PORTSMOUTH, N.H. -- Maybe it was because taxes had been due the day before. Or it could have been that any sustained spasm of sunshine after New England's interminable winter summons people out of hibernation. Maybe it was because the waters off New Hampshire's tiny coast can chill champagne even at summer's height, so there's no point in waiting to visit until July.
Whatever the reason, in the preseason warmth of mid-April, Portsmouth's summer season was clearly developing, with a visible number of tourists out on the seaport's streets. At the Sise Inn, all but one room was booked for the night, the desk clerk said. That's testimony to a broad appeal, and not just because summer was on the horizon. The Sise prides itself on being part hotel, part bed-and-breakfast -- and travelers who favor one don't always care for the other.
It sounds like one of those mind-benders the Riddler used to taunt Batman: When is a hotel not a hotel? But consider:
From the outside, the blue Queen Anne Victorian is the antithesis of a chain hotel, which is hardly surprising, since it was built as a private home in the Gilded Age and wasn't converted to an inn until 20 years ago. Like a B&B, each guest room has its own decor. Yet there are 34 of them, making the Sise too spacious to count as a B&B, and there's a 24-hour front desk. Convenient to downtown, cozy despite its size, the Sise is a moderately priced inn.
My instinctive reaction on first entering my compact room was ''darling." Yet one person's ''darling" might be another's ''yuck." Wall-to-wall carpeting doesn't offend me, but the blue-gray sprawl across the floor might be too hotel-like for B&B lovers. The plain, white cotton bedspread and wooden headrest, however, conjured up memories of an overnight at Grandma's, as did the dark wood bureau on which propped the hotel-ish amenities of a TV and VCR.
The owners strive for B&B touches on all three floors, perhaps to appeal to the Sise's clientele, which, judging from the AARP magazine in my room, tends toward the Centrum Silver set. An old Singer sewing table serves as a hallway lamp table on the second floor, where the wall displays a photo of an elderly Victorian woman and a painting of a British fox hunt. Yet the center of the building is constructed with a hotel-like atrium; you can look down from balconies on the upper floors and see the top of the desk clerk's head.
The Sise serves a continental breakfast in the dining room; you're on your own for other meals. That's not a problem, because the inn is just a few minutes' walk from Market Square, the hub of the downtown restaurant and shopping district. Eating options range from inexpensive sandwich bistros to costlier spots, including a few ethnic places.
Foraging for dinner, I was tempted by a Japanese restaurant's vegetarian pad thai, but at $18, even I thought it should come garnished with an entire Black Angus to justify the price. Instead, I settled on Radici, an Italian comfort food restaurant that includes an expansive meatless menu.
That it was still early in the season was clear from the entertainment options. I've no doubt that the Portsmouth Men's Chorus is a talented bunch, but I couldn't bring myself to wolf down dinner for them. I spent the evening reading in the deserted inn's intimate parlor.
At breakfast the next morning, my impression of the inn's demographic was reinforced by the fact that the early wave of diners were mostly middle-aged and older. (Later in the morning, younger couples were more common.) Music from speakers, which also entertains people in the adjacent library, was a radio station pumping out oldies, including Peggy Lee's ''Fever" and a program called ''Sounds of Sinatra." I caught drifts of conversation from the elderly couple at the next table.
''She said he has money," the white-haired woman said to the white-haired man, who confirmed, ''He has money. He's a lawyer." Leaving, the woman confided to an acquaintance they passed that they intended to ''go back and freshen up and take a hike. Take a hike," she repeated, laughing at her own joke.
If they were headed downtown, they didn't have to hike far. Whichever half of the Sise Inn's split personality you fancy, convenience is one of the indisputable advantages in its favor. Tourists take note: Portsmouth's annual Market Square Day, an outdoor festival of music, dance, arts and a road race, is June 11.
Rich Barlow is a freelance writer in Cambridge.
