claudia is amazing, as is her apartment, which is slap bang in the heart of the action. outside multiple times a day the two trains, as i think claudia calls them, more funiculars to me, trundle up and down the super steep hill ferrying tourists from top to bottom or vice versa. you can watch it all from one of the two little balconies in the apartment. in fact you can see the top of them passing by as you're sitting on the sofa quaffing a glass of excellent, and amazing value, portuguese wine. we loved it.
as this is the a classic spot for instagramming, plus there are a number of splendid bars and restaurants on and off the street, it can get a bit noisy what with all the hustle and bustle down below. that said at night there is a door separating the front room from the bedroom which once shut blocks out pretty much all the noise. and that means you can really enjoy the super comfy bed. if it's hot then there's aircon too.
from a getting around point of view the apartment is really well placed. time out market is 5 mins a way (claudia's fav pasteis de nada can be bought here amongst a gazillion other things), the 28 tram (i know it's in all the books but it really is worth doing if you haven't) creaks by the top of the road and the 15 tram to maat and belém leave from the station the other end of the hill. buy a viva viagem public transport card from the station (50 cents) and then charge it up (upwards from about 2 euros). very easy, good value, and you can use it on the trams, buses, metro and trains around lisbon.
food is usually ridiculously good value and most places are walkable from the apartment but book book book well in advance as the best restaurants get booked up quick. claudia recommended an app called something like zamoto which became invaluable.
special restaurant mentions to: oficina do duque (mini burgers - yum - but it's all good and smashing service); bastardo (their spider pig was wicked); the páteo of bairro do avillez (expensive and the service ain't great but the food - OMG - huge love for the fish soup and sea bass); cafe tease around the corner from the apartment does good cake (and other stuff); cafe comoba is mainly veggie and also near the apartment - the pancakes and breakfast burritos are splendid.
wherever you eat you'll be hard pressed to get it wrong. if you want to buy supplies in for the apartment there's a mini supermarket at very the top of the hill and turn right. if you want to buy some nicer stuff a few doors down from the supermarket is a great deli come shop selling ham, cheese, bread, jam etc. obviously there are loads of other options but those two felt the nearest.
outside of lisbon we took a day trip to sintra and wondered around the grounds of the the quinta da regaleira which was lovely. sintra itself is tourist central so be prepared. and if you want to catch a 434 bus from sintra station chances are you'll have to queue with what looked like the rest of the world. those queues were loooooooong.
returning to lisbon. fx factory and its rio maravilha rooftop bar are great fun. we walked there from maat, which we felt was a little disappointing although its sleek architecture is banging. the old town as you'd expect is great for a wander and a stare - you can easily find areas and streets that are less busy.
our overall fav place we visited was the calouste gulbenkian museum. it ticked all the boxes; modern art, incredible architecture (very similar to our own barbican here in london) and wonderful grounds. and a respectful shout out to the mini meat parcel pie things in the cafe.
so to summarise: claudia, the apartment, and lisbon are brilliant. book it.