[ Feb.2017 ] In our short holiday in Portugal in order to avoid the cold, we stayed two nights in Tavira, which is about 40 km east of Faro in Algarve.
The reason why we chose here was that there was a Pousada which was recommended on the internet site.
Pousadas are hotels housed in historic buildings and currently there are 44 in Portugal apparently.
They started in 1940s and at first they were run by the state, but in 2003 the Pestana hotel group won the public bid and since then they have been running them.
We have stayed in a lovely Pousada in Evora, when we travelled in Alentejo region a few years ago.
So we were looking forward to staying in the Pousada in Tavira whose name is Pousada Convento de Tavira.
It was a 16th century convent and the wall outside was a striking yellow.
Our room was not large, but that is understandable because it used to be a cell for nuns.
The atmosphere was lovely.
And it was so quiet that I thought because it was in February which was not the peak season, there were not many guests.
But in the breakfast room, there were many people, which was really surprising.
Probably because it was an old building, the walls were so thick that we did not hear any noises.
The only issue I had was that I felt they did not have enough staff there and the service was not perfect.
For example, when we phoned the reception a few times because the room was not warm enough, nobody answered.
So we went down and spoke to the receptionist.
He shamelessly said “Oh, yes, when I came back here, I noticed the evidence of your phone calls”.
During our stay, the receptionist was only this nice but slow-witted man.
By the way, we came to Tavira from Faro where there is an airport by train.
The journey took only 30 minutes or so.
Unfortunately the train was so dirty that we could hardly see the view from the windows.
The passengers were locals and foreign old people with the rough ratio of half and half.
Those foreigners may have retired here.
Because so many foreigners were there and a lot of them seemed English, the Portuguese people around here spoke good English.
