Hospedaria Rita — Hotel in Mértola

I booked this place online thru booking.com for 2 nights. I booked two room for 4 adults. I got a one bedroom, 1 small sofa bed. My booking stated that I was getting a two bedroom apartment. I had no choice but to take it since they had nothing else available and it was 9pm with no other lodging in that area with vacancy. The owner knew it too and said if I didn't want to stay then he was fine with that :(||||The sofa bed was made up of a wooden board with a hard sponge on top of it. It hardly fit in the room that was supposed to be a living room with tv. The tv (14") was in the main bedroom on a 3 ft stand.||||The bathroom was nice and clean but the towels were like sandpaper and looked like they had been washed in dirty water although they smelled ok. Bed linens were fine.|||| The positive thing was the place was clean and did have a small kitchen and a washing machine if you needed to do laundry. However, this row home was located in a very dark lane way and parking was at the top of a hill close to a church where it was well lit. The owner told us we were safe but to park the car by the church. ???||||THE ARGUING DURING CHECK OUT !||I only stayed one night. Upon check out which was another building, the owners wife walked out to the reception area to ask me some questions. Her husband asked her to be quiet and they started to argue in front of me. They were disputing over money and she has a say in the business etc. Their employees had to take the wife to the lounge where I heard and saw her throw plastic chairs and other items around and call him a monster. He apologized, gave me my receipt...

We arrived late, and tired, after driving from Faro (wonderful drive, wild flowers, storks, and rolling hills). We eventually mastered the one-way system, and the narrow village streets, but it was a bit stressful to begin with. We found H. Rita by sheer luck, down a short narrow and steep little incline, and were able to park the hire car (Peugeot 208) at the front entrance. Our host took us in, and provided an excellent double room ("matrimonale" in Spanish) with a small veranda overlooking the river. The room was comfortable, with good bath and shower facilities, and plenty of towels. There was a kitchen with microwave, kettle, tea coffee and sugar, cutlery and crockery, as well as a small dining area, and a fire. (There are grocery shops within 50 metres - one of their staff advised us on the local wine. When we returned the next night for another bottle, they were closed for stocktaking - the shop assistant asked us if we enjoyed the wine, he was very amused when we said he was disappointing us by being closed!) ||||There were few visitors at this time so itwas very quiet, and we enjoyed a three-night stay (originally two nights!) Mertola is a lovely small museum town, with a super castle, several small museums, and an Islamic Centre - the town is twinned with a town in Morocco, they have an Islamic Festival in May to develop these links.||||Our host was helpful, friendly and welcoming, overcoming the language barrier, and got our Portuguese stay off to an excellent start. (Note- Don't assume there will always be an English speaker handy,especially North of the Algarve. Try young people for...

I went to Mertola because of the castle and the river and I am so glad I did. It is well off the usual touristy places but well worth the visit, just not in July when the temperatures hit 40 degrees (yes, and they did). I booked this hotel mainly because of the images of the views from the room balcony. The room itself is basic with a nice big bed, but if you are expecting luxury, do not stay here. It is a very comfortable, welcoming place, in the middle of a regional Portuguese town, and therefore we were pleasantly surprised.||The staff are so helpful but speak very little English but we managed to get around that, I mean, it IS Portugual!! There is a large open area near reception where you can help yourself to tea, coffee, guide books etc and while the rooms lack the charm of a Lisbon hotel, they provide everything you need, including good air conditioning, which was critical when we were there.||The views are amazing up and down the river and to the castello, it is the highlight of the room, and make sure you ask for a room with a river view, it makes a big difference. It was also by far the cheapest price of anywhere we stayed in 4 countries, and very good value indeed.||If you are going to Mertola - and I highly recommend that you do - stay there, it is well worth the time to visit the Medina (one of the prettiest in the world), the castle (amazing and so cheap to visit), the archeological diggings, (Roman, Phoenician, Moorish, Portuguese), the many many museums, and of course the river. ||One of the highlights of my trip, even if the heat was...