Here is a daytime pic from our bedroom window. This is what my wife sees when she is laying in bed.
Here is the town just before sunrise. Our house faces east so the sun rises directly in front of us.
Posted on 04/17/2017 7:12:37 AM PDT by Oshkalaboomboom
Because my wife wanted to be closer to her Grandchildren who live in England and we were looking to retire I decided to leave America and move to Spain in March 2016. Since I didn't know how busy it was going to be I left FR also but now that we are settled in I can afford to spend a bit more time on the site and share my impressions of the country. Spain has a lot of things conservatives would actually appreciate and I wish America would follow their lead.
The most admired thing there is no entitlement mentality here because there are no entitlements. If you work and are a citizen you get health care and a pension when you retire but if you don't work or get laid off you get a limited amount of unemployment then nothing. Immigrants get nothing unless they pay for it. Couple that with a high unemployment rate and the limited number of migrants who sneak in here from Africa keep right on going into France. If you don't speak Spanish or Catalan that's your problem. Because there are a lot of English speaking people here and they want them to understand the traffic laws they do have an English study manual for a driver's license (which you have to pay for) and the written exam is given in English but anything else you either have to know the language or pay for an interpreter. All government documents are in Spanish (or Catalan if you live around Barcelona). Of course you can find stores and services that operate in multiple languages but that is driven by Capitalism, not government.
It is fairly easy to emigrate to Spain if you either have a skill they need or the money to support yourself. People applying for a working visa must have a promise of employment in hand. Folks like myself and my wife must prove they have the funds to be self-sufficient and pay for a year's worth of health insurance in advance to be considered for residency. Deadbeats need not apply. There are some expats who bum their way around the country entertaining on the streets or begging in front of stores but the competition is fierce and it doesn't take long for them to figure out it isn't going to work. There are no jobs Spaniards won't do. Many of them work punishing hours at low wages. 15 hour days 6 days per week is not uncommon and they show pride in having any job at all.
Once you get past those hurdles you have a host of choices on where and how you want to live. They have everything from mountainous regions to the spectacular coastline to Europe's only desert, recognizable to any fan of Spaghetti westerns. We chose an area called the Costa Tropical because it is the only part of Spain where the mountains come right down to the sea. The mountains form a microclimate that keeps the area about 10 degrees cooler than inland in summer and 10 degrees warmer in winter. It averages 320 days of sunshine per year and never gets down to freezing. As an example of how much sun we get the area we moved from, Atlanta, gets 211 days of sunshine per year. For you gardeners it is similar to zones 9-10. The other big advantage is that because it is so hilly it is easy to find a place to live that has a fabulous view. From our terrace we can see the Mediterranean, the Sierra Nevada mountains and the whitewashed town. We even have a castle to look at. With all of that we are 600 meters from the beach but on a quiet street with no traffic. You've heard the expression "million dollar view?" Well you can get that view here for a fraction of the price. If you forsake the view and want to rent a decent 2 bedroom flat can be had for 300 Euros per month, even less if you move inland a few kilometers. The cost of living is low enough that you can easily afford to live well on nothing more than a Social Security check.
With all of those nice features, you still live in a Socialist country. The most obvious sign of that is gas stations. Where we moved from in Georgia there were half a dozen gas stations within a mile in any direction while here we have 2 stations for a town of 27000 people. Gas prices are set twice a day and it's scary expensive. The big workaround for that, ourselves included, is the motor scooter. We have 2 cars but they sit idle while our scooter is the workhorse. It costs 5 euros to fill the tank and we fill it once a week. There is no 2nd Amendment right to own a gun. Shotguns are fairly easy to come by but pistols are strictly regulated. They actually used to have a thriving gun manufacturing industry here but it died years ago, a victim not of regulations but a bad economy. There are still a small number of manufacturers but it is mostly custom shotguns. I had to sell my guns before I left the USA. The main weapon of self defense is pepper spray, which is legal. Tasers and stun guns are illegal. For me it took about an hour, a hacksaw, can of spray paint, a rubber tip and a handle from a broken umbrella to fashion a walking stick made from a piece of half-inch steel pipe I got out of a trash can. It's legal anywhere in the world and can break bones without scratching the paint. Not the best but better than nothing.
