IL Postcard

Ten Money-savers in Paris

Date: 01/24/2008

Vol. 2. Issue no. 3
January 25, 2007
Paris, France

What to Do With 10 Bucks in Paris

by Leigh Fergus

Paris still offers a ton of options for things to do, even if you’re on a tight budget. Here’s my top 10 cheap and cheerful tips for getting the most out of $10 (€6.75).

1. Take a bus across Paris for a €1.50 ($2.22) sightseeing tour—it’s even less if you buy a book of 10 bus and metro tickets. One of the most interesting buses to take is the 63 route that runs from the Jardin des Plantes near Austerlitz, over to the esplanade of Trocadéro and an unbeatable view of the Eiffel Tower. Much of the route is along the Seine. Check the city transport website for other bus routes—the 24 is also recommended: www.ratp.fr
2. Buy yourself a ripe pungent cheese and enjoy it on a fresh baguette for €1 with a glass of your favorite red wine. An individual unpasteurized cow’s milk cheese like a St. Marcellin or small goat’s milk cheese can cost €2. If for some reason you can’t find a good cheese shop in your district, head for Androuët, the name for cheese—there are five in Paris, try 134 rue Mouffetard in the 5th arrondissement, or 37 rue Verneuil in the 7th.
3. If it’s cold and gray out, go see a movie in the morning. Most cinemas offer cheap deals for less than €6 for movies that start before noon or 2 p.m. Try the art movie house Lucernaire Forum, Grand Action, Studio Galande and L’Arlequin for starters, all in the Latin Quarter.
4. The Hôtel de Ville (Paris City Hall) puts on excellent exhibitions that are free. The current show is proving very popular: photos of the city from the start of the 20th century to the modern day. I was amazed at how little Paris has changed. Hôtel de Ville, 5 rue Lobeau, Métro: Hôtel de Ville.
5. Lunch in the BHV canteen, le Café BHV on the rue des Archives just across from the Hôtel de Ville, has fresh salads, quiches, risottos, and meatloaf (French style) for less than €6, with plenty of people-watching in this fashionable district, or you can go up to the 5th floor of the BHV department store itself (rue de Rivoli) for lunch with a view of the river and the city hall (grilled ground beef patties and veg for €6.05).
6. Wander the old covered flower and bird market on north side of the Ile de la Cité, place Louis Lépine et Quai de Corse. The market started in 1808 and has been running pretty much uninterrupted ever since. The orchid shops are havens of calm and elegance, yet next door to more popular stalls selling cacti, garden ornaments, bulbs and souvenir lavender bags. On Sundays, the market specializes in birds and a few other small pets are tagged on. Small potted plants can be bought for 3 euro and attractive ceramic potholders, as well as simple bouquets for €5 and €6.
7. Visit the sewers of Paris—yes, this is unlike any other tour you may have done of the city, but is a fascinating alternative view. Many of the vaulted passages date from the 14th century. Don’t worry, it’s not as smelly as you might think. Visits cost €4 and start from Place de la Résistance, Métro: Alma Marceau.
8. Sip a cup of afternoon tea à la française at Ladurée. This venerable institution, famed for its macaroons, has a refined tea-room on the prestigious rue Royale just up from the Concorde, serving a wide range of different teas, coffees, and hot chocolate. Herbal teas start at €5.50 and espresso is €3.30. Other Ladurée tearooms are on the Champs Elysées (at n°. 75) in the 8th, and 21 rue Bonaparte in the 5th.
9. Enjoy a free concert. If you like classical music, many of Paris’ churches hold evening concerts or recitals without tickets—places attributed on a first-come first-served basis. Try the Eglise St.Roche or St. Eustache, both in the 1st, St.Gervais in the 4th, de la Trinité in the 9th, and the Swedish church in the 17th for starters. Otherwise there are other venues that offer seats from 5 euro, including the Théâtre des Champs Elysées. Check the weekly listings in Pariscope or L’Officiel sold at any kiosque for €0.40, published on Wednesdays.
10. Push the boat out and spend just a few cents more for a typical French dinner of couscous. For just €7.10, you can eat like a king on this popular dish from north Africa. It consists of grilled chicken, lamb or spiced sausage ( merguez) with a warming vegetable stew and lavish helpings of fluffy steamed semoule, spiced up even more, if you want, with a dab of fiery harissa sauce . A winter treat. Chez Kiki, 1 rue de l’Atlas, 20th, Métro Belleville.

Affordable Andalucia

by Steenie Harvey

Breakfast for $2.65. A tapas supper—battered hake and potato salad—for $5. Glasses of straw-colored fino sherry for under $2.

