Matias Terrace House

We really enjoyed Matias Terrace House. Great location close to the beach, quiet surroundings, cozy home, perfect for families, a big beautiful garden for the kids to play in. The owner was very friendly, flexible, and helpful.

The only complaints we had were minor and some were out of the owner's control. Not worth deducting a star from our rating. E.g. neighbor's dog barking late in the evening past the kid's bedtime, electric socket in one of the bedrooms not working, very creaky floor in front of one of the bedrooms that makes it impossible to sneak out quietly after putting your kid down to sleep (fellow parents will know the struggle, haha).

We stayed 5 nights. The place is well located to discover the surrounding parts of Portugal and walk down to the beach for oceanic sunset and evening snack of reasonably priced seafood and drinks. Not many non-Portugese tourists, so definitely not a tourist trap. The apartment was shining-clean when we arrived, fresh cleaning agent smell still there. It has a bit rustic style, gives a feeling how locals might be living. Although, the hostess almost did not speak any English, she tried to make us feel welcome at the first meeting. A specially attentive move was leaving a balance-bike for our 4-year old, on the second day. One should consider, that the place is near to the ocean, and quite windy in the evening with plenty of air humidity. The daily temperatures during our stay were around 23-25 oC, so evenings went quite cool. Could be pleasant during the heat waves, even without air-conditioning, probably not so nice if the temperature drops.

Although, the place was very clean, it had different type of musty smells in each room. Probably because of the high air humidity and lack of heating during the winter the furniture will collect this smell. I'd recommend some natural furniture oil treatment for all the wooden pieces. It is not nice opening the kitchen cupboard, and moldy smell coming out. It looks like people were a bit distant and self absorbed everywhere we went in the Lourinha, Leiria area and Lisbon. So one might feel, that you are strictly business for Portugese. They manage and control, but it looks like warmth and human contact for strangers in the service sector does not come as naturally for them compared with some other countries. During our whole stay I had a feeling, that we misstepped something during our initial encounter with the land-lady. May be she was insulted when I was asking, if she can speak Spanish or leaving footwear on like her, when showing around in the apartment. Who knows :-D

Local com excelentes acessos e serviços na proximidade. A D. Virgínia é um poço de simpatia. Acomodações com uma limpeza e organização ímpar. Recomendo e com certeza irei regressar.

Nada a apontar.

friendly host, clean and functional apartment