My Madrid: Artacho

by Kate

Alejandro Artacho, our founder, CEO, and fearless leader

Name: Alejandro Artacho
Location of residence in Madrid/Barcelona: Madrid
Occupation: CEO
How long have you lived in Madrid/Barcelona: 7 years
Name activities around the area that you reside: I currently live in the area of Rios Rosas/Cuatro Caminos, which is one of my favourite neighbourhoods in Madrid. Actually, this is the third time I have moved here. I first lived there in 2007, then moved again in 2012, and finally back again in 2014. I have to say that I booked my current room through Spotahome as well as our CTO, Bryan Mc Eire. We were living in the north in a friend’s house and we booked this room in less than 5 minutes… that was fast. As an anecdote, Bryan and I also lived together in 2007 in the same area, right in front of Parque Santander (but Spotahome didn’t exist back then, so it took us a while to get a flat).

Where Ríos Rosas is on our Spotahome map; trust me when I say it’s incredibly well-connected!

And check out our neighborhood video and you’ll see why I love this area:

This area is very cool both for students and workers: For students, it’s within walking distance to the University area (Ciudad Universitaria, Metropolitano, Guzman el Bueno, and Moncloa metro stations) but it is also very close to Arguelles where ICADE (Comillas) is, and to Nuevos Ministerios where you can get several Cercanias trains to all the universities in the suburbs of Madrid. Finally, you have some business schools nearby to the East such as IE, EAE, and EUDE. I studied at IE, and one thing that I loved of living here is that most of my classmates lived in less than 2 min walking from my house so we were usually meeting for beers and some other beverages anytime, anyway.

For workers, up to the North and to the East you have business areas (by walking distance), such as Nuevos Ministerios up to Estadio Santiago Bernabéu (with Torre Picasso and Torre Europa). Many tenants booked in this neighbourhood because they are working in Paseo de la Castellana. I actually worked in KPMG (Torre Europa) and it was 10 minutes walking. I also worked in KPMG, in Paseo de la Castellana, in front of Nuevos Ministerios and it took me even less…

This neighbourhood is very cheap, full of bars, it has Parque Santander where you can run, play soccer, golf, padel, tennis etc. You also have some cinemas and specially Verdi cinemas in Calle Bravo Murillo plays movies in original version which, as you might know, it is highly uncommon in Spain. And this area is awesomely well connected. You can either go walking to the center (45 min) or by metro line 1 in less than 10 minutes.


Parque Santander

In my spare time (what’s that?), I love jogging in Parque Santander or reading a book in its parks. When I am not running playing healthy or reading playing smart, I go for beers in Calle Ponzano, Bravo Murillo or just walk down to Plaza Quevedo (10 min walking) where there are plenty of bars. I usually go to calle hartzenbusch between Quevedo and Glorieta de Bilbao, you either walk 15 min or take the subway (5 min).  If not getting drunk with friends or eating around or doing sport or reading, I love cinema so either I go to Verdi Cinemas or Cinesa Proyecciones in Calle Fuencarral (15 min walking) or I go to the center to Ideal Cinema (either walking 40 min or subway 15 min). In Summer, I usually go swimming in a place called Centro de Ocio y Deporte del Canal de Isabel Segunda (right in front of Parque Santander, in Plaza Juan Zorilla). It is cheap to go there, and it doesn’t get too busy in Summer (locals ran away from Madrid and expats don’t know of this places, until now ?

Name two areas in Madrid/Barcelona that are your favorite:

  1. La Latina
  2. Sol (Ópera and Plaza Mayor) and Malasaña

Name three places in these areas that you like to visit:

La Latina

  1. Restaurante Malacatin
  2. Teatro La Latina
  3. Sunday terrazas

Centro/Malasaña

  1. Just walking around, but if I gotta pick, Mercado de San Miguel
  2. Restaurante Botin
  3. In the way to Malasaña from Sol, El Tigre, and in Malasaña Casa Julio

First, I’ll start off with my picks in La Latina: Restaurante Malacatín, el Teatro de La Latina, and the terrazas on Sundays.

Restaurante Malacatin is the best one for cocido madrileño. You pay 19 euros and it is all you can eat of cocido. It is located in Calle de la Ruda, 5, right next to the La Latina (Line 5)  Metro stop. You gotta book way in advance. I took some friends from Brazil there and they said it was one of the best places they have ever been ?

Teatro La Latina: What I like of it is that it is a theatre made by artists and for artists, everything around it feels like being in a truly bohemian atmosphere. It is a more personal theatre than the rest.


Teatro La Latina

If you get off the Metro at La Latina and you just walk around, you will see many bars with huge terrazas where people are drinking and eating in the beautiful streets of La Latina. This happens everyday but the most active day is Sunday. Perfect way to end the week is sitting in a terrace with your friends for dinner drinking and eating in a charming Sunday sunset.

And now, my picks for the center in the area around Ópera and Plaza Mayor:

The Mercado de San Miguel is right next to Plaza Mayor. This is the perfect place. It is a modern market when you can find a great variety of different food and drinks, especially wine. The food is of high quality but you pay for it. Everyone I took there really liked it.

Restaurante Botín is very close to Mercado de San Miguel. It borders Plaza Mayor and is the oldest restaurant in the world. When you go there, it feels like you went back to the Middle Age. I took my parents there and they loved it. Try the cochinillo there ?

Malasaña is almost unreal. So close to the center but it feels like another city inside a city. There are  two cool places to enjoy together with friends. One is El Tigre, right next to Gran Vía and Calle Fuencarral. A lot of the guys from Spotahome have gone there several times. If you watch our neighbourhood video for Chueca, at the end, you can see the team toasting together. In this bar, you go, you order beers and they literally feed you with free tapas until you explode.

The other place is Casa Julio, on Calle de la Madera 37 (Metro Tribunal (Lines 1 and 10); here you’ll find the most amazing croquetas in Spain (maybe in the world? you tell me ;).

To recap:

Restaurante Malacatin
Calle de la Ruda, 5
28005 MADRID
Metro: La Latina (Line 5)
Tel.: + 34 91 365 52 41
www.malacatin.com

Teatro La Latina
Plaza de la Cebada, 2
28005 MADRID
Metro: La Latina (Line 5)
Tel.: + 34 91 365 28 35
http://www.teatrolalatina.es

Mercado de San Miguel
Plaza de San Miguel, s/n
28005, Madrid
Metro: Ópera (Lines 2 and 5)
Tel.: (+34) 915 42 49 36
http://www.mercadodesanmiguel.es

Restaurante Botín
Calle Cuchilleros, 17
28005 MADRID
Metro: Tirso de Molina (Line 1)
Tel.: +34 913 66 42 17
http://www.botin.es

Sidrería El Tigre
Calle de las Infantas, 30
28004 MADRID
Metro: Chueca (Line 5) or Gran Vía (Lines 1 and 5)
Tel.: +34 915 320 072
http://www.yelp.com/biz/el-tigre-madrid

Casa Julio
Calle de la Madera, 37
28004 MADRID
Metro: Tribunal (Lines 1 and 10)
Tel.: +34 915 227 274
http://www.yelp.com/biz/casa-julio-madrid

Hope you follow my lead and let My Madrid shape yours!

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