Living the Good Life

We are often invited by publicists to ‘discover one of Spain’s best kept secrets’. No doubt, as we enjoy the cliché, we will be offered the chance to buy a ‘dream home’ while we are there, soaking up ‘the warm Mediterranean sun’ or enjoying ‘the welcoming smiles of the locals’ (as they gauge the size of one’s wallet).

I was up at the almazara the other day, converting a lorry-load of olives into oil. This process took several hours, as old Tío Juan likes to do things in an orderly fashion, and to make sure that your oil comes from your olives.

While my wife insisted on watching eagle-eyed to make sure that Tío Juan didn’t slip in a few acorns, I walked into the nearby village of Uleila del Campo (wiki) for a cerveza and a tapa or two.

It’s very pretty there, a white village in the plains (and hills) behind Sorbas (Almería), far-enough away from the coast to find that the northern Europeans are few and far between and that the dream homes – if one is so inclined – are still reassuringly cheap. Idealista I see has a place as low as 13,000€ (it, ah, needs some work).

The thing is, of course, that a spot on the map like Uleila del Campo – or a thousand others - may be a great place to retire too if you are completely antisocial and don’t mind roughing it, but otherwise it has a few decided drawbacks. There are a few northern Europeans scattered about, between Lubrín, Tabernas and Sorbas, and there’s even a British-run hostal/restaurant nearby (Tripadvisor). However, it can become very lonely living there unless you are writing a novel.

Even more lonely might be to live in another forgotten village further inland, maybe in Granada or Jaén perhaps. Idealista found me somewhere for 10,900€ in Hornos (wiki) – a pretty village in Jaén with a castle. There: One of Spain’s best kept secrets for your pleasure.

All of which is why so many of us prefer the coast. We have managed to make our own communities in several areas along the Med, with our own bars, clubs, restaurants and even newspapers. We can get by without having much contact with our host nation or its language or (when they finally turn off that dreadful Christmas music) even their customs. In return, we are largely ignored.

So, if one can manage to live inland, and integrate into the local society, so much the better, perhaps.

Or perhaps not.

Written while enjoying some bread dipped in our very own olive oil.