Help me decide where to live in Europe - France ??

I'm pretty sure that the area in France around Perpignan would suit you. A
little farther south like Elne might be the right choice. This is more
"real" France than the Cote d'Azur, and has more single-family homes than
the rest of the country. I'd strongly consider it if I were moving to
France.

This is the sunniest part of France.

The Pyrenes are within sight. Thus Spain is very close for a change in
style.

There is protected-water skiing on the large Etang de Salses (just a
sand-spit away from the Med). The towns like Collioure, Port Vendres, etc.,
are scuba centers. At least one of the Med resorts (Argeles-Plage) doesn't
have the concrete apartment blocks common in some other seaside resorts.

You really should take a look. I'm sure you'll find this area much cheaper
than the Cote d'Azur. There a significant airport at Perpignan.

Bob Carpenter

We lived originally in UK but moved to Morocco temporarily - we expect
to be in Morocco for the next 5 years and then move back to Europe,
but we are 95% certain it won't be back to the UK (we both have UK
passports btw).

Where we want to live first and foremost is somewhere where the
climate is mostly warm and you can at least see the sky and sun *most*
of the time (that's one of our biggest turnoffs with the UK - always
overcast, dark grey clouds).

Then we want a place that can accomodate our passions; which are scuba
diving and water-skiing (waterskiing preferably in a lake, not in the
sea).

We also like the Countryside, with nice cycle ride areas etc.

You should consider the Marbella area in Spain. The quality of life is
fantastic. Weather is great with very few rainy days, the food is very good,
water sports all over the place, skying facilities (Sierra Nevada) only a
couple of hours from the beach and it is very safe. Spain has become the
California of Europe. It's got a vibrant economy and the main problem is that
maybe too many foreigners have already taken notice. There are entire suburbs
around Marbella that are completely either British or German. Also if you
don't like flashy types you might have to avoid some areas in the city. Other
than that it's great but the real estate prices have gone through the roof in
the last decade. There are my british people that conmute between London and
Spain every week. There are round trips between Malaga and London for about 80
euros. So why live just in one place?.

(Miguel Cruz) wrote in
:

A_Newsreader wrote:
Yes, I must say that to this day, I still am not sure that the place
I went to called Dubai was the same Dubai everyone 'raves' about.

c) The Airport Duty Free was a big big big disappointment (no doubt
hype)

Agreed. Not sure why people are so excited about the airport shopping.


It *was* good up until about 7-8 years ago.

/Tommy P.

Miguel Cruz writes:

Here's hoping. But who has time to wait?

The wait may not be that long.

It's still 11° C during the day here in Paris. That's about twelve
degrees Fahrenheit warmer than normal for this time of year.

--
Transpose hotmail and mxsmanic in my e-mail address to reach me directly.

Tommy Petersson writes:

It *was* good up until about 7-8 years ago.

What changed?

--
Transpose hotmail and mxsmanic in my e-mail address to reach me directly.

Mxsmanic wrote:

A_Newsreader writes:

a) unbelievably hot (I thought I could have been on Mars at one point)
- desolate

Mars is extremely cold compared to the Earth.


Perhaps he meant Mercury or even Venus.

--
Best
Greg

Gregory Morrow writes:

Perhaps he meant Mercury or even Venus.

Both of those planets are considerably hotter than Dubai, hard as that
may be to believe. But Paris in August is worse.

--
Transpose hotmail and mxsmanic in my e-mail address to reach me directly.

thanks Bob, just the type of help we're looking for. I'll go take a
look now on the internet.

Thanks once again.



"R J Carpenter" wrote in message ...
I'm pretty sure that the area in France around Perpignan would suit you. A
little farther south like Elne might be the right choice. This is more
"real" France than the Cote d'Azur, and has more single-family homes than
the rest of the country. I'd strongly consider it if I were moving to
France.

This is the sunniest part of France.

The Pyrenes are within sight. Thus Spain is very close for a change