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Discovering a new life in Costa Almeria

Having made the decision that full time work really is bad for your health,my husband convinced me that we should get 2 puppies and retire early. What I hadn't anticipated was that retirement would see us in Almeria, in southern Spain. This is our story from making the decision to move to our life here. For more posts read the full blog at http://relocatetospain.blogspot.com. What I hadn't realised was that I wasn't ready to retire so after 2 years we are back in the UK. However, when I am finally ready to retire - Spain is still in the mix.

Christmas is a month away? Surely not!
Wednesday, November 26, 2008

 
In previous years by the 25th November pre-christmas hysteria has usually set in. The shops are getting manic, the efforts to arrange all the dinners, parties, events are well in hand and the pressie shopping is well under way to try and have it done before the total chaos that is December. I don't enjoy the run up to Christmas in the UK and it was always going to be interesting having our first Christmas in Spain.

The internet has played a big part in my Christmas arrangements over the last few years but this year it has really come into it's own. But it just doesn't seem like it's only a month to Christmas. Here, the shops are only just starting to get decorations, gift packs etc in the shops. Upto last week you didn't see anything related to Christmas anywhere. We do get UK TV here so we are constantly seeing the Marks & Spencer Christmas advert or Asda's but when you look outside and the sun is shining, the sky is perfectly blue and you are still walking around in T-shirts, Christmas seems a million miles away.

Terreros will be incredibly quiet over Christmas, there are several people we know who will be going back to the UK for Christmas and New Year, another large group are going up to Benidorm for several days over Christmas and then there's the ones who are left. A few of the local restaurants do a Christmas dinner and we are going to our local Bistro on Christmas day.

The main celebration in Spain is on the 6th January, the Three Kings Day, when gifts are normally exchanged in Spain - so, we'll be having 2 christmas's - one to acknowledge our British heritage and another to celebrate the traditions of our new home - well, why stop at one pressie when you can have 2?

New Year is well celebrated in Spain and it is traditional to wear red underwear - but I'm not sure who checks whether you are ..... or not!

On January 5th at night we will leave one pair of shoes in the sitting room by the Nativity scene (Nacimiento) together with some liquor for the Kings and some cookies for the camels. This is actually a really nice event to look forward to as the 5th January would have been Dad's birthday and this will always give us something special to use to celebrate his birthday.

Apparently, I need to find a recipe for a cake called the Roscón de Reyes, which is traditionally eaten on the 6th January, although I'm sure our local shops will sell them. There should also be festivals and processions locally so whilst the 6th Jan in the UK signifies the end of Christmas, here it is still very much being celebrated.

This link gives a good overview of the festive season over here, I'm really looking forward to it and, for once, I won't be fed up of the idea of Christmas by the time it actually arrives.

http://www.idealspain.com/pages/Information/ChristmasInSpain.htm


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Nice to have visitors, lovely when they go home!
Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Everyone who visits gets the obligatory TTT (Ten Minute Tour of Terreros) and these is our recent guests Jaqui, Jess & Ruby up by the castle. We had a couple of really nice days where the sun came out, the clouds went and they could get a chance to really feel as if they were on holiday in Spain.



The views from the castle (notice we even managed to get the Analucian flag to fly for us)make it a must part of the trip, along with the trip down to the beaches at La Carolina on the Murcia/Almeria border.




The coves at La Carolina are really lovely, (see Brinkley's blog today for some photos from there) and when we got there last week there seemed to be some film shoot for an advert going on. There was a desk on the beach with a man sat at it with a laptop and a vase of flowers for artistic presentation. A large sound boom was overhead and a few camera men. We made the assumption that they were shooting an advert for wireless internet!?

Anway, also included in the TTT is a walk along the promenade to Mar Serena for a spot of lunch and a walk through the older part of the town down to all the small bays along the coast.

Another of our sight-seeing trips is down the coastal road to Villaricos,

















lunch at El Mar La Mar and the on through Garrucha and onto Mojacar Playa. Whilst the scenery is spectacular and the meal excellent, I think the lasting memory from this trip was
the artistic sink in the ladies at El Mar La Mar!


















I bet not many of you have sinks like this at home - thank goodness I can hear you all shouting!


Anyway, the pups have loved having Ruby here, she has played with them so much that now she has gone home, they have slept for 2 days.


Lovely to see you and I'm glad the sun came out for a few days. But, it's always Soooo nice to get back to our normal routine.


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