Did you catch the fascinating New York Times trend piece that ran last weekend about young, urban adherents of Paleolithic diet and exercise regimens? These 21st-century cavemen and women live otherwise ordinary New York-y existences aside from the fact that they almost exclusively consume large quantities of meat (sometimes raw), go on lengthy fasts, and eschew gyms for extreme outdoor exercise … it’s enough to give a vegan with a Crunch membership a stroke.

 

These on-the-grid, veggie-eschewing (agriculture is far too modern) cavefolk reside in normal NYC homes — one keeps a meat locker filled with organ meat and deer ribs in the living room of his shared apartment — and they don’t follow any other prehistoric rituals aside from diet and exercise. But just in case one of these NYC “paleos” do want to live like it’s the Stone Age, I think I’ve found the perfect vacation spot …

 

Check out this private retreat in Portugal’s Fafe Mountains, A Casa do Penedo, “the House of Stone.” Built in 1974 as a cozy country home, Casa do Penedo is carved from and wedged between four giant boulders. As you can tell from the photos below, the home appears to almost completely blend into the natural environment — a craggy, remote hillside spotted with wind turbines — surrounding it. Inside, there’s stone furniture, a fireplace, log railings, and more so the home itself isn’t all that primitive despite its prehistoric appearance. There’s even a swimming pool on the premises.

 

Not entirely surprisingly, Casa do Penedo has become a tourist hotspot. And because of attempted break-ins and rampant vandalism, the home now sports not-so-Stone Age bulletproof windows and a steel door; the home’s current owner has even decided to move due to rampant looky-looing.

 

It’s an astonishing piece of architecture and always refreshing to see an eco-abode that’s more Flintstones than Jetsons. For more, head on over to TreeHugger and check out a Portuguese news segment that goes inside of Casa do Penedo.