Guess the amount of documents we needed!

I went with a friend to Girona the other day. Girona is the capital city of my corner of Catalunya and home to all the government and administrative offices as well as having a wonderful old town with cobbled streets, a cathedral, Arab baths, parks and an archaeological walk around what is left of the ramparts.Girona is largely unspoilt by tourism and is a discreet city often overlooked by travellers heading for the bright lights of Barcelona, about 90kms to the south. Straddling the banks of the River Ter, the brightly painted old houses hang over the water as sentinels of times gone by. The old town is a maze of alleyways and little squares, each keeping its own secret – perhaps a cafe in the cellar, perhaps a shop frontage that has withstood the ravages of centuries past. On the other side of the river is the “new” town, part of it very much of the 18th Century, with the lovely arched Plaça de Independcia teeming with restaurants and tapas bars. Not too far away is the covered market, open every morning. Girona is also a cultural city, with well presented museums and art centres as well as a strong musical tradition. After many visits, my friend and I have only touched the surface of this intriguing city .

Our trip was not for pleasure really as my friend decided she wanted to change her UK driving licence to a Spanish one and since her knowledge of both Castilian (Spanish) and Catalan is poor, she asked me to tag along as interpreter. Navigating ones way through Spanish bureaucracy requires extreme patience and fortitude. In fact, if you have an EU driving licence, you do not have to change it to a Spanish one, but you should register it with the traffic authority. My friend decided that she wanted to change hers, so we found ourselves at the offices of the Traffic Department.

It is vital before you go to any of the government agencies that you check..and recheck... what paperwork you need to present, otherwise you will have made a wasted journey, stood in a queue for ages and felt utterly frustrated. In the case of my friend and her driving licence, she needed to show:

• Proof of identity (passport original and copy)
• Proof of residence (Certificate of Registration in the Central Aliens Register - the NIE number (foreigners identification number))
• Valid driving licence to be exchanged (original and copy)
• Two recent photographs (32 by 25 mm)
• Declaration in writing stating that the applicant has not been banned or suspended from driving
• Declaration in writing stating that the applicant does not hold another driving licence of the same class in another country
  

Her new licence will arrive by post & will be credit card size. I should mention we were lucky that day as the queue was short and we were dealt with by a very pleasant and helpful lady who insisted on explaining everything to us twice as she somehow worked out we were foreigners!
Business done, we headed for Girona old town for lunch. We settled on a restaurant called Mimolet, near the cathedral, not the cheapest but which serves very good bar food. The weather was kind that day, so we sat outside on the terraza enjoying a well earned glass of Cava – Catalunya's answer to champagne and very good it is too!

It was time to head home, but not before we agreed to come back to Girona sooner rather than later to go window shopping (at least that is what my friend said) and sit at a cafe on the Rambla Llibertat watching the world go by, perhaps visit an Art Exhibition or come back on a Saturday when there is a huge market (also on Tuesdays) and a flower market on the Rambla. It is just a question of finding the time.........

Sally Veall
The Overseas Guides Company
Have you visited the main website yet? http://www.spainbuyingguide.com

Have you ever been to a mushroom festival?

Do you like mushrooms? I adore mushrooms – not the closed-cap variety available all year in supermarkets – no, real mushrooms, hidden in the woods in secret places, which when found, are carefully picked, carried gingerly back home and then cooked in virgin olive oil, garlic and parsley. Absolute heaven!

Well, it is mushroom season in Catalunya, North Eastern Spain. Many small villages and larger towns hold mushroom festivals here, where you are drawn into this secret world of fungi. They lay out every type of mushroom you can imagine and carefully signal which are edible are which are likely to cause illness and even death if eaten. Then there are the tastings.."rossynols" are my favourite, a deep yellow with long fine stalks. Also there are "ceps", the most expensive, selling at 50-100€ a kilo, with a deep mushroom colour and intense mushroom flavour.

Tastings are not confined to local festivals. Many restaurants have special menus using the various types of mushroom and it is definitely worth a visit to one or more as somehow the local chefs manage to make an "ordinary fungus" taste like nectar from the gods. In fact, Catalunya is home to many culinary delights, one of the most famous restaurants in the world, El Bulli, is situated just across from the French border in Cadaques. Sadly, the owner, Ferran Adria, has decided to close it for two years and is taking time out to reinvent his cuisine and is currently working in Barcelona.

