Now resident in Portugal, my wife and I decided that a stay in an 'historic' pousada would combine seeing more of the country with distinctive accommodation.
The first disappointment was the location. Photographs give the impression of a leafy, secluded palaçio. In fact the place is on a major road junction at the edge of the town centre. Convenient, but noisy, you can't relax in the garden in the evening.
Instead of occupying a room in the historic old house, we were in a modern annex and could have been in any hotel, anywhere (in fact, we could have stayed at an Ibis chain hotel nearby and had the same facilties at one-third of the cost).
When we came to use the bathroom we found there was no plug for the bath and I had to ask for one at reception - twice. I hadn't heard of this happening outside the Soviet Union. (My wife had to make a special request for a shower cap, too.)
The breakfast was adequate, but again nothing special, and served in a soulless modern room with no distinguishing features.
When we left we were given an evaluation form and we made our disappointment known and received a very polite reply, but this was little recompense for feeling we had failed to have the holiday we hoped for.
