With total respect for the glamour of the turn of the century, Bela Vista Hotel maintains much of its original decoration, including, in some rooms and common areas, 17th and 18th century tiles, signed by Victoria P., and ceilings of precious Brazilian wood, worked and painted by Pereira Cao. The tiles, furthermore, tell the history of the golden age of the Portuguese Discoveries, excerpts from "Os Lusiadas" epic work of the great Portuguese poet Luis Vaz de Camões and of the Arab occupation of the Iberian Peninsula.Built as the private residence of a wealthy family, Magalhaes Barros, it was later leased to a cousin, Henrique Bivar de Vasconcelos, who transformed it into a hotel in the 1930s, at a time when the first intrepid tourists discovered the Algarve and managed to arrive at Praia da Rocha by boat