The four of us stayed at Joana's and Fred's place for a week for the New Year's Eve and it was a blast. The apartment is absolutely beautiful, with adorable design touches and lots of open space. It's placed on the first floor of an old building, giving it that awesome local feel. Both our bedrooms were very comfortable and the common area was a fantastic place to hang out with a bottle of port wine.
We definitely loved the location. The apartment is in a walking distance to the hustle and bustle of Barrio Alto, Praça de Comércio, and every café, restaurant, and ginginjha spot you might need during your stay. Cervejaria Ramiro, Topo, Manteigaria, and By the Wine are all close by for a fantastic day out on town. Shopping opportunities are abound. There is also a wealth of tiny night shops in the area, meaning that water or wine will not run out.
The only serious issue we encountered during our stay was the electrical power cutting off regularly. The old building's electrical installation apparently couldn't handle the load, and the circuit breakers would kick in at any load larger than a laptop charger or a coffee maker. That made doing things right like hair drying quite a challenge and meant that we couldn't use the electric heaters and made the apartment quite chilly on the two colder nights. In Fred and Joana's defense, they did all they could to alleviate the issue that was clearly out of their control. We also saw the electrician crew replacing parts of the building's installation to make sure that in the next couple of weeks everything will be back to normal.
Over all, we would recommend Joana's and Fred's place, as it's an excellent, beautiful base camp in a fantastic location. Thanks for having us, guys!