Our stay in Marcos’s flat had some positive but as well some negative points, so let’s start with the positive experience first.
As you can see from the pictures the flat is stylish, very artsy and the furniture is old but nice. There is a great collection of paintings (mostly painted by Joanna and Marcos), art books (unfortunately mostly in Spanish), great jazz music CD’s and the children’s room has nice toys and books (unfortunately mostly in Spanish). The kitchen was equipped with everything necessary and everything was very clean and easy to use. The bed in the bedroom is unfortunately not that comfortable, especially for taller people but in general it was fine. Marcos and Joanna live in the flat below so that the communication and check in experience was easy & great, we mostly communicate with Joanna and she was very responsive and helpful, she gave us some great sightseeing tips and websites. The flat is in the heart of the Ruzafa district surrounded by bars, restaurants and markets (Ruzafa market, various supermarkets, bakeries, etc..), it is in walking distance to the city center and the Nord station therefore regarding location it was really perfect.
Regarding the negative experience, since Ruzafa is a very lively district and the flat is surrounded by all those bars and restaurants it can be very noisy, the flat is on the 4th floor (narrow staircase without elevator) but you can still hear every sound coming from the streets since the walls are very thin and you can hear all the neighbors (especially in the evening and night) pretty clear as well. Since the walls (even the exterior walls) are seriously very thin and without isolation the apartment gets very cold, especially during the colder days and you should be aware that there is no real heating available. The options provided by Joanna were not really helping that much as the apartment was and is very, very cold. One other thing to note is that the bathroom is as well constantly freezing cold (at least in December) and the toilet is very badly placed so that it is not really easy or comfortable to use, especially for taller people.
In general I would say that as hosts Marcos and Joanna are great, the apartment is in a great location but due to some negative points mentioned above it is not optimal for a family or someone that is looking for a comfortable stay even during some colder days in Valencia.