Hotel Maria de la Luz

Ate there breakfast one day when our local choice was closed - OK. Bed was a king-size - too big for our taste, but much better for space in the room than the 'standard' two doubles. We could see through the windows of made up but unoccupied rooms, and I have stayed there 5 - 6 times in the past 4 - 5 years - I really like the location. The two doubles have a few inches between them and NO space along the other side, so if two people are in one bed someone is climbing over the other to get to the bathroom in the night.

The freakin' elevator again!!! We were there largely because they have an elevator!!! They turned it on for us to get our luggage upstairs when we arrived [then off again?]. Worked on the first day last year as well, and then NOT for the rest of the week, so I carried our bicycles up and down the stairs. Not a problem - I was healthy, I was strong, I was only 70...And Sue [traveling partner] had not fallen and damaged her ankle and knees as she did a couple of weeks before we got there this year... This year she has a new electric-assist bike - wonderful on the road, but heavy. With forewarning, and standing around and waiting, I think that we got the elevator working every time we needed to move the bikes. We got home after dinner, late-ish [10 - 11] one evening [maybe Sun after being out to the ruinas]. Sue's legs were NOT up to climbing the stairs. [One can bicycle and not be good on stairs - different muscle and joint usage according to my 50 years' experience in orthopaedics]. Desk guy was sitting on bench in lobby with his phone. He refused to turn on the elevator, telling us that it would be back in service at 0700. I didn't ask him to carry her - maybe I should have. The next day the young guy at the desk told us that on the weekend, when the bar is open upstairs, they turn the elevator off to stop the drunks from using it! What a good idea!!! Send them down three flights of stairs instead of riding the elevator! WiFi was a problem! Previously I think that it worked ok - this time only out on the terasa - really non-functional in the room. We had a small bottle of rum in the fridge. Level in bottle went from top of the label to bottom of the label without either of us drinking it...Two years ago one of the cleaning guys came in about 0900, before I was getting off to event for 10, and told me that one of the types of beer I had in the fridge was 'his favourite', so I gave him one. A few minutes later, he was back to tell me that the other kind I had was also his favourite, He didn't get a second... My thought is that I will be finding somewhere else to stay in downtown Valladolid next time I go back.

The pool area is really cute and has a Hotel California viba straight out of the Eagles song. The restaurant is decent, the cocktails good and cheap. Also the location couldn't be more conveniently downtown and yet not too noisy.

The rooms are as basic as it gets. But with a rate this cheap I guess there isn't much to complain about. Somehow they switched the Wifi for the restaurant off during the night and the night watch at the reception didn't have a clue how to set up or explain how the hotel Wifi works during the night.