Meeting Friends New And Old In Valencia

We held our first ever Live And Invest in Spain Conference in November last year, and I eagerly look forward to hosting our second next month—I hope to see you there!

Meantime, let me share my thoughts with you as I had them last year the day before our event kicked off…

I arrived in sunny Valencia on Monday to clear blue skies and perfectly warm temperatures—a nice change from chilly, gray Paris…

As I sit working on the rooftop terrace of the conference hotel, a dozen of this fantastic city’s treasures are within my eyeline…

The Modern Art Museum, the Prehistoric Museum, the Centre de Carme Cultural Center, and the National Museum of Ceramics are within a few minutes’ walk…

The stunning rooftops of the Valencia Cathedral, the Basílica de la Mare de Déu, just beyond, and the domes and sweeping arms of the Ciudad de las Ciencias in the far distance…

With the sea to my right and Serra Calderona mountains to my left…

Just walking out for lunch on our first day here was an art- and architecture-filled adventure, thanks to the diversity in construction and stunning street art this city boasts.

Within just 15 minutes of the hotel, we crossed the bucolic Turia Gardens, meandered through El Carmen, through the Torres del Quart, and into the heart of the Old Town. After some tapas, beer, and burgers (for a total of 28 euros for three), we headed back, bellies full and hearts contented by this fulfilling outing.

As well as art and history, food makes up a large part of my enjoyment of Spanish culture…

I was thrilled to find that the hotel offers a make-your-own tostada station for breakfast. The tostada is among my favorite breakfast items in the world. A half baguette, sliced and toasted, rubbed with raw garlic and coated with tomate, a fresh tomato spread, with a sprinkle of fresh herbs, and topped with your choice of hams, cheeses, veggies, or all of the above…

Think of it as the next level in avocado toast. It’s hearty and filling, and it works as breakfast, brunch, lunch, or a snack. It can be enjoyed slowly with a knife and fork or handheld on the go. And it’s served, almost without exception, in every café, restaurant, bakery, and bar in Spain.

To be able to make my own, fresh from the grill, with my own choice of different toppings every day, is a special treat…

Before our first-ever Live And Invest In Spain Conference kicked off, my days were filled with meetings with local friends and colleagues… as well as tostadas, tapas, refreshing beers, and fruity sangrias…

After making a few tostadas for breakfast on day two, I hopped a bus to Ruzafa for a meeting. A 45-minute tree-lined walk down Gran Via de Ferra el Católic or a 15-minute bus ride down the same boulevard gets you across town, from north to south. I love Ruzafa and was eager for an excuse to visit, passing the countless vintage clothing shops and quirky cafés along the way.

I walked halfway back, doing some shopping and passing the old bull-fighting ring (now used as a concert venue), before grabbing a bus back from the city’s train station. (Buses here are easy to hop on and off of, even without a transit pass, as you can pay-as-you-go using contact-free payment by phone or credit card—way better than Paris!)

Before we got down to business yesterday, I was able to meet with some of my favorite people here in southern Spain… a few old friends and plenty of new ones…

Among them…

Mike Herndon, Eugene Costello, Micah Hart, Hazel Savage, and Keith Kirwen, all expats to various corners of Spain.

Mike, a long-time Live And Invest Overseas reader-turned-contributor, moved to Valencia back in 2016, after reading about living overseas for a dozen or so years prior. He knew from the second he landed in Valencia airport that it was the place for him—crazy as that love-at-first-landing may sound. (I’ve written about this phenomenon, which I refer to as “location chemistry,” in the past…)

With the help of our conferences and contacts, he finally made the move to Spain, bought an apartment, settled in, and felt right at home from the minute he hit the ground.

Last year, though, he started to feel the itch again… he’d been in Spain long enough to get to have gotten to know many of its diverse little corners and decided he’d like a change of scenery.

In short, he’d fallen in love again, this time with Oviedo in the north. He sold his Valencia apartment, bought a house in Oviedo, and has since been splitting his time between the two.

It’s been a delight to hear about his adventures in the years since I last saw him…

Eugene, a retired Brit who has found a second career here in Valencia as the founder of Valencia Life, an online publication, moved here just three years ago. He decided on Valencia after quickly dismissing most of the British-inundated southern costas and briefly considering Barcelona and Seville.

In just a few years, he’s made dozens of local friends and he and his chocolate lab Gili have become true fixtures in their laid-back neighborhood, Ruzafa.

He can scarcely have a 20-minute coffee on his street without being greeted by half a dozen neighbors, some coming to give Gili a pat, others filling him in on the latest gossip in the barrio, some waving and calling a friendly greeting from across the street as they continue on to their shopping. He loves feeling like he has truly integrated into his adopted hometown, and it shows.

Eugene is on hand to share his story and his love of Valencia with our 100 or so attendees this week. His story of building a new life in his golden years is an inspiration and speaks directly to the hearts of the folks we’re bringing in…

Micah, a young father who moved to Valencia (after writing off Bilbao) last September with his wife and two kids is still getting his bearings—and loving every chaotic minute of it.

His kids go to the local international school, his wife works for Delta’s European branch, and he’s making a remote career work from abroad, taking advantage of Spain’s digital nomad visa.

He and his family are in the thick of the honeymoon phase. They’re learning Spanish, shopping the markets for their daily groceries, getting the hang of public transportation, and adapting as best they can to this completely new lifestyle, which couldn’t be more different from their lives back in Atlanta, Georgia.

Overwhelmed as they can admittedly be sometimes, they decided within weeks of landing that their initial one-year stay would be extended to two… and likely beyond. At this point, they can’t imagine packing up and going back to the States.

Micah is here to tell us all about navigating a new life in Spain and how to best adapt to a lifestyle that’s certainly foreign to most North Americans, but one that he considers a hands-down upgrade…

Keith moved from Montana to Spain back in 1995 and has built quite a life for himself in the decades since. He moved to the Catalonia region, married a gal from Barcelona, bought homes both in the Pyrenees and on the Costa Brava, and has worked in tourism, real estate, and recently gotten involved in senior housing in the region.

Splitting his life here between the mountains and the coast is what I’d call the best of all worlds—something I aspire to one day—and a unique lifestyle choice that’s only possible in a few places in the world.

With such a diverse geography, Spain offers some of the best options in the world for sharing time between two vastly different locations, as evidenced by both Keith and Mike Herndon (who happen to also be friends, having met at a conference years ago—this expat world is a small one!).

It’s been a pleasure getting to know Keith in person and hearing more about the opportunities he’s come to make available to our attendees…

If you’re here with us this week, please make sure to introduce yourself and ask us all your questions while you’ve got the chance to do so in person… but, don’t forget, if you weren’t able to come in person, you can still attend virtually and you won’t miss a beat.

Bonne route,

Kat Kalashian

Editor, In Focus: Europe