Galicia
 

Hello all.

Having lived and worked in spain for several years we; myself and the long haired sergeant major have decided on a change of scenery. We currently both live and work in sunny Ibiza.........Yeeeaaaaaah, PARTY!!!!.....NOT!!!

Having Spent most of my formative years in the 'Lakes' I suffer from a wasting disease.........fishing; as in "waste of money and waste of time"; thats the 'Bosses' opinion.

We had made enquiries and got the idea that Tarragona area, in the Ebro valley would be suitable.....Big river, big fish. However after many visits to the area we started to 'hum' and 'ha' a little. Unscrupulous agents, non existent planning applications and all the usual bull.

Well hey, whadd'ya know UK sterling collapsed and whilst undertaking in the whole morning coffee and newspaper ritual, I noticed that a filter at the ENDESA nuclear plant at Asco went pop and now the CSN are monitoring the local population for radiation poisoning.:eek::eek::eek:




Anyway...to the point

We are now seriously considering a move to Galicia and intend to spend a few weeks 'looking around' there this coming winter.

I would be grateful if anyone up there can share their experiences regarding the following.

Land prices and other building issues.......Planning regs cant be any worse than Catalunya :(

And while the wife is out..........whats the fishing like?????:D:D:D

Looking forward to reading your responses and advice.


Philip

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Land prices vary significantly across Galicia. The coast is far more expensive then inland. Some parts of the coast have higher prices than the others. The province of Lugo is one of the cheapest places to purchase a property in Spain. The lowest is Extremadura.
What building issues are you talking about? If you are on about illegal buildings then there are some in Galicia. They seem to be located mainly near the coast and one of them seems to be an office of the Xunta de Galicia. When this was discovered things went a bit quite. If you want to purchase a ruin then you should be ok on this front. You have to approach the local concello for permissions for either new buildings or restorations.
Not being fishers we do not know so much about the subject, but it seems that the locals fish for trout in the rivers and you have to purchase a licence for this. Living inland we know nothing about sea fishing.

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What, they have illegal building in Galicia as well ????:rofl::rofl::rofl:

We intend to come over to Galicia and drive around (camper van) for two weeks this coming winter. Due to work commitments (Oh, those lovely british tourists) we are restricted to going 'off island' between November and April.

We intend to follow the coast (It'll be nice to go somewhere where the tide goes out) and then head inland on a circular route.

Can you recommend an itinary? Forests, lakes and rivers are good, cities not so.

Having grown up in the lake district I like lots of water, but not the stuff that falls on your head!!! When is the dryest time, if any between November and April???

Thanks for your advice and your time


Philip

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I cannot tell you too much about the detail, but we too are planning on Galicia. We should be there by the Autumn we hope, but intend to rent for a year or so. Coast is absolutely stunning. Absolutely fell in love with Viveiro. But if rain is an issue be warned - it does rain a lot. Which is one of the reasons we are going - gardeners.
We are out again at the end of May looking at Ourense over to Vigo and Pontevedra. Cant help you about the fishing - like eating them though!
Good luck
Michael

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We are 10kms inland from Viveiro and the coast is stunning. Yes it does rain and this March and April it has been particularly harsh. That is why the scenery is so green.

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Coming here in the winter months may not be a good idea as all the camping sites close. In case we have missed one look here to find one that does not.
www.Turgalicia.es
Maybe it would be cheaper to fly from Ibiza to Santiago hire a car and rent a small apartment. As apposed to a ferry and a large fuel bill etc. it will also save time if you have just a few weeks. It will also allow you to explore all of those nooks and crannies a camper cannot get too.
BTW a “few weeks” is not enough time to see and understand all of Galicia. It is some thing like 30,000 square kms. That is a bit small then The Netherlands.
If you do not like cities then avoid Vigo the largest and most industrialised city in Galicia. Maybe you should avoid A Coruña but that is quite touristy, along with SdC. The latter too along with Lugo and Ourense are more like large towns than cities.
If you do not like rain then avoid the whole of the North of Spain. As BZ says it is not green for nothing. I would hesitate to predict when the driest period will be. There are two reasons for this Galicia has several weather zones and within those zones you will have microclimates. For instance just over 5 km away, as the bird flys, they grow orange and lemon trees, we cannot because of frosts on the odd night. Look at what BZ has posted about this year. We have not had so bad, like they have had. We also heard that somewhere on the coast up north a town or two has been flooded in the past week. Nothing like that for us.
The second reason is that weather here is very unpredictable, for us it is more like the U.K.
You should look on line at some areas to choose what you like. We love where we live but it will not suit everyone so where you go is personal. We spent months looking around for a place we felt we could live. Our part is very much like the lakes, with its dry stonewalls, green rocky countryside, it is even misty in winter to add to the affect. But we do not get so much rain as Seathwaite, thank goodness. But Seathewaite’s rainfall may match Santiago though.
Hope this is a help, let us know if you want more info.
Hopefully some of the others that have posted they are going to move to Galicia will chip in to as only us and BZ, who actually live here in Galicia presently write on this fourm.

