Where in Andalucia do u live? I've been visiting cities in Spain trying to figure out where I could live. I visited so far Barcelona (where I lived before), Madrid, Alicante, Granada, Sevilla. Still didn't made my mind up. Somewhere with good flight connections, safe, not too expensive, with a good quality of life, health system (private like Axa). Thx already
Well we had about 16 big cities in the grand assessment plan so we took a few years visiting each, looking at possible living accomodation, sent a few friends and family on recces for us, organized school interviews and ended up in Jerez - home of sherry, dancing horses and Flamenco. It´s a city of some 240k people, about 45 mins from Seville so yes it is damn hot in July which is when we try to do our trips back to Latam. It has its own airport with great European connections (Ryan air, Vueling etc) and as we travel a lot it feels like a great place to call home.
We chose it because we liked the school, the history, the access to country for riding and to beaches and we really wanted to keep the kids bilingual and avoid a "costa" expat lifestyle which Im delighted to say we´ve achieved as the majority of our friends are natives. Jerezanos have a reputation as being a bit "pijo" snobby but they have a lot to be proud of as visually and culturally Jerez is a mini Seville. In reality people are just so fantastically warm. We tend to spend a lot of time in close towns like Chiclana, Puerto de Santa Maria, San Lucar de Barrameda and Cadiz - all great places but Cadiz has a buzz to it especially during the 9 days of carnival. I personally enjoy living in Jerez because we have a car and live like natives heading off to different nearby places for various events as much as we love walking into town for dinner or music and enjoying the buzz of a busy city at night. It does have great train connections and I cycle a lot as there are extensive cycle paths.
As we are tax paying residents we use the public health system. Jerez has 2 main public hospitals and so far all´s been great including a minor operation for my husband. Two of my local friends have health plans with Adeslas and Sanitas - The Adeslas one is about 50 euro per month for the family of 4. The cost of living is embarassingly cheap for food, clothes, rent, petrol. An expat friend rents a 2 bedroom apartment in the old town for 250 euros a month. Another Spanish friend rents a 4 bedroom ph for 500. I was just laughing at the posts on electricity costs. Our latest bill for 63 days consumption (Nov - Feb) was 430 euros. Not cheap but the central heating and pool causes it to peak Nov - March.
Finding the right city is such a personal thing. For me Jerez is the right place for right now, largely to raise and educate the kids in a secure place, having fun learning lots of new things and free to travel within Spain and abroad. In our grand tour 2 other stand out cities were Santander and Almeria. Too many great places to live, too little time. James, a fellow baexpat was down here visiting 2 years ago. As he wasn't planning on having a car he has ended up buying a place and settling in Valencia another place we loved when we visited.
Feel free to ask for anything I can help research and provide data on. I don´t mean to sound like Ries with my rose coloured spectacles. Jerez isn´t perfect. Many of the old town palacios and bodegas have been left to decay as a result of the crisis - Jerez has had the most ex mayors jailed for corruption - our claim to fame! The theatre offerings are entirely in Spanish so I´m out when the shakespeare performances are on and in terms of food offerings I swear if I saw 1 more kidney in sherry or scorpion fish pate I was ready to top myself.. Little by little we found some local gems of restaurants and the food has been in increasingly reinventing itself with other European influences.
Give me a call if you´re in the neighbourhood
. Do come for feria early May or Semana Santa in April. They are both breath taking in this little corner of conservative Spain.
