MnM

Hi everyone!

We just registered yesterday and thought we'd introduce ourselves. My name is Martha and my husband is Michael.....hence the MnM thing

Michael is English, I am Greek and we have been living and working in the Costa Blanca for 3 years now as project managers.

We were literally just dropped here (it's a loooooooooooooooonggggg story ) and had to figure out how to do things the hard way. It's been a long and arduous journey, but finally things have settled down a bit now and we would be happy to help out with anything we can. We have ALOT of experience dealing with solicitors, banks, SUMA (spanish tax), ITV (spanish MOT), residencia and non residencia permits, etc

We live in Xalo which is about 20 minutes drive to the coast of Calpe and 45 minutes from the Alicante airport. We'd love to meet up with other people living around this area also. It would be great to share experiences

Mitzyboy

Its great to see someone new here offering to help.
Welcome to the forum

MnM

Thank you for the welcome Mitzyboy

I see you live in Oliva....it's a beautiful place How long have you lived here?

Mitzyboy

Oh since October ..... We're in the hills behind Oliva so away from the busyness of the town, but close enough to it to be convenient.

Going to Calpe tomorrow to sort my car purchase paperwork out at the garage on the N332 by the Calpe turn. I like it around there also

MnM

We spend alot of our time in Calpe during the week. It is nice in the wintertime but in the summer months it's very busy and and not really our "cup of tea" ....too many tourists and not enough parking spaces :P

We were in Oliva a few weeks ago at the medieval fair....we really liked the town, it has a great feel to it

Mitzyboy

Yes we went to the fair.
Oliva is a working town and slightly ruined imho by the N332 running through it as its such a busy road. It splits the town in half and forms a barrier between the nice narrow white streets of the old town and the more modern paseo area with the shops. Roll on the by pass!!!

MnM

Benissa is exactly the same. When we first drove through (the N332 rips right through the town), we thought what a horrible little town it was. Then we had a chance to search for the Ayutamiento and discovered what a beautiful place it is.....although parking is a nightmare regardless of seasons!

Mitzyboy

Yes, agreed .... and Altea .. what a suprise Altea was when we bothered to get out of our car and climb up the steps to the square

MnM

The church square in Altea IS brilliant and the views are breathtaking! I think we had been here a year before we actually discovered the old town and the church square......just goes to show what parking up and actually doing some exploring will do

crispy

Welcome MnM, sorry I don't know your area very well, went on holiday near Calpa many years ago when the kids were young, spent most of my time either doing for them or sleeping on the beach so no chance to go sight seeing. I'm living down on the Costa de la Liz near so quite a distance from you, OH and I live a very quietly and peacefully in our early retirement and enjoying every moment of it.

MnM

Hi there crispygirl Nice to meet you *extending hand in friendship*.... and thanking you for the welcome.

Are you in a different part of Spain or still in the UK?

crispy

Having trouble with this here PC, what I type is not what you see!!!
We bought our house in 4 years ago but we moved here to live in September 2005 when we both took early retirement. We are contented with our lives hers but we do miss the our kids and grandkids, well in the winter we do but ask us the same question in the summer and we won't have the same answer as they are here back and forth from April until September.

Eldest daughter just phoned and said grandkids missing us so they are coming out in February for a week, bless them just what we need to brighten our winter up.

We both hale from London but lived for a while in Essex before we made the move.

MnM

Whenever I have pc problems, I threaten it with a hammer......it sometimes works too

Before moving to Spain, we lived in Greece for 4 years where we owned and managed our own gallery. Michael, my husband is an artist/sculptor and I did freelance photography, but mainly worked for him.....photographing his models and such It was alot more fun that project managing (which is what we're doing now), but didn't always pay as well

Before that we lived in the UK - Portsmouth area, but Michael is originally from the Midlands. As for me, well I'm from Northern Greece and we both miss it terribly, but we have work here and being a starving artist is not always all it's cracked up to be *laffin*.....

Lionda

Hi Martha

We are living near Portsmouth (Gosport) and will be moving to the Alicante area this Spring, hopefully. We should have moved over in October but are still waiting fo the paperwork to be sorted by the builders. We are moving to an urbanisation near Castalla north of Alicante. We were over in Spain the last two weeks of January and visited Altea...I love it there and the old town is definitely worth a visit! We also visited Calpe....we park by Lidls near the outdoor market, there is usually a place to park there

MnM

Hiya Lionda

I'm sure you will love it here. It's certainly a very different way of life from what you're used to in the UK. Although having said that I do miss living in Portsmouth.....we had such great times at Southsea and a beautiful house in Drayton ......don't mind me, just getting a bit nostalgic.

You will be about an hour's drive away from Calpe, if I'm not mistaken. If there is anything I can help you with, either before you arrive in the Spring, or whilst you are here, please don't hesitate to ask and if I can, I most definitely will