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I would love to add more to this thread - and will continue to monitor- but have little of value to add.

Our decision is to come out and rent for six months. Reasons are several -firstly to learn Spanish. I can speak some, and have always had a facility for languages, so envisage no problem. (Incidentally thanksfor the cautionary posts on the forum from those plainly very knowledgeable about the pitfalls of living in Spain).
Secondly we are very aware that liking somewhere and living there with all the idiosyncratic differences between one town and another let alone one country and another are two very different things.
Thirdly we want to get a real feel for the areas (in particular - just how bad is the rain)
Fourthly - Hey it is big world out there - we have time on our side lets have a look around.

If anyone feels it would be of value, I will try to do a resume of what we find when we return from our recconnoitre in June.

I am off next week to do a Trinity TEFL course. Partly for a bit of dosh but more so that we have something to offer wherever we wind up. I am told Trinity and CELTA have equal value. We shall see

Once again thanks to all for so much really helpful information and advice. I would like to poist more but dont really see what I can add that is useful

Weather here (Southern England) wet and miserable again. Even the Met Office admitting this may be yet another cold wet summer here. So that should, cheer all you guys up.

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Its been snowing in Galacia apparantly :lol:

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Are you thinking of being a teacher here in Galicia? And are you thinking that you want to work in a State run school? Then did you know that the Xunta de Galicia insists the planning for the classes are done in Gallego, plus a 50 percentage of all classes in state run schools are done in Gallego. At the same time they are looking for native speakers. It just does not make sense to us.
This initiative for the Galician language dose not apply to private schools.
Where are you planning to visit in June?


The snow is only has been on the very high mountains that form the borders of Galicia and Castilla Y Leon. Is that why you are not coming here for your hols?:ohmy:

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We'll be there shortly! ;):D

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Good..... the sun is coming out after a few days rain. Hopefully it will even be better by the time you are here.

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Keep the sun shining because we will be starting out on our drive over to Galicia on 30th April straight after we sign for completion on the sale of our farm. All our llamas are now relocated until we find a new home but watching the last of our much loved Clydesdale horses depart today was sole destroying and so we both need a little sunshine to lift our spirits.

We have at long last managed to find the only camp site in the whole of Galicia that will accept a 7.5 ton American RV and 4 dogs (at this time of year) down near Santa Uxia, but as we are also bringing our car it will allow us to start exploring the region and looking at some properties and land.

If anyone spots a couple in a French registered Red Nissan Navara telling his SatNav system to shut up just wave, it will be me:thumbup:.

Rgds, Mike L

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I'll be looking out for you :)

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Thanks all for interest and help. My purpose in teaching is really to contribute something to the community, and I probably assume that that will be more in private schools, and perhaps businesses. I do speak French and German as well (a bit rusty but there was a time I was completely fluent), so hope that will also be of some use.

We will only be in Galicia for a short time this time - May 28th till 6th June. But intend to move around a bit to assist in deciding where to rent when we make the move -with luck at the end of the year. It is reassuring to see so many old hands also advocating renting for 6 months or so.

We will be intrigued to hear Mikellama's experiences so do hope for a post.

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It is hard to part with any pet, so our sympathies are with you.
Santa Uxia, is far away from us, so maybe we will not bump into you.:(
Cannot really understand why you found so little camping sites open. You will be going at the start of the camping season including 2 public holidays ( May 1st and the 15th) Shops and offices will be closed on those days, plus there may be local fiesta days associated too. In land we would have thought this campsite would have accepted you. http://www.casaruralsantamaria.com/ It is located just to the north of us and we stayed there when we was looking around. We have since become acquaintances of them. The owner speaks, as well as the local languages, French, but no English.
Sat nav is not so useful around here as a lot of minor roads are not in the system.So maybe more hitting the box than you think!:unsure:


There are a lot of private institutions around. It seems a lot of them are struggling too. One because there could be an over supply and two because parents cannot afford to pay for extra classes. Hopefully you will find some thing in those few weeks you are here. although that task will be hard as the total area of the autonomous community is about 30000 sq km (11,583 sq miles).

