Hi all is there anyone living in Southern Spain, please tell me how is life there?

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basketmaniac

Hi, I´m living in Granada (south of Spain). I love living here as it´s a really nice city.
Things I like and don´t like:
-It´s not too small or too big, so you can get everywhere walking, which is nice; but sometimes you do have to go walking because its public transport is not excellent; only buses and a lot of traffic jam in the rush hours.
-There are a lot of monuments to visit: the Cathedral, a lot of churches, the old moorish quarter, Albaycin, and of course The Alhambra! I don´t find anything I don´t like here, everything is just beautiful.
-The beach is only 60 kilometres from downtown; you can drive and get there in 25 minutes to spend 3 or 4 hours nicely sunbathing (it´s still nice there). The bad part is that only part of the road is a higway; it´s not a problem but in summer, when most of the natives drive there for the weekend and there are terrible jams along the last kilometres. I just cope with it not driving to our beaches, but driving to Málaga beaches, which are only at about 1 1/2 hour and the road is great.
-There´s a skiing resort at 35 kilometres far from the city! It´s called Sierra Nevada, where you can skii or just enjoy the cable car to the top and have nice views. I usually go up there (I can´t ski) just to relax walking around. I must say that in winter, when there´s snow it´s too crowed, as it´s chosen by maaany people from the nearby provinces
-The weather: many foreigners find our weather nice and warm; it´s true for those who come from any other part of Europe, as we are south!! But we do need more rain; it hardly ever rains here and we might have problems with water restrictions in the future. Fortunately, the forecast for Wednesday it rain, rain, rain for a few days!!
- People: I think we are quite open and friendly. We can take a foreigner by their hand and take them to the place they want to go if we cannot communicate with them!! Here, we work to live, so we do love to relax and switch off from work: we enjoy going out to bars and cafés. By the way, Granada is one of the few places where you get a "tapa" (cold or hot snacks) for free with your drink!! Yes, it´s true: you order beer or coke or orange juice, and they serve it with a small dish with that "tapa"; in some places you can even choose it from a long list.
-We have a number of small villages near the city called Alpujarras: you can rent a rural house there, quite cheap, and enjoy the breathtaking views ... and their food!!! Delicious!

Well, Alex, I think this is getting too long! I´m sorry!! Just come here and check it by yourself!

John G

Sunny and Laid back.

SunnyDays

wouldn;t bother even considering living in Spain. Its not the place painted on the TV or what you see on holidays for two weeks at a time. The place as a whole, is going downhill, I have seen this decline over the last 3.5 years. The bars and restuarantas are not doing very well with many really struggling to survive the summer, let alone the winter. You cannot buy the same level of goods here as you can in the UK, there are so many rip offs and scames going with regard to buying property too, with many estate agents being rip off merchants and over charging horrendously. Many homes are up for sale and not selling, prices are begining to fall and those who have mortgages will soon be in a negative equity position, many not even selling through estate agents because of the fees. Taxes are frequent, while the equivalent of the council tax may not be much, inheritance tax is a big issue, its payable within 6 months of death and kicks in after 15k€ not the several hundred thousand pounds you're all moaning about in the UK! You can't sell the property to pay the taxes either! 50% of new build homes are not selling and 9% of the housing stock is empty, people are being sold the dream of a property in the eastern side of europe from here now as they know the market is done here. prices of food and fuel are much the same as the Uk but wages considerably lower! So in the long term its more expensive to live here. Its all very well coming for two weeks and thinking its great, it not, its dull, and dead, shops dont open 24/7 and they only have sunday opening during the high season, thats if youpre on the coast as well! Its hard being here and I can;t wait to be able to get out...
You will also be subjected to stacks of red tape and blatant racism as there is a huge resentment of the spanish towards the english as its the english thats built this place up, pricing the spanish out of many things.....you ownt get work for a spanish company unless you are completely fluent, dont even consider coming here to be a plasterer or builder, the place is saturated completely and they are all struggling for a bit of work, undercutting each other and almost working for nothing....

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