Hello again! This week I went up north to Oporto. As many of you know Oporto is my favorite Portuguese city for sightseeing and taking photographs, for shopping, for enjoying cultural events, for having fun and so much else. I am trying hard to find a job there so I can go back and stay for good. I lived there twice and I believe I will get a third chance. But so far I had no luck!
When I go to Porto sometimes I stay with friends and sometimes I book a hotel. I tried three and four-star hotels and other accommodations. But lately, I can't afford that anymore and I constantly search for affordable alternatives. I am sharing with you some photos and my opinion about
Residencia Pedra Antiga, the place I booked this time. It's located on Sta. Catarina street one of the biggest and popular streets of the city for a large number of shops in it. It's in Porto downtown wish means you're near important monuments, theatres and bars, and maybe some 15-20 minutes away from Ribeira and River Douro, a very enjoyable walk all the way down. If you want there are metro and bus nearby that will take you everywhere in the city. The railway station isn't far also.
In this first photo, you can see the reception and Andreia sitting at her desk. Andreia was a very nice host. We have to climb a stair from the front door to this first floor. When I left the Residência she was kind enough to carry my luggage down. As I once fell off a stair and get easily scared by it I was really thankful.
This is an old house with narrow corridors. So it will not please everyone. If you travel with a lot of luggage it may not be that good. I like hold houses a lot but I fear the smell of mold it sometimes has. Well, this house smelled good. Walls and ceiling had no spots in it, the floor was clean and well preserved. The decoration is cute because it's a mixture of new and old elements. I also like the carpets everywhere.
This was my room on the first floor. It has two beds, TV, heating device and two little sofas. The bed sheets had an embroidered application. The bed was comfortable and the cover was fluffy. In the window, there was an embroidered curtain also. You can't see the bathroom to my left. It was also very clean with a white face and body towels. There were shampoo and shower cream in the shower cabinet and little soaps available. Water was plentiful and hot. There was also a hair-dryer on the wall. At night I closed the wood window doors so morning traffic would not wake me too early and slept very well.
This is the second floor. I love this kind of wood stairs but if you have locomotion problems this might not be the place for you because of the stairs.
This narrow corridor takes to the place where I took breakfast. Pedra Antiga means Old Stone. The stones are present on the walls of the house and create a nice decoration effect. The fire extinguishers are visible and accessible.
In these two photos, you can watch the room where I took breakfast. The kitchen area has a microwave and fridge. The recreational area has TV, a couple of books an videos. There's also a computer to serve the guests and wi-fi in the building. Internet and breakfast are included in the price. There were bread and delicious croissants, cheese and ham, milk and coffee. It was self-service. The stone stair you see takes to a terrace with some trees.
Andreia told me that the terrace is quite pleasant during the hot days and that sometimes they do barbecues there. It has three sets of tables and chairs. I enjoyed my stay and said to Andreia that I would write about
Residência Pedra Antiga on my blog.
Note that I am not getting any kind of reward by writing this post. This is an honest opinion and I hope it can be useful to you if you have plans to visit this city. It's a good choice if you are thinking of visiting Porto and want an affordable solution for your accommodation. I paid 20 euros/night for all this = 26, 4 USD. The city has a lot of good offer for every kind of wallets.
