Author: Ben

Categories
Living in Spain

Bad experiences of moving to spain?

One of the last comments on my post “How to start a new life in Spain before it’s too late” particularly caught my eye:

“What a ridiculous and naive take on moving to a new country??!!
In the first instance Spain is in fact one of the worst countries for relocating due to the relentless red tape and beaurocracy that is involved in purchasing property. It is also notorious for many a dodgy deal happening with unscrupulous sellers (apparently the ex-pat Brit is often the culprit) selling properties with all manner of debts attached to them which automatically become your problem. Furthermore, you’ll never actually own the land that your home sits on and therefore can be moved on at any point in the future should the Spanish government decide they want to build a through road right across your land (as with friend’s of my parents).
Work is hard to come by and badly paid. As for teaching, I myself am a qualified English Language Instructor and Spain is one of the lowest paid countries to secure well payed employment (in comparison to living) and it’s not uncommon for people to be paid the same rate whilst working in a bar (again crap pay).
I have been fortunate enough to have travelled extensively and to have lived in many different countries and I have no hesitation is saying that Spain is top of my list for worst places to live (unless of course you’re happy to live in an ex-pat ‘Eldorado’ community). Whilst I do have many Spanish friends, my own personal experience of the Spanish themselves was that they are an unfriendly, unhelpful hostile bunch who do little or nothing to make the tranistion less painful. I had even arrived with a job, enrolled for refresher language classes and communicated soley in Spanish.
Yes, people do move there in there droves but many come back to British shores with only the shirts on their back due to rushed, hurried decision making and lack of a comprehensive plan.
I almost sold up before my last trip there having had many an enjoyable holiday and I’m so glad that I held on to my investment across here instead. As far as Spain is concerned the days of an easy buck in the sun are well and truly over!!”

Evidently I strongly disagree with most of this statement – the government only ‘grabs’ people’s land in Valencia, for example – and I replied to the comment in full over at the original post. But this certainly got me thinking. I am aware that I am always more than encouraging to anyone that wishes to move to Spain, because frankly it has worked out very well for me, and many of my ex-pat friends here, but that can make this website a little one-sided. So I would really like to hear from anyone else that has had similar experiences to the commenter in question, or just simply didn’t find Spain that great. Leave a comment below or email me if you want to tell your story.

Categories
Notes from Spain Podcast

Rambling in the park – Notes from Spain podcast 51


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Marina on the swing

Despite all appearances no alcohol was consumed before the making of this podcast. It just felt great to have come to some good decisions today about how Notes from Spain and Notes in Spanish are going to continue wonderfully into the future!

Photo: Marina on an unfortunately graffitied swing in the park. Discuss the podcast below or in the forum.

Categories
Top 5

Top 5 Places to find the Ghosts of Spain

A while back I wrote to Giles Tremlett, the Guardian’s Spain correspondent and author of Ghosts of Spain, to see if he would like to take part in our Spain Top 5’s series. He’s been very busy up until now with the release of the Spanish version of his book (España Ante Sus Fantasmas, published by SIGLO XXI), but here at last are Giles’ Top 5 places to find the Ghosts of Spain…

1. Valle de los Caidos

Franco’s tomb and a ghostly reminder that his regime was about both God and Patria. Set in a beautiful wooded valley outside Madrid, the conjunction of fascist grandeur, natural beauty and religious ardour is, in the true sense of the word, awesome. Also El Escorial is just down the road.

2. The cemetery at Paracuellos de Jarama

The huge white cross you see on the hillside by Madrid’s Barajas airport marks a cemetery where the mass graves of those murdered by the defenders of the Republic lie. The civil war was not black and white.

3. The Roncesvalles pass in the Pyrenees

Where the Basques fell on Charlemagne’s rearguard – a central act in the Basque myth of statehood. Also a beautiful spot (though you can skip the “monuments”), and specially good for looking at vultures.

4. The monastery at Poblet

I always try to visit the Cistercian monastery here during the week and out of season. A chilly winter afternoon is best, because you get it virtually to yourself. What can I say? There is something magical about the place, and not necessarily because it represents part of Catalonia’s pre-Spanish past. No wonder Gaudi found his inspiration here.

5. The Creation Tapestry in Girona cathedral

They recently dimmed the lights here so as to prevent the tapestry from fading. This makes the intense colours harder to make out but I can’t help looking at this huge piece of fabric without imagining the 11th century fingers that put it together. Girona is the Granada of the north-east and well worth a visit anyway.

Have you got a Spain Top 5 you’d like to send in to Notes from Spain?

Categories
Notes from Spain Podcast

Lonely Planet Podcasts publish our Galicia edit

Lonely Planet have just published a compilation I put together of the four podcasts we have made this year from Galicia. If you want to be reminded of all the best sounds from that wonderful province in the North West, you can download it via their site (title: Spanish Sounds).

Categories
notes

Quick web round up…

Nicholas Mead points to a particularly amusing bit of English Translation from the toursit office on the island of La Gomera:

IT IS OUR DESIRE THAT TRAVES OF THESE PAGINAS CAN KNOW THE ISLAND THE GOMERA, ITS HISTORY, CULTURE, ARTESANIA, GASTRONOMIA BETTER AND LIKE NO, OUR SUPPLY TURISTICA AND OF COMPLEMENTARY LEISURE

Meanwhile the Guardian comments on the usual Franco celebration nonsense in Madrid this weekend:

Hundreds of right-wing supporters, many making stiff-armed fascist salutes and chanting insults against gays and immigrants, gathered Sunday to mark the 31st anniversary of the death of Spanish dictator Gen. Francisco Franco.