You don't need to spend a fortune, however, to eat well here. I frequently go out with friends for lunch and we are served a three-colour meal for 10 – 14€ per person, usually including a good local wine, water and bread. It costs more in the evenings – I have never really understood why, except that the lunchtime clientèle includes workmen and in the evenings, the restaurants imagine that they have a different clientèle, which is not usually the case, except that the workmen are now dressed for dinner. We tend to enjoy our lunches and entertain at home in the evenings, except of course on special occasions when throwing caution to the wind, we head for one of the "better" restaurants and usually are truly favourably surprised at the quality and service we receive for around 30-40€ a head.

My local restaurant which has a delightful outside space in a semi-private garden (which I overlook!!), serves an excellent lunchtime meal for 12€ all in. They have a vast menu of starters and a smaller but excellent choice of main courses and most of the "postres" (deserts) are home made. The wine is excellent too. My friends and I have enjoyed many a happy few hours there, in the shade of the garden in hot summer and if we decide to splash out on a second bottle of wine, we are charged only about 7€. One does not, of course, spend every day having lunch in such delightful places. There is a very active U3A here on the Costa Brava which invites one to visit interesting localities … but more of this in my next Blog.

Meanwhile, if you are anywhere near a mushroom festival, (in the UK, France, Italy or Spain) I urge you go along, increase your joy and knowledge by discovering one of nature's best kept secrets.

Sally Veall
The Overseas Guides Company
Go to the main website at: http://www.spainbuyingguide.com/

Autumn Leaves and walks by the sea - Bliss

Autumn, according to the poet John Keats, is a season of mists and mellow fruitfulness and this is also true here in Catalunya, northeast Spain. The days are still warm but there is a chill at night and early morning, mists hover over valleys and many trees are now bearing their fruit. It is the step between the long hot summer and the winter months ahead, lulling us back into the warmth of our homes. Yes, here we have all the seasons.

Autumn brings us golden and red leaves which start falling, flocks of starlings on their way south...I reckon each evening there are about 300 perched on roof tops, a nearby crane and in the treetops which I look out at from my office. It is an amazing sight. Autumn also brings with it more unpleasant things, coughs and colds, flu season and central heating. Thankfully, the National Health Service here is available to rescue us. Each region of Spain runs its own health service and the system in Catalunya is excellent. I had my free flu jab yesterday, available to those over 60, people with respiratory and lung problems and also to children at risk. For the rest, there is a small cost to have the vaccine. Most towns and large villages have a medical centre known as the CAP (Centre de Attenció Primària) which is like a large clinic with GPs and other front line medical staff plus an emergency department which is open day and night.Their job is to treat your condition if they can or to refer you to the local hospital or specialist if they can’t.

That brings me to the local hospital, in my case located in a pretty seaside town called Palamós. Unfortunately, I have got to know this place rather well during the time I have lived here and once you get used to the system (which isn’t particularly cosy nor blessed with a great bedside manner), you will find an excellent medical service with totally up-to-date X-ray, scanners and other necessary medical aides. Their job is to cure you.

CAP PALAFRUGELL
(local health centre)

Of course autumn brings other activities too. Walks by the sea bathed in the lowering sunlight, jazz evenings in courtyards, sitting in local restaurants with a group of friends bemoaning the fact we can no longer sit outside at night, but warm and comfortable in the rustic interiors. And let's not forget the tramuntana wind which comes from the Pyrennees and blows hard with a distinct chill for 3 days, it's dryness taking humidity out of the air.

Yes, autumn here on the Costa Brava is a season of mists and mellow fruitfulness.

Please contact me if you have any questions about life on the Costa Brava.

Sally
The Overseas Guides Company
Visit my main website at: http://www.spainbuyingguide.com/

Living in Catalunya

Hola!! My name is Sally and I will be writing the Spain Blog. I live in Catalunya (Catalonia) which is in the north-east of Spain & stretches from the French border to just north of Valencia. It is a region of contrasts, sea, mountains, beautiful and varied countryside, old medieval stone villages & towns and a language of its own, Catalan. Of course you can speak Castillian (Spanish) here but it helps if you try to speak their language as well. Catalan classes are free for newcomers and it is worth the effort as you will find new doors opening to you, even if you only speak a few words.

My town is just 4kms from some of the most beautiful beaches on the Costa Brava, which means "Wild Coast". It is a land of little coves, often hidden from the modern roads, where you take earthy tracks down to the sea. The three nearest beaches to me are Callela, Llafranc and Tamariu, each one with its own identity and ambiance. There is an easy and beautiful coastal walk among pine trees with stunning views which is widely used by locals and visitors alike.

