Marianella’s cottage is spacious and stylish. The kitchen is very well appointed, with an induction hob and plenty of equipment, and we loved eating meals out on the terrace (which in mid-September got the sun from 11am until 7pm).
We loved the neighbourhood. It felt more like Latin America than Europe, with locals’ living rooms spilling out on to the pavement in the evenings, brass bands practicing in the streets, and artists staging events in abandoned buildings. There are really great restaurants nearby (Casa Montaña and Casa Guillermo were first class), and Marianella provides a very helpful list of recommendations. The Whatsapp group set up for each guest is a great way to ask for extra tips, and we really appreciated it.
Although the apartment was very clean, there was an intermittent smell of bad drains coming from the bathroom sink. And the air conditioning unit in the bedroom smelled too much like mould to use (although that could well have been due to the torrential rains a week before we arrived). But that’s probably the price you pay for staying in a lovely old house in an historic neighbourhood.
PS. On arrival, it’s not clear which front door leads to the upstairs flat - it’s the righthand one as you look at it.