Mario is a wonderful host! I cannot stress that enough. He continually checked in during the week to see if we were OK, especially since they were protests in the city during our visit. His apartment is sparkling clean, and truly is in the heart of Barcelona. It is a residential area, which means there were lots of local cafés serving authentic tapas at reasonable prices. It was about a 20 minute walk in any given direction to one of the popular tourist locations , however the metro was right outside the door and easy to figure out, not to mention very inexpensive. Mario gave some great recommendations for restaurants which did not disappoint. This apartment was a great value.