This is a compact apartment within a larger house in an attractive and quiet street near the centre of Mestre. The bus service to the centre of Venice is quick, regular and reasonably priced. With Venice being such a busy tourist city we enjoyed being able to return to the relative calm of Mestre after a day's sightseeing.

We were welcomed warmly at the airport by Mara's sister who took us to the apartment and showed us around the neighbourhood (bus stop, supermarket, recycling bank etc.). She also left us a bottle of home made wine (which was delicious) and a bowl of fruit, which we appreciated.

The apartment is basic but, for a sightseeing holiday when you don't spend that much time in the apartment, it was fine. The bedroom is comfortable and has an en suite bathroom, the kitchen is small but has a fair range of cooking implements, and there is a small room with sofa and TV. Being part of a house, residents of the apartment are requested to keep the noise down at certain times of the day - which is fair enough -but unfortunately we could hear a lot of noise from the people in the next apartment, often very early in the morning and late in the evening.

Mara was always quick to respond to enquiries before and during our stay and we found this very helpful.