Why would you want to live in Mallorca?
Jul 29th 2012, 8:19 pm
#16
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Re: Why would you want to live in Mallorca?
I love the place, its like Spain in an island, has everything, including the crappy bits, plenty of money, lots of culture, sport obsessed and some of the best eateries I have been to. It has crime (mainly drugs) but then so does Spain, it has built up crap holes, so does Spain, its like Spain Lite.
Is it the best place in Spain? Probably not, but then I can't see anyone being able to answer where is, its subjective, like people who tell me the beetles are the greatest band ever, personally, they did one good song, that is it!
Still, nice thread to stir the forum up again isn't it?
Is it the best place in Spain? Probably not, but then I can't see anyone being able to answer where is, its subjective, like people who tell me the beetles are the greatest band ever, personally, they did one good song, that is it!
Still, nice thread to stir the forum up again isn't it?
Jul 29th 2012, 8:57 pm
#17
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Re: Why would you want to live in Mallorca?
Nothing like a my place is better than your place thread, beats a cost of living one hands down
Which beatles song do you reckon was the best?
Which beatles song do you reckon was the best?
Jul 29th 2012, 9:15 pm
#18
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Jul 29th 2012, 9:32 pm
#19
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Re: Why would you want to live in Mallorca?
A day in the Life, its written by both of them, Lennon, who I rate as a poet, and that saggy faced cretin who's name I shall not mutter.... and they put the song together afterwards.
Jul 30th 2012, 9:19 am
#20
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Re: Why would you want to live in Mallorca?
I was just reading through the threads about migrating to Mallorca and whilst I like Mallorca, I don't see why anyone would want to move there of all places. I have went on vacation a number of times to Mallorca and I've also rented a place whilst I worked there for a short period. So whilst I'm not an expert on the area I've had a chance to get a good look around.
The first thing I see when I visit Mallorca which makes me cringe is an advertising banner on the major roads out of Palma; it's written entirely in English and is for Burger King. This really demonstrates in my opinion a lot of what Mallorca is about, people going there aren't interested in Mallorcan culture and Mallorcans recognise this and destroy their own culture in order to make it look as much like England as possible.
If you get into any of the large tourist destinations you'll probably see a number of bars with names like English Bar, Irish Bar, Trotters. This again shows a lack of culture and an acceptance that visitors aren't interested in visiting a Spanish bar. The best you could expect of tourists to try the Spanish way of life is a Tapas bar with the menu in English.
Palma is apparently where over half of the island's population lives, yet even there it seems to have been butchered by the tourism industry. There, many of the signs for restaurants are in English.
What I suspect makes it attractive for many English people is the fact that it's largely catered for English tourists; you can get by not knowing a word of their language. But whilst I think it's made easy for tourists to be tourists (since that's profitable for the locals), I don't think it's made easy to migrate (which isn't so profitable).
The second issue I see is language and integration into society. One thread I read was a woman who spoke "a bit of Spanish". But the major language of Mallorca is Catalan. Granted, Spanish is an official language and most people will understand you but the language of choice for many locals and certainly the government is Catalan. If few people in England speak Spanish, even fewer speak Catalan. I just see it being hard to integrate into society if you can't communicate effectively.
I have to wonder about how the Mallorcans feel about expats settling in their country that speak "a bit of Spanish". Many of which I'm sure won't even bother to learn anything more than that.
So just to summarise my thoughts; if you don't speak much Spanish and Catalan I think it would be hard to properly integrate. If you speak their languages then you're moving to a place which has largely adopted the English language and culture anyway so why not move somewhere like mainland Spain away from the tourist areas?
I'm not trying to judge people who want to move there. I'm just trying to understand why it's the destination of choice for many expats.
The first thing I see when I visit Mallorca which makes me cringe is an advertising banner on the major roads out of Palma; it's written entirely in English and is for Burger King. This really demonstrates in my opinion a lot of what Mallorca is about, people going there aren't interested in Mallorcan culture and Mallorcans recognise this and destroy their own culture in order to make it look as much like England as possible.
If you get into any of the large tourist destinations you'll probably see a number of bars with names like English Bar, Irish Bar, Trotters. This again shows a lack of culture and an acceptance that visitors aren't interested in visiting a Spanish bar. The best you could expect of tourists to try the Spanish way of life is a Tapas bar with the menu in English.
Palma is apparently where over half of the island's population lives, yet even there it seems to have been butchered by the tourism industry. There, many of the signs for restaurants are in English.
What I suspect makes it attractive for many English people is the fact that it's largely catered for English tourists; you can get by not knowing a word of their language. But whilst I think it's made easy for tourists to be tourists (since that's profitable for the locals), I don't think it's made easy to migrate (which isn't so profitable).
The second issue I see is language and integration into society. One thread I read was a woman who spoke "a bit of Spanish". But the major language of Mallorca is Catalan. Granted, Spanish is an official language and most people will understand you but the language of choice for many locals and certainly the government is Catalan. If few people in England speak Spanish, even fewer speak Catalan. I just see it being hard to integrate into society if you can't communicate effectively.
I have to wonder about how the Mallorcans feel about expats settling in their country that speak "a bit of Spanish". Many of which I'm sure won't even bother to learn anything more than that.
