Location is the key and this apartment opens us up to the old Athens before we even notice it. We spent one week in the apartment and managed to visit all major attractions in the city on foot. The area is quiet and safe, yet only a few minutes from the main high street full of high end shops, Syntagma square and Plaka’s little alleyways. A walk from the apartment to the top of Lycabettus hill, all on foot, took us no more than half an hour in the early morning. Although we did not experience the public transport in Athens, we enjoyed our daily excursions to see life in Athens and a five-star taxi service that Stella and her husband arranged for us from the airport to the apartment and from the apartment to a port for a day cruise trip.
There are numerous all cafes, bar, tavernas and restaurants around the apartment, from modest looking ones to high end and trendy places. A good quality restaurant is one street away, cooked by family so genuinely authentic. A souvlaki shop where one expects to queue at the door for half an hour at lunch time is also a couple of minutes away from the apartment; absolutely scrumptious and at a fraction of a KFC/McDonald’s bucket on the high street (two minutes away from here). We were spoiled for choice in the surrounding area of the apartment.
The apartment itself has everything we need for our entire week in Athens. Mattresses are of high quality, not many apartments we have stayed on Airbnb had that. We are a family of three so only used two out of three bedrooms in the apartment, there are more beds than we need, and plenty of space for our luggage and belongings. The front rooms can have noises from a bar downstairs, in the opposite building, in the evening but since we were tired out by daily excursions in Athens, we were not bothered and the two bedrooms at the back were in absolute tranquility, making it hard to get up early in the morning.
Kitchen is sufficient for cooking but we only used it to make a drink, simply because of the many good places to eat in Athens. The washing machine is very helpful given our stay wasn’t short and there’s a drying horse to dry the laundry so we didn’t feel we missed anything while away from home, even toiletries and washing tablets or liquid.
Both Stella and her husband are warm, welcoming and professional. Whatever we asked, we had a prompt and helpful answer. We did not plan but somehow had a day cruise ship from Athens to Hydra, Poros and Aegina on a beautiful sunny day at the same price as many travel shops in Athens advertised except that we did not have to arrange transport to the port, all thanks to Stella and her husband who helped us arrange the cruise tickets and taxi service for pick up and drop off, all inclusive. That, for us, is a bonus of having a true Athenian host who knows their city and people so well.
All in all, we were pleased to have found and stayed in the apartment and will definitely stay here again when we are next in Athens.