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Ian & Irene

Your kindness is appreciated. We are fortunate that the language teaching is a supplement and not an essential. Also our time frame is flexible - we intend to spend our first months learning the language (and the ropes). If that includes Galegan, all well and good. Then start looking for a post when we have decided where we want to be. It is of course entirely possible thatwe shall embark on something entirely different - life does seem to have a habit of throwing the odd curve ball doesn't it?

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We are approaching the move to Galicia in much the same way that we did for our move to France. We have a number of mandatory requirements allied with a number of nice to have criteria with regards to the property and location. Once we find what we think to be the right property and land we will then spend 2-3 weeks touring the local area to make sure the supporting infrastructure for our business is available, if it is ok then we make an offer, if not we start searching again.

When we moved to France it was quite daunting as neither of us had been here before and neither could we speak much French (not many English speakers around here either – all farmers) but after 3 years we had a very successful business and were very much a part of the local community. I think the key to our success here has been that we accepted that there would be cultural differences and were willing to accept that and adapt, we set about learning the language from day one (always had a go even if we had to revert to drawing pictures of using hand signals!!!), we were used to living in remote rural farming areas where time has a totally different meaning. As we have other sources of income we allowed ourselves a realistic timescale (12months) to settle in before actually setting up the business.

Will keep everyone updated as to our progress.

The hardest part hit home the day after all the animals had gone from the farm. I got dressed as normal and went into auto routine mode and as I opened the front door at 0630 with my boots and work jacket on, it suddenly dawned on me that there were no animals to go and check any more. Went and sat in the office and reflected on how one small accident can have such a dramatic effect on your whole way of life:(.

Thank you very much for the link to the camping site, we will give them a call today and see if they can fit the RV in there. Once problem is that it weighs 7.5 tons and many grass sites cannot take them. Also many sites will only take one dog and we have 4 with us. But worth a try and if we do end up going there I will let you know:thumbup:.

Rgds, Mike L

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Mike from your last post you have the right attitude to fit in with the Gallegos. Just do what they do. There is no real expat support here, but hopefully you get the same sort of neighbours as we have then you will find that support comes from them.

We wish you well and like others we look forward to hearing about your trip.

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Better late than never, I know I promised a rundown on our latest recce. Everyone bear in mind these are just fleeting impressions.
We jumped around a fair bit. Started in Monforte de Lemos, saw several houses/properties in the area. nothing that rang the bells. Nice town, very friendly people. Torrential rain fall.
Not much planning behind our trip as we are still getting the feel -next went to Lugo for the weekend. Really nice city. Excellent restaurants, shops everything.
Down to the Portuguese border. More of a mediterranean feel, but harsh coastline - didn't appear to be too many beaches. Some super seafood, but did not like the feel. Much busier than the rest -not what we want at the moment but I am aware that until we make the move next year we are still reeling from the chaotic conditions in the UK.

Headed off to Corunna, but en route decided to return to the Viveiro area which we like so much. Had a look at Carino, but overpowering smell of fish. - not surprising given the industry, the new road will probably make a tremendous difference here. Espasante not for us, but liked Ortigueira more than ever - really nice town.
So we are back where we started. Really love northern part of Galicia, and we think again that is where we will end up.
Yet again, everyone so helpful, so polite. No graffiti. No drunken yobs. No litter. We cannot wait

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Has anyone thought of trying Ferrol, Ares, mugardos, Fene etc. You will not hear much Gallego spoken in these places. If you want to teach English, these might be good places.
There are 2 big shipyards there. and a big naval base, If I am not mistaken called Astano and the naval one Bazan.
The names may have changed, but I am not quite sure. They employ thousands of workers.
They always need teachers, and the workers are always on the lookout for private tutors. It is impossible to work in a public school, as you have to have the relevant qualifications and also sit the "oposiciones". These are exams for all public employees, from doctors to binmen.
They are held yearly and you have to study in a private academy to learn what is needed.
I spent most of my summer holidays there as a child, I remember the sun always seemed to be shining.
But I suppose we are all like that. I spoke to my cousin yesterday and it had been piddling down. Good seafood, nice beaches. A nice change from the "costas". It can be a bit bleak in the winter though.

