What a good decision!!

Yep, you're right, Roberto!!!  Drove from Paris to Gibraltar and back and loved every bit - including the French side!!!! Tolls - well, didn't even notice in all honesty, so couldn't have been that bad!! - and food great!!

In all honesty, the one thing that swung it for us when we wanted to purchase property in Europe was the climate and golf!!  Spain outdid France without question!!!  Although, saying that, France was much more economically enticing - and being that I loved the south of France anyway, it was hard!  But at the end of the day we chose the south of Spain because of all bonus factors!  Great climate, fantastic choice of golf and tremendously welcoming people!!  And soooooooo family friendly!!  We can't take our son out on a golf course here in Dubai, just for the ride, at any time but we took him out in the buggy with us about seven times in Spain this year!!  No problem whatsoever!!  And half the price at that!!

So getting back to what we were talking about, French food is awesome!!!!!!!!!!


This message was last edited by Pitby on 9/15/2008.

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If you didn't notice the tolls, and thought the food was good, clearly you didn't take the motorway!
Try driving from Italy to Spain without taking out a mortgage.

Here's a thought.
How many of us, if we're honest, chose Spain (as opposed to, say Croatia, for example) because there is so much information available nowadays due to the fact that so many have gone before us? (and not just EOS!)
In my case, it was Spain because my better half already spoke the lingo (better than my German). But even without that advantage, I'm not sure we would have come here if there wasn't already a well blazed trail. Yes, there are many Brits in, for example, France and Greece and Cyprus as well, but there's still not quite the same extent of "support" network, for want of a better description. It's been well documented how hard it is to get a decent job, or run a business, in a foreign land. So many expats here depend in one way or another on other expats. 
How many of us, if we're honest, genuinely fell in love with Spain, rather than anywhere else?

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Ok, can of worms and all that ...

We could have happily invested our hard earned money here in Dubai - just as they launched the real estate market for foreigners to invest in some years ago, but we chose not to - basically, because the law/legislation was so vague.  In hindsight, we would have probably made a bomb!!  If we had sold now!  But, who knows what's going to happen in this part of the world?  And, if anything happened to my other half, every male relative and his cronies could have claimed a piece of our property under sharia law!!  So many invest here not actually realising the "real" legislation (as opposed to that marketed by agents/developers/etc.).  Loads and loads of problems that I won't delve into!

Same with Croatia, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, and other countries – legislation just isn't that secure!  So, at the moment, I suppose we invest in places that we feel most secure in investing our money.  When we were looking, I focused on France, because I love the south of France!!!  But then, as we're both golfers, we started looking at the south of Spain - and having spent some four months in Fuengirola in 1992 I wasn't too enthused!!  So we booked a vacation and decided where we would want to buy, knowing places that we would like to avoid.

In the time we have spent in Spain, I can honestly say, each year, we hate leaving!  We just love being there!  We would probably love being in the south of France as much, but wouldn't be able to golf as much, so the balance tips!!

So, yet, again, down to personal expecations and requirements!!

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Hi,

We are representive of a lot of brits who want to 'mimic' the geese and fly south for the winter.....then return to the UK  for the summer ( well we returned..summer didn't!!)

We visited the Canaries for years  - and enjoyed every holiday. BUT I see the Canaries as a holiday destination for 2/3 weeks a year...not for 3-5  months at a time.

When we decided to buy a 'place in the sun'...we wanted a place in mainland Europe that we could drive to. We did our homework on the internet...all head and no heart.

Costa Almeria ticked all the following boxes. 

Winter sunshine and warmth
No 'high rise' sea side ghettos.
Affordable
Winter sunshine and warmth.
A choice of airports ...just in case !?!
Oh!..and did I mention winter warmth???

I do love France..and do have a smattering of the language.
I LOVE French food
But it does not have the winter warmth......

We chose Almeria because of the winter climate ,first and foremost.  After 4 years years we have learned to love all the 'extras' that we did not first take into consideration...the food ( love the fish..hate the meat), fantastic salads and veg...and although I loathe  markets in the UK ....- ......I love them in Spain. AND the Spanish people - they all smile at me ( especially when I am tryng out my Spanish!!)

Do not regret buying in Spain, credit crunch and all!

Jo

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