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Hi Everyone,
Just joined. My husband and I are planning to move to mainland Spain or the Canaries within the next 2 to 3 years. To be honest the more research I do the more confused I get so hopefuuly I can get some advice from people who have moved and are , hopefully, happily settled. Thanks in advance for any advice, believe me, we need it!
Eileen
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I am sure it would be helpful, to anyone thinking of assisting, if you gave some details of what life you will be looking for, i.e. young and seeking a career, or retired.
This message was last edited by johnzx on 23/10/2012.
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Hi John,
Wasn't sure where to put specific questions. We are both 46 at the moment and, thankfully, will not be looking for work when we move to Spain. My husband will be commuting to his present job. Our main concern is climate, I realise that mainland Spain does not have the same winter weather as Tenerife or Lanzarote , but I am worried that it is so bad that we regret the move. Drawn to mainland because you seem to get more for your money, it will be a lot cheaper to come back to Glasgow to keep in touch with family and ease of travelling to other places in Europe. Drawn to Canaries because of winter climate.
I have been looking at areas within 45 mins of Alicante or Malaga as other half will be flying frequently , especially Murcia as it seems to have drier winters. Basically I would like some honest idea of the weather between Oct and March, rather than the holiday website "it's always warm and sunny on the costas".
Also want the best of both worlds, ex pat community within reasonable distance but not a really built up tourist town. Within 20 mins of coast would be great. We intend to rent for around 6 months before buying.
I know it's not possible for anyone to tell us the ideal place for us, it's a very personal decision, but some pointers would be great .
Thanks to everyone Eileen
This message was last edited by Eileen66 on 23/10/2012.
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We have spent the last five winters in Murcia. Unfortunately due to medical reasons our return is delayed this year, but we will be back soon. We are sitting in England depressed by the cold wet weather for now. I would recommend you look at the attached site which is very informative and IMHO balanced about Murcia. In three weeks there will be a Home & Away program about Murcia, see attached.
Juan
http://www.murciatoday.com/channel-4-filming-a-place-in-the-sun-home-or-away-in-murcia-_13459-a.html
This message was last edited by juansheetisplenty on 23/10/2012.
This message was last edited by juansheetisplenty on 23/10/2012.
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Hi Juan,
Can I ask which area of Murcia you stay in, is it on the coast or further inland? Also, what are the daytime and night time temperatures throughout the worst of the winter. I don't mind needing heating , especially at night but I would hate it to be below 14 or 15 during the day and for it to rain regularly. We have enough of that in Glasgow. I believe it can be significantly colder the further inland you go.
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Dear Lady, you are correct, it is colder in land, usually by at least 5 degrees.. Our place is in Isla Plana directly on the coast. We have seen snow on the mountains once in the five years. We have seen frost a couple of mornings on the "campo". But in general the weather is good. The locals start bringing out their fur coats and boots in October. We use the following website to predict temperatures.
http://www.windguru.cz/int/index.php?sc=48821
It's been over twenty degrees centrigrade this week. As for rain, we only wish we had more. Perhaps 10 days in the last year?
Juan
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Thank you so much for your replies. Your area looks lovely but may be a bit far from Alicante for frequent travel. I envy you being able to live there for the winter season. Eileen
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Hi,
I am beginning to learn Spanish but am concerned that Castillian may be of little use in Valencia and Murcia. Has anyone any experience of learning the language before settling in Spain and then finding it completely different when you are in the South of Spain.
Eileen
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Everywhere Castilian is the official language, albeit that the locals may also use a dialect.
In Andalucía there is no other dialect but nevertheless it can be very difficult to understand the locals in any particular place, even for the Spanish, even those who come from an area quite close by. (Glaswegian on a bad day springs to mind)
Many years ago I was taking a statement for a woman from Glasgow whose husband had been murdered.
I had great difficulty understanding her.
Eventually I called in her cockney neighbour, her friend, to 'translate' for me.
So it can be a problem in other places too.
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The Spanish in Murcia have strong dialects that is often a problem for even the educated Spanish. However people understand Castilian. So they will understand you but makes conversation difficult. Anywhere on the coast ,south of Alicante , will have late morning winter temperatures of 15 + but 10 mins inland and it is in single figures with the odd spot of frost. However because we have mostly blue skies , during the day, it doesn,t feel cold outside. Indoors it can feel freezing though. Rain !!!!!.....that is something prayed for. Beautiful Cartegena isn,t actually that far from Alicante. Well within the 45 mins you previously posted I should have thought.
