MarLu's terrace

Lovely private terrace. Quiet location

The location and view from the terrace is great. Unfortunately we had a terrible experience. Passports are required to be shown at arrival, not a problem. Host was out of town. Getting into the unit alone was easy. She text me before hand, gave good instructions but didn’t mention passports. Second day, I get texts from a new number saying it is the host and they need pictures of passports, red flag. Seemed like a scam. Number called me but no voicemail, odd, I had already talked to the host on the phone. Voicemail would have been proof. Two days later, fiancée was about to shower and I was changing. Before I get dressed a man, NOT the host, unlocks the door and steps in. It is a studio, 1 small room, bed 6 feet from entrance. No knock and he did not ask to enter. Asked who he was while I got dressed. He couldn’t communicate with me but said he was there to clean. I was NEVER told prior to the rental of a cleaning service and didn’t need it. I told him to come back after the rental was over. 10 minutes later he came back, said he needed to take pics of our passports. I said no, closed the door. We packed and left immediately even with four days left. He was waiting at the bottom of the stairs when we left. The host didn’t reach out until I text them first about it. They did try to reach out on VRBO on day 2 for the pics. The fact he showed up, did not knock, had his own key, let himself in and also wanted pictures of our passports was beyond unacceptable. We felt unsafe.

Maria Lucia is very welcoming and friendly. She made sure our apartment was ready for our arrival. She helped us with local information. She even surprised us with local grapes and Sicilian peaches. Perfect!

Our hostess, Maria Lucia, was friendly and super responsive to any questions we had before the trip. We had an issue with our daughter’s passport and asked to change our dates which she did immediately. She net us at the door and explained everything in the apartment and gave is directions into the center. The centro is less than 5 mins away by walk and the bus to Castelmola stops right in front of the apartment. There is a balcony with a view to the sea and we had a wonderful time late evening with our drinks. I would recommend this apartment for 2 people, it was a bit cramped for the 3 of us - but not too badly. There is a tiny kitchen and fridge as well.