A fully transparent review.
Arriving at Silvia’s place was great; with a great check-in by her partner.
Belem is a good neighbourhood with great walking by the Tagus.
Otherwise the apartment was clean, has great views, quiet neighbours, and has great bus routes for heading into town.
Missing a few mod cons but there are workarounds and AC isn’t required (in May).
THE major issue is that the apartment bathroom and building hallway do have a sewer smell for my month stay.
Silvia was alerted and recommended bleach, which needs to be used multiple times a day. Sprays and scented oils in the apartment don’t help. The hallway is bad enough that food delivery people comment on the bad smell.
Also note if you like quiet mornings or sleeping in, construction right next door starts at 8am till 5/6pm but a quiet break at lunch. The windows do well to muffle sounds, but you know, jackhammers. That said, construction is a part of life in any major city and out of the hosts control.
At the end of the day bringing up that the smell was an inconvenience to deal with for a month and requesting the service fee as compensation made Silvia belligerent, combative and ultimately some rude uncalled for comment that was disrespectful on so many levels.
Lisboa is beautiful with lots of great places and people. I hope to be back again, but will pick a place with a more gracious host and zero agro.