Why move to the Costa Blanca?
Saturday, June 14, 2008 @ 3:04 PM
Now that we have lived in the Costa Blanca for nearly two years now and after getting to know a lot of other local business owners and residents I think we are in a position to compare life between the UK and here. However my views may differ from someone who has retired here or only lives here for periods at a time.
Firstly we have to compare the weather, before moving I read reports that the Costa Blanca has 320 sunny days a year on average, maybe true but the other 35 days it pours down. Between May and October the weather is generally blue skies, sunshine and t-shirt weather (except July and August when even that feels too much). November – April is normally about 18 degrees during the day but you can get a week here and there especially December and January where the wind is cold and it drops down to about 13 degrees. However at night you will need some form of heating and a lot of Spanish homes do not provide this. During the summer its lovely spending time after work relaxing by the pool and even 2 out of 3 weekends during the winter it’s still warm enough to walk on the beach in a t-shirt.
The next comparison is the lifestyle. We come from Essex where the evenings are normally spent in-doors and the weekends shopping at Lakeside and maybe a visit to the cinema and a restaurant. The plus side is we spend more time outside; however shopping is something that we do miss as the fashions here are different. It’s not so bad for Sam as she will quite often find a top that she likes in Sara or Hennes for example but not for me. There are some good shopping complexes about such as Habaneras in Torrevieja and one of the largest shopping centres in Europe which is next to the Murcia football stadium about a 40 minute drive from here. Food shopping except for June to September can only be done Mon - Saturday as nothing opens on a sunday so if you work those days you dont get a chance untill saturday afternoon. There are plenty of smaller supermarkets about stocking English foods, but you cant get everything and you normally pay a premium for those items.
As for restaurants we are fussy eaters as I don’t eat meat and Sam is particular. There is every type of restaurant in the area such as Argentinean, Chinese, Indian, Mexican, Spanish tapas, Italian and English and even through there are some good places to eat we do miss restaurants such as Harvester, TGI Fridays and Pizza Hut.
I will continue this discussion during the week and if anyone has a particular aspect of Spanish life they would like me to compare feel free to contact me.
Un saludo