SHOPPING

No matter where you live in the world, shopping falls into two categories: essential shopping and leisure shopping. Both are well catered for in Spain.

Turning first to essential shopping for the everyday things of life, the choice in Spain is almost bewildering. In the smaller towns you will find small supermarkets which are fine for everyday shopping and even there you will find an amazing array of fresh produce, but to really experience choice you have to visit one of the hypermarkets which are to be found usually on the immediate outskirts of larger towns. The first thing you notice in these shops is that the counters selling fresh food are far bigger than the counters displaying frozen food. Frozen and convenience food is only really there for the non-Spanish clients – los turistas. The Spanish themselves still tend to buy fresh food, which is one of the reasons that eating in Spain remains a healthy pursuit, at least for the locals.

Fruit and vegetables

The displays of fruit and vegetables are amazing. Virtually all of the items on display are loose, allowing you to personally select what you want and then have it weighed and priced. Spanish hypermarkets do not insist on regulation size and shape apples, pears or tomatoes. What you buy here has probably been grown in the farms behind the coast. It is fresh. It is almost certainly organically produced and it is so cheap.

If you really want to, it is possible to buy fruit and vegetables which have been imported but the real bargains are to be found by buying what grows in this region when it is in season. In season fresh asparagus is so cheap that you would not consider it to be a luxury vegetable as it is in the UK. Tomatoes are in season throughout the year as are all the other salad vegetables.

There are root vegetables in profusion (these tend to keep better in Spain if they are refrigerated otherwise they go soft very quickly). You buy garlic by the bag not by the individual bulb and onions are almost giveaway in price.

Fruit is amazingly good. In season (November to early summer) oranges are so cheap it would be sacrilege not to buy them and invest in a juicer so that you have a constant supply of fresh orange juice. (I still find it amazing to see holidaymakers buying processed orange juice for their children while on holiday – do today’s children only know how to enjoy synthetic products?) Lemons are around 1 euro for a kilo and the local mandarins and grapefruit are also delicious, for this region is one of the major producers of citrus fruit in the world. The strawberry season is from mid February until the end of April and in season one tends to buy strawberries by the box, two or three kilos at a time. They are delicious because they have been picked when they have ripened on the plant not picked while unripe and transported to the UK to ripen off the plant in cold storage. Following the strawberry season cherries come into their own in the late spring or early summer. This part of Spain is not a good region for growing apples or pears so you have to be a little bit more careful when selecting these fruits, but nectarines and peaches grow very happily.

There is also a very good selection of more exotic fruit such as pineapples, kumquats, kiwi fruit, pomegranates and custard apples, all of which are grown locally. The best time to buy bananas is when the crop from the Canaries is in season. Bananas imported into Spain from further afield often have very little flavour.

Fish and shellfish

Never in my life have I seen such a selection of fish and shellfish on the fish counter even in a specialist fishmonger in the UK. This should not be a surprise since Spain consumes more fish and shellfish than any other country in Europe. Fish in Spain comes either from the Atlantic or from the huge reserves of fish in the Mediterranean.

When you first visit the wet fish counter in the hypermarket it would probably be advisable to take with you a dictionary or a Spanish food shopping guide to help you with the display of fish of all shapes and sizes. Space does not permit me to list all the various fishes which you might see on display but among the best buys here are tuna which is caught off Cadiz in the Atlantic waters, cazon (often called rock salmon in the UK) which is related to the shark family, boquerones (anchovies), dorada (gilt headed bream) which is a delicious fish, lenguado (Dover sole but also found in Spanish waters), robalo (sea bass), merluza (hake), rape (monkfish – delicious but not one of the world’s prettiest fish), salmonete (red mullet) and sardinas (sardines – fresh sardines bear no relationship to the tinned variety and are excellent barbecued). The traditional dish of sardines in Malaga is sardinas al espeto – sardines barbecued on skewers over hot coals, often on the beach.

Turning our attention to shellfish, on the wet fish counter there is an equally large selection which ranges from clams, crab claws (boca de la Isla the single claw of the fiddler crab), calamares, octopus, scallops and lobster and prawns of all shapes and sizes. These are only the shellfish you will recognise. In addition you will find sea anemones, cuttlefish, spider crabs, sea urchins and sea snails. You may be tempted to try some of these more exotic shellfish.

