I have been struggling with how to write an accurate review after an unexpected end to my stay at this apartment. The apartment itself is really great with lots of light and very clean. It’s located in a very central location and would be good for a short tourist stay. To get there you have to climb a lot of stairs, but the payoff is a good view of the city from your room.

Mariana was kind enough to check me in around 2 AM when my flight was delayed and there was a bus strike at the airport. She also helped me get a gym subscription and gave me suggestions on where to go see fado. I’m sad that things didn’t go better because I think she’s a cool, generous person most of the time.
That said, I feel that I should share the more negative side to my experience as well. I had rented a room for a month in Mariana’s apartment, but this was ultimately cut short by two weeks after she came home from a night out and found that I had accidentally locked her out. It was a simple misunderstanding - she had set her laundry to start on a timer that went on after we had both left for the night. When I came home and heard it on, I thought she was home and must have closed the door latch.
When she came home around 1 AM, I woke from a deep sleep to the sound of a doorbell and knocking. When I let her in, I was still trying to figure out why she was on the other side of the door and what was going one with the lock. Mariana seemed to take this confusion and a delayed response on my part as a something malicious and she got really upset, ultimately yelling at me that she wanted me out the next day.
Before this happened I had kept to myself a lot when I was home - partly because I’m in town working on a book and partly because I wanted to keep good boundaries while sharing a living space. But this was something Mariana also took offense to and mentioned in her rant.
All in all, I get the sense that maybe there are some other life stressors behind her reactions, or it could just be cultural differences that made us incompatible. I would guess that it was probably a one-off experience and that the apartment would be fine for a short stay. I would recommend if you stay here to bring earplugs because the laundry machine usually starts around 10 PM and Mariana makes business calls in her office, which is right next to the room, as late as midnight.