I did get to vote in the Presidential election. Registering was easy and I was told that even though I don't live in Georgia anymore if I (nod, wink) intend to come back some day I was also eligible to vote in local elections. Since I did register as a Republican I still have to be alive to vote. Nobody here talks about American politics. It's either local or Brits talking about Brexit. I prefer to stay out of it because it's disheartening to hear so many people willing to sell out their sovereignty in order to keep getting "free stuff."
My main source of news is Fox News, which is shown on our local cable channel. Because of the 6 hour time difference I watch reruns of Tucker Carlson, Hannity and Bret Bair while at noon Fox and Friends comes on live. Other than that I have BBC News and RT. Most days it's hard to tell which channel is more anti-American.
Anyway, now that we're settled in I'll have more time to pay attention. Even though I'm in another country I still want what's best for America.
In Madrid, I ate an octopus sandwich. It was actually very good.
Spain is someplace I would like to fully explore - Extremadora, Coruna,Toledo and all the coastal cities.
Enjoy your time there. I lived in Europe 10 years. There is a lot the USA can learn from successes there, and vice versa. One thing I loved from my year in south France (not too far from Spain) was the emphasis on enjoying the good in life. Where I lived, and the people I met, the focus was on delicious foods, having great “ambience” for meals or get togethers, and great conversations. They didn’t have much money but they shared everything they had. Enjoyed the best parts of each season. I hope you get some of that quality of life too.
I prefer southern Spain. Nicer climate. Reminds me of the southwest in the US where I grew up. No humidity to speak of, unlike here in Florida where I retired to. Portugal is nice too.
Don't miss Gibraltar if you go. It's British but still a one of a kind place. We took the ferry from Gibraltar to Tangiers in Morocco across the straits. Now there's a different world (and continent) altogether.
Here is a daytime pic from our bedroom window. This is what my wife sees when she is laying in bed.
Here is the town just before sunrise. Our house faces east so the sun rises directly in front of us.
We looked in Central and South America before even thinking of Spain. Then I read that it was rated #6 in the world for best places to retire so I started doing some research. The proximity to England sealed the deal.
There is a small number and they would have to breed for hundreds of years to catch up to the mostly Catholic majority. No refugees coming in because there is no work for them.
We live in a town called Almunecar in the province of Granada. The nearest airport is in Malaga, about 75 kilometers away. It's a Spanish resort town but if we get lonesome for some English speaking company the largest city of English people outside of the UK is 15 minutes west of us, the city of Nerja. You could live your entire life there and never speak a word of Spanish but that isn't the lifestyle we were looking for.
Also, how is security? Are you seeing Arab and African migrants everywhere?
The only help you get is from relatives and charities. Nothing from the government.
We see some African migrants selling counterfeit clothing and handbags along the beach during tourist season but other than that, nothing. It is very safe here.
We are already retired. Healthcare costs 1800 euros per year for the 2 of us for private insurance. My wife as a member of the EU also has health insurance reimbursed by the NHS. After you have been a resident for a year you can opt into the public health system paying a flat fee monthly 60 euros if you are less or 65 or 157 euros month if you are more than 65 years old.
A real beach... with sand? Is it really possible to enter the water, swim out a little way, come back, and then sunbath on the delicious sand for a few hours - maybe while enjoying an ice cream purchased from the nearby kiosk? Or are you referring to what is more properly described as a rocky cliff or a tiny patch of land covered in jagged stone, inaccessible without trespassing and/or macheteing your way through brush, leading to jellyfish-infested waters?