Meat and poultry

The selection of meat and poultry in the hypermarket is not so bewildering to the new arrival and all you really need to know is the name of your chosen meat in Spanish. Ternera is generally young beef – buey signifies that the beef has come from an ox (male). Cordero is lamb while carnero is mutton and cerdo is pork. Polio is chicken and pavo is turkey. Generally you will recognise the various cuts of beef and other meats but I should point out that the designation filete is not a fillet steak but a name given to any slice of meat which is off the bone.

In the butcher’s section of your chosen hypermarket you will also find a good selection of game in season, a huge selection of cured meats and hams and many different varieties of Spanish sausages. Spain is particularly famous for its mountain produced cured hams which are often purchased whole. They are absolutely delicious.

Should you prefer to buy your meat in the British way you will find that in the coastal areas there are many enterprising British butchers who have opened shops where the cuts are the UK variety. Many of these butchers also make their own British style sausages and import back bacon should your tastes run to a typical English breakfast on occasions.

Olive oil

Spain is the world’s leading producer of olive oil and some of the best flavoured olive oils in the world come from this country. As a result the hypermarket shelves are filled with a huge array of different oils and it is therefore necessary for you to know which ones to buy and how to use them. That is if you decide to buy your oil in a commercial store. If you so choose you can make a visit direct to the mill – the almazara – taking along with you a 5,10 or 20 litre bottle to be filled or you can buy it from an olive oil depot.

Olive oil has been called the world’s healthiest cooking oil and is often credited with contributing to the good health which the inhabitants of the Mediterranean region often enjoy. Which type of olive oil should you choose?

Extra virgin olive oil is produced from the first cold pressing of the olives. It is the most expensive but it can also have the most characteristic flavour so it tends not to be used as a cooking oil. It is perfect for salads or spooned over potatoes, cooked fish, vegetables or pasta or even bread, the classic aceite en pan.

Virgin olive oil is also unrefined but heat is allowed in the extraction process. It is fine for fried foods such as fish, chips or fritters. It is also very useful for sauteing.

Olive oil (aceite de oliva) has been refined and is the blandest in flavour but it is perfect for everyday cooking and is fairly inexpensive. Since we moved here it has become our staple cooking oil.

I have to say that since moving to Spain I have used no other oil other than olive oil. We have also adjusted to the Spanish tradition of sprinkling olive oil onto bread as an alternative to butter and it is a delicious alternative.

Wines and the harder stuff

For wine lovers Spain is paradise. Throughout the country wine is produced ranging from the full blooded reds of Rioja through to the sweet whites produced in some parts of Andalucia. The first real surprise is how inexpensive wine can be when it is not subject to the swingeing taxes imposed on wine in the UK. The price can range from less than £1 per bottle for basic everyday ‘plonk’ up to many euros per bottle, but even ‘expensive’ wines can be a lot less than the equivalent of £10 per bottle, and that will buy you exquisite examples of the winemaker’s art.

The other real surprise which awaited us was Cava, the well-known Spanish sparkling wine made by the champagne method. Purists might disagree but the taste of a good Cava is almost indistinguishable from the taste of Champagne and many ordinary individuals would be hard pressed to tell the difference. The real surprise was the discovery that perfectly drinkable, everyday Cava can be bought for less than two euros a bottle in some of the hypermarkets. Cava comes in two varieties, brut and dulce. The former is the one which tastes most like champagne.

If you like a tipple of the harder stuff, spirits are also surprisingly cheap compared to British prices, with litre bottles of gin, whisky, vodka and brandy at around five or six Euros. Sherry, which is of course produced in Jerez de la Frontera in Andalucia, is also very reasonably priced. One surprise is that, unlike the UK tradition, sherry in Spain is drunk chilled.

Street markets

Shopping for food can also be done at the street markets which exist in many of the towns in the region. The larger towns have markets which are open every day for food. Prices in the markets are likely to be cheaper than those in the hypermarket. The street market will often be host to local small producers of fruit and vegetables and if you buy from them you are cutting out any middle man in the retail chain. The same applies to buying from the many fruit and vegetable stalls which can be found at the roadside in country areas. We use these and at one of them we also buy our eggs while the chickens which laid them are walking around, free range, at our feet.

The markets are also very good for essential leisure shopping. The various street markets are a good source of resort wear, beach towels, domestic towels, sheets and pillowcases, shoes and many other everyday articles. The quality is generally very good and the prices are very reasonable indeed. A pointer to value probably comes from the fact that many local people use the market for their shopping.

