This is an amazing apartment with a great host. The apartment is on the 6th floor of the Palácio do Comércio, an impressive office building in the neighbourhood of Bolhão, just across from the famous Mercado de Bolhão. The building, which took over 10 years to complete, is built in the Art Deco style. Amazingly enough the construction works only started in 1946 when the Art Deco style was no longer in fashion. Heavy glass and brass doors give access to the marble entrance hall of the building where you will find an old-fashioned mahogany elevator that slowly transports you to the 6th floor. The light-flooded apartment has recently been redecorated using beautiful vintage 1950s furniture, Scandinavian earthenware and bold wallpaper which all fits in very well with the style of the building. A great interior decorator has been at work here! The apartment is very comfortable. It consists of two suites, both with their own - original Art Deco style - bathrooms, and two additional bedrooms with a shared bathroom. There is also a spacious living room, a kitchen and a dining room (both we didn't use). Two of the bedrooms and the living room have balconies and overlook the rooftops. As there is no airconditioning, the apartment needs can be aired and cooled by opening the metal shuttered doors on the inside on the apartment which give access to the inner courtyard. Although on the 6th floor, the rooms on the street side suffer from quite a bit of noise from the street down below, especially during the night but this is to be expected from a centrally located apartment in the heart of a busy city. Upon our arrival we received a warm welcome from Luis. We were an hour early but this proved to be no problem at all. Luis arrived within a few minutes and showed us around and told us all about the apartment and its history. Equally welcome were his tips as to good restaurants, cafes and bars. Whenever we needed Luis, he was only a phone call away. On the ground floor of the building is a fine and stylish restaurant – Champ’s de Baixa – which I can highly recommend. It not only serves good bistro food but a wide range of very good cocktails as well. The menu is modern European with a good selection of both meat and fish dishes. Service is friendly (as everywhere in Porto), professional and very warm. Each day we had breakfast at the terrace of BB Gourmet at the other corner of the building. BB Gourmet offers a wide selection of excellent Portuguese pastries and other delicacies which are a great way to start the day. A three minute walk from Palácio do Comércio is the Via Catarina, one of Porto’s main shopping arteries. In the opposite direction, on the other side of the Praça da Liberdade, are many fashionable restaurants, bars and trendy shops whereas the Ribeira (with the river Douro) is a...