Villa Cristina

The apartment had been renovated and was clean, but there were a number of problems. We stayed in ground-floor apartment 2 at the end of September. The inventory was sparse, with no chopping board or decent knife, so we had to buy those ourselves. The air conditioning smelled really musty. The mattresses seemed cheap and were much too soft. I had back pain after just two days. The TV had no German channels, which feels outdated to me. We sometimes wanted to listen to or watch something in the evening, especially since it was often very cold outside during our stay, and we missed having that option. We contacted the agency, who said maybe only a few channels worked. My husband is very good with technology, but we searched the channel lists several times and couldn't find any. The beach is a 10-minute walk away, and there's a very busy road right outside the door.

The apartment has been nicely renovated. The kitchen has a big fridge and freezer, a four-burner stove with a hood, and a Whirlpool microwave. There's a new sofa bed with two separate beds that's easy enough to handle. The bathroom has roomy cabinets, shelves, towel racks, a shower that doesn't leak, a shower gel dispenser, and enough very hot water for five showers in a row. The beds have slatted frames and new mattresses, perhaps a little firm, but they don't sag. The new windows and shutters are fully soundproof, with blackout blinds. There's a large terrace with chairs and a big table, always in the shade. The air conditioning works well, though it may be a bit undersized for the apartment. The location has drawbacks. It's near the road, so it can be noisy at night with the windows open, especially around dawn when street cleaning and garbage collection happen. The beach is a bit far, but still walkable. One suggestion: add more kitchen equipment. There were five of us but only five glasses and one 22 cm pan, which was far too small. A cupboard in the main bedroom would also help, as there are three beds but only one chest of drawers.