Spanish Dream Property: November 2014

Wednesday 19 November 2014

Our Spanish Dream - Part 5: Salt

Date Created: 19.11.2014

We drove past the ‘pink’ lake, salt mountains piled next to it waiting to be loaded onto the conveyer belt that passes under the road and the buildings to the beach and then out to the jetty to be loaded onto ships. Some of this salt ends up on the UK’s roads in winter.

Torrevieja is a long narrow town so from the coast road you are never very far from the sea even though you can’t see it most of the time.

Salt has always been important to the town, it is really the only reason why it came to be, having first been listed as a town in 1802 and named after it’s watch-tower (Torre = tower and vieja=old) which was destroyed in a devastating earthquake in 1829.

The lakes, together with the Mar Menor to the south and the Santa Pola salt lakes to the north, create a unique micro climate, one the World Health Organisation lists as one of the healthiest in the world; particularly good for those who suffer with joint or respiratory problems. Combined with the warm average winter temperatures (higher than the Costa del Sol and north Costa Blanca) of over 10 degrees (usually upper teens/low twenties in the sun), 320 days of sunshine and frost being virtually unheard of, you cannot better the climate in Europe.

The population of Torrevieja has quadrupled since 1990 and now stands at just over 100,000, which caused the huge construction boom. It has one of the most diverse populations, half are Spanish, around 11-12% are native English speakers and the rest are from around the world. The town has historical trading links with the Caribbean which has led to a unique style of song called the Habaneras and the Habaneras festival has been run for over 40 years in the town every August. Like every other Spanish town there are numerous festivals throughout the year.t

Dave and Bev Townsend have two homes, their main one in Norwich and a second home in Playa Flamenca in south Costa Blanca, Spain which they also let as a holiday rental www.house-by-the-pool.com They run a property finding business offering a free service for those seeking to buy a property in the Costa Blanca (Alicante) or the Mar Menor area of the Costa Calida (Murcia) www.SpanishDreamProperty.com Bev has family in Spain and they intend to move there full-time in a couple of years.

Monday 17 November 2014

60 Second Property Show 16/11/14

Ref: HE5556
Type: Villa / Detached
Area: Costa Blanca South
Town: Playa Flamenca

Beds: 3
Baths: 2
Pool: Yes
Price: €144,000

Description:

This 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom detached villa is located in a small residential complex in Playa Flamemca and comprises of a light and spacious lounge/dining room, double bedroom, a separate fitted kitchen with a rear door onto the garden and a downstairs cloakroom. Upstairs there are two double bedrooms with wardrobes and patio doors onto a terrace, a further terrace is glazed and is currently being used as a fourth bedroom. There is also a full suite family bathroom. Externally, the garden is tiled with gated off road parking, there is a storage room and further storage facilities. The property benefits from hot and cold air conditioning.

www.spanishdreamproperty.com

Monday 3 November 2014

The 60 Second property Show

http://youtu.be/auWwQVdL0L4

Our Spanish Dream - Part 1: And So It Begins...

Although I had visited different parts of Spain during my childhood, my husband Dave had never been there until the year after my parents made the move in 1991. They had bought a plot of land a few years earlier outside the northern Costa Blanca town of Moraira and had built a villa there. The old part of town is typically Spanish and quite attractive. Dave slowly fell in love with Spain, its culture and the sunshine. However I found the twisting roads and hills around the area difficult as I am very prone to travel sickness so living there was not an option. When it came to buying our own property we needed a much flatter part of the coast with no high rise buildings, and that was a challenge! In addition to that we wanted to be within easy driving distance of my parents’ when visiting.

We had heard from my parents’ friends that the ‘south’ (meaning the part of Costa Blanca south of Alicante) was a terrible place, just a concrete jungle with endless building. We headed there anyway because it was flattish. We found that whilst there was a lot of new build property on smaller plots than in ‘the north’, they were affordable. There was also a lot of protected coastline with pine woods where you could walk along sandy beaches without being able to see a building. Roads heading just a few kilometres inland were lined with citrus groves and palms and for me it was such a change to look at a vista not dotted with white villas. So this was where we decided to find our new home.

