Lisboa Prata Boutique Hotel ★★★★

In the very centre of town, on the way to Lisbon's all important harbour and on one of the most oldest and elegant streets is the Lisboa Prata our day began. I woke up with pinpricks of lights seeping through the shutters that came from our street facing windows and lured me out of bed to gaze upon the city below. Turns out we hadn’t shut the shutters properly, but I decided it was for the better as I observed the patterned streets and buildings. It had been too dark when we had arrived to properly observe the sprawling metropolis, but now I could clearly see the Lisbon that I knew; full of life and character, we could even see Castelo São Jorge in the distance.

Our room was cleverly arranged which made it feel vast with its high ceilings and white-washed walls.  I loved the hand-painted tiles that bordered the bottom half of the walls and the other authentic touches we found both in our room and in the hotel. In fact, from the start we were impacted by the hotel's Portuguese design and air. Its patterned exterior evoked this, yet inside were all the modcons one could need for a comfortable stay; like our sleek and modern bathroom. It had perfectly combined historic and traditional with modern and contemporary. We agreed that the quirky additions reflected the city in which the hotel is placed, the tiles that framed our window echoing those that border the pavements.

As well as traditional and luxuriously modern, high-quality is another adjective I could use to describe this fine establishment. Every detail from the friendly staff to the high-quality linen was taken care of. Inside our rooms we found an array of toiletries to suit our needs and could even have our breakfast delivered there if we wished to indulge in breakfast in bed. In fact breakfast was one of my favourite services of the hotel. The breakfast service allows you to have exactly what you would like for breakfast when you want it. We often chose the night before from a large range of cereals, yoghurts, fruit, bread, juice, eggs, meats and cheeses, left our selection on the doorknob and awoke in hungry anticipation of our choices. Too hungry to wait, we always went straight for breakfast, however if we wanted to we could have easily had a brunch or an afternoon indulgence.

The hotel's communal spaces were a delight to be in; the rural-style dining room combined modern chairs with rustic wooden walls in a smooth blend of beige, yellows and browns. But the reading lounge was my favourite with its beautiful scarlet sofa and the glass floor which allowed a gaze into the buildings foundations. The walls were criss-crossed by wooden beams in a charming Tudor style.

Although the hotel's design, its bare stone walls and hanging tapestries were a delight, I think my favourite thing about the hotel was the friendly staff and its convenient location. Just a walk away from Arco Triunfal da Rua Augusta, Castelo São Jorge and the chic Chiado we couldn’t have been better placed.