Totally tropical loos, Portuguese style

After a chilly day yesterday where I headed across London and back again by bus, tube and train I thought we could do with some warming up. And as there's not been an entry in the Loo Series for a while, I'm combining the two with a tropical loo from Porto. It was on the last night of our week in Portugal and the anticipation of the cabbage plate was still real.

Our hotel was a bit out of town and it was nice to see a different part to Porto. We arrived at the hotel late and it was the type of hotel that in its heyday would have been fantastic and super swish. It was perfectly clean and adequate but let's just say its heyday was a good few years before our arrival, which was a shame. 

We headed into the local town in search of a restaurant and stumbled upon what turned out to be the fanciest restaurant we'd eaten in the whole of our holiday.  I'll come onto that, but first let's concentrate on the loos.  In the Ladies I found myself sharing the space with this in bloom bird of paradise, beautiful isn't it?  

The decor was relatively plain with painted walls and what I first thought was wooden floor tiles on the wall. On closer inspection I discovered the wooden tiles were actually ceramic tiles, and that gave me a whole new appreciation of them. As that seemed less odd than having flooring on the wall - and yes, they were pretty effective.

The sink was a snazzy affair too, all angles and I was rather taken with it. Above the sink was a forest of pink orchids and it amused me to spot myself in the mirror through them, and when I realised my flamingo t-shirt felt right at home I couldn't help but smile to myself.

I said before it was probably the fanciest restaurant we'd eaten at, and of course by the end of our holiday our dress sense had relaxed too. While my flamingo top and white jeans felt perfectly fine in the loo, in the restaurant, which was full of LBDs I felt decidedly underdressed.

Oh well.

And look at that pudding, it was that kind of fancy restaurant.

Not in a bad way though, the glassware was a hit, but the dubious starters I was on my guard.

Back to the loos. The shared lobby entrance to the loos was something special too, a chair, mirror, some pictures and plenty of clocks.  And some more of those ceramic woodgrain tiles, this time on the floor.

So tropical loos, a flamingo top and plenty of time - that all makes for a great space, I'd say!

Patterns from Porto

It was the patterns of the tiles in Porto that I found myself fascinated by. Whether it was the 3D-type, like the ones below, or the intricate almost Moorish designs. I found myself seeking out the tiles as we walked around the city, and mostly my phone was out ready to snap their delights. 

Bright yellows and faded yellows, the tiles were inset into many of the buildings. Some bold, some delicate, but all very pretty.

And variations on a theme. These are different to the ones at the top - the flower is slightly different - it took me a while to confirm that, I couldn't decide if it was just the layers of paint that made them feel different.

Blues featured too, and often mixed with yellows. The ones below have a touch of kaleidascope to them don't they?

And it looks as if many of them have been patched up and that just adds to the charm.

The patterns are mixed, the tiles are chipped and faded. But they are full of character and just work.

The colours are vibrant as often as they are faded, and I think there's almost more filler than tiles in the set below.

But some are in much better condition and this blue and white bold design in good condition almost looked out of place!

And every single one of these sets are on the outside of buildings, just for the record I haven't gone on my biggest snoop ever! 

Aren't they great?

Choosing a quirky apartment, instead of a hotel in Porto

Usually our holidays tend to be cottage-based rather than in a hotel, and that's how we like them. And so when we were in Portugal I was keen for part of our trip to follow our preferred approach. I struck lucky in Porto finding the Apartment Bomfim 234, and as you can see from the photos it positively shines.

Unbelievably I booked it on Expedia.  I know, that surprised me too.  From the outside though you'd never have known what was inside. This was the view that met us as we opened the door.

I wouldn't call myself a natural fan of mid-century modern furniture, it's a style of furniture that while I admire, I skip over when choosing items for our home. I'm not sure if that is due to growing up in a sea of teak and G-plan furniture in the seventies or because I'm pre-disposed to other styles, but in this apartment I started to see what I was missing out on.

This cabinet was the winner for me, not that we had the TV on (that's a rarity on our holidays too), and I think it's the added colour that won me over. For me, that takes this style of furniture to another level and I've found myself admiring similar projects since I've been home. It moves it away from those seventies memories, and into something more up to date, don't you think?

But there was more to the apartment than the furniture. There was the layout. On the mezzanine level there was the bedroom, on the ground floor the sitting area and a half floor below housed the kitchen and bathroom.  

All were accessed by open staircases, which were the feature. These above, which lead to the bedroom do have a look of "shelves" about them, and were much easier to navigate than perhaps you'd expect.  

Upstairs the bedroom area, although snug, was just as stylish.  

When I say snug, there was just room for a bed, and just about enough room to get in it. Just, it was a bit of a squeeze, but I forgave it; its stylishness one me over. 

And, oh... the bedside lights.  A feature we both liked and a design element we're storing for the future.

Heading downstairs to the kitchen area felt in some ways more precarious, but no less stylish. MOH kept marvelling at the building regs and such like that made this possible, ever the practical one...

Standing at the kitchen table gave a great view up to the living area and full length windows, complete with shutters.

Now you might be thinking Porto, fabulous tiles and wondering where they are in this apartment. Well it didn't disappoint there either. They were saved for a full wall of pattern in the bathroom. 

My first thought was wow, they're busy, but that quickly turned to wow, they're beautiful. Beautiful close up and from more of a distance, and they certainly made an impact. With another idea for the future banked, and another style feature I'd usually shy away from I was having quite an epiphany, and we'd only just arrived in Porto!

As we headed out of the apartment to explore Porto some more I noticed the first of many more walls of tiles. These were in the hallway, which somehow I'd completely overlooked as we arrived. 

Geometrics are big in the shops here at the moment aren't they, but it seems in some places they've never gone away.