Puerta del Sol mentions an essential new dictionary we Spanishofiles might want to get our hands on.

And finally, you probably have to be Spanish to understand all the humour in this one, but this take on Franco’s death is particularly fine, just before the minute mark, in the announcement for the BBC 🙂

(video direct link)

Categories
Cuisine from Spain Podcast Spanish Food and Drink

Marmitako – Cuisine from Spain Podcast 17


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Marmitako

This warming Basque fish stew receives its name from the saucepan that it is cooked in, a Marmita.

Ingredients: (for 4 people)

600g (1.3 Pounds) of fresh Tuna (or Bonito if you are in Spain)
1Kg (2.2 Pounds) of Potatoes
2 Onions
2 Tomatoes
3 Garlic cloves
2 Bay leaves
4 tbsp of Olive oil
1 tsp of Sweet paprika
1 Cayenne pepper
1 liter (2 Pints) of water
2 Sprigs of parsley

Preparation:

Start by peeling the potatoes and slicing them roughly. Then peel and thinly slice both the onion and the garlic. Pour the oil into a saucepan and let it warm on the hob until it starts to smoke. Then add the potatoes, the onion and the garlic and let these cook for about 5 minutes, turning occasionaly.

Next add the bay leaves, the cayenne pepper, and finally a tsp of sweet paprika. Be careful at this point, you need to get the paprika coated in the oil without burning it – to do this successfully stir non-stop for between 20 to 30 seconds then immediately add the water, until the potato mixture is covered. Remove the cayenne pepper, and let the stew boil for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare the tomatoes and the fish. To easily peel the tomatoes, scald them (cover for half a minute with boiling water) and then remove the skin. Chop the tomatoes roughly and purée them using a fork. Next, cut the fish into small cubes, carefully removing any remaining bones.

When the 20 minutes are up (this time really depends on the type of potatoes) add the tomato purée and leave the dish simmering on the hob for a further 7 minutes. Then add the tuna, and cook it for just 5 to 7 minutes more – you really have to be careful not to overcook the fish or it won’t be tender. Sprinkle with the chopped parsley and serve in bowls.

Categories
Spanish Culture and News

It’s that Franco time of year again…

The above esquela (commorative announcement of someone’s death) appeared on page 7 of today’s El Mundo newspaper. It respectfully announces the anniversary of the death of General Franco, the long dead but seemingly never forgotten dictator of Spain. November 20th marks the anniversay of his death and, as usual, there will be a mass held at the Valle de los Caidos where he is buried (remember last year, when Marina refused to make a podcast of the event?)

The esquela was placed by the Fundación Nacional Franciso Franco that is not only alive and well, but also apparently receiving funding from the government (at least up until 2003) for its digital archiving activities. 20Minutos reports that this is the latest in a ‘Guerra de Esquelas‘, whereby rival factions from the past have begun to frequently post notices commemorating the death of prominent figures from both sides of the Spanish Civil War.

Found via South of Watford

Categories
notes

Private Spanish conversation classes with Marina

Want to sharpen your Spanish fluency and speaking skills? For the next three weeks Marina will be offering exclusive one-to-one conversation classes over the telephone/internet. Read more here…

Categories
Spain Glossary

Spanish Lottery Shops and the Quiniela

Spanish lotteries shop

These places can be a minefield for the uninitiated. There are more ways to fritter away your hard-earned in here than there are days in a week. Most popular are the Primitiva and the Bonoloto (pick 6 numbers out of 49, BIG cash prizes), and the only one that ever gets me to step in once or twice a year, the Quiniela:

Quiniela

The idea of the Quiniela is to guess the results of the coming weekend’s first and second division football games (10 from the first, 5 from the second). You get to choose between a home win (1), a draw (x), and an away win (2). It’s 1 euro a line if you only pick one possibility per game, but things get really complicated, and expensive, when you start picking dobles (covering two choices for some games, e.g. a home win or a draw), and triples (where you cover all possible options for one or more games). Top Quiniela prizes range in the hundreds of thousands of euros, but are split amongst all those that pick all the correct results, and this often means the prize money is divided into less than life-changing amounts (though last week just two people took over 600,000 euros each, not bad!) The good news is that you start winning with just ten correct lines (though it may be just a couple of euros). The bad news is that it is surprisingly difficult – I think 9 lines is my record. Still, it certainly makes the weekend footy more entertaining!

Categories
Notes from Spain Podcast Spain Travel

Siguenza – Notes from Spain Podcast 50


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Siguenza

A quiet night in Siguenza, a very quiet town at the top of which sits an even quieter Parador. Today’s podcast comes from a field just below the Parador, an ancient castle first built by the Romans, with a view across the rolling Manchegan plains. Details of the Great Madrid Escape (everyone welcome!) can be found here. And Marina wanted me to point out that this podcast is not sponsored by the Parador chain, even if we do go on about them a lot! The photo is of the Parador/castle on the top of the hill.

Addition – Here’s a short vid taken from the spot where we made the podcast:

http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=8869108730651007861&hl=en