If you love to stay in a buzzing, hip and central location with bars and nightlife at your doorstep, this is your place! We are two friends in our early 50's traveling together, and we absolutely LOVED Pedro's apartment and the lively Bairro Alto area. Pedro wasn't able to meet us for check in, but sent us easy instructions to find the apartment and check in, and was always quick to respond to messages.
The beds were clean and comfortable with fresh linen and good pillows, and the kitchen was well equipped and clean. As with all old buildings I've stayed in throughout parts of Europe, the plumbing can be a bit smelly at times, but we expected that and just shut the door of the bathroom. The shower was strong and there was plenty of hot water for us, but sometimes the hand held shower would fall down when you turn the shower off - just hold it in your hand when turning off the water and all is well.
We were a little concerned at some comments we'd read regarding the noise and the street below, but it was not a problem for us at all - going to sleep to the sound of the soulful Fado downstairs was beautiful. We enjoyed partying with the locals in the evening after a long day of sightseeing, then just shut the thick windows and shutters, popped in our earplugs and had a restful sleep each night when we'd had enough.
We only had 4 nights here, but I would love to return and stay longer in this fantastic apartment. Everything you could need is close by - transport, authentic restaurants, Fado, supermarket etc and the apartment gave each of us plenty of space to spread out during the short time we spent inside.
It was quite warm during our stay, but the fans that Pedro supplied were quite sufficient to keep us comfortable enough to sleep. We shopped at the local supermarket to make our own breakfast each day before setting out on our sightseeing and found the kitchen to be well stocked with cutlery and crockery, and the washing machine was very welcome so that we didn't have to find a public laundry to wash our clothes.
If you like being in a central, hip neighbourhood I will highly recommend Pedro's apartment, and I hope to one day come back to stay - maybe next time we will meet Pedro!