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But it was raining all over Galicia at the same moment:rofl:

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This new motorway will turn Ortigueira into a ghost town. There are many people who work in bars etc, who are looking for new jobs out of the town as when the road comes there will be very little traffic through the town as it will be by-passed. I am biased but Viveiro (have lived here for two years) and the surrounding areas are lovely. If you need any info about this area please ask away.

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Certainly some food for thought there. We absolutely love Viveiro too. In fact our first plan was somewhere in or near Viveiro, and that still may be. what we do.
We probably don't want to be in a town but nearby - preferably about 3 to 5 miles out
Battlezone is it ok to ask in forum about local businesses? In particular about the immobiliari?

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Casa

Sorry so rude not to have answered you. The rain isn't a problem. Both of us like gardens, green and seasons. The idea of weeks or months of 30 degrees utterly horrifies us. We are pretty laid back about most things, and are pretty settled on Gl;aicia - we just like so much.
We did mean to try to stop with you, but events rather ran away with us, as I was finishing the teaching course until 48 hours before we departed - but maybe next time.

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Will be going to Viveiro in the next few days and I will hunt out some www addresses for you for estate agents. We live in Cabanas which is about 10kms inland of Viveiro. You have the peace of living in the countryside but with all the faciilities of a large town nearby.

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Very kind of you and much appreciated. We were in Viveiro two weeks ago, and hunted some down, but my Spanish is still too rudimentary. We found one chap - Immobiliaria Viveiro- on the riverside who seemed very much a businessman, but spoke no English, and my Spanish took us only so far.
As a general point, is there a guide to how much a price is overstated (in a normal market that is)?
In the UK as you know it is usually 5 per cent over what a seller will accept. Is it the same in Spain? Some have said it can be 20 percent in Spain. It certainly is often the case in France

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Having little Spanish is going to be a real handicap in Galicia, as not many locals speak English. Not only for the purchase but your day to day life too.

Our experience when we purchased this house, some 5 years ago, was that if you purchase from a local they would not accept any offer. We still understand this is the practice now (information gained by talking to those purchasing properties). It seems the vendors would rather hang on to the property and wait for a full price then sell quickly.

Galician property is valued by the owner and not by the agent, so nothing is priced at what one would call a real bargain. We have heard some depressing stories about estate agents basing themselves on the English speaking market in Galicia.

Maybe other Brits. who either live here or have recently purchased in Galicia will give their views.

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Ian and Irene,

Thanks for that. Spanish wont be a problem, I have a good ear, speak German, French and some Italian already.
Prices - well we will have to see. With the market collapsing in UK (and in Spain I understand), we are not in any rush. A friend of mine , (a professional property investor) was just offered a flat in the South for 600,000 that he turned down at 1,000,000 euros last year . Only two apartments in the whole block have actually sold. I appreciate that this is the speculative building, and most of the speculative stuff is presumably in the South, but still pretty scarey until things settle down.
Michael

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Bigglesworth
I can only tell you of our experience in Galicia, we saw a place, fell in love with it and offered the full asking price a few days after getting back to the UK, which we considered very reasonable. We wanted to secure it and were worried that we might loose it for the sake of a few thousand euro's (there were others due to view it). This was in Nov 2007 before the publicity about the credit crunch. We are hoping to complete the sale next month. We will be paying less than £70,000 (inc fees/taxes) for 5.5 acres of good land and a huge 4 bed house with (livable with phone, electric, well, septic tank etc) and 4 barns.

I personally think that inland Galician property is still good value if you look carefully, and the Galicians seem to know what price they consider is reasonable. We have been negotiating to get some extra land and as we could not make what they considered a reasonable offer, they are holding onto it for the current time. Thats not too say its not worth making an offer, depends on the saleability of the house/ruin. Our Galician Estate Agent recently told me that there are lots of people looking but very few buying due to the financial uncertainties. Depends on how much you fall for a particular property and whether you want to risk losing it. Galicians are not desperate to sell as they often don't live in the properties and will hold onto it until they get the 'right' offer.

