Guest User
October 26, 2023
My friend booked these apartments not realising they were a 1 star. Her face when we told her was total shock, she had read the good reviews. She had no need to be worried, these apartments were great! They have a small kitchen next to a gym and a nice private garden area with a small pool. Take coffee and tea! There is a coffee machine, but you only get one pod each, and that’s Marrakesh Tea! Air conditioner too! There is a washer should you be staying a while. Conveniently placed and walking distance to everything. There is a small Spa supermarket 3 minutes away. We had 2 rooms, for 5, on the first floor. More than adequate, comfy bed and the shower was excellent. The small number of staff work very hard. It’s hard to find anyone when you need them, so do your homework. It used to be a 17th century palace. We would definitely revisit if we went back to Porto. There is an old chapel opposite, which we assumed must have belonged to this building. It looks unloved and unused, but it opens up on a night to a lively little restaurant. The food was great too. You have to book early as everywhere gets booked up. Tourism definitely keeps Porto alive. There are homeless a poor people everywhere, very sad. There are some talented buskers around for you to listen to, which was lovely. One or two not so good, but you’ve got to love a tryer! We went on the river cruise down the Douro, which we all loved. We hired a TUK TUK, an got a lovely young man called Gizmo. He was great fun and took us to lovely places, we would never have found them without him. He even played our music an made it a bit of a party night. Everywhere is within walking distance. There are walking tours available but, we didn’t need that as we have a ‘Natalie’, our very own Gloria Hunniford! 🥰 Visit the beautiful Porto Sao Bento Station an see the famous blue tiles throughout, you will be in the city centre. We didn’t go on the cable car but did walk the bridge from the Ribeira. There is a funicular, if the climb is too high. There was a long queue but that soon went down. My friends recommended the wine tasting, whilst I took a walk in the old town. 1 in 5 buildings are derelict, sad but very interesting at the same time. If you are fit, walk! There are roadworks everywhere and you’ll get to your destination much quicker. We went to see the ‘most beautiful book shop in the world’, it really is lovely, BUT, they cram so many people in at a time it’s just madness. Book it, it’s €8 each. We saw another book shop, which was also stunning, that one was free. We went to see the Bolsa Palace, we booked the day before but still had to wait in the queue when we arrived. There were 2 ladies serving, who were very slow. By the time we got to the front we were told we had missed our slot! We tagged along with an English speaking guide, as we had a plane to catch. It is lovely, but there isn’t that much to see other than the building, it is stripped of the conte