A Plan with Few Wrinkles

What really got us excited about Valencia was an apartment that we found online. (For those with at least basic Spanish in search of accommodation both Fotocasa and Enalquiler are great tools.) After examining the city thoroughly with Google Earth – and I didn’t even know about the miracle of Google Street View yet (you can explore the city street by street with real images on Google Maps – this link shows you how) – I decided to check out apartment prices. I could see that things were a lot more reasonable than in Barcelona but didn’t find anything too exciting despite the lower rents. Then it suddenly occurred to me that I had to stop wasting time and get back to work.

That’s when Katie took a look at my screen and was curious enough about what she saw there to pause and click on one of the places listed. “Have you seen this one?” she asked. I had not.

Less than a week later we were returning to Barcelona after a two-day visit to Valencia, rental contract in place for January 1st. We would be moving in – with our gracious landlords’ consent – a few days early so that we could start the Spanish New Year in our new home. The apartment was, and is, fantastic for us. We forgot to put elevator on our wish-list so we won’t count that as a miss; every other wish-list criterion was met. And we were completely enamoured of the city.

Moving day saw us cramming the surprising amount of belongings that we had acquired into a car that just did not have the room for them. I couldn’t throw the guitar away and I was determined to take the ironing board because I was not going to buy another one. We did somehow get it in there, along with all of our suitcases, bags of bedding and boxes of toys. After three trips around the gothic quarter and as few minutes blocking traffic on our tiny street each time, only a few bags of foodstuffs were abandoned (all that curry paste…).

After a fairly easy drive – but expensive: highway tolls were over 30 Euros – we unpacked the puzzle-like assemblage of belongings from the car and hiked them up the stairs. Of course we found that there already was an ironing board in the apartment… Three weeks later, I haven’t used either one and can’t help think of a comment that my mother-in-law made to me once: “You’re often quite wrinkled…”

So when people ask us, ‘Why Valencia?’, we tell them that it was because of this apartment. It makes for a good story, but it’s also true. If it hadn’t been for this very special ático-duplex, we wouldn’t have come to Valencia and discovered how well suited it is to our lifestyle. I have never felt so sure about a place so quickly and each day that I spend here strengthens my confidence that we have discovered our perfect home.

Time will tell and so will I

I’m sure that there are people out there who would consider us impetuous and rash. It does seem somewhat foolhardy to rush into a move the way we did. I can only offer in response that Katie and I began our relationship in much the same manner. Our first date included a conversation about one day moving to Spain and here we are. ‘Time will tell’, we were told – and it has.

Likewise, time will tell whether or not Valencia is indeed the perfect place for us to call home. And while we come closer to that knowledge, driven by what I hope to be an endless series of discoveries, I will also tell. I plan to share our adventures, both the success and the failures, with all willing to read about them. I hope that you will find them entertaining and helpful, whether because they provide specific information to assist you in your exploration of Valencia, or simply as reflections that apply to life in general.

Stay tuned…