I think the situation in the south is very different, there seems to be tons of overpriced property available with developers eager to offload some of it to get some of their investment back and people who may have paid too much in the first place, trying to get something back. If I were buying there I would make cheeky offers.

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I agree with the above comments. Galicians would rather hold onto their property until they receive the price they want. Even if it takes years. We purchased our property two years and paid the asking price.

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Thanks for that. All adds to the picture. Ani idea what restoration costs are in the area? We did see a ruin that we realy like the look of, but we know what a money pit that can be.

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Thanks for that. We never expected to see something we liked as quickly as we did, but they are asking a lot of money - not that that necessarily means it is overpriced. Our original intention was (and still may be) to rent for 6 months a year, whilst we worked our Spanish up. Which seems to be what those who have already made the jump all advocate anyway.
We are also thinking of a restoration. Any idea of what sort of price prevails in Galicia per square meter as a rough guide?

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Thanks Nosherlot and BZ for corroborate our experiences.
In the U.K. you usually get a professional in to give an estimate. You should do that here too.

Ian used to be a civil engineer and he knows you can give a cost for related to say square metre but to obtain that you have to know other factors which can influence the rough estimate. So to answer it is almost impossible on a forum.

To add what we said about the lack of English in Galicia here is an article in the local newspaper about Vigo.
http://www.lavozdegalicia.es/vigo/20...03_6928853.htm
It basically says that over 300000 visitors from cruise ships visit the city and the signs are in Gallego. Tourists cannot find their way around as guide books are usually in English with names of places in Spanish.
So hopefully with your ear for languages you will pick up Spanish quickly.


Galicia is very very different in all respects to the Costas of the Med. But you will see this after a few more visits.

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The OH is the one to ask about restoration costs but he is away at the moment working. When he gets back on Friday I will get him to respond.

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Galicia, to me is a different world to Spain and the UK. To the people the most important things are family and land (not always in that order) there are a lot of ruined houses, which will never be sold, because of the inheritance attitude.
Between us, my hubby and I own about 40 pieces of land, all unsaleable and useless. We dont know where most of them are, there are no boundaries, but heaven help anyone who disputes borders with their neighbour.
There is one piece land, about the size of 4 football pitches- it was passed on to my grandmother and her 5 siblings, My grandmother had 8 children and each one inherited, My mother had 2 children and we each have our share.

If there are any folks good at maths out there, I would like some help to calculate my share. It the original land divided by 5, the divided by 8 then divided by 2. It is probable enough to build a 5 bedroomed, detatched house with double garage, that would accommodate KEN and BARBIE.

Although the size of the plot is irrelevant as the land is in the middle of loads of other "micro parcelas" and unless all the other owners sold, there would be no access anyway.

Another thing is we cannot sell our land, we would be outcasts,that is to be passed on to the children and their children. As you can imagine, to unravel this lot would take years.

We will never do anything with our land so if anyone wants to plant a few spuds and has a good GPS system, get in touch.

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Meme
It is good to hear the true picture about land ownership from a Galician.

We have had some real discussions with non-Spanish about purchasing land in Galicia. They do not believe us when we say land is always divided up. Purchasers always want a small ruin, with lots of land and pay little money. All three together is impossible.
One couple that we recently met found a house with a lot of land, however they were very disappointed to find out the small parcels were here there and everywhere. They have left Galicia exceedingly disappointed.
It is not impossible to find large areas of land for sale, but it just takes a lot longer to find than one would imagine and you have to adjust your position on your dreams a little at times.

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Irene and Me Me,
Thank you yes we had picked up on the land situation. I did study law at one point so am aware of the complexities introduced by differing legal registration and inheritance systems. And we think it is complicated in the UK!!
We are fortunate in that we are in no rush, and are quite happy to go with the flow. We will know what we want when we find it and are more than happy to spend a while looking and at the same time enjoying being there.
Michael

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After saying all that about Galicia, I still believe is is God´s own country. It is a beatiful place and the people are wonderful and so friendly, even the old codgers who smoke, drink cheap wine and spit on the floor make outsiders welcome. And the best food in the world is there, who can say they dont like Jibia con pochas, pulpo Gallego.

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Shhh do not tell every one or they all will want to be here!

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Will the jury please disregard my last remark................Ok Casa Santo Estevo will that help you to stay exclusive?
:thumbsup::D