We have mixed feelings about our stay in Fran's place.

In the initial communication, Fran was very helpful when he suggested a train station closer to his apartment.

Before my boyfriend and me booked our train tickets, we asked Fran what arrival time he preferred. He asked us to take the morning train; a couple days later Fran asked us if we could take a later train instead, but we had already booked and told him so. When we arrived as scheduled, nobody answered the door. We tried to contact Fran, to no avail. After waiting in the streets for one hour, we had just started to look into contacting Airbnb when Fran sent a message and his housekeeper Daiane let us in. Altogether not a great first impression.

Once we were inside, we could enjoy the room which is just as beautiful in reality as it looks in the pictures. The two clean bathrooms are shared with the guests in the other two rented rooms and there's a nice kitchen with a small balcony.

Fran had prepared a comprehensive personal tourist guide with his favorite places which was very helpful. Unfortunately we didn't meet Fran during our stay. Altogether everything (except for the check-in) went smooth and professional. In a sense this was great but we would have preferred a more personal, less polished look into a local's life over a more hotel-like flair.

Depending on what you look for in an Airbnb apartment, this apartment could be "meh" or it could be perfect.