Our Spanish Dream - Part 4: Calpe and Torrevieja

Date Created: 22.10.2014

I suppose in size and style the towns of Torrevieja in the southern Costa Blanca and Calpe in the northern Costa Blanca are similar. Both towns originally grew up around the salt industry, however unlike Torrevieja, Calpe’s lakes are no longer productive. Both towns are now developed way beyond their original boundaries, both have developed as tourist destinations, both have large expat populations from the northern European countries. I already knew Calpe well, Torrevieja was new to me. Calpe has much taller buildings and backs the mountains, Torrevieja has more urbanisations and backs onto the salt lakes and the Vega Baja – a large, flat, fertile agricultural plain, a vegetable basket for the Alicante region.

What has struck me is that when driving along the twisting coast road from Moraira to Calpe, passing through Benissa’s costal area, there is no break in the building, the roads are lined with villas snaking up the hillsides. The winding cliff road from Calpe to Altea has dramatic views but is still lined with villas creeping up the hillside and the odd commercial outlet. And it was the same from Altea to Albir. I realised, with sadness, that there was nowhere I knew in the northern Costa Blanca where I could just walk along a long beach without buildings around me, unless I had my back to a cliff! And few places anywhere near the coast without villas dotting the landscape, their lights at night looking like thousands of bright fire flies frozen onto the hillsides and cliff-tops. The building boom had started in the 80’s here, mainly individual villas with gardens set on the hills outside the towns. The northern Europeans, and Brits especially, had flocked to live in the picturesque sunshine to live the dream. In the process the hills had been carved up and changed beyond recognition. I am so glad that at last the town halls have finally started to restrict development along the coast. What is left must be preserved.

Our Spanish Dream - Part 3 Further along the Road

Date Created: 15.10.2014

After Guardamar de Segura the N332 coast road took us past yet more pine woods, more open land, the mountains visible but not too close. I had never seen so much flat land in Spain! Here I could travel around without the dreaded problems caused by my life-long travel-sickness issues. I actually felt good being in a car and looking around! I had no doubts that whatever the rest of the southern Costa Blanca had in store, it was here I would be able to live. The sea, the distant mountains, the gorgeous sunshine, a few small hills, trees, citrus groves and vines - all I wanted - finally without twisting roads!

The road led us to the first of the large salt lakes of Torrevieja.

Salinas de La Mata sits in another Parc Natural where you can walk paths between grapes, almond and citrus fruits before reaching the blue water of the lake. On one side of the road another national park and on the other side a big, busy town. As we passed the first salt lake the landscape changed as the town of Torrevieja stretched out on both sides of the road and looking down the hill I could see the second ‘pink’ lake and many, many buildings ahead. It wasn’t Benidorm (a place I avoid!) by any means, a few buildings in Torrevieja reached above seven or eight storeys, the majority are much lower, but it was built up. Clearly a Spanish working town, dependent on its salt industry and tourism. Now, for the first time since leaving Alicante over half an hour ago I could finally see something that could be described as the ‘concrete jungle’ I had been so wrongly told covered the entire area!

Our Spanish Dream - Part 2: First View of the South Costa Blanca...

Our first sight of the Alicante region heading south from Alicante airport was so different from everything I knew about Spain. Passing Santa Pola we came to the salt lakes. I’d seen salt lakes many times before, but not like this. They stretched way into the distance towards the far away hills, lining both sides of the road. A few of the lakes are still part of the successful and long-standing salt industry and later I would see some being harvested. Most however are preserved for nature, forming the 15 kilometer (or so) Parc Natural de Salinas de Santa Pola. The landscape reminded me a little of the English Fens, except the Fens don’t have flamingos! As we drove further south down the N332 coast road we came to pine woods acting as a natural sea defence to stop the dunes being washed away. Where was this ‘concrete jungle’ I had heard so much about?

We saw signs to various villages and urbanisations. I knew we didn’t want to buy on a small urbanisation built just for the ex-pats in the middle of nowhere, so we didn’t stop. We wanted to be by the sea. Then came Guardamar de Segura, a midium-size Spanish town, known for its 7km of beaches, dunes and the pine woods. It’s traditional in style, most homes are in relatively low rise apartments, narrow streets and a bustling town centre. At the northern end of the town along the beach is a long row of old fisherman’s cottages. Tiny in size it is hard to believe large families lived in them for many years, some are still owned by fishermen. A touch of local history preserved. There are a few high rise hotels and apartments and in the last few years permission has been given to develop the land on the other side of the N332, so this was the first point where we saw buildings on both sides of the road and also new builds under construction, but not for long.