Rosemary

Congratulations on buying your dream home.

Rosemary

scampicat

We had considered a move to the sun for a while, but it was going to be Greece. Then we came to visit friends who had moved to a village in Las Alpujarras (we'd never been to Spain before) and realised that these quirky mountain villages with friendly Spanish inhabitants were just our cup of tea. We bought in the next village (Yegen, mentioned in the link below), the following year.

The White Villages and towns, Alpujarra, Granada Province, Andalucia, Southern Spain

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=ye...w=1024&bih=511

The man in the green tee shirt with the mule in the pictures is my husband and some of his paintings and photographs are there too . The picture with the tinao joining the two houses is the top of our lane,our house was down the bottom .

Rosemary

What a beautiful area. Lovely photo´s too. Like the cheeky label under the photo of your husband with the donkey, did you smack him for that?

Rosemary

scampicat

What cheeky label?????

bxpuser24710519

I stayed in Yegen for a week or two but never got to like that much. The views were spoilt for me by all the plastic, the Spaniards I found friendly enough the expats, only a few would talk to you. The man in the food shop down the bottom was super fun we pracised our Spanish /English every time I went in. There was a nice couple in one of the houses behind the one I rented, I often wonder what happened to them. I think one wanted to go home but the other did not. I prefer the east Alpujarra to the west.

Rosemary

For some reason I thought that he was calling the donkey by your name, sort of thing that Graham would have done whilst poking his tongue out at me.

Rosemary

Fred James

When we retired early a few years ago we had no plans at that time to settle down anywhere in particular as we had decided to go sailing for a few years before deciding what to do.

We already had a fairly habitable sailing boat so rather than do the usual ocean cruising thing that many do, we decided to cruise in the Mediterranean, which we ending up doing for the next 6 years, living full time on board.

The first leg of our trip involved sailing the entire length of the Spanish Mediterranean coast over a 5 month period. As a result, we visited, albeit briefly, almost every coastal area. Some were lovely, others less so, but one that really appealed to us was where we ultimately made our home, La Herradura, on the Granada coast.

Five years later, having visited the Spanish Islands, France, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Cyprus and Morocco, the time came to settle ashore before our sea legs became totally arthritic! We did consider Cyprus as a possibility, having spent two winters there, but decided that living on an island would constrict our ability to travel so we decided on Spain and came back to La Herradura where, after renting for three years, we decided it was definitely the place for us so we built a house in the hills overlooking the bay and have now lived there for 11 years.

We did not consider moving inland as we had spent our lives either near or on the sea, so wanted to still be near the sea.

It’s a lovely place and very different from the coast further west on the Costa del Sol.

Some good pictures here la herradura - Google Search

scampicat

There were never a lot a 'plastic' views compared to many places and in the years we were there it began to diminish.

There were one or two British expats there who wouldn't speak to me either, and we were there eight years! They seemed to think they were somehow better than the rest of us. But we had a little group of about half a dozen , and a couple of Dutch people, who were all friendly and socialised.

The man in the food shop (Leo?) does like to practise his English, he did when we were there.

We were very happy there for eight years and our Spanish neighbours were wonderful.

Fredbargate

La Tartana

scampicat

Ah no! The mule is Chico. (He is a mule, not a donkey).

There is a good story around Chico. He spent the first seven years of his life living in a meadow at 2000 metres at the top of a pass through the Sierra Nevada, with a herd of cows, not working.

Then our friend ( a French expat) bought him with the intention of walking to France, using Chico as a pack animal. This ambitious project did not work (!), so Chico got driven to France while Pascal went on the bus, and the mule now spends his time living in a meadow in the French Alps with a pack of horses, and not working.

For a beast of burden, Chico has cracked it!!

Fred James

I wish - lovely house! Pity it's so close to the main road.

HBG

I'm always fascinated by other people's lives and always amazed by the diversity. Like Fred, I've always lived near the sea and still do, but must admit to counting London as being near the sea - you can walk to the coast right along the Thames in about half-a-day.

My Spanish journey started at Estepona, while still gainfully employed, and carried on over the years to Fuengirola, Marbella, Denia, Javea, Benidorm until the present, possibly final resting place in Torrevieja - I always feel obliged to add 'not in the centre of it' when talking about Torrevieja, it's got such a dreadful, well deserved reputation.

My excuse is that I moved to such a dreadful place for commercial reasons, which is no longer a valid one, but it could be that I just can't be bothered moving again, we have a good social life among friends of long standing and the Scottish Highlands will have to get along with one less tourist.

I'm just going to have a quick look at East Anglia on the net, I might start at Clacton.

cricketman

[QUOTE=HBG;11362358]

I always feel obliged to add 'not in the centre of it' when talking about Torrevieja, it's got such a dreadful, well deserved reputation.

/QUOTE]

I was watching a programme called Comando actualidad on Spanish TV where they went to Torrevieja. They said it is the cheapest place to go on holiday in Spain

And it didnt used to be that way. They say it is cheaper to rent a flat for a month in Torrevieja in summer now than it was 20 years ago

My wife used to go with her family every summer as a kid and loved it

Fredbargate

I stayed there with a group of friends in 92 and it outshone Fawlty Towers in every detail.

We had an hilarious weekend

No food when it had been arranged, drunken barman sleeping on the bar at 8 am instead of making breakfast.
We came back on the second day to find all the bedroom furniture had gone / piled up in the courtyard.

Rosemary

What wonderful photo´s, thanks for sharing them with us.

Rosemary