We spent 3 months in this apartment. It is very well situated near the beach and most attractions in Barcelona are easily reached. The apartment is well equipped for mid term stays; if the apartment doesn't have something, Peter will happily supply it for you. Apart from needing some new paint especially where it has been peeling from damp in the corner by the sofa, the apartment is generally in good condition.
Although the apartment is in a typically narrow street, the apartments opposite are bricked and boarded up, which makes it private, but on the other hand, it creates a feeling of desolation in this fairly run down area of Barcelona. We found out that there is a political agenda against the gentrification of the area as this pushes prices up for long term renters. While the street is relatively quiet as it is a dead end, the walls in the building are very thin, so it is only as quiet as your neighbours choose to be. The tenants in the building come and go at all hours, not usually quietly! With no lift and a very narrow stairwell, others are going up and down the stairs right outside the apartment door, which isn't sound proofed. Peter knows all the owners and will ring the landlords of any excessively noisy tenants and he suggested ringing the police if tenants had parties late at night, but often they didn't have loud music, it was just the sound of a crowd of people all laughing and talking over each other in a confined space late at night, in a building with no sound proofing. It would be easier to count the nights when we were able to sleep, than those when we lay awake waiting for people's guests to leave, loudly talking and stumbling past our door, in the small hours of the morning. We also had neighbours who often yelled at each other late at night whereas other couples in the apartments got on very well and we heard all the sounds that go along with that too! The person in the apartment above ours worked evenings and often vacuumed when she got home around midnight.
None of the apartments in the building are owner occupied, which means none of the occupants have a vested or personal interest in the property, which is evident. It seems that the minimum maintenance has been done in some of the apartments which had doors that required slamming to close properly, echoing through the whole building. Fortunately Peter's apartment has a new door with a triple lock linked to an alarm system, which is necessary, as our neighbours had their door smashed in and all their money and belongings taken and our other neighbours saw someone trying to break into apartments in the building on 3 different occasions while there was scaffolding up.
We had the misfortune of staying there when the roof was being repaired and stairwell was being replastered and painted, the banging and drilling out of the old materials went on from 8am until after 5pm. The workers even drilled right through the hall wall causing plaster and debris to fall into the apartment. I am used to city noise (I have lived in apartments in many of the world's largest cities), but it seemed there was never any peace in this apartment, day or night. Having work done meant that the already very narrow stairs had cement bags and worker's materials left on the small landings. When the workers finally finished the week before we left, they started drilling through the wall in the building beside us!
We had an unpleasant experience of almost being evicted from the apartment by the police who told us the apartment was rented illegally and that Peter had been sent a letter several months earlier to say he had to close the apartment. They went so far as to try to drill the lock out! However, Peter managed to sort it out so we could stay. AirBnB were contacted when this happened as we couldn't contact Peter at the time, but they did not help us at all. When they finally responded by email, 8 days after my initial contact (and only after I queried why I hadn't heard from them), they said that they returned my call on the number on file, even though I had made a point of saying that it was my home number on file and I had given them my number in Spain when I first called them. Even then, they had not bothered to follow through with an email. Their claim of "24/7 support" mentioned as part their fee costs, is a nonsense! Just trying to contact them is difficult enough and their follow up is abysmal.
The apartment would probably be more suited to younger people who like the night life or work late, rather than those who have to go to work each morning. Peter is a nice host and he will do what he can to make your stay pleasant. He is very trusting and operates a lock and leave policy, so we didn't get to properly say good bye. I apologise if he is offended by the negative aspects of this review but there seems little point in writing a review that is less than honest. The is a review of our experience in the apartment, not of the owner. I am sure that readers will take what they want from each review and make a decision based on their own requirements. Peter has apartments elsewhere in Barcelona so if you don't have to/wish to stay in Barceloneta (as we did) then he may still be able to accommodate you.