Pleasant Living: SLEEPING WITH MADONNA

PALACIO RAMALHETE

We decided well ahead of time that Lisbon was going to be about nothing more than our hotel, sitting by the pool and food. We pretty much stuck to our guns. Originally we had made reservations at a heritage site hotel. Online the hotel looked regal. It sat high on a hill in the old section of Lisbon. No cars were allowed and the path to the hotel was only accessible by a golf cart. This time I did read the fine print. It didn’t have a pool. This just wasn’t going to work. At the very last minute we canceled that booking and booked another hotel. It had a pool. We were sold. Turns out it had a lot more.

Since we had been delayed way beyond our scheduled arrival Julie, one of the hotel’s concierges, was waiting for us standing at the landing in the vestibule when we did drag ourselves in. The hotel is small. Though its website states sixteen the hotel only has twelve rooms, twelve beautiful rooms, along with exquisite common rooms. It had been built as a residence for some Portuguese royalty back in the late eighteenth century and converted fairly recently into a hotel.

History permeated the grand manor house. Julie wouldn’t let us go to our rooms without first taking us on a little tour. Even as tired as we were we acquiesced.

The original tile work alone was enough to make us fall in love with the hotel. All of it was kept the way the original royal inhabitants had so beautifully had it appointed. The effect was both elegant and comfortable all at the same time.

With only twelve rooms the hotel relies on a small staff that seem to do everything. The reception area is nothing more than a desk and chair with a small table from which Julie poured us a welcoming glass of Prosecco before saying, “Follow me”.

Our first stop, glasses of Prosecco in hand was a series of lounges on the same level as reception. Julie guided us through each with tidbits of information along the way.

The first sitting room contained a built-in hutch that served a dual purpose: one purposeful and the other secretive. In addition to being a display area for royal treasures it also opened to reveal a hidden staircase for servants or a secret tryst.

In that same room on another wall a portrait of young woman holding a cat stared blankly across the room.

I don’t know if it was the Prosecco but the girl in the portrait bore a strong similarity to Madonna’s daughter. Whether it was intentional or a coincidence is actually a real question. Julie wouldn’t say for sure but she had a story to go along with it. The hotel only reopened as a hotel several months ago. For eighteen months prior to reopening the entire hotel had been rented out to Madonna. Yes that Madonna. Either she was doing some house shopping in Lisbon, or had already bought something and needed a place to stay while work was being done, or she was contemplating buying the Ramalhete and redoing it for herself. We don’t know. All we knew was we were going to sleep with Madonna that night … well sort of.

With existing details like the ones that run through the hotel, it’s no wonder the style icon, Madonna, was interested in the Ramalhete. This is a hotel that could make a garden hose look stylish casually draping it in front of a tiled niche with a stone sculpture of a young maiden.

Lisbon is built on a series of hills. Walking around the neighborhoods of Lisbon is similar to trying to navigate a walking tour around San Francisco. Fifty percent of the walking you do in Lisbon is directly up hill, the other fifty percent is down.

The buildings of Lisbon seem to follow the same vertical pattern and our hotel was no different. Because of the age of the hotel and the slope of the hill it is built on getting to some of the rooms and the hotel’s pool required climbing several flights of stairs all leaning back to follow the upward and backward thrust of the landscape. There was no way of adding an elevator so the staff happily trudged each guest's luggage up to their rooms. It was a task we were very thankful the staff took on.

There were two suites right off of the pool. We got one of them. Our room came with a patio and lounging chaises making a place by the pool always available to us. The pool might have been small but it was a short hot skip into its cool waters.

The Palacio Ramalhete should be on everyone’s radar. We got lucky and caught it early but I’m guessing once the word gets out booking a table in the breakfast room is going to have to be done well in advance.

BREAKFAST

Normally breakfast would warrant a line or two in a blog post for most of the hotels we’ve stayed at but the setting and the spread at the Ramalhete was so enticing here that I decided to break it down and give it its own lead in.

Breakfast was served on three different levels of the hotel. There were two sun drenched patios were you could sit and then the main dining area that spilled into two rooms

We took our morning repast inside in the room next to the serving area. It kept us out of the sun and closer to the food. Rick’s breakfast was pretty similar each morning with eggs over easy, stewed tomatoes and mushrooms, a crusty loaf of bread and fresh orange juice. He usually followed up his first course with a slice of orange cake and a tall glass of iced ginger tea with lemon and honey made specifically for him. You can take the boy out of the South but you can't take the South out of the boy.

I'd hit the fruit cups that varied from day to day with whatever was freshest in the market. I’d spill the fruit into a bowl and then smother it with the contents of those little canning jars. I’m guessing here but I think the jars contained creamy yogurt laid on a bed of honey and chia seeds and then sealed with a berry jam. I have no idea if this was some traditional Portuguese dish or not. I did see the same thing in the window of several pastry shops that gave me the impression that maybe the dish wasn’t as healthy as I thought.

The hotel bar served as a buffet for some of the breakfast offerings The bar top was lined with cheeses and meats, fruits, breads and some of the sweets Lisbon is famous for. There were two additional tables where the hot meals were set out in chafing dishes along with various drink options. All of this was spread out on white linen tablecloths.