Elena's apartment is great. It is in a central location 5 minutes walking distance from the main train station and the Reina Sophia museum, 10 minutes to the Prado and Retiro Park and 20 minutes to most of the major sites of Madrid. The neighborhood of Lavapies is a great mix of cultures, very cool indoor market and lots of great restaurants and cafe's. We stayed for 10 days so the washing machine was a nice extra. There was plenty of room for two of us to set up our home office during our visit. I highly recommend staying at Elena's apartment.