fionamw

So anyone know what a casa mata is? Is it peculiar to Malaga? Adosado? End terrace as well as semi detached or more specific?
Atico? Different to duplex? Help!

lynnxa

well the translation would put me off whatever it is!!!


I have to admit to having not heard the term around here.

Mitzyboy

Errrrr .... sounds like a bit of a dead loss to me

jackytoo

The ones described so always tend to be the tiny rows of old terrace houses and fishermens cottages. There are some rows called casa matas in Fuengirola. Would be interested to know where the name came from.

fionamw

Ok. Intriguing potential etymology, as everyone's pointed out!
So how about adosado, etc?

cricketman

You started the same thread six months ago

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...hlight=adosado

Lospacoshombre

I heard that some of the fishermans cottages where given to the wives of fishermen lost at sea. The ones in Fuengirola used to be populated by old ladies dressed in black, underlining the fact.

maybe that is the meaning!

lph

jackytoo

Hmmm you could be on to something, sounds credible.

fionamw

Hrrmph. I had a feeling I'd done something similar, but (to be honest) couldn't be xxxed to check. Soz. (16-20somethingspeak for apologetic noises)

Still none the wiser ref all the different expressions so any help gratefully received. smileys won't work - typically. So a big cheesy grin!

jollyjack

I suspect (after 10 years in Andalucia that casamata is an Andaluz word stemming from the same place we get our old word "casemate" which was part of the defensive structure of a castle.

What a casamata is is an old village house, usually joined to others, and it might be that they were originally meant (back in the days of the Moors) to be easily defended. Thick walls, small windows and doors and a handy roof-terrace for chucking things down at the invader.

"Adosados" literally means two-by-two I think meaning a semi-detached.

What I have never understood is the difference between a Piso and an Apartmento - they seem to be interchangeable.

fionamw

... and further to that, atico meaning loft? or not necessarily? duplex meaning a two-storey top floor(s) apartment? or not necessarily?

jollyjack

Wel atico usually means Penthouse apartment in my experience.

But we have always lived in old townhouses. We are living in Spanish Townhouse number 7 at the moment. We have been in Torrox, Velez Malaga, Mijas Costa and now La Font Den Carros, in Valencia province. And we are thinking of moving again........

cricketman

An ático is the flat on the top floor of a building that usually has a terrace.

A loft is a style of flat that is usually open plan with exposed brick, think NY lofts

A duplex is a flat with two floors/levels

Bigger Jim

Why dont you ring up "La Casa Mata Backpackers" in Malaga, they might know why they are named accordingly.

If it's got anything to do with estate agents might be a euphemism for dosshouse which is a place to sleep.

Jim

Lynn R

Jollyjack's description of a casa mata would certainly fit my house which was so described when we bought it! It is a village house in the original medieval part of town, within the old city walls, 3 storeys high and built around a patio, with a roof terrace. It certainly has a bit of a castle like feel at times as we could do the old repelling invaders bit with the boiling oil - don't tempt me! But we are not attached to anything on either side. I'm not so sure about any connection with fishermen as we are 4km from the sea.

The term is used often here in the Axarquia and I have never been able to find it in a dictionary and often wondered what it actually meant.