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Hi ,
Know what you mean about Glaswegian. I don't have a particularly strong Glaswegian accent but Scottish people speak very quickly and can be very difficult to understand. The queens English it certainly isn't. I read that Catalan is spoken as the norm in Valencia and that it is very different from Castillian. Not just a local dialect but a language in its own right. Can't face having to learn Catalan and Castillian . Thanks Floella for tips on weather. We will probably try at some point to spend some of the winter months over there , would love to eventually buy a place with underfloor heating but not easy to find at our budget.
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Hola Eileen66, I also know what you mean about Glaswegian accents, I used to love Rab Nesbit but sometimes I missed what he said and I used to work with a lot of Glaswegians.
Back to spanish, here in Murcia they say (some spanish friends) that Murcianos speak slang, i.e. they drop or don't pronounce the d's at the end of words like comunidad, seguridad. They also drop most s's at the end or in the middle of words for example estamos becomes etamo, mas o menos is ma o meno, mariscos is marico. But I think this is fairly common is Spain not just Murcia. You will soon get used to it. As far as Catalan that's another thing altogether, we had five of days up there recently and they had menus in catalan which was a problem to read.
Anyway what was this post really about.
Geoff
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You may want to consider somewhere inland closer to the new Corvera International airport and I operate a letting business on the Corvera Golf & Country Club where rental prices are good and we don't sufffer too badly in the Winter because of the locations of the surrounding mountains, today 24 degrees & sunny
10 minutes to the new airport openning in April or an hour to Alicante
We are an inland resort located close to a real spanish village put bang in the middle between Murcia and Cartagena with good road links to Alicante
There is much more information if you follow the link below
_______________________
Roy Howitt
Independent Property Consultant
www.sonrisaproperties.com
www.snaggingspain.com
WE CAN FIND YOUR DREAM HOME
627 955 748
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Hi Eileen - in Valencia they tend to speak Valenciana which is somewhere between a dialect and a language! Not Catalan, which definitely is a language. I have been learning for about 7 years and speak reasonable Castilliano. Where I live in the Axarquía region of Málaga province they are very well-spoken in the main and L can understand them much better than where a friend lives, further north just over the border into Córdoba province, where it is a much more "rural" accent and some of their own words for things. Very different from my CDs! But here, nearer Málaga, there are many professionals living in the village, which I think makes for easier communication.
_______________________
Blog about settling into a village house in the Axarquía. http://www.eyeonspain.com/blogs/tamara.aspx
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Geoff, I'm sure I would get used to it. My daughter has recently started to drop the letter t in some words and it's driving me mad. But when I listen to myself properly I do it too sometimes. I think there are few people that pronounce every word properly in their native language, we all get lazy.
Thanks Tamara, I discovered your blog recently. Had been thinking about that area but as you have probably guessed I am obsessed about getting away from the rain and the costa del sol does seem to be wetter in the winter than the south east coast. Glad to read that you are enjoying your new adventure.
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If you are coming this way have a look at Mazarron Country Club. We're 6 miles from the coast and a whole host of marvellous beaches and 15 minutes or so from the new airport at Corvera. Whe we bought here we looked at La Manga, but it's very pricey for what you get. At the time, there were no motorways round here - but 10 years on there are superb connections.
The houses are solidly built which helps to moderate the temperatures both in summer and winter. We find we can cope with the heat in the summer wihout any problem. In the winter it's really December, January and February when the nights are chilly, but this is easily dealt with by either a wood burner or similar. Some of the houses here have full gas fired central heating.
There are a few benefits from being on Mazarron Country Club it's a lively community with lots of Social events and organised trips and has it's own very Spanish restaurant. Having said that it's generally a quiet and tranquil place and whilst there is a large communal pool, with tennis courts etc most of the properties have their own pools.
If you want something livelier have a look at puerto de Mazarron, which is a few miles away on the coast - it's where many Spanish come from Madrid in August when the place is heaving. There's about 3/4 miles of fabulous beach which is the main attraction but it's like a carnival atmosphere for a few weeks in August with lots of free events/concerts arranged by the local town hall.
But there are also quieter villages closeby if that is your preference - I saw Isla Plana mentioned earlier being one, which is lovely and has a couple of the best value quality restaurants.
_______________________
Don't argue with an idiot, he will drag you down to his level and beat you with experience.
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Hello Everyone,
Im Billy, Eileen's husband. Thanks to Acer for the tips on Mazarron, was particularly taken with Puerto De Mazarron, I liked the look of there. We have had lots of advice on the Murcia area, has anyone got some advice on North of Alicante up as far as Altea and Javea. Thanks very much
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Hello again,
The post started by Eileen was going along quite nicely until my last post, since then no replies and a lot of stick.
Could someone please give us any information on the area's around Altea and Javea before I forever am labelled a thread killer at home!!
Thanks
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