A real beach with real sand and plenty of room to swim. Restaurants, bars and ice cream within walking distance. Unfortunately, that beautiful beach gets very crowded in July and August so we have to get on the scooter and go 1.7 kilometers to a different beach that isn't as crowded but also doesn't have as many ameneties. If you prefer to lie out in all of your naked glory a naturist beach is another 200 meters from the quieter beach.
Here is a video of the area that shows a few of the local beaches plus the town. One thing in the video that may appear strange is a fox in a snowstorm. The mountains are large enough and close enough that you can swim in the morning, ski all afternoon and be back in time for another swim before heading out to supper.
Are you saying that, with only two stations serving 27,000 people, the gas lines are reminiscent of those in the U.S. during the 1973 oil crisis?
Hardly any lines at all. They are open 24/7/365
We moved here after our kids were grown up and moved away. There is a Facebook page called Expats in Spain where you can get information from people with kids that age.
Very safe. My wife traveled there alone for 2 weeks on her house hunting trip and she never felt the least bit threatened. In fact she felt so safe she put in an offer on a house and now we live there full time.
In Spain you can drive any motorbike 125cc and below with a regular driver's license. A 125 is also legal on any road in Spain so in theory you could drive across the country on their best superhighways. We bought a Piaggio 125 and love it. We are also in an area where it hardly ever rains, you can ride year round and the roads and scenery are spectacular.
Can you tell me about how long you can stay as an American. We looked into moving to Portugal, but we had to go to the nearest Portuguese embassy ( in SF, CA) and go through an interview, plus prove we had to have enough money to live without working and then I think our temporary Schengen visa was only good for a a short time.
Because the US is not part of the EU agreement, we would have to completely move out of one of those countries after three months, for three months. So for example, if we did not have the extended visa, we could live in Portugal, France and Belgium up to three months combined, but then we would have to leave for three months and go back to the US or live in Bulgaria or somewhere that was not part of the Scavenge agreement.
Otherwise, we would be living in Portugal in a heartbeat. I loved my travels as a single woman through Spain too, but I love Portuguese food better:)
Spain has a several hundred year head start on America so they have taken the art of bureaucracy to a new level. They put so many roadblocks in your way it discourages entrepreneurs. If you hire someone other than a relative it's impossible to get rid of them if they fail to perform. Planning boards and government officials make investment nearly impossible. We have a development near us that would have been snatched up at pennies on the dollar and redeveloped in America but it's been sitting unfinished for over 10 years. And that's just one, there are thousands in our region, not to mention the rest of Spain.
Spain also has a large undereducated part of the population. Since our area was mainly agricultural it was only in the last 20 years that local children got educated past the third grade. You don't need much more than the basics to pick fruit. Their tradition of the siesta, the afternoon break, doesn't help things either. The Prime Minister mentioned trying to get rid of it and go to a normal work week last year but we haven't heard anything about it since.
You can have private, public or both. See post 69 for more info. I also don't know how they treat pre-existing conditions because we didn't have any when we moved here.
We have a major airport less than an hour away that has flights from all of the European discount airlines. We are going to Milan, Florence and Pisa in May, flying in an out of Milan for 40 euros each round trip.
I have been in Eastern Mindanao since 2013. I don't think the relationship between our countries has gone anywhere. It's still there.
Just avoid Manila, Western Mindanao, and the entire Sulu Archipelago. Where I am, there really isn't a set monsoon season. 🇨🇿
90 days is a standard tourist visa, you don't have to do anything to get that. If you need to work it gets a lot more complicated. If you don't need to work you can get a visa that is good for 3 years and is easily renewed as long as nothing changes. I'm married to a Brit so my visa is good for 5 years.
In the KDrama “Legend of the Blue Sea”, the first few episodes were filmed in Girona and A Coruna.
I am hoping to make the day-trip to Girona, while we’re in Barcelona.
Lived in Sapin for 4 years. When traveling to the big cities, beware the pick pockets. They are everywhere.
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