Our month in Lisbon was immeasurably enhanced by the fact that our apartment was perfectly located for people like us, who want to explore a new city on foot and by public transit.
We found the apartment's amenities and layout also suited us very well, with two bedrooms (one of which we used for our away-from-home office), excellent Internet connectivity, well-equipped kitchen, and spacious (by European inner-city standards) bathroom.
Our hostess, Helena, has done a lovely job of outfitting and furnishing it, and we appreciated the time she took when we arrived to make sure we were comfortable and oriented to the unit, the building, and the neighborhood. She went out of her way to understand our interests and make sure we had good access to local information.
If you visit Lisbon, be prepared to spend a lot of time climbing and descending hills on cobblestone streets, some fairly steep, and bring your walking shoes. This apartment is no exception: as soon as you're out of the building, you're going either uphill or down.
But either way, within no more than five minutes you will find yourself among supermarkets, metro stops, coffee shops, pleasant little people-watching bars, or pastry shops. Seemingly hundreds of pastry shops, I should add. Do 2 million Lisbon residents actually eat all that pastry?
Within ten minutes you can be at one of several major plazas, in the twisted lanes of the Alfama, or on a trolley, or at one of two major viewpoints overlooking the city and river. In no more than ten minutes you can be at one of two major metro stations and only a short ride away from museums and points of interest all over the city.
Within twenty minutes, you can be at the Castle, or at the waterfront enjoying the tourist scene, or at the Santa Appolonia train station (for your overnight trip to Porto) or the Rossio train station (for your day trip to Cintra), or shopping in the heart of the tourist district.
We never had a restaurant meal near the apartment that wasn't at least excellent, and some were outstanding. The neighborhood is safe and quiet, with parking available (although we didn't have a car). The building dates from the 1950s and is secure, with good mechanical systems, and our neighbors were friendly. There is an adjacent garden that is unfortunately overgrown, but it has grapevines and citrus trees, and cats and birds, and we got a lot of pleasure from seeing it out our window every morning.
We highly recommend this apartment.