So just to summarise my thoughts; if you don't speak much Spanish and Catalan I think it would be hard to properly integrate. If you speak their languages then you're moving to a place which has largely adopted the English language and culture anyway so why not move somewhere like mainland Spain away from the tourist areas?
I'm not trying to judge people who want to move there. I'm just trying to understand why it's the destination of choice for many expats.
The rest is rather laid back and uncommercialised. In fact there are many villages that appear to have been frozen in time for 100 years or so. Places where, on any afternoon, locals push a table into the street and play cards, and you'll rarely hear anything but Mallorquin spoken.
We live in the "outback", next neighbour is 500 metres away, yet are only 2 minutes from rather virgin beaches, and 5 minutes from major shopping.
For me, the best reason to live here is that the island is extremely diverse. Almost anything you'd fancy on any given day is within 1 hour. Whether it's california-esque mountain seascapes, caribbic-beaches, sophisticated city life, peaceful laid back country life, or Las-Vegas-style action, it's all within one hour or so. We have an definitive island atmosphere, but it's too big and diverse to ever get island fever.
In fact, unlike so many other destinations on this planet, I'd have to say that Mallorca is a far better place to live than to visit.
And just for the record, Mallorca is NOTHING like Benidorm. Not even close.
Last edited by amideislas; Jul 30th 2012 at 9:25 am.
Jul 30th 2012, 9:32 am
#21
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Re: Why would you want to live in Mallorca?
As a result of so many people claiming that the entire island is just a big resort (some even believe Mallorca is part of Magalluf), I recently calculated that out of the 3640 square kilometres of land mass, approximately 5% of the island caters to tourism, and is highly commercialised.
Jul 30th 2012, 9:38 am
#22
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Re: Why would you want to live in Mallorca?
think I would agree, whilst the love songs have a certain something Twist and Shout has a rawness, especially in Lennons voice, that expresses the passion they had in those very early days - before they found meditating to pot was better than doing what they were doing.
Jul 30th 2012, 9:50 am
#23
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Re: Why would you want to live in Mallorca?
Jul 30th 2012, 9:58 am
#24
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Re: Why would you want to live in Mallorca?
I think you will find more "tat" around the edges of the United Kingdom than you will with Spain, even in places like the Costa Del Sol.
Jul 30th 2012, 10:17 am
#25
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Re: Why would you want to live in Mallorca?
The first thing I see when I visit Mallorca which makes me cringe is an advertising banner on the major roads out of Palma; it's written entirely in English and is for Burger King. This really demonstrates in my opinion a lot of what Mallorca is about, people going there aren't interested in Mallorcan culture and Mallorcans recognise this and destroy their own culture in order to make it look as much like England as possible.
If you get into any of the large tourist destinations you'll probably see a number of bars with names like English Bar, Irish Bar, Trotters. This again shows a lack of culture and an acceptance that visitors aren't interested in visiting a Spanish bar. The best you could expect of tourists to try the Spanish way of life is a Tapas bar with the menu in English.
NOTE: Virtually none of the handful of English who live on the island live in either of these resorts.
What I suspect makes it attractive for many English people is the fact that it's largely catered for English tourists; you can get by not knowing a word of their language. But whilst I think it's made easy for tourists to be tourists (since that's profitable for the locals), I don't think it's made easy to migrate (which isn't so profitable).
Nonetheless, Palma in particular is quite international, and as a result, it just isn't practical to write signage in 17+ languages. Most foreigners have some understanding of English, so it's just more practical inform tourists in English.
Last edited by amideislas; Jul 30th 2012 at 11:44 am.
Jul 30th 2012, 11:38 am
#26
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Re: Why would you want to live in Mallorca?
oh dear that is what I really miss about the United Kingdom - all those nice clean beaches with the clear water where you can see the bottom.
also the motorways so clean, no rubbish, no bits of bumper, blown out tyres, glass, sweetie wrappers......
also the motorways so clean, no rubbish, no bits of bumper, blown out tyres, glass, sweetie wrappers......
Jul 30th 2012, 2:15 pm
#27
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Re: Why would you want to live in Mallorca?
Over 20 yrs since I was in Mallorca and I thought it was full of package tourists then. British and German. We stayed in Porto Cristo and it was really nice but it did have a very large hotel. Some nice places but didn't see any empty beaches. We did a recce of all the Island and nearly every cove had a large high rise hotel. I remember Cala d'or, very scenic except there were lots of hotels then. It is a lot prettier than the mainland though.
Jul 30th 2012, 2:34 pm
#28
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Jul 30th 2012, 3:01 pm
#29
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Re: Why would you want to live in Mallorca?
I do try to ignore it but was just watching the sailing on TV and the coast looked wonderful, not many of the cliffs with buildings on. Why does he think that rich people buy in Sandbanks etc. instead of foreign parts!
Jul 30th 2012, 3:10 pm
#30
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Re: Why would you want to live in Mallorca?
"...out of the 3640 square kilometres of land mass, approximately 5% of the island caters to tourism, and is highly commercialised".
Mainland Spain's 5% tatty bits are on the Costas, by and large, but that doesn't mean the entire coast of Spain is tat. I thought that was obvious.