We had committed to a 5 day stay.
We were indeed “met by our host” Roman and Laura at the door to the Airbnb and they did carry one of my wife’s piece of luggage up the 2 flights of stairs for her.
However, when we arrived the train to our last stop was not in service, evidently there were repairs being made to the bridge.
Everyone was forced to exit the train at Sao Bento the last stop before the bridge crossed out of Porto.
I text the host they said “just walk across the bridge” simple enough except the Airbnb was .09 miles away.
If you have ever been to Portugal you know there are also lots of hills and cobble stones, plus it was in the middle of the celebration of St. John the Baptist and the streets were packed.
It wasn’t the host fault the train wasn’t functioning as normal, but my wife and I aren’t in our 20’s and 30’s anymore, (actually we aren’t even in our 40 or 50’s ) and while we are in relatively good health, when you’ve been up since 4:30 am, and have luggage to pull and carry, walking a mile isn’t all that appealing or easy. Factor in that we were in a new country and don’t speak the language.
I would have been more impressed if the host had done what other host have done, which is to meet us at the last stop to make sure we could get ourselves and belongs to the apartment.
Fortunately for all of the people that were in or position on the train, a wonderful local women was telling a policemen that somebody should be helping the tourist because they don’t speak Portuguese and they are confused and lost and nobody from the train was helping them.
She was very nice and took it upon herself to help direct the many tourist to a bus that was in service to get people across and to the next stop. So we managed to make the trip and again we were “met at the door” and helped with the Luggage.
We were showed the wifi and told about locking the door and a few other things, there wasn’t much else to go over.
The next day I called and asked about the coffee which had 3 pods for the 2 of us to cover the 5 days. We were told “ you can go buy some more at the store. The one up the street probably has them.” The store suggested did not have them, but I found a store that sold the correct pods the next day.
On day 3 I called and asked about toilet paper and clean towels. Again we were staying 5 days and again I was told “we could go buy some toilet paper at the store” and “the towels are usually cleaned and replaced every 7 days”
7 days! Using the same 2 towels, who does that at home. After raising the point I was finally told they would drop off the towels and the toilet paper the next day, because they had to clean the middle unit.
As I stated in the beginning the description list in the amenities soap and shampoo. These were the little ones you get from a hotel but unlike a hotel they weren’t replenished each day. I didn’t even ask as I already knew where the store was located.
The “carafe of wine” and “local pastry” were present. The pastries and port were both in the sun on a table and seemed to have been there all day.
The “carafe of wine” was 2 glasses (the size that we received at the wine tasting tour) about 4 oz each glass. It looked like the amount that might have been left from a night when you don’t finish the whole bottle or if you split a single bottle for 3 units. Come on this is Portugal, famous for Port wine. I bought a bottle for about 6 euro. We had about 3-4 glasses and we left more than twice what we were given in the carafe when we departed, and not in the sun.
There is a small ( about 1 foot wide and maybe 2 feet deep) closet for your clothes, located in the kitchen.
We hung a few things up and just laid our suitcases on the floor in the apartment. The pictures of the apartment are accurate. There is almost zero space for clothes, which wasn’t a huge deal for us but it should be noted.
The apartments is located ½ way between the river and the main streets. Catching the bus to tourists spots or the Foz beach was easy as was walking down to the shops and restaurants along the water. The street is a main artery for the morning traffic so it gets busy and a bit loud.
The place was clean and well maintained. But from the beginning my wife and I had the feeling that things were being done just enough to make the description true. It would’ve been so easy to go that little bit more to make a guest say “wow that’s really nice.”
I was disappointed as this was the first listing we have stayed that seemed to be stretching things. Even though the apartment isn’t really in Porto that wasn’t a huge problem either. I think either side of the river is fine. I looked up other Airbnbs while we were there and many were still available for less money that looked as good or better. Next time I will try another place.