You should absolutely not hesitate for a second to stay at Mafalda's beautiful apartment. Where can I even begin. Ok, first of all it is truly, truly beautiful. The large open plan living, dining and kitchen space is impeccably designed with just the right amount of touches that make it really feel like a comfortable but elegantly appointed home. The entire space is lit by a bank of windows so big that they are nearly doors that look out onto the river with views of the riverside squares from above. I know that I am not the first to talk about the views. We found ourselves sometimes just pulling up chairs and watching the sailboats, ferries, and even a few times sculling boats go by and then the changing colors of the river and the bridge as the sun set and the lights came up.
The kitchen was extremely well equipped with miles of beautiful counter space and extra things that I really appreciate like sharp knives, a salad spinner, more than enough pots and pans so that you can really cook at home if you can resist going out to eat the fabulous food at the nearby restaurants. Mafalda went over the top. I don't think it would be fair to expect this every time but she left milk, bottled water, cheese, some ham, a huge bowl of fresh fruit, yoghurt, fresh bread AND a bottle of lovely wine. What an incredible thing to come home to after a long voyage.
The bedrooms were perfect. We brought both of our adult daughters and their partners for our first ever all family trip and everyone had a real sense of privacy and beauty. The sheets and linens were gleaming white and fresh and all the bedrooms had nice big windows. The bathrooms were also perfect as you can see from the pictures and well stocked with not just elegant soap but lovely lotion and everything that you could need.
The location was also ideal. It took us less than 10 minutes to walk down to the water and the Time out market, which was such a gift to be able to have a place for every one in our party to grab something that they liked on the first day for lunch and have truly superb food (I am not kidding) .
Having the Tram 28 stop 20 feet from our doorstep came in incredibly handy when we wanted to go further afield. It was great fun to ride, took us where we wanted to go and spared our legs some hill work.
Oh... I need to mention Rica. She was the housekeeper and was the one who ended up welcoming us to the apartment. She was completely lovely and having her come every day ended up being a huge bonus. We did not see her after the first day but coming home to a magical clean up every day ...we lived like royalty and it was NOT AT ALL intrusive.
I cannot forget to mention Mafalda. She was in Brazil when we were in Madrid but she was incredibly responsive, actually even preemptively responsive as evidenced by her messaging me two weeks before our trip to offer to set up transfers from the airport, leaving us lovely food to get us started. She and her son Diogo partnered to help us with our every need very promptly and generously. We felt like we were being hosted by kind and caring family.
I will do everything I possibly can to get this apartment again. This was our first visit to Lisbon but it will definitely not be our last.