Absolutely superb stay, and quite possibly my favourite Airbnb experience so far in over 3 years and over 20 stays throughout Europe, USA, Korea & Japan.
Firstly, Sergio is the perfect host, and truly deserves Superhost status. He welcomed us upon arrival with a glass of Madeira wine and Portuguese snacks, a tour of the fantastic apartment (more of which later) and a run-through of his exclusive new 70-page guidebook to Lisbon. We bumped into him later at a cafe and met him again at the end of the stay: it felt like meeting an old friend. We would love to stay at Sergio's apartment again in future and really wish him all the best for his Airbnb-ing: first-class service and this really is how it should be done.
Sergio's guidebook is professional quality: detailing a huge number of places to see, and all the best places to eat & drink in the local area and all throughout Lisbon. I don't usually read guidebooks (Lonely Planet etc.) since they mostly include typical tourist traps, are about 3 years behind, and tend to destroy any unique interesting places by the sheer number of tourists that they direct there. Sergio has written the guidebook with his own personal recommendations (he has great taste) and it's an opinionated guide through the eyes of a local who loves his city. It allowed us to live, eat & drink like locals for a few days, and we now love Lisbon. It's a really great city.
Sergio's apartment is brand new - I think we were the first guests. He has decorated the apt with great taste, and the fixtures and fittings are top quality. It is very clean, quiet, spacious and has good ventilation and AC. The apt building is on fairly quiet street in Principe Real, which is my new favourite area in the city: it's quiet, relaxed, residential but has lots of parks, restaurants, cafes & bars. The area is also very easy walking distance to Bairro Alto, Chiado, Cais de Sodre etc for food, drink, fashion, and is close to Alfama, Castelo, Baixa etc for traditional sightseeing. Easy walking to the train stations too: Cais de Sodre for Belem, and Rossio for Sintra.
All in all, a brilliant stay. Thank you Sergio, we'll hopefully see you again.