WOmen's News & Views EASY TO LIVE IN LUXURY

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30453, 29 May 1964, Page 2

WOmen's News & Views

EASY TO LIVE IN LUXURY

“For any woman over 16 and under 60 Spain is definitely the place to go if you want pampering and spoiling,” Miss J. Rowlatt, who recently spent a year in Madrid, told members of the Canterbury Travel Club at their morning tea meeting yesterday.

You could live elegantly in Madrid because luxuries such as tobacco, alcohol, hairdressing and taxis were cheap.

“There is an amusing mixture of the old and the new in Madrid. It has two of the tallest buildings in Europe and behind this modern area is Madrid as it was 500 years ago.” Miss Rowlatt taught English to Spanish adult classes at an institute of languages in Madrid while she was there. She has recently returned from a five-year visit to Europe. Miss Sonya Black sang a bracket of songs for members accompanied by Miss N. Billcliff.

“Accommodation created no problems,” she said. “There are hundreds of little boarding houses.” Miss Rowlatt paid 10s a day living in one of these. She shared a room with a friend and had three good meals a day and her laundry done for this. Miss Rowlatt also lived in a “typical Spanish apartment.” “It had seven rooms not including the two bathrooms and the maid. We paid £6 a month for this. In no other city in Europe can an apartment and a maid be had so cheaply. "Madrid is a clean city. No nonsense goes on in the streets after dark. I never saw anything like teddy boys there. Not much can go on in Madrid without somebody knowing about it. “Maids are shocking gossips. Foreigners arouse enough interest without the magnified gossip of a maid. “Madrid is not beautiful at first sight, but it is when you get to know it. Although it is the capital city, it has the atmosphere of a village. Everyone is easy going and always ready to stop and talk and have a drink or a meal.