Booked this hotel for a weekend away with my wife to visit an old friends town. The booking and reservation was ok, all done without any hassles. I booked just the ine day before,(on the Friday for Saturday/Sunday)
Found parking right outside, which was handy, otherwise we would have to take the car to public parking.
Was asked to pay for the room up front, and the hotel seemed ok with an older gentleman who spoke basic English and was just doing his job. No guest interaction or overly welcoming.
Room was ok, though without air conditioning. It wasnt working. The warm night made for an unpleasant nights sleep. Opening the window resulted in my wife and I being bitten alive all night with mosquitos. Closing the window and the room was stuffy and stale.
The hotel is conveniently located very close to the main square and the cathedral. (Well worth visiting)
I jumped into the shower and grabbed a towl, (the size of a face cloth) and realised that was the absolute size of the bath towels. There was no face cloth or hand towels. I couldnt wrap the towel around me and then my wife had nothing to use. She had to go to reception to ask for more towels and then this must have upset the staff, because thats when the cold set in. I got the feeling they just expected us to keep out of there way and put up with it and not annoy them.
Anyway, room was clean and apart from one pillow, for double bed and only a sheet for cover it was quite, ....basic.
Requesting another pillow for second night was just plain rude of us, and they let us know about it.
Arrived for breakfast at 0900 hrs, (prima collasione from 0700-1000)
a couple dried bits of cheese and a bit of salami was on offer. Us and another (unknown) couple who arrived downstairs moments before us, were shown to a room that was part of a construction site, complete with the industrial plastic covering and concrete dust, cinder blocks around it. We passed many other tables, that were still dirty from previous people.
Both of us and the otehr couple ordered coffees and we went at same time to the buffet table.
I wasnt hungry anymore, well, not for a couple dried bit of cheese and some curly salami. All other plates on the breakfast buffet were empty/crumbed/greasy, so there obviousy was some food before but not now and it was obvious it wasnt going to get replaced.
The other couple took a croisant only, the last one, but I noticed they left it on the table with just a small nibble taken. It didnt look very appetising, and probably didnt taste all that either. The looks on there faces showed it as well. A knowingly nod and raised eyebrows in agreement and we shortly followed them out after finishing our coffee.
Walking back up to our room to clean up and we noticed that the tables were exactly as we found them on our way down, with no effort or enthusiasm to clean them up. Perhaps we were the last people for breakfast so it didnt matter anymore.
Our check out after our stay was just a process of going through the motions, there was again no customer/guest interaction by staff and no effort to show any keen for our retrun someday,(or a future recomendation)
Overall Ferrara is a lovely town and well worth a visit. Try one of the local B&Bs that seemed more friendly and caring, though many were booked out if left till last minute.
Ferrar with its Unesco status is quite an expensive city to visit.
Why, Why, Why, is everything very expensive? We had to cut short our visit to some things we wanted to see, since ALL points of interest have an entrance fee that surely adds up to a fair sum of money for a couple to visit over a weekend.
Does having a Unesco status on the city mean that all local points of interest can charge high prices?
A very expensive weekend away for the 2 of us, and quite off putting for another visit or to reccomend for any attractions/points of interest.
Adding out fuel/tolls fees, hotel and restaurant, it was a very expensive weekend away for the two of us.
I reccomend, ffind a nice B&B that has free use of bicycles and ride around the city walls and the pleasant streets, and save spending anything at the over priced entrances.