What is it like to live life as a pensioner in Spain? To find out we invited Monica to the MiMove blog. In this blog post she tells us a little bit about her life in the sun. Monica bought a property in Spain to spend more of her time in the sunny country.
“About 20 years ago I was thinking about what kind of life I wanted for myself for when I got older. I wasn’t ready to stop working yet but I did dream about an easier life in the sun somewhere. I had a dream of warmer temperatures and sunnier days. My partner Ulf shared my vision and we started our search for our new home. We took several trips to France, Spain and Italy to find a place for us. In the end we found our little piece of paradise in Mil Palmeras in Costa Blanca in Spain. Our lovely house is an end of terrace with a large garden and a pool. It is big enough to accommodate friends and family coming to stay but small enough for us to just shut the door behind us when we need to go away for a bit. In the beginning we went back and forth between work in Stockholm, Sweden and our more leisurely lifestyle in Spain. Now, we have stopped working and are free to do whatever we wish with our time. Our days as retirees are fantastic. I loved working but in retrospect I don’t know how I found the time. I am so busy now without working!”
“I spend a lot of time in my garden. In Spain everything grows so it is a really nice hobby. I love buying new plants and see if they like it in my garden or not. It is sad if they die while we are away but there are always new kinds to try. I love decorating my house with new pots with different flowers. And in the garden I have several fruit trees. It is a very special feeling to make a drink for someone and put a slice of a home-grown lemon in the glass. Normally we start our mornings with a long walk along the beach. It is such a lovely start of the day. It is meditative to walk in the bright light, to feel the sand under your feet and listen to the waves. After our walk we head home and have a nice cup of coffee on the terrace. Perhaps we even eat a fresh croissant bought on our way back. I might have worried a little about the language in the beginning, but it was really easy to learn enough Spanish for everyday situations. And this area is such a multinational area so English works in most situations. There are also a lot of Scandinavians with whom we speak Swedish. For a long time, we had lovely neighbours from the UK, Alan and Elizabeth, but unfortunately, they have moved. No matter what stage in life you are at, it is really important to keep busy, I believe. I make sure to get to the gym twice a week and we also meet up with our neighbours to play boule in a local boule club. After the game we stay and have a meal together which is also very nice.
Ulf and I are both outgoing people who like to socialize. There are plenty of activities if you want to keep busy. We have joined the “Club Nordico” to get to know other Scandinavians. The club arranges pub quizzes, health classes and every Tuesday it is time for golf. We do enjoy a round of golf in the sun and it is a good opportunity to meet new people. We live a lovely life here in Spain with new friends and we enjoy a simple outdoor lifestyle. Since many people are in our situation; they don’t work, and they have started over, so to speak, it is very easy to make new friends. Perhaps you might think that we as pensioners have lots of time on our hands, but it is quite the opposite, I do think I am busier nowadays than I was while working. There are just so much fun things to do. All though I enjoy all my new friends I love it when family and old friends come to visit. Luckily, they visit quite often so we get best of both worlds.”
“We enjoy going on outings and there are a lot to see and experience. For example, we like the mud baths at Lo Pagan a lot. It has been said that the mud is good for your skin and you can think of it as a beauty treatment. You cover your body with mud and socialize while waiting for the mud to dry. The mud leaves the skin really soft and rejuvenated. Sometimes, we go to the hot springs in Archena in Murcia. That place is like a spa. When visiting one of those places I feel very privileged to have this as part of my everyday life. Sometimes I speak with my girlfriends in Stockholm and they tell me how they struggle when getting out and about in the snow while I’m relaxing in a mud bath in the sun. Those are just crazy differences! We are rarely without anything to do. But sometimes it is nice to just relax, I think we are entitled to some rest at our age. I am turning 75, after all and Ulf is not far behind. I like listening to pod casts and I read a lot. I love sitting in the shade of our fig tree in our garden. I don’t regret buying a property in Spain. Even if we travel a fair bit I am always happy to return to our own little piece of paradise.” – View MiMove’s Torrevieja listings here. a-pensioners-life-in-spain
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