stripes of blue, red, yellow, and other strong colors. The houses face directly onto a seafront promenade and today contain seafood restaurants, guesthouses, and small shops.
The wooden structures began in the 1800s as simple sheds where fishermen stored nets, boats, and tools between seasons. Over time they were converted into summer homes and then into the year-round buildings with restaurants and shops that exist today.
The striped wooden houses along the main avenue draw both locals and visitors who come to walk the promenade and eat at the seafood restaurants on the ground floors. The fishing culture of the area is still visible in the menus, the décor, and the daily rhythm of the place.
The whole strip is easy to walk from one end to the other since all the houses and restaurants line a single seafront avenue. The area is busiest around meal times, so arriving early or outside of peak hours makes for a quieter visit.
The colors used to paint the stripes were originally chosen to mark fishing boats and gear at sea, helping crews identify their own equipment quickly. This same logic was applied to the houses on land, which is why each one has a different color combination.
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