We stayed on floor 1 of Mouraria apartments for 5 nights in February. The apartment itself is spacious and is a good location in terms of seeing the sights of Lisbon. the building has history and felt authentic. Nuno was easy to communicate with and answered our queries and concerns quickly and in a friendly manner.
There are a few aspects that we did not so much enjoy however.. We had the impression from the listing that the apartment location and building would be very quiet, however, the walls of the building are like paper, you can hear every footstep, conversation/shouting and movement, both in the outside corridor and upstairs and below. We struggled with this as the upstairs tenants were running around the whole time, shouting and dragging tables and chairs around, which affected our sleep. Even when the tenants left, you can hear people in the corridor and up and down the staircase which affected our stress levels and enjoyment of our time there. We also felt uncomfortable due to the lack of privacy and couldnt fully relax on holiday. as a result we were out of the flat as much as possible as it unfortunately didnt feel comfortable or relaxing as we were on edge the whole time.
The flat in itself is very echoey and this probably isnt helped by the lack of furniture. its a very basic and sparse apartment, it has everything you need but it doesnt feel home-like. e.g. there are no paintings on the walls, small touches like decorations or even a welcome message or small gift when we arrived. there was about 5 tea bags only available, no milk in the fridge and no coffee (only decaffeinated). however after asking our host, this was provided a few hours later.
the area itself is very central as mentioned, but we didnt feel the listing was accurate that it is a friendly quiet and safe area. at the bottom of the road there were groups of men standing and shouting outside the shops, staring at us all the time. there was graffiti everywhere and people were spitting on the floor. also, outside the apartment door there are piles of garbage in the street, so the smell and flies are everywhere when you enter and leave the apartment which was not nice. we did also not feel safe getting to and from the apartment and was another reason why we found the accommodation challenging. i do not feel this was clear from the listing information or reviews.
We also found that the 'guest handbook' provided by the host did not have key information for our stay, such as the wifi password, transport information etc which we expected to recieve, but it only restaurant recommendations which was frustrating.
despite this, Nuno was a great host and was very kind and helpful. on our last day we were able to leave our luggage in the building before the airport.
on the whole, the apartment is a good size, is cheap and cheerful, is clean and easy to access, good value for your money. however, dont expect a 'home' feel, in both the area and apartment/building itself. if you dont struggle with noise and an unclean, unsafe street environment then you will be fine. it may be better suited to students or 'party' people, however, we would not stay here again. we wish the apartment listing was more accurate so we would have known this before booking as the accommodation did significantly affect the quality of our holiday.