Well. Here is a case of thinking nobody will really believe a fully five star review, but I assure everyone I have never met these hosts and they are not giving me a discount. They did leave a very nice bottle of wine but that was thoughtfulness, not a bribe.
What a fantastic place to stay for any length of time in Porto. It is certainly one of the better apartments I have stayed in with Airbnb and let me say, I am a good customer and have been loving many visits around the world in several countries with this excellent service.
For me, the critical things I am looking for are comfort, convenience, cleanliness, security, ease of operating the appliances, great location with shops and transport nearby and decent neighbours. Style is usually lower on my list of demands.
However, it is just absolutely delightful to arrive somewhere and find ALL of the good things are there and the apartment is as truly stylishly understated as Merc's place. It took me a little while to really appreciate what great thought had been put into everything. It is not flashy and outrageous, just beautifully designed and very easy to live in. The bed is so comfortable, the couches and chairs are just ideal, I felt sorry I was not there long enough to use that marvelous kitchen and the bathroom is a very practical space........but, the shower.........THE SHOWER.......I could have stayed under that for an hour but, I obeyed the instructions and left some hot water for the next person.
A little market shop next door and another one on the next corner and dozens of great places to eat within a couple of hundred meters......excellent.
I want to come back and once all of the current health concerns are resolved I'll make the easy flight down from Munich and do all of the things we missed out on in our four day stay this time.
Ana met us at the door, showed us through the apartment and gave some tips about local amenities and then thoughtfully booked a car service to take us to the airport. Thanks for everything. We loved our stay.