From The
Sunday Times Travel Magazine February, 2008, issue
£108: De las Letras Hotel
Madrid’s Gran Via was always a ‘statement’ street, cut out of the city in the
early 20th century in a clean sweep and lined with extravagant architecture
typical of the age.
As you wander along it, you get a sense of great ambitions – a new world.
Buenos Aires, maybe, or Manhattan. Among this swagger, De las Letras Hotel
has arrived. And it belongs. All six floors and 103 rooms may be squeakingly
modern, but the hotel has wisely hung on to its architectural heritage:
sculptures, mosaics and the staircase that came with the place in 1917. The
muted designer good looks manage to be shag-pad groovy while not frightening
the businessmen; we’re not so sure about the literary quotes on the walls,
though, unless you specifically want bed and Brecht-fast.
The top-floor suites, in the cupolas, have private decked terraces and sun
loungers: reclining with sangria and views of Gran Via’s ornate facades is
like starring in an Almodóvar movie – that early one in the glam rooftop
apartment with the jug of sedative-spiked gazpacho. If you can face rising,
there’s a spa with hydrothermal treatments, a bar playing idle background
lounge, and a restaurant doing Japanese tapas, which presumably makes them
Japas. All very now, but nicely so.
De las Letras Hotel (00 800 3746
8357) has doubles from £108, B&B.
£176: Casa de Madrid
It’s a cliche in articles of this sort to describe a hotel as ‘like staying at
a friend’s place’. Yet here we really have it: your capital home from home.
Casa de Madrid comprises seven muralled rooms, which sprawl over the second
floor of an 18th-century apartment block in the streets behind Plaza de
Santo Domingo.
You’d never find it without directions since there’s no signage or name by the
bell – and that’s precisely the pleasure of the place for guests including
big-name opera singers on the bill at the Teatro Real, just across the
street. Spaces are filled with antique furniture and heirlooms, among them
17th-century portraits – see the Spanish Room – and pictures of the owner’s
ancestors.
Marta Medina, who bought the property in 2000, restored it with respect for
the layout, floors and woodwork. Then she filled it with memories of places
she’s visited: Syria, India, Greece and Italy. Her travels show through in
frescoes and embellishments. In the Greek Room, for instance, is a mural of
an amphitheatre; on the ceiling, above a bed sentried by classical columns,
you’ll spot the insignia of Alexander the Great. Despite the grandeur, you’d
be hard pushed to feel more at home in Madrid.
Casa de Madrid (00 34 915 595791)
has doubles from £176, B&B.
£71: Room Mate Alicia
