Treegod

El sol español is rearing its head and the tourists are following in its wake.

Each year since living here I am getting better and better at spotting the "foreigners". Well, I always have been, they're the ones that are usually underdressed, the locals overdressed. But I'm getting better at seeing who is who: English (like a sore thunb comes to mind), Dutch and German. French and Russian arwe a tiny bit more difficult.

Anyway. One funny story. Saw a guy walking in with his mother into a city hall and he's looking for info about the city he's in. So with his rough Spanish he says "¿Tienes información para tauristas?" The lady behind the desk was very tolerant, not batting an eyelid and saying "¿Un mapa?" And he nodded his head and went off to get a map for him.

You could see him lipping the word "tauristas" as if something wasn't quite right, and then "¡Turistas!. I got it wrong."

Oh wait, that was me. And I'm resident (my mum's not, she's here on holiday). For once I couldn't rely on my fluent Spanish-speaking girlfriend to ask a question for me. She had quite a laugh when I told her.

I do quite well blending in, not looking too touristic. Until I open my mouth that is...

jimenato

Sandals, shorts below the knee and vests are a dead giveaway when the locals (including us) are still in full gear.

pwwm

What makes us laugh is in winter we are dressed in jumpers etc, then you see them in long shorts and t shirts, our spanish friend does laugh lol

But as you say this time of year is interestnig working out the nationality, though we dont get many here

Dick Dasterdly

Slightly more interesting than train spotting I suppose, but not much.

Rosemary

Depends, steam or diesel, and what about the trains

Graham

mikelincs

Something we noticed when we lived there.. amazing how your own take on it changes, though, when we came to look for a ouse it was early M|ay, and we were dressed for hot weather, all the people we were dealing with were dressed for winter.. our guide did comment it was the easy way to tell a tourist in the winter.

bxpuser24710519

After 7 ish full years here I still have not worn my winter clothes ! I seldom need more than a caridgan or jumper and my jeans/trousers maybe lightweight scarf. I could not think of tights, skirts, big polo necks,coat hat gloves and boots. I definately stick out in my village

Rosemary

I am always being asked if I am cold because I do not put on the thick layers like my neighbours. They shiver when they are asking me and this makes me laugh at them so they shake their head and tell me that it is much colder in UK.

Rosemary

Treegod

On one cloudy day I saw a family having just been for a swim on the beach!

Anyway, it goes the other way too. Mad dogs and Englishmen and all that...

Treegod

Around my area there's plenty of English, French, Dutch, German and Russian. There can also be Belgians, Swiss, Irish and others but I'm not so good at spotting them.

Here are my tips for making the distinctions:

English: come in interesting shades of white, pink and red. Usually walking along with a slouch (The English Slouch) and with cheap plastic beacwear, hence the nickname, "Pink Plastic Neanderthals".

Dutch: tall, thin, platinum blonde. Like riding bicycles.

Germans: Tall, broad, darker (than dutch) blonde.

Russians: in some ways looking like the English, but with some differences; the women look a bit like barbies and the men like boxers, so I've been told.

French: I never can tell straight away but if they're tourists that don't look like any of the above I'd say they're French. Youngsters can be tall and thin with dark hair.

I hope that gives some starting points to help. Happy Tourist Spotting!

jojojojojo

Its definitely the Birits who seem to get burnt more than other nationalities, I guess its cos they know that this could be the only sun they'll see for the rest of the year or want to showcase a beautiful mediteranean tan back home???

However, most of these folk work hard all year round and want to enjoy a holiday in the sun, so I guess they dont pack their winter togs. I personally have felt really sorry for them over the last couple of weeks, its P***** down nearly everyday and theres so little for them to do in the rain without adequate clothing and for many its their one holiday of the year!

Jo xx

agoreira

It's because they have probably been reading these forums, listening to people like Bil telling all and sundry that the weather is always perfect this time of the year, others saying you can BBQ whenever you want! No need to take winter gear! I even went in search of Bil's exclusive weather bubble a few weeks back, even had 2 days in Vejer, but saw very little sun. Had a couple of hours at Cañas de Meca, but that was it. Luckily, once we moved up to Ronda way, we had some nice days, but overall, nothing to write home about. Spain without the sun is a very different place.

Dick Dasterdly

Yeh, I really envy bils secret little weather bubble.

It's been much like English Summer weather of late at best and sometimes much worse, over the rest of Spain.
Almost every time I switch the news on there seems to be another town flooded out and a fair bit of damage.
Now the temp.is suddenly shooting up to 30c and will soon be 40c no doubt.
Too darn hot for me, but ideal gardening weather for lucky bil.

johnnyone

Try smelling the men!

jackytoo

I noticed the past few years in Spain that there didn't seem to be any pleasant spring weather. Almost the end of May before it improved and then went straight into uncomfortable hot weather. March and April aside for the odd day used to be warm pleasant months.