The Yellow House :)

We had a great stay here. Thank you to our hosts for the quick and open communication and the area was charming. The courtyard was also quite nice to relax in.

The Yellow House was clean and comfortable. Paulo’s mother was lovely, greeting us and pouring us port to celebrate our arrival. She kindly showed us the basics of our place, and even walked us down the street to show us where to go and eat. Fado Portuguese was so close, great food, wine and live Fado. Be healthy and reasonably active…lots of hills to climb here, but so much to see.

There's much to like about The Yellow House, with one major exception. The bed is quite comfortable, and while smallish, the quarters are comfortable as well. Wifi worked very well, and the patio is a huge plus, for relaxing in the sun (I smoke the occasional cigar, so it was very welcome. It's also very quiet except for the occasional- as in not very often- barking of the two dogs next door. They're pretty cool pooches, so it was not a problem. The site is two blocks from the Cockburn Port Cellars, which I toured, and there is a really great little restaurant with a wonderful view of Porto across the river in the distance. Luis is a genuine chef and the traditional Portuguese fare he offers is outstanding. Great congee, too. Just be aware that The Yellow House is just a bit isolated, and from the river front a steep walk of a little over half a mile. So take a taxi if you have a lot of luggage.

The little house was as advertised and well equipped. Bed comfortable, TV and WiFi worked fine and shower had lots of hot water. Only thing missing from kitchen was a sieve or colander. Our host's mother was most hospitable. Unfortunately we were unable to enjoy the patio because of windy rainy weather which hampered our activities in Porto. The stay in historic Gaia was interesting and we really enjoyed shopping at the tiny supermercado around the corner. It was like going back in time! The people are most gracious and obliging. We had difficulty finding the house as the GPS could not recognize the address or even the main street name. We had to hire a taxi to lead us to the street and be forewarned, the streets are extremely narrow and one way. Despite that, we were able to find parking one street over and there were two restaurants within walking distance. Bus stop to centro, about 4 blocks walk. The house is in historic Gaia on the other side of the river from Porto and you must cross the bridge to get to Porto. Our Tom Tom GPS did not work well in either Porto or Gaia.