I really enjoyed my stay at Maria João's! She is generous, funny, fun, energetic, and a beautiful soul. She made me feel at home and I can say that she is my friend now! I loved meeting her nice son, who so kindly helped me when I was having trouble logging on upon arrival (generally all around good WiFi although at times laggy from the bedroom, especially if you want to use youtube/Skype) and she has such a sweet, cute and friendly dog. I had a tranquil and lounge-y stay in Porto, getting to know it slowly so for me it was not so important to be in the center. I would often just walk the 25-30 minutes it took to get to the center since sometimes it would take the same time with the metro since the metro is about a 10 minute walk away. I didn't take the buses, but I did catch a 5euro cab ride from the center so it was fine for me. It was a nice residential neighborhood and I felt safe at all times of the day and night, even walking by myself alone. There were groceries nearby and there was a cafe downstairs as well. It was close to a nice park Quinto do Covelo. Her home is beautifully kept, extremely clean, and very welcoming, and airy and bright. The room is cozy, I slept comfortably and enjoyed having access to both balconies (one from your room and the other from the kitchen). I would stay there again! I never met Emanuela but she was very responsive via email. Maria was a wonderful host and I"m so happy to have met her! Thank you! And it was a real treat to speak Portuguese the entire time! Loved it!