It’s more than 12 years since my book “Retiring the Olé Way” was published and 13 years since John and I moved to Spain, looking forward to our new adventure. I was recently interviewed about my life over here and inevitably the question was asked: “Do you have any regrets?” Followed by “What advice would you give to anyone thinking of retiring there?”
Regrets?
Do I have any regrets? Definitely not! John and I were made to feel really welcome when we moved here, in spite of our lack of Spanish, and when he died three years ago I was touched by how caring and supportive my neighbours were. We had deliberately chosen to live in a town with very few English speaking residents, welcoming the challenge. Fortunately the local people were very patient with our attempts to speak Spanish! As far as they were concerned we were Jumillanos, their neighbours and part of their community.
Jumilla is renowned for its wines and during the summer months we enjoyed many concerts in the local wineries where we could listen to jazz, flamenco, coplas and even a Beatles tribute band, while enjoying local wines and tapas. There is a local theatre where we could listen to all types of music or watch dance displays, though we decided that going to Spanish plays would be too much of a challenge for our basic grasp of the language!
We particularly enjoyed the local fiestas, of which there are far too many to mention them all. Starting with Los Reyes Magos (the Three Kings) in January, which is a favourite with the children, then continuing with Semana Santa (Holy Week), which has been declared to be of National tourist interest and not forgetting the Vendimia, with its infamous wine-throwing procession, there is always something happening in Jumilla. Of course that was in pre-Covid days. I’m just hoping that eventually we will be back to normal, or at least the “new” normal.
Should you retire to Spain?
All of the above is positive, but there are some drawbacks that people thinking of retiring here need to consider, and particularly post-Brexit for any British readers. Moving to Spain nowadays isn’t as straightforward as it was when John and I retired here! There is lots of advice and information on the “Brexpats in Spain” Facebook group so I won’t include it here, plus of course the official government website: https://www.gov.uk/. From my personal point of view, the following are some facts that I feel you should be aware of.
First of all, depending on where you live, it can be very cold in winter, particularly if you live inland as I do. Trust me, this is a shock to many people, who assume it is always hot in Spain! In addition, many properties aren’t insulated the way they are in the UK and if your property is facing north it will be fine during the summer months but chilly at this time of the year.
It might come as a shock to you, especially if you’ve visited Spain on holiday, but not everybody here speaks English! If you live on the coast surrounded by other British people you might not need to speak Spanish, but my personal view is that it’s rude not to try and speak the local language.
Of course you also need to be aware that in certain parts of Spain they don’t necessarily speak Castilian Spanish, as we discovered when we visited Galicia on holiday. Galician, Basque and Catalan are other languages spoken and in addition there are also regional dialects. Mind you if you travel around the UK you will notice the same phenomena: do you understand everything your Georgie friends say? Or have you got lost in Norfolk and asked someone the way? Exactly!
Family is very important here, which is one of the things I love about this country. It’s not unusual to go to a restaurant for a menú del día and find grandparents as well as parents and children enjoying a meal together. For a special occasion there may also be aunts, uncles and cousins plus friends too.
My advice if you are thinking about retiring to Spain is to visit different parts of the country before deciding where to settle. Also, when you have found an area that you love, visit it at various times of the year. There are many towns on the coast that are buzzing in the summer months but almost deserted during the winter.
One of the deciding factors when we moved to Jumilla was the fact that it’s a working town so is busy throughout the year. Did I mention that it’s renowned for its wines? The photo shown above is one of the local wineries, Viña Campanero, which is family run and one of my favourites. Salud!
