After many months of discussion (and research) between ourselves, with input from friends and family, it was decided that we were going to buy something in Spain that was pretty much moveable into straight away.
Several reasons for that decision, the main being that its just simply easier! Lesser reasons such as all the hassle involved doing a refurb, my dodgy athritic hip and the fact we've refurbed so many Victorian and Georgian properties over the years that its really not fun anymore.
So, off to Jerez and within three days at the beginning of July we sorted out our bank account, our NIE number, a nice rental flat and put a deposit down on a 400m2 traditional Jerezana neighbourhood house. In need of some work. Well, being truthful, in need of a lot of work.
But you know, when you look at property sometimes a place has that 'feel'. You know its a good fit for you, despite the fact its structurally and cosmetically on its knees. We've been here before many times and always trusted our gut when it comes to property - so far instinct (coupled with common sense) hasn't let us down.
I think most folks knew that buying a property requiring minimal work just isn't us - and the reaction from our girls when they seen the pics was positive.
So... fast forward a few weeks and we're now resident in Jerez.
Drove from Dundee over four days via London, Poitiers and Burgos. Two thousand miles or so and our battered old CMax didnt miss a beat.
London was great as we managed to catch up with frinds we hadn't seen for months, Poitiers was a bit of a dump (at least the area we stayed in) but Burgos was a pleasant surprise. Beuatiful city with friendly locals and the food and drink was excellent. Prices similar to Jerez, e.g. €1 or so for a beer, €2/2.5 for a generously sized tapa.
The French and Spanish motorways are a dream to drive on - rarely busy and once into Spain, the services have cheap diesel, good coffee and the quality of food puts the UK services to shame. Paid a total of about €120 in tolls, well worth it for the rapid progress you can make as opposed to the free roads which are pretty congested.
Got the air con re-gassed before we left and that turned out to be an extremely sensible decision. The temperatures in central Spain during our run were crazy, high thirties/low forties all the way.
Luckily it was a dry heat, unlike the sweaty humid heat of Istanbul in summer so aclimatising came fairly easily.
Home for now is a 77m2 two bed rental apartment, with two good sized bathrooms and three terraces. Unforunately the three terraces are all internal so the view is reminiscent of nineteen seventies Moscow. Its not a biggie though, we'll be getting the keys for our house in a week or so and wont have too much time to laze about a terrace.
I've said it before, but dealing with officialdom in Spain is so similar to Turkey it's uncanny. We were all geared up for a specific date to get the keys and then sorry, the Notar is on holiday it'll have to be week after.
Bugger.
Burası España!
More when I can.
JF
