This apartment is a gem, and soooo much nicer than a bland hotel room!

- It's in a lovely old building (19th century?)
- It's amazingly spacious, though the living room manages to also feel cozy.
- We loved the wooden floor and the antique pieces of furniture, and the personal touches like the old photos on the wall
- In the twin room, 1 bed is larger and firmer than the other, so you have a choice
- Bathroom is showing its age in places but is huge, and the large bath was bliss :)
- Kitchen-diner is positively cavernous, and has everything you need (eg oven, gas hob, huge fridge-freezer, coffee machine, dishwasher). There was milk, orange juice and chilled water in the fridge, and a packet of melba toast (I think, not an expert!) and small packets of jam - lovely welcoming touches.
- Everything was very clean
- 1 large roof terrace at the front, a smaller one at the back. Both have pots but the smaller one in particular has a wonderful garden feel to it, with oranges and pelargoniums, plus it has a fantastic view of the Acropolis. You can watch it light up in the evening from your outdoor sofa :D
- It's on the top floor (of 4), which gets you away from street-level noise (22 marble steps per floor, if you're interested)
- There is a small lift (it fits inside the square-spiral staircase), which is also antique, though with a newer mechanism. It has inner wooden doors and an outer metal one, just like the ones you see in period dramas on TV :) It's big enough for 2, or luggage
- It's in the Plaka district – one of the nicest and most upmarket areas in Athens (if not THE nicest, I'm not an expert!), full of "pedestrianised" (watch out for scooters!) streets lined with tavernas and shops (check out Google street view to see what it's like)
- It is however not on a pedestrianised street, so you don't have the taverna/shop/busker/tourist noise at night (shops are generally open late, some till midnight, tavernas can be open even later) It's on a narrow back road, <200m from a major artery road yet amazingly quiet at night (only the living room fronts the road anyway). The only traffic I heard in 4 nights was 1 scooter. Lots of church bells, especially on Sunday, but I expect you get that everywhere in the city – there are a lot of churches!
- It's extremely well placed for all the major attractions – all within a short walking distance, eg Temple of Olympeion Zeus, Syndagma Sq (good public transport links there too, eg direct line from metro to airport), national gardens: 0.5km or less, Acropolis, ancient agora, Roman forum, Hadrian's library: ~1km, top of Pnyx/Filopappou hills: just opposite the Acropolis so slightly more than 1km, even Mt Lycabettus is only ~2.5km, and you can walk through the gardens for a good chunk of the route

As well as a huge number of eateries and tourist shops from literally just around the corner, there are also basics like bakery, fishmonger, supermarket, butcher, not far away, plus the swanky shopping street of Ermou (some fab cake shops here!) Our favourite eatery was Ydria, on the corner of Adrianou and Aiolou next to Hadrian's library. Matreshka, round the corner from the apartment on Stadiou street, was good for snacks (croissant, pastries, greek salad etc). Just south of the apartment was a travel shop where a couple of older gentlement took pity on me as I was standing around for ~1 hr waiting for everyone else to arrive, and offered me a seat and some Greek coffee, what hospitality! And just down Kidathineon (first pedestrianised street round the corner) we heard another couple of gentlemen sing some beautiful Greek songs while playing the guitar and what I'm guessing was a bouzouki or mandolin, the best music by far we heard in all our Greek trip.

We dealt with Marika, one of the owners, who we also met briefly in Athens, and her assistant Ruth, who showed us around the apartment. They were both lovely and helpful, eg they allowed us to leave our luggage in the apartment after check-out until the afternoon, while Ruth prepared the apartment for the next guests. This was very much appreciated as it enabled us to visit the Acropolis museum (another must see, the modern architecture is as stunning as the artefacts within) before our evening flight. Communication was quick and helpful :)

And, even though there were only 3 of us and we didn't fill the apartment, it still worked out cheaper than a hotel.

I also recommend Welcome Pickups taxi service to/from the airport. They were brilliant, and even provided bottles of water, maps and bags when we arrived :)