Four women stayed here and we loved Charles' apartment which was as described on the listing. We appreciate Charles' prompt replies to emails and ongoing text/email contacts prior to and during our stay. One concern re: not staying in a hotel is that if a problem arises, there would be no one local to assist, but with Charles as the host, this worry was eliminated.

We have no complaints whatsoever about our stay. The location was convenient to everywhere we wanted to go and it generally took us about 15 - 20 minutes to walk to shopping areas, restaurants, the Sagrada Familia, and a little longer to the beach.(for the latter, we suggest walking down Passeig Sant Joan, through the park - very beautiful)

Sheila greeted us and we recommend taking a few minutes to have her explain the basics i.e.. how to open the windows. lock the doors, use the air conditioner/heat, dishwasher, washing machine, and elevator. The wifi codes are self explanatory and the signal was great.

Some things you might want to think about to make your stay a little more comfortable would be to bring bars of soap or shower gel (there is liquid hand soap in the bathrooms), a facecloth (not usual in Europe), adaptors for your electronics, and ear plugs if you are a light sleeper - there was no noise from other apartments, but there was outside traffic noise throughout the night.

There were a number of supermarkets nearby which were like convenience stores, and there you could purchase basics like milk, juice, bread, etc. We went to a grocery store on La Rambla (Carrefour Market) to purchase these things as it was less expensive and with 4 of us, no one had a heavy load to lug back.

We didn't use public transportation as we walked everywhere, although my sister and I took a 35 minute train ride to Sitges, a nearby beach town. We took the train from the Passeig de Gracia metro station and that was less than a 10 minute walk away (trains run about every 15 minutes or so) - well worth doing.

The kitchen was well set up with lots of dishes, utensils, and pots and pans. We didn't cook there as we just prepared breakfast and ate out the rest of the time, but there was a kettle for hot water, and a device for making coffee. There was a supply of coffee, tea, as well as dish and laundry detergent.

We have nothing but good things to say, and we highly recommend Charles' excellent apartment. If Charles had apartments elsewhere in the world, we wouldn't hesitate to stay. He could not have been a more responsive and gracious host.