Perfect Madrid

I’ve been living the last seven or so months in the Center of the city, mere steps away from Gran Via between Plaza Calloa and Cibeles.  It’s a great neighborhood being well-connected to all the mass transport and within walking distance to almost all of the better known tourist areas of Madrid.  But it does have its downsides.  It is very crowded and as the summer months have worn on, some of the sleazier streets near my home have become rich in the odor of urine and the number prostitutes have grown like wild flowers.  It is also not the best neighborhood to have a dog.  My globe trotting fellow has gotten into the terrible habit of spending most of his walk time searching for discarded food like some rat weaving back and forth eating anything in his past.  It’s pretty disgusting.  

So we are moving to a new neighborhood today.  We have a larger apartment with a balcony and plenty of parks nearby.  It is still in the Center of Madrid, but in a slightly quieter area.  We will be within walking distance to the Latina neighborhood where Sundays are a blast.  The streets are full of terrazas and everyone is out for tapas and beer.

The neighborhood is called Madrid de los Austrias (or the Madrid of the Habsburgs).  This area is famous for its architecture and the growth of the Spanish Capital during its Golden Age.  The most famous construct being the Plaza Mayor.  The streets are narrow, the restaurants old, and the parks beautiful.  We will be right on the outskirts of the area, near the Royal Palace.  In fact, I’ll be able to see the Cathedral on the Royal Grounds from my balcony. 

I’ll let you know how it goes, and what the neighborhood is like as time goes on.

I despise looking for a new apartment in any country.  It’s not so bad here.  There is a great site called www.idealista.com that has a wide selection of apartments and houses for sale, rent, or share.  It’s a little like Craigslist without the erotic services.  

It used to be, during the boom years in housing in Spain that you had to have a year’s worth of rent in your bank account to get a lease.  Those days seem long gone.  At the most now, someone might ask for 4 months.  This is in addition to any deposit or finanza they might require.  Fortunately now most only ask for one or two months of deposit and no bank account minimum.  

You do need to learn the different words for the different types of places.  I’ll try to help, though of course there are some crossover and people may use some of the words more loosely than others:

• piso = a flat, apartment, a place with a living room and bedroom(s)
• habitacion = room for rent, usually sharing and apartment
• apartamento = usually a studio with enough space to have a bed area separate from a living area, but probably one room
• duplex = a piso with more than one floor
• atico = the top floor apartment
• bajo = the bottom floor (or in the US, the first floor)
• estudio = a studio apartment, one room.

I looked at an atico piso today where the roof is angled and at the highest point in any room the ceiling was no higher than 6 feet high.  Most of the space was as low as 3 feet high.  Great location, but I hurt my head three times just looking at it.