If Airbnb allowed for half stars, I'd round up Despina's place to 3.5 stars. It isn't a terrible place by any stretch, but we definitely didn't love it.
First the good. The location is really great, especially if you enjoy walking. The Acropolis, Athenian Agora, and so forth are all about a thirty to thirty-five minute walk, which I enjoyed.
Exarcheia isn't your typical tourist neighborhood and we really only wound up here by accident. When I first read the neighborhood was the Anarchist's District and "gritty" I was a little concerned. But we've been traveling full time for four and half years now and know a lot of tourists get scared of places too easily.
Don't be scared of Exarcheia. It's an interesting and fascinating neighborhood with a lot of great restaurants, coffee shops, cafes and an amazing farmer's market every Saturday. And Despina's place is right at the heart of it.
The best part of the apartment is the main room with two big windows that you can right out onto the orange trees on either side of the apartment. It was really lovely in spring.
The main downside of Despina's place is that it doesn't feel like the pics accurately represent how the apartment is. I wish the front room had been arranged the way it was in the photos as that looked more comfortable, brighter, and less cluttered than how it was arranged for us. (This is a very common problem on Airbnb still were pictures are cleaned up to look better than reality.)
The bed wasn't very comfortable and is pretty small for two people, especially if either of you is especially tall. I'm 185 cm and 70 kilos and it wasn't a great fit. The pillows also weren't great and in fact we bought a couple of cheap pillows that were more comfortable.
The problem with the bathroom is that the shower head is positioned not at either end of the tub but right in the middle. That's very awkward positioning and made it feel like would be very easy to fall while turning around.
The kitchen was okay but could be better well stocked with things like a whisk or or mixing spoon.
We always rate and write reviews based on the value we feel we got for our money. If we had paid less for Despina's place, I wouldn't be mentioning these issues. But given what we paid for a month long visit -- and what the pictures looked like -- we didn't get the value we expected.