Fri, 10 February 2012
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Madrid is not all jazzy bars, great restaurants and fantastic art museums. Real people live in the suburbs, as the Editor found out.
As a frequent visitor to Madrid, I am huge fan of this huge sprawling monster.
You get the feeling that anything is possible in a city which is teeming with energy.
It sends a tingle down my spine, in the same way that London used to.
But this week, for reasons I won’t bore you with, I saw a very different side to the Spanish capital.
I was staying at a friend’s place in a barrio called San Blas, out near the airport.
Once very working class it was a place you did not walk alone at night.
A friend of mine told me how she had been badly mugged here some years ago.
But now it is very different. The yuppies/pijos – Spanish and foreign – have arrived in force.
So, there are gated communities, no shops (except for a centro commercial miles away) and cars rule the roost.
You can see some greenery, which is a pleasant change for a city dweller like me.
But the lack of human contact, is still something of a shock to the system after coming from a bustling Barcelona barrio.
To contact us: spain@expatica.com
Copyright: Expatica
Subject: Editor's diary
Expatica's Getting Started section will provide practical information on how you can open a bank account, exchange your driving licence, improve your Spanish, and more.
Here's a guide to an extensive list of groups and clubs in Madrid for expats, from sports groups to social and family gatherings.
A brief introduction to our Tax section for Spain, from help with inheritance tax to accounting advice.
Here's a short introduction to our Banking section for those living in Spain, from what to ask the experts to opening a Spanish bank account.
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