Spain, expensive? Not in Jerez de la Frontera, where many apartments are in the $110,000 to $220,000 bracket.

In Andalucia’s Cadiz province, Jerez is an elegant city with narrow streets, shady plazas and hole-in-the-wall bars, its attractions include authentic flamenco, sherry bodegas, and purebred Andalucian horses.

Old mansions come with flower-filled patio courtyards. The crown on the ancient center is an alcazar—a 12th-century Moorish fortress with orange tree terraces and Arab baths. There are a couple of gypsy neighborhoods where flamenco remains a living tradition.

Recently, Spain has been suffering major jitters when it comes to property. Oversupply on the coasts means a glut of properties now languish unsold. According to La Luz, an expat magazine for Cadiz province, one Andalucia business organization estimates 40% of real estate agents ceased trading in the past six months.

But Jerez isn’t the Costa del Sol; you won't find identikit holiday homes here. If you’re seeking lifestyle rather than quick profit, this is one of Spain’s most inexpensive cities--real estate here costs €1,473 ($2,165) per square meter, the cheapest in Spain according to one leading agency’s analysis of 15 Spanish cities.

Usually retaining the original facade, local builders are transforming grand old city center houses into contemporary apartments. One is a 60-square-meter (645-square-foot) apartment with additional patio of almost 24 square meters (258 square feet) is €165,000 ($242,000).

I called into Mercers’ real estate agency and the staff were all busy with client viewings, which indicates the Jerez market is still fairly active. An undoubted attraction for buyers is the shortage of quality short-term rentals.

To get one of those $2.65 breakfasts… join the postal workers in Bar Sherry on Calle Medina. Like most Jerez cafe-bars, there’s only one breakfast choice: molletes. These soft rolls are toasted under a grill, and the classic way to eat them is with a drizzling of olive oil and fresh tomato pulp. The price includes coffee too.

To contact Mercers Ltd., e-mail: jerez@spanishproperty.co.uk

Property bargains on the Costa del Sol

by Mike DeSimone

With the correction of property values in southern Spain, bargains can be had on the Costa del Sol, especially the eastern part known as the Axarquia

I recently asked my friend Anne Fleming of Fleming Properties in Torre del Mar about the current market, and she said there has been “a bit of a reality check, and sellers are accepting offers up to €50 or €60,000 below their asking price.” Just a few years ago, an offer that far below asking would have been considered an insult, today, however, buyers have the upper hand. One major exception, according to Anne, is the area above the desirable blue-flagged Burriana Beach in Nerja, where houses are holding their asking value.

Anne (originally from Ireland) and her husband Rollie specialize in the area from Torre del Mar and Velez Malaga up to Lake Vinuela. The home that caught my eye in one of their ads is a refurbished two-bedroom village house in Benamocarra, with a roof terrace, a yard, and a garage, for €149,000 ($216,000). This whitewashed pueblo is just a few minutes drive from the coast, and in an authentic Spanish village unspoiled by tourism or overbuilding.

Karin Dijkshoorn at Team Espana in Nerja told me that although sales had been slow, there is some movement in the market, and homes that are priced well are selling. For example, a two-bedroom townhouse in an urbanization just outside Nerja lingered at €220,000, but sold almost immediately when the owners lowered the price to €160,000 ($232,000).

A quick peek at Team Espana's listings shows close to 40 houses and apartments for less than €200,000 in Nerja and the surrounding area. My pick hit is a three-bedroom apartment close to the center of town with two balconies, a communal roof terrace, and “spectacular views of the town, the mountains, and the sea.” Don’t be put off by the idea of an urbanization—most homes are in the traditional Spanish or Moorish style, and it’s almost impossible to tell the difference between a 400-year-old village house and a brand new town home.

A quick flip through SolTalk, the English-language magazine of the Costa del Sol, confirms what the estate agents said. I don’t remember seeing so many affordable homes at any time in the recent past. The luxury end of the market is staying put, however, and you’re unlikely to find a five-bedroom villa with a pool in the €1 million range. But if you want a small place by the sea in a big development for your personal use, this year looks good—investors who didn’t do their homework recently when buying new build or off-plan urbs for a quick profit before completion have been disappointed: prices have hardly budged upward in the past year.

And the regional government, the Junta de Andalucia, is cracking down on new golf-course developments due to environmental concerns and over-watering, so your best bet for a home on the ninth hole is a resale in an existing urb rather than taking a chance with a down payment on new construction.

The Costa del Sol offers a wonderful lifestyle and a home here has a potential return on your investment far beyond dollars and cents.

Contacts:
Torre del Mar, tel.+34 952-547-131; website: www.fleming-properties.com
Team Espana, tel. +34 952 527300; website: www.teamespana.com