Some markets are also a good source of Moroccan artefacts such as earthenware, outdoor light fittings and articles made of brass or other metals. There are stalls to be found which sell rustic style furniture which is perfect for older style properties and second hand furniture – all at very good prices but be prepared to barter. The market may also be the source of original paintings and other types of art. Many of the markets are very good places in which to buy rugs and mats. Most of those sold in the market are of north African origin but today they are often made of synthetic fibre so they tend to be very inexpensive and you can barter. They are relatively hard wearing and are perfect to warm up the marble or tiled floors of your home during the winter months. When they need cleaning they are cheap enough to throw away and be replaced with new. (Should you want to buy very good quality Berber rugs you can always go on a day trip to Morocco and visit the souks.)

Consumer durables

Should you need to shop for electrical goods for the kitchen you will be pleasantly surprised by the low prices compared to the same brands in the UK. Televisions, video recorders, audio and DVD players are considerably cheaper than the equivalent in the country you have just left.

Spain is also well served by DIY warehouses which have a very wide stock of all the things you need to improve your home at very reasonable prices. Many of the items you will find in outlets such as Leroy Merlin have great style at an affordable cost and you really can do all your DIY shopping under one roof.

For me it is the style of many of the items you find in specialist shops in Spain which I find amazing. There are shops selling absolutely beautiful, stylish furniture which were it to be on sale in London would cost considerably more.

What you do not tend to find in the south of Spain are the large out-of-town furniture superstores which have sprung up in the UK. Furniture is still a reasonably specialist commodity. Having said that, around the expensive areas of the coast there are some very good shops which sell second hand furniture, and some items are very good indeed. To people with a lot of money in places such as Marbella or Puerto Banus, redecoration does not just mean painting the walls and changing the curtains, it means that everything is changed. Some of this very expensive furniture therefore finds its way onto the second hand market.

In the bigger towns you will find department stores such as El Corte Ingles which offer high fashion, high style and I regret also quite high prices compared to the other places where you might choose to shop. Nevertheless you can spend a few pleasant hours just browsing in these stores. One positive thing about such stores, at least in the areas where there is a large expatriate community, is the fact that they import the best selling books from the UK. I cannot recall any of the large stores in London having a Spanish section in their book departments.

The only real problem with respect to leisure shopping is dealt with in more detail later, which is that the resort areas can be limited in the number of shops they offer.

EATING OUT

This is one of the real delights of Spain. Forget about the English restaurants where you will find typically British food. They exist but only in the major tourist areas and frankly you would need to be fairly unadventurous to choose to eat in such establishments. Having chosen to live in Spain you really should try Spanish restaurants and start to eat in the Spanish way.

The first absolutely typical Spanish food outlet must be the tapas bar. Tapas are delicious bite-sized appetisers which can either be hot or cold. They are very typical of Andalucia. Since the Andalucians tend to eat dinner very late the tapas bar is a pleasant place to snack before the main meal of the evening.

Tapas can be as simple as plump, well spiced olives, toasted almonds, wafer thin slices of serrano ham, chorizo, mature cheese or prawns in their shells. Tapas de cocina (cooked tapas) include croquettes of cheese and ham, battered prawns, goujons of crisply fried fish, roasted peppers and various salads from the simple to the exotic. Other cooked tapas are meatballs in tomato sauce, tiny pork cutlets, prawns sizzled with garlic and chili – the famous prawns pil-pil – clams or mussels a la mariniére, anchovies with garlic, Moroccan style kebabs and of course Spanish omelette (tortilla) to list but a few.

Should the individual tapas be too small for your appetite you can ask for larger portions called raciones, but I should warn you that several raciones, particularly if they are fish or shellfish based, can prove quite expensive as a light meal.

The ideal choice of restaurant for a delicious and leisurely lunch is the chiringuito. These are the very simple and inexpensive beach restaurants where the specialty is often seafood in its many guises. The restaurants themselves are very unassuming but the quality of food is usually very high. The best value is often a plate of mixed fried fish or wonderful fresh sardines cooked simply on a hot plate (sardinas a la plancha). There is nothing more pleasant than sitting under the canopies of a chiringuito close to the sea. This is especially true in the winter months when you remember that the population of northern Europe has to remain indoors to escape the winter cold.

Another option for lunch is to try out some of the other typical Spanish restaurants. By law restaurants have to offer a set lunch shown on the menu at a fixed price. You will be amazed to be offered a simple three-course meal with bread and a glass of local wine for not much more than the cost of a meal in a fast food restaurant in the UK.

Other restaurants worth sampling are ventas. These are typical local Spanish restaurants, usually family run, found at the roadside and very common in the country areas. They are very Spanish and a working knowledge of the language can be a help particularly the further you travel from the coast. What many of these ventas offer are simple meals prepared in the traditional method and they too can be incredible value for money. Just ask around wherever you choose to live and you will soon be recommended the best chiringuitos and ventas in the area.

Of course there are also some very upmarket restaurants, particularly in the coastal resorts, where a meal can cost a lot of money. Many of these restaurants will have Spanish dishes on the menu but the cuisine is likely to be reasonably international in its overall choice of dishes. In my opinion such restaurants are best kept for the odd special occasion unless you have a lot of disposable income to spend on eating out.

With the increasingly large expatriate and tourist community you will find Chinese, Indian, Thai, French and Italian restaurants in profusion and of course American style burger and pizza establishments, including the ubiquitous McDonalds. If you really must eat in the English way, particularly for Sunday lunch, many of the big hotels and some UK oriented restaurants offer a Sunday brunch which includes a carvery. Here you will find a very large selection of starters of all types and for the main course there will always be roast beef, turkey, pork and lamb cooked in the traditional English style. Such places are absolutely ideal for those with a huge appetite since you can return to the serving counter as many times as you care to. We do know people here for whom Sunday is not Sunday unless they have their English roast lunch. However, we tend to eat in Spanish style restaurants often and really value the exceptional value for money which they offer.

HOME COMFORTS

Wherever you buy your home in the south of Spain it is likely to be ideally designed for the climate here. Should you buy in a typical Spanish town the streets will be narrow and the windows of your home small. The walls will be thick. All these features keep out the heat in the summer and keep the house warm in the winter.

Should you buy a modern property you will probably have wide glass patio doors opening onto a terrace designed for outdoor living in the summer months. We certainly live on our terrace in the summer. Such properties can have some problems in the summer if the terrace faces south and you may have to devise ways of keeping the sun out of your indoor living area through the use of shutters or blinds. If you face south you may even need to install air-conditioning.

Whatever type of property you end up living in the floors will almost certainly be tiled. The most common tiles are teracotta or marble, although in properties built about 20 or 30 years ago you may find tiles which are more like ceramic tiles with a marled or speckled effect. Tiles are wonderfully cool in the summer months and marble especially seems to stay cool even on the hottest days. Teracotta tiles are a bit warmer underfoot and seem warmer in the winter months, although this may be an illusion since they are darker in colour. The coolness of marble floors can be a bit of a problem in the winter period. We do need to find as many rugs as possible to cover up the marble. I suggest you bear in mind when viewing properties that if you like two properties and one has a log burning fire while the other does not, go for the one with the fireplace. You will not regret it. We find that we welcome being able to light a real fire in the evenings from mid November until early March. There is also absolutely no doubt that logs are the cheapest form of heating in Spain (and the most attractive).

Continuing the winter theme we have also found that it was a very good idea to bring duvets with us from the UK. They are definitely necessary from November until March. In the spring and autumn you will probably get away with a sheet and an American style comforter while during the summer months a single sheet will probably suffice.

GETTING AROUND

Traveling around in Spain is basically a delight. Of course the traffic is heavier in the cities and in the larger towns and the locals complain bitterly about the traffic jams. Their comparison is, of course, with the general levels of traffic encountered locally. Traffic jams in Spain bear no relationship to those seen on the M25 around London or the M5/M6 around Birmingham.

We had been warned about the traffic in August during the peak holiday season but I have to say that after the new dual carriageway coastal road opened there has really been no problem. Motorways generally are a dream come true, with very little traffic even at peak periods, since the only people who use them are those who want to move quickly from A to B and are prepared to pay the toll charges.

So far I have been talking about the traffic on the main roads but if you move onto the minor country roads the traffic is amazingly light, even in the height of the holiday season. Go five kilometres inland and there is virtually no traffic on the roads throughout the year at the western end of the Costa del Sol. Getting around is a pleasure and I hope it stays like that in the future. There is usually little opposition to road improvement schemes when they are needed.

Public transport, where it exists, appears to be very good. There is a regular bus service along the coast from Malaga to La Linea and while it may not be frequent, so long as you know the time the bus leaves from your nearest stop it is likely to be on time. The coaches are comfortable. The fares are low and every coach is air-conditioned.

Similarly the rail network along the coast is not extensive at the moment but apparently it is going to be extended from Fuengirola to Estepona and on to Algeciras. Trains run on time and are reasonably priced – unlike in the UK! The long-distance train services are very good indeed and soon Malaga will have a high-speed link to Madrid. Seville already has such a link. There is even a suggestion that the high-speed link from Madrid should be extended to Estepona.