Well, that is where I live. Why did I choose to move here from France where I lived for 12 years? Actually it was almost by accident as my husband was in contact with several people in Valencia & Barcelona universities and we were making regular car journeys from where we lived, about 60 minutes north-west of Toulouse, to both these cities. Eventually we decided that it would be easier if we moved closer to them and so we began discovering the Costa Brava, far enough from the big city, but with good communications in all directions.


I mistakenly imagined that the Catalans in Catalunya would be similar to those in south-west France, and yes - they do speak the same language, but the local and cultural difference become evident once you live here. Over the next months, I hope to tell you about the history & culture of what is now a very modern Catalunya which is in itself part of a very modern post-Franco Spain.

I love living here, even in the Winter when people generally stay indoors after dark but are to be seen on coastal walks or at special events at the weekends. I look out across the town of Palafrugell towards the Pyrennees with their snow-capped peaks changing colour in the evening sky.

I am very lucky to have found this corner of Spain.

I hope I am able to help you see what life in Spain is like and give you some tips if you are thinking of buying here. Please email me any questions to: Spain@OverseasGuidesCompany.com

Sally Veall
http://www.spainbuyingguide.com/

Buying a Property in Spain? Reasons to Hire a Lawyer

If there is one thing that bears repeating when buying a property in Spain it is that you should hire a lawyer, one that has nothing whatsoever to do with your state agent, developer or vendor and that comes personally recommended.

There have been a fair number of property disasters in Spain. Happily there have also been very many successes – and you need to be one of those. Scratch the surface of a successful property deal and I have little doubt that you will find a diligent, bilingual lawyer of integrity representing the interests of the buyer in there somewhere! The reasons for the problems are many so I am going to look at how a really good lawyer can help you avoid them.

Horror stories abound. Greedy developers sometimes don’t comply with the existing laws and regulations. Knowing that foreign buyers are less informed, unscrupulous developers and estate agents have no compunction in selling an off-plan property that may eventually be demolished because it does not conform to regulations. Some of these developments have even been given the go-ahead by the right government department…but by a crooked official employed there. Some buyers have bought property with charges, encumbrances and other debts attached to their property that they knew nothing about. Another possibility is that the property has never been officially registered. Or the buyer hands over a deposit to someone purporting to be owner who subsequently does a disappearing act.

All these matters should be carefully looked into by a competent lawyer who has an intimate knowledge of the law and of his area well before you put pen to paper. A lawyer will also help when dealing with the Notary Public, banks and the whole slew of hoops that you need to jump through to get the whole deal sorted out.

For instance, if you are applying for a mortgage in Spain, lawyers can sometimes refer buyers to more sympathetic deals. Non-resident applicants are routinely charged the highest rates by financial institutions as their perception is that this second home is not a priority when the owner is faced with financial difficulties. Do check carefully however; lawyers may have family members working in banks - sorry to sound like a suspicious so-and-so but in my job I have heard it all!

The beauty of the legal system in Spain is that registered lawyers are covered against negligence by professional indemnity insurance. This means that, if they slip up and something goes wrong during the transaction, the professional indemnity insurance will cover any liability arising from this negligence.

All conveyancing lawyers hold a client’s account with preferential conditions at a Spanish bank. This means that when transferring monies from abroad you can avoid the extortionate charges imposed on non-resident accounts by other institutions, which can be anything up to 0.5% of the sum transferred. Also most Spanish lawyers provide an escrow service as part of the conveyancing service and do not charge separately for it. An escrow account allows parties to deposit funds in an impartial party held account – there are other companies that can offer this service but they routinely charge 0.8% of the amount.

Lawyers will also assist you in the processing of NIE numbers, opening bank accounts, changing utility contracts and arranging standing payment orders, setting up companies, drawing up wills and sorting out rental options. They will not only look after the filing of tax forms, collection and registration of the deeds, but can also help with after-sales situations which require a lawyers letter or phone call, such as arranging the "snagging", talking to the community of owners association and so forth.

Plus if you sign a power of attorney at the Notary Public in Spain, or even in your home country, most of the purchasing process can be done by the appointed lawyer in your absence.

Most conveyancing lawyers in Spain are fluent in English – they have been doing business with the Brits for very many years. If you do not retain your own lawyer you should remember that an estate agent or developer wants you to buy the property – in fact, let’s face it they don’t get paid unless you do. To rely on their impartiality is short-sighted, to say the very least!

I sound a bit like a lawyer punting for business: I assure you I am not but I cannot stress how important it is that you look at having your own lawyer to look after your interests. Personally, I would list everything that you require them to do for you – that way, you have a record of what you asked should be checked and, if anything goes wrong, you can apply for reimbursement from their insurance company.

Kim Brown
http://www.SpainBuyingGuide.com