Ana and João are excellent hosts — helpful and good-hearted, they also have a superb design sense (as befits an architect and engineer). Don’t be put off by the view from the window of the somewhat impersonal brutal-style building (in which a supermarket is helpfully located); the apartment is just yards away from the pedestrian shopping malls of Balhão, and within easy walking distance of São Bento, Ribeira, and the Douro. We are so glad we stayed there in this lovely spacious, clean apartment!