Olindapart

I have just left this morning this very pleasant and friendly house owned by Ede and Cosmus who are painters and also rent their rooms. 8 rooms are for rent and 5 of them are rent for long periods by scientists. So almost only 3 rooms are left for tourists. Everyone is welcome of course but one must know that Ede and Cosmus just speak Português, nothing else. The rooms are large, I would say minimum 15 M2, with a small kitchenette and a bathroom ensuite. Air condition and a ventilator at ceiling. It’s really very clean. No TV, no swimming pool. Of course the rooms are simple. If you are looking for a 4 or 5 stars hotel, pass your way. It corresponds to a certain type of tourists like me who look for a charming place, cheap, friendly and well situated. There is a large terrasse in a garden with flowers and it’s a pleasure to get the breakfast on it ; fresh fruit juice home made, a large plate with fresh cut fruits, scrambled eggs, cheese, bread, honey, coffee. All this is good and really enough. I enjoyed staying more time on the terrasse reading or on internet (wifi works well depending at which time of the day) with my own computer. Ede and Cosmus are very friendly, discrete or talking a bit but our conversation was unfortunately limited by my poor vocabulary. They are very relaxing. In the garden there is an « atelié » where they use to paint. The house Olindapart is very well situated just behing the church do carmo (praça do carmo) ; it’s also very quiet. I spent the first night in Olinda, at pousada Baoba , rua do sol, which is not bad but noisy from the street full of cars ; it’s the reason why I wanted to change. Thanks to tripadvisor, I found this more charming place Olindapart. As I spent 6 days in Olinda, my experience is that I would come back at Ede’s house and not stay directly in town. Except at hotel « 7 collinas » which is the best one in Olinda with a huge garden, a large swimming pool and the rooms are very confortable but there are a lot of mosquitos … and it’s not the same price ! ! At Ede’s, there are very few mosquitos ; I hate them but was not disturbed by them. As a precaution I put on my own mosquito net just in case there is one insect in my room during the night. Otherwise I didn’t see any cockroach, also nowhere in town. The taxi station and the bus station are at the same place, praça do carmo, just 2 mn walk from the house. For my departure Ede called a taxi for me. About the price : it’s the low season and I am alone : I paid 70 Rs per night including breakfast. I didn’t ask for the price for 2 people or for high season like carnival. Olinda is a small town like a village, with no building, only churches, convents and old houses. It’s very safe, everywhere and at anytime. I would recommend staying at Olinda instead of recife if you just stay 2 or 3 nights. You can reach Antigo Récife by bus in 20 mn (2.25 Rs) and Boa viagem in 30 to 40 mn (3.45 Rs bus N° 910 direct) ; the main rodoviaria (curado) in 45mn by taxi for about 50 Rs and airport about the same time for 60 Rs. Note that all the prices I show are from march 2013 ; prices go up quickly in Brasil. Boa Viagem is not really beautiful ; Recife antigo is Ok but less charming than Salvador and all the buildings are under repair ; I think that for the olympic games, this center will be rehabilitated. Very quickly a jewel like Olindapart will be known and the rooms always full. http://www.olindapart.com