“Wow” doesn’t begin to describe how we felt walking into Paula’s place. Sparkling clean, stylish, bright with a gorgeous view of the mountains from the upstairs balcony. We were greeted by D. Maria who is an absolute delight - she is so kind and so warm and is available whenever you need her. D. Maria speaks Portuguese but Paula can help translate and is exceptional at communicating on AirBnB - her responses all came very quickly!
D. Maria gave a very detailed tour of the home and space. Paula has put together an area guide as well as a home guide that are available for perusal.
The space: Both the pullout bed downstairs and the bed upstairs are very comfortable. We all slept wonderfully. Both floors have air conditioning and heating. I believe there is a fireplace downstairs as well but we didn’t have cause to use it since it’s summer.
The kitchen has a half-size fridge with freezer and ice cube trays, convection oven, toaster, coffee maker, water boiler, two gas burners, and many utensils and kitchen gadgets to make cooking enjoyable and easy. There’s even Tupperware for leftovers. There was coffee, olive oil, salt... all the basics when we arrived which was really nice. There’s also an outdoor cooking space and dining area with a brick oven and a bbq. There is a fish van with fresh fish that comes on Tuesdays and Thursdays (around 10:45-11 AM) and the bbq is perfectly equipped to cook your whole fish or fillets. There is also a very new washing machine and cable tv. The WiFi worked perfectly the entire time we were there (one month).
The town of Gatão is very small but there is a café that is walkable and a grocer across the street who offers some basic items (the fresh bread is delicious). In the neighboring town (about 5-10 minute drive) are two delicious restaurants - Restaurante Mira Freita & Nino da Freita. Both were excellent. There are many options in Vale de Cambra (about 20 minutes away) but our favorite was by far S.A.M. 1943. It’s a bit off the beaten path but very worth it! We wanted to return a second time but unfortunately they were on holiday when we tried. I can’t recommend it enough!
The home makes for a wonderful getaway. I would definitely suggest bringing a car - we rented one on the weekends and it was lovely. Paula is an amazing host - I hope to return to the house one day and would absolutely recommend it to friends and family.