The upsides:
Alex as a host definitely deserves 5 stars. He was very accommodating, quick responses, friendly, helpful, gave us local tips.
The apartment itself was very clean and had all the basic amenities. There were a handful of good restaurants right near by and almost everything else we wanted to do was within a 10-20 minute walk.
The downsides to the apartment:
1. The apartment itself felt safe but the ally it was on didn’t feel as safe as I would have liked. We were told to only walk one way when coming to and from the apartment and when we did walk the other way we were stopped by police to tell us to be careful. For reference, we are three women who don’t speak the language well- I may have been more comfortable with a man with us or if I was fluent.
2. The walls were very thin. It was often difficult to sleep at night because of the noise in the apartments around.
3. No real natural light. Only one window that fully opened to the outdoors and no balcony.