The deed(s) is done. Güle güle Fethiye.

[JohnF]

That's our apartment in Karagözler away.  Gone.  Sold.  Feels a bit odd not having somewhere to scoot down to in Fethiye after all these years.  In fact, after selling both the house in Istanbul and our potential retirement gaff in Fethiye a couple of years ago, to now have sold our last tangible connection with Turkey feels decidedly weird!

Anyway, onwards.  UK house goes on market in a couple of weeks and if we get a decent offer then it's off to España (I knew that Irish grandmother would come in useful    )
Still no idea what we're going to do, take on a "project" or spend a bit more and go for something already reformed.  Prices are decent where we're heading, it's not a tourist area like the Costas, so no blinged up Brits or Germans pushing prices through the roof.  The flip side is an urgent need to improve our Spanish, coming out with phrases like "iki cervezas lütfen" and "si, es çok caliente" just make you sound like a complete tit.

Swapping raki and kebabs for sherry, flamenco and tapas...   I can live with that.

Before anyone puts dos ve iki together and gets cinco, we'd planned this for some time accepting an offer in November last year    nothing to do with Sunday.

JF

[Menthol]

All the very best to you.

Adiós y buena suerte 

[patrice]

Property seems to be selling well at present we sold ours in March went almost immediately. Felt it was time for us to start  a new adventure .Off to Cyprus in the next few weeks to find our new holiday home .Will we go back to Turkey?  Never say never but no plans for this year.

[Scunner]

Good luck, don't forget to let us have your Spanish address and directions  

[Ian]

We sold in October - went to Cyprus - Paphos area - in December and were massively underwhelmed- then went to Spain in January and bought - so a new adventure starts for us as well.

Habla muy poco espańol

[patrice]

We like Cyprus Kapparis good for waterskiing husbands hobby .Just a matter of personal choice I suppose. We are not fans of Spain

[JohnF]

don't forget to let us have your Spanish address and directions   

Of course, it'll be in the post  

then went to Spain in January and bought

Where in Spain Ian?

We are not fans of Spain

Any particular reason?

JF

[patrice]

Like I said personal choice. I loved Turkey but I know a lot of people who went  once and did not enjoy the experience I feel the same about Spain.

[Ian]

Too scared to tell you - but it suited us as a base - 35 mins from Alicante - very expat (not just brits though) - Ciudad Quesada - lots of full time retirees - plenty of good quality builds - 20,000 population and busy all year as half live their full time and Guadamar's beautiful beaches only 10 mins away. Bought something in January - on a lovely site - that had just been refurbished to a high standard - so we could move in with 2 cases - which is all we brought back from Turkey 

Paid a very good price for a "quick sale" and already seen an identical property on the same site reject an offer of €20,000 more than we paid - so happy that we have nothing to do in the place and if we don't like it - we won't lose much if anything at all.

I am slightly surprised at the level of taxes you have to pay in Spain - along with bank charges and high utility bills but then we were spoilt in Turkey - but our sites fees and council tax actually work out cheaper than in Turkey - so the savings can off set the utility bills !

The standard of food is superb - and prices are very reasonable - so overall it will do for us to "give it a go" and ultimately it's the outdoor Mediterranean lifestyle we want more than a "resale profit" at our time of life - leave you youngsters to the fast lane   

[Ian]

Ps forgot to say - been over twice already 2.5 hour flights - £25 each way per person with Ryanair - who I have never used before) but very pleased so far and we have two flights a day 365 days a year from our local airport   

Pps forgot to say been watching this http://www.channel5.com/show/spectacular-spain-with-alex-polizzi/ - will be heading to Valencia in June for a few days