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  1. Friend from Barquinha

    New hostel coming, north of Tomar in Areias

    Doing a little Google map tracking and matching photos, I think this is likely its location: https://www.google.com/maps/place/EM527+217,+Portugal/@39.7349402,-8.3487368,20z/data=!4m6!3m5!1s0xd22830920297d89:0x3a7b87ee144b2b73!8m2!3d39.734906!4d-8.3485262!16s%2Fg%2F11jwm294kp?entry=ttu Note...
  2. Friend from Barquinha

    New hostel coming, north of Tomar in Areias

    Today, there was a story in the middle-Tejo local news, about the coming completion of a new municipal albergue about 20 km north of Tomar in Areias. The story confused me at first, because the bigger municipality of which Areias is a part, is Ferreira de Zezere, which is east of the...
  3. Friend from Barquinha

    Portugal's New Housing Law and its effect on hostels

    The places they are aiming this at are: Lisbon, which, between regular tourism and encouraging "digital nomads," has lost many apartments to AL status, Porto, where the same is true to a lesser effect, and the Algarve's beach towns. In all these areas, there is a severe housing shortage which...
  4. Friend from Barquinha

    New Albergue on top of Santa Luzia, Viana do Castelo

    One note to add--quite a few years ago now, on our first trip round bits of Portugal, we stayed at the Quinta de Boa Viagem, north of Viana do Castello. This is owned by a member of an old Portuguese aristocratic family, long-since become normal "non-aristocratic" types (the proprietor was an...
  5. Friend from Barquinha

    Has anyone stayed at Pensão Coimbra in Santarém?

    I know in the past the Santarém Hostel has been highly recommended...
  6. Friend from Barquinha

    Poll Lisboa - Porto: Where are albergues missing/ Which part has too little frequency or closed albergues?

    My observation now, after 5 years part-time in small-town middle Portugal, is that once a trend is set, everyone else piles on. I think this is very much the way with "riverwalks." Ribatejo and Mediatejo smaller-town districts (Central Portugal, along the Tagus) have observed the success of the...
  7. Friend from Barquinha

    Poll Lisboa - Porto: Where are albergues missing/ Which part has too little frequency or closed albergues?

    I don't know any of the places very well. I've spent one afternoon in Sao Joao da Madeira; it's quite a big place. The property prices might be higher; that's the industrial heartland of northern Portugal and there's probably more local demand for housing. My thoughts on the other two...
  8. Friend from Barquinha

    Is there need for albergue or pension in Barquinha?

    Sadly, unlikely...we're only here for 3 more weeks this trip, then back in the autumn. Our neighbours that we bought from will be continuing to farm (well, using the term loosely, more like "garden") the land till then, and beyond. If you see a fellow out on the land, working, likely that will...
  9. Friend from Barquinha

    Is there need for albergue or pension in Barquinha?

    Ah, but Barquinha is more than the "downtown" part. We are actually up in Moita do Norte, which in centuries past was part of Atalaia, just north of Barquinha, but definitely a very old community on its own. Then, I think for a couple of decades in the prosperous post-1980s era, Moita was a...
  10. Friend from Barquinha

    Is there need for albergue or pension in Barquinha?

    Thanks for the recap on your day to Barquinha! Besides the River Inn, which is new and a bit pricey, and not always open, there is currently the Soltejo. We stayed there the first couple of times we came to Barquinha, first to buy our house and then to get it working, since at first we had no...
  11. Friend from Barquinha

    Is there need for albergue or pension in Barquinha?

    The project begins! We managed to visit here in VNdB last September, when flights were briefly open from Canada to Portugal, and, lo and behold, the property just downhill from us was for sale! With price/conditions that worked for us! So...negotiations with our neighbours...on Thursday last...
  12. Friend from Barquinha

    Govt. funding available for hostels, albergues in Portugal

    I have ended up on the email list for the small-business-development officer in our town, Vila Nova da Barquinha. I think because I've asked some questions about running albergues, etc. Anyway, it's interesting because she now forwards me info about various Portuguese government initiatives...
  13. Friend from Barquinha

    Central Lisbon accommodation?

    Very true. And usually totally reliable. But in this particular case, they said they would, and it didn't happen! Never using that accommodation again--we had had a very good experience before. (And afterwards, absolute silence and no comment when we emailed them about the issue.) We almost...
  14. Friend from Barquinha

    Central Lisbon accommodation?

    We do too, but have found very few cruising the streets at 5 am (needed one when an AirBnB shuttle ride failed to appear..a story that almost turned out very badly). If you're taking one earlier in the trip, in Lisboa, ask for a business card! Then you can at least call one.
  15. Friend from Barquinha

    Central Lisbon accommodation?

    De nada [lit. "of nothing"...actual: "you're welcome"]--a useful bit of Portuguese. In Lisbon, it's a cardboard card, rather than plastic, and you pay a bit for it (half a euro? can't remember!) and then load it. Useable for all the metros, buses, and trams, so if you'll be in Lisboa for a day...
  16. Friend from Barquinha

    Central Lisbon accommodation?

    [Edit: Whoops; got to read more carefully! Missed the 05:00. First metro is 06:30. Probably Uber it is, or a regular taxi. But from past experience, you're probably okay being there an hour early for such an early flight. It's pretty fast through check-in and security that time of morning, at...
  17. Friend from Barquinha

    Central Lisbon accommodation?

    In almost all of the small, cheap, well-worth-eating-at! places all across Portugal, you will get charged for the bread, and for olives, and for any of the small stuff--fish paté, cheese, etc. that they will put out for you when you sit down. The paté/cheese is definitely an extra, and possibly...
  18. Friend from Barquinha

    Central Lisbon accommodation?

    No, because of Covid. It's changing from week to week, but the numbers in Lisboa are rising recently, and they've shut down the city for the weekend... https://skift.com/2021/06/19/lisbon-3-day-coronavirus-lockdown-means-tourists-must-stay-away/
  19. Friend from Barquinha

    Is there need for albergue or pension in Barquinha?

    Thanks for all your replies, everyone! It looks like this may happen...
  20. Friend from Barquinha

    New albergue just north of Tomar

    And a bit more on the Castle of Almourol--here's a great little video, with the added help of superimposed English-language subtitles... And from the same guys, a second one about Barquinha, taken in August of 2020. You can see it's pretty hot in this area in the summers--we have seen 40...

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