Garden Blue

Whole place well hidden under tiny banner, until you reach reception on the 2nd floor offering nice comfy seating, some literature and terrace view along with seating. Room is fairly standard and whole place goes by simple, yet colorful decor. There has been few things that need little maintenence, however everything was working as it should. Pretty varied and tasty buffet breakfast with loads of sweet as well as savoury options. Staff is where this place shines. Be it ladies cleaning the rooms, folks making sure breakfast is top notch and reception - give Mr Omar a raise as his attitude, super friendly and welcoming tone sets him apart. Provided me with very detailed description where to go and what to avoid to make most of my stay, once more Mr Omar, thank you!

Probably the only reason this exists is because of the location. It's a hostel converted into a "hotel". The rooms are just big enough for the bed and a small desk. There are no lamps, just a giant bright overhead light. There's a small flat screen TV affixed to the wall at the foot of the bed which will crack you in the shoulder if you aren't careful when trying to squeeze your way between the wall and bed to get to the bathroom and are over 5'5" tall. There is an air conditioner, but it only goes to 22 degrees C. It will let you set it as low as you want but then will just go back to 22. The bed seemed somewhere around a queen size, maybe slightly bigger. It was not uncomfortable but it also didn't come with a blanket? Basically there was an extra sheet. There were 2 extra pillows in the cabinet, which was great because they were small and flat so two of them together worked. Our room came with 7 free gigantic mosquitos for us to chase around and smash. Our bathroom was big enough to stand in or barely big enough to sit and poop in a toilet that is designed to smear all the way down to the little puddle of nasty at the bottom. The shower is not big enough to move in at all without spraying the whole bathroom. There's only a water wand that has half of the nozzles clogged with god knows what, so it sprays in all directions at the same time. The floor in the shower is filthy. I would recommend wearing waterproof sandals if you're still thinking about staying here. Breakfast was fantastic as far as our experience with European breakfasts go. There is an assortment of things to eat, juices, coffee, yogurt, pancakes, and breads, etc. This is the best part of the whole stay, but it fills up quickly and starts a little late around 7am. There is a nice terrace outside you can eat at as well as long as you don't mind cigarette smoke. The hallways are LOUD at night when the people drinking come back in. There was a lot of yelling, shouting, laughing, and singing for several hours starting at about midnight. During the day there is a lot of kids screaming and playing because the hotel is directly next to a school or daycare. The hotel staff are a mixed bag, but all in all they seem to be embarrassed if not rude or hostile if you're wearing a face mask. The front desk folks are friendly enough but I got the distinct feeling the second we walked away they were talking about us behind our backs. But that seemed to be pretty normal everywhere in the city to be fair. They really don't like tourists, especially ones who don't want to catch COVID while traveling across Europe. At least they didn't go out of the way to cough in our faces like some people out in the city did (a surprising number of them). Location is great, it's a 10-20 minute walk to just about any of the big tourist attractions. Unfortunately there is a bunch of construction work on the streets nearby so it can be a little difficult to get a cab, but walking is pretty easy and felt safe.