Joao was welcoming and responsive in every way. He waited for us at the apartment even though we were a bit late from the airport, gave us restaurant and other tips, and left us a nice bottle of bubbly to welcome us. The apartment was great - very big and spacious. There were a few problems over the week with the electricity - at times the power went out, but Joao showed us how to fix it, and he had already planned on having someone come and fix it the day we were to leave - which I realized was a day earlier than we needed to leave, through my own mistake. Joao kindly gave us the room for another night, and because of the power situation, he did not charge us for it. Very generous! The apartment is in a really perfect area, whether you're going port tasting across the river (which you must), or just down around the river, or up the hill into town. Beware: there are a LOT of big, stone steps, up and down the hill. It's not easy to get around with bags, but it's not that big of a deal if you're in any kind of decent shape. The only other thing was that the clothes dryer did not work while we were there, and the apartment was cold and humid (it was raining the entire time we were there except for one day) so our clothes took a few days to dry hanging in the kitchen. You just need to plan accordingly. There is a heater that you can move from room to room, and Joao kindly made a separate trip and brought us wood so we could burn it in the little fireplace, which made it very cozy. The apartment was very clean, had everything we needed, and we would definitely stay there again. Thank you to Joao for everything!