News from the Mar Menor, Costa Calida

 This weekend we were invited to the wedding of some Spanish friends. whilst our friends live near us on the Costa Calida the wedding was held in Elche

Elche for thos that do not know is a city near Alicante Airport and sometimes spelt ELX

The wedding was held in the Balsilica in the centre of Elche and then the Bride and Groom - novia y novio were taken into the park which is full of palm trees for their wedding photos then we all headed to a restaurant for a fantastic meal.

The service was at 18.00 and celebrations continued late into the night - everybody had a good time and it was more informal than and English wedding

If you have never visited Elche it is well worth it with the old city and then in the surrounding industrial estates many shoes factories with outlet shops, there is more information about Elche on our website

 No not the pop group but the weather here on the Costa Calida at the moment having had a very dry summer we are certainly experiencin some very heavy rain at the moment.  It is an ideal opportunity to spend some time in the house and catch up with some of the jobs that need doing!!! I am sure the sun will return very shortly and life will return to normal here in Spain. 

want to get out the house and have a walk then the indoor shopping centre on the edge of Cartagena is the best bet as it even has an underground carpark plus plenty of restuarants and shops. 

 When buying a property in Spain there are many questions to be answered and one of them is whether to buy on a Golf Course or to buy in a Spanish town or village either in a new urbanization or in the older more spanish neighbourhood.

Here on the Costa Calida many but not all of the golf course complexes seem to have been built near a Spanish town but not within walking distance and in most cases quite a car drive.  With the crisis many of the Golf complexes still remain unfinished and whilst the homes are built the infrastructure is not what was promised to those who bought off plan.  Consequently some complexes have very few facilities in the ways of bars or restaurants or shops. Also whilst there is supposedly security at the gates many of the sites we find are very lax and do not stop us when we drive in or out  to see a client!!!

In the area there are many Spanish towns and villages that have had urbanizations built on the ourskirts where many Brits and northern european people have chosen to buy a holiday home or full time home.  The advantages to these urbanisations is that they are usually within walking distances to local shops, bars, banks and medical centres.  It also means that whilst having English speaking neighbours which includes Dutch and Scandanavian there is also an opportunity to mingle with the locals surely one of the reasons for moving to Spain.

Also on the urbanisations near town and villages there are people around all year and the shops etc operate all year round whilst on some of the golf complexes it can be very quiet even ghost town like during winter months

Also in Spain there is a community charge for upkeep of areas around the golf course or urbanisation and there are vast differences in these fees from a couple of hundred euros a year to a couple of thousand a year so when buying make sure you find out how much these fees are going to be or otherwise your bargain buy holiday home could incur very expensive ongoing annual fees!!!

to find more about some of the towns that are on the Costa Calida visit the website www.discovercostacalida.info you will even find property for sale.