Villa Maria

The sea was clean and lovely for swimming, and the place was close to the center without being noisy. We also found the nearby restaurant very affordable, with generous portions for the price. The apartment setup was frustrating, though. Power ran through a card at the entrance, so the fridge, AC, chargers and other things switched off whenever we went out. The bathroom had no shelf at all for toiletries, which was impractical for six people. The garden was roomy, well kept and had a small playground, but the owner often told the children to keep quiet and banned ball games. It didn't feel very child-friendly. The biggest problem was the air conditioning. It was only in the bedrooms, not the common area where people also slept, and sensors on the windows and doors shut it off as soon as one was opened. If someone in the living room opened the balcony door because it was hot, the bedroom AC stopped too. At night it was unbearably hot and stuffy, and we couldn't use the AC properly. The balcony doors had no outside handle, so once you stepped out you couldn't close them and the AC went off again. We couldn't all use the balcony together; someone had to stay inside to shut the door. We hardly used the air conditioning, even though we really needed it. Removing the sensor from the living room balcony door would be a simple fix, since there isn't AC in that room anyway. The closest beach, about 100 m away, wasn't appealing. Getting into the water meant dealing with lots of big black stones, bricks and sea urchins, which felt unsafe and unpleasant. Beaches nearer the center were also not great, but entering the water was easier, without the stones and urchins. They were crowded with paid sunbeds, though.