The apartment was perfectly adequate for a couple spending a few days in Madrid. It is very central and walking distance to the Prado, other museums, and you can even get as far as the Biblioteca Nacional in under 20 minutes. The air conditioning is in the front of the apartment, so the first night, which was a scorching hot summer night in Madrid, it did not quite reach the back. A fan in the back would be a welcome, nay necessary, addition to ventilate the apartment. The apartment was stocked with everything we needed to spend a few days. Oscar was not around, but he was available by email and by FaceTime to answer all questions. If you like the San Francisco Mission district or the Lower Haight, New York's Alphabet City, or Whitechapel in London, you will like Lavapies. It's incredibly diverse: people of all nations, gays, older people, etc. We did find the streets exceedingly dirty, however, which affected our perception of the area.