Hidden Costs
 

Hi
Have been visiting PP now for almost as long as the age I admit to & saw some differences this year.
Prices were higher, quality as always varied at times, food costs probably about the same, but noticed wine prices had risen quite steeply & at times bottled water prices were very high.
On the 1st night we were charged for an extra bottle of wine at Tolo's, it was removed without fuss, but made us check future bills.
I don't think there is anything sinister in this I think mainly staff are just very busy, but this happened several times & it's up to the customer to check.
We often drink the Torres wine Vina Sol (currently on offer in our local Tesc's at £4.49), & about €4 / £3 in PP supermarkets. We saw it on several menus at €18 (£14.50), and frankly I don't expect to pay UK restaraurant prices in PP.
We are a party of 5 adults & a young (non-drinking) teenager & usually order a couple of bottles of wine & water as needed with the meal. At times the charge for water came close to that of the wine! I notice the locals always order large bottles of water, but many restaurants now only supply the small 0.25ltr bottles and we found a couple each over a meal totalled around 20€ (£16 seems quite high to me).
We've never holidayed in the Port because it was a cheap destination, but this year I think many people had a little less money to spend which combined with the weak £ / strong € meant that numbers were down as many looked to other destinations for better value for money.
Many restauranteurs were complaining at the lack of visitors & I think short-sightedly they are trying to tweak a little more money out of the lesser number of visitors who are there.
I'm sure times are hard for the restaurants & they might be harder next year -as many peopke had already booked their holidays this year, but might have to think very hard next year where they can afford to go.
Maybe it's because we are from the North of England (where national prices seem to be a little lower), that prices seem noticeably higher in PP this year - as I know the nicer places to eat out in the South are already pretty expensive.
We still enjoyed our holiday, ate far too much and tasted lots of good wines - just found a little less value for money.
Maybe we should just drink wine next year!