This is a beautiful apartment, with luxuriously large rooms with high ceilings, and a living room with lots of morning sun, perfect for opening the doors to the plaza below. The furnishings are minimalist but carefully and tastefully chosen, and the bed is very comfortable, as is the lovely long sofa (joy oh joy, as sofas are so often pretty crummy in holiday apartments). Despite the liveliness of the area in the evening, the apartment is amazingly quiet with excellent double glazing.
We loved staying in La Latina, full of local life, cafes and restaurants, and lots of plazas (our favourite was Plaza Paja, 1 minutes walk). You can walk pretty well anywhere within central Madrid within 20 mins or so, and we used the nearby metro a couple of times to take us directly to the Chueca area and the Sorolla Museum beyond.
We have no special warnings for future guests, except to note again the 28 steps up to the first floor (7 steep steps to start, the rest are a breeze), that there is no washing machine, and no air conditioning (it is however a very cool apartment and we had a few 32 degree days).
Alvaro was both very nice and very reliable, and welcomed us with a warm loaf of bread from a great sourdough bakery....you turn right down Calle de San Francisco, and it’s a couple of minutes walk on the right, next to a terrific cheese shop, then a very good small supermarket. Flower stands and large supermarkets are in Tirso de Molina plaza (the kitchen is set up for warming and assembling meals rather than more serious cooking, so you won’t really need larger supermarkets). Thanks so much Alvaro, we had a wonderful week enjoying all the pleasures of Madrid.