The apartment that we thought we had booked had in fact been booked by us on Airbnb and another couple on Booking.com. They got there first so had the apartment. We were “lucky” because the landlady had two rooms available for my wife and I which she prepared but clearly it was not what we expected and had paid for. She tells us we are going to be credited with half of the cost for the apartment which seems fair.
Frankly the systems of Airbnb and Booking.com need to be improved so this does not happen again.
Either way the landlady did rescue the situation as best she could - so many thanks to her.