This is a beautiful apartment, close enough to the center of Athens to be very convenient and far enough away to be more or less devoid of (other) tourists. The terrace is a delight, and the views great. Rita was there to welcome us on arrival and to show us around the apartment (which is beautifully presented) and tell us what was available locally. She was also very responsive to communications, and helped us arrange a taxi to Piraeus for the day of our departure.
There were a couple of things that detracted from our enjoyment of the apartment: First, despite the double glazing and using earplugs, the noise (especially on our last night, a Friday) from all the local bars in this lively neighbourhood made it impossible to sleep. Also, the lift, which is right next to the apartment, kept going all night. Even though Rita tells us that the law says we should not make any noise between midnight and 8am, the bars kept it up till at least 4:30am. OK, that’s Greece. The second detraction was that we wondered if Rita had had bad experiences with previous guests, as her listing and house rules are full of warnings about how this is her house when not rented, how concerned she is about it, how much the electricity costs, how we should keep it clean, that it’s not a hotel, etc. When we arrived, we were shown how to turn the hot water off when we were not there, shown how the previous guests had broken the toilet, and so on. We were left somewhat with the feeling that we really shouldn’t be there and that we had to be very careful all the time, rather than “mi casa es su casa”. Rita also knocked on our door the morning after we arrived (she stays in the next apartment when letting hers), saying she needed to check a measurement of something. Normally, that would be fine, but given all the other warnings, we were not sure if this wasn’t really an excuse to check up on us and how we were treating her apartment. Anyway, our experience seems to be at odds with others’ reviews, so we can only presume that there have unfortunately been some bad experiences since those were written, and that future guests look after the place in a way that allows everyone to relax.