CONTACT ME!

Every time I look at this blog I see more mistakes. Am too short of time to correct them now.

As we plan to be "on the road" during June please use email dok1930@yahoo .com until we are back at base with a telephone line. We will call back if you say number, and best time to phone.

SOME OF MY FAVOURTE PLACES

I could not figure out how to get this in the link page without doing it url by url - so I am just going to dump it here as a post for the time being:

SITE SEEING

(These are not my personal recommendations; just pointing you in new directions.)

http://www.spanish-sol-utions.com/index.asp

If you forget this and search for Spanish Solutions you will get a lot of suggestions about language and translation. Remember the hyphens either side of “sol” and you will get Paul. So far as I know he is the only person offering this kind of service in The Costa de La Luz (but no doubt there are others if one were to look hard enough?)

http://www.spanishsolutions.net/

This is NOT Paul!

It is a concern in Alicante offering every kind of service (financial, legal etc) but specialising in tiling. No website (except a home page)

http://www.transitionsabroad.com/listings/living/living_abroad/living_in_spain.shtml#expatriate_websites_spain

Well, what can I say! This has to be the most definitive resource guide of all time. It would take a month of Sundays to visit all these sites. I have looked at a great many. Some are a bit outdated – and some give downright misleading advice, but the vast majority seem kosher. The best counsel that I can give anyone is not to believe everything one reads on the internet. If something is important look for confirmation elsewhere. Do a Google search just on that specific matter. In the meantime enjoy surfing around Transitions. I did and found amongst others

http://www.transitionsabroad.com/listings/living/livingabroadin/living_abroad_in_spain_prime_locations.shtml

which seems a good place to start.

http://www.abcd.com

That is not a live site. It is just an excuse for telling you about some really dubious information available on the internet. Be on your guard for a few REALLY dodgy sites. If you are aware they exist you will be suspicious. That is good! I am weary of any commercial site that does not indicate a street address and landline telephone – especially so if they suggest you might like to give them some money.

Unless you are very confident with the language and prepared to do extensive research, sooner or later you will need professional legal and financial advice. Most of the big/well known professional firms on their websites do offer a wealth of good free advice. When push comes to shove you may find that their real interest is in dealing with millionaires. At this point I think you need to talk to your friends, your estate agent, if you have one, and try and get advice about getting advice at a reasonable price. I have found several people offering to “manage” my money, set up trusts or companies and offshore accounts and this sort of thing. So my advice is the two words

CAVEAT EMPTOR

http://www.inspain.tv/

(This link did not work for me, seems to be missing a dot something (I tried .com and got a different kind of thing) – cut and paste it and it opens okay.)

I have never really had anything to do with them but because of their relationship with the BBC Series “Living in the Sun” and

Nadia Sawalha. Montiboli Estates MD, Scott Lucy I think anyone planning to come and live in Spain will want to take a look at this page. In their words they say

Who is InSpain.tv? -- www.inSpain.tv is one of the leading Internet Marketing Service companies specialising in the Spanish property market. Estate agents and property owners advertise properties for sale and rent on our web site. With over TWENTY THOUSAND properties advertised on our web site www.inSpain.tv has become a major brand for property in Spain.

We have not advertised on their web site – maybe we should?

http://www.andaluciandreamhomes.com/media.htm

They were chosen to help with Richard and Judy’s Channel 4 program “Andalucian Dream Homes” which I have not seen. But they seem big in the business and the kind of people you probably can trust. However their speciality is on the Med side not on “my” side – La Costa de la Luz.

They have a wealth of detail on their “A-Z Living in Spain”. There is so much information here that it must be hard to keep it correct. I have only peeked at it and spotted some erroneous information – this goes to show that if information is important, check it elsewhere seven times over.

http://www.cortijo-andalucia.com/cadiz.html

If you fancy living out of cities look here. Even if you don’t, they have good gen on the different areas of Andalucia. (you might like to check their association at http://www.andalucia-country-houses.com/)

http://www.marybeker.com/

I have known about this site for a decade. From an era when we were looking to live in the country. But worth looking at if you are thinking about Andalucia as a future home and don’t have fixed ideas.

http://www.hiddenspain.com/PL.htm

If I was a bit younger I would want to check this out! When it comes to rural properties the only way to locate them is to use someone like this (who I happen to know) who travels around looking for properties that are not on estate agents books. If you Google you should find many other such concerns – enough to keep you busy for quite a while.

www.skype.com

I notice more and more sites with the Skype log. Skype allows you to talk or “chat” just about anywhere for free. It is free to download and free to use. Try it. You will always find someone who wants to try out the system in “SkypeMe” mode. The day I set Skype up I chatted to a lady in South Africa and later in the day to another in Australia, and it cost €0.00.

LINKS AND BLOGROLLS

Dear Blog

I don't want to compete with all the excellent work other people have done regarding coming to live in Spain, buying property in Spain, the pitfalls, the agony and the ecstasy. So I have decided to link you to helpful sites. Some will be people selling property (often with the most helpful info) - I am not worried about competition as I really do know that when the right person finds us they won’t want to look further.

I have consulted the gurus on the subject and it seems there is no legal or ethical reason to ask permission include a site on a blogroll. 99.99% of webmasters/bloggers would consider it a compliment.

Linking is not reciprocal. As I understand it a link is a recommendation and I shall not only tell you the link but also why I am suggesting that the link is worthy of your attention.

I promised to avoid my personal musings but once started on a blog it becomes addictive. I have an interest in the Irish/Spanish/Hispanic connection over many centuries and will not be able to stop myself from developing this theme. From an early age I was aware of the relationship and over the years have done considerable research; this seems a place to publish some of it!! Not long ago I discovered the First Duke of Wellington was born near my mother's home in Co Meath, and that he once (insultingly?) said "Just because I was born in a stable doesn’t mean I am a horse", that the Dukes of W also have a collection of Spanish titles of nobility that would allow them to sit in the Spanish House of Lords - which no longer exists.

Enough nonsense for today!
Dionisio

A Penthouse in Montecastillo

A Penthouse in Montecastillo

That excellent publication The Sunday Times recently printed an interesting article "SPAINS NEW HOT SPOT"

http://property.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/property/overseas/article1457278.ece

I am sure they will not send their solicitors knocking on my door if I quote:
"The city of Jerez is starting to attract British property-hunters in search of an authentic Spanish environment that’s easy to get to, and where a round of golf is not out of the question. Reasonable prices in the southern Andalusian city 25 miles from Cadiz are a draw, but even more important is the potential for further capital growth, in contrast to costas blighted by a glut of identical urbaniza-ciones built for the overseas market in the boom years."


and:

"Prices at Altos de Montecastillo — which backs onto another popular sporting venue, the Jerez motor racing circuit — range from £145,000 to £212,000 for a 765sq ft penthouse with the same area again of roof terrace." My attention was attracted to the second quote as our penthouse is about twice the size of that one (1453 to be exact plus about the same area of roof terrace) and we are asking the same sort of money. As the supermarkets say here "two for the price of one". But perhaps I am comparing chalk with cheese. We don’t get the noise of racing cars on Sunday evenings!

Montecastillo is MAGNIFICENTLY BEAUTIFUL. It is only about 10 minutes from town. I am not a golfer but if I were (and had spare cash) that is where I would be.

The Real Spain!!

The Real Spain!!

I have sorted out the photos and captions, and corrected the typos!

I am writing this with ex-pat Brits (and Irish) in mind, but also for anyone who understands English.

Just about everyone in the world has thought of coming to live in Spain at one time or another, and some have done so or are ready to do so. There is one big group who want to stay with their own sub-species and live in an environment where many or most of their neighbours are ex-pats, who like to drop into an Irish Pub (albeit run by a bloke from Brighton) and watch Man United, who want to call out a plumber or electrician and know he is (or says he is) Corgi registered. Well, perhaps you get the picture? I do not mean to be sneering, demeaning, supercilious, patronising or condescending!! There are many good reasons not to wish to live outside a culture with which one feels comfortable. I certainly feel that way at times.

If you feel like a member of the group as painted above, you would not be happy to live in our penthouse. Jerez, just maybe. If you wanted to avoid the real ex-pat ghettos on the "costas" I would suggest you consider the last "costa" left in Spain, our very own "Costa de la Luz" (Luz means light, but my translation would be Sunlight Coast). I am not sure if anyone calls the Costa del Sol, so beloved by so many expats, by an English name but if they did it might be Sunshine Coast!

We are sometimes called "The Spanish Algarve", but the day will come when they call that place "The Potuguese Costa de la Luz". We have several communities here where ex-pats are prevalent. Later I will give some links but here is one for now: www.spanish-sol-utions.com - Paul is starting his business and I am sure he will bend over backwards to help.

Back to Jerez and Jardin del Ingles. Jerez has lived on Sherry for donkeys’ years but after the demise of the sherry party era the city became a tad depressed. Now with its rich cultural heritage and excellent new motorway links it has become a boom town fuelled by tourists from places such as Madrid, UK, Eire, Germany and Scandinavia. 200 thousand people live here. In my photos you will notice building cranes all over the skyline. I see that we have a miniscule unemployment rate. There are no apparent racial tensions and no crime. The free medical services are considered the world's third best – I have forgotten where I read that but I have had three bouts of experience myself and can well believe it. The pace of life is slow - so slow that it takes years to adapt to it! There is no place on Earth that is Paradise, but Jerez de la Frontera is not far short.

After living many years in Latin America we decided to retire to Spain. By a process of elimination we ended up with Jerez at the top of the short list. In 2003 we found Jardin del Ingles (then only half built). It fulfilled our basic requirement of being in a modern residential area where we could live (when it became necessary) without using a car. Jardin del Ingles is about 100 yards from the city's biggest hypermarket where you can buy anything you can imagine, in the nearby ground floor shops we have the usual collection of bars, banks, restaurants, coffee shops, computer shops and real estate agents and two "convenience stores". If one had to live in a wheelchair, this would have been a good place to do it. Even the every 20 minute bus to the City Centre is wheelchair friendly and is virtually free if you are 60. These were the reason we bought here and after 3 years they are fully confirmed. I had an extra reason. My first married home was a mini penthouse and having lived in all sorts and kinds of dwellings over the years I yearned for the high open space a penthouse offers. I love to come out to eat my breakfast or just to come out and watch the stars appear in the evening!! I no longer want the work or responsibility of a garden - but I would go mad in a matchbox of a normal flat.

We Are Selling Our Home - a Penthouse in Jerez

It is 19 May 2007

I am new to the world of Blogging - so please be patient with me. I want this to be read by Spanish speakers, so i will have to go bilingual at times (perhaps in a different colour?). Last night I was setting up a (free) announcement on the excellent site www.idealista.com and realized I needed more space for more words and more pictures. Thus this blog was born.

So this is a first post and later to-day I will try to fluff it out with more details, pictures, profile etc