Carla is a lovely, charming lady but the house, which though cleverly designed and tastefully decorated, is claustrophic to the extreme, dark and windowless and totally lacking in any privacy as it is open plan - even the bathroom has only a curtain at the door. Unfortunately, I found it a huge challenge to get through 7 nights in a windowless, airless and often dank and slightly smelly bedroom. I cannot imagine how it would be to sleep in the "mezzanine" upstairs bedroom which is a very confined space. There is also no storage other than 3 hangers on a couple of branches - attractive but not practicable. The kitchen is well equipped with a good sized dining table.
As far as the exterior is concerned, please be aware that the constant roaring noise of the traffic outside causes the house to shake: buses and large lorries pass by every few minutes throughout the day and night and there is also the noise of the trains on the other side of the house to contend with. The very small garden is unkempt - grass is overgrown and plants are either dead or dying; the lights in the garden shown on the website did not work, nor was there any sign of a hammock. Forget, too, any ideas of a relaxing morning coffee in the garden as this simply wouldn't work in this noisy, polluted environment. There are some very authentic and often busy cafes dotted along the long and dingy road where you can get coffee at a very reasonable price! The neighbourhood is made up almost entirely of pensioners who regularly fill the cafes with their noisy chatter.
The walk to the Ribeiro was a good 40-50 minutes though you could easily take one of the many buses which would take only around 10-15 minutes and would avoid the very unattractive trek down to the river. I'm afraid I was very disappointed by my stay in Gaia and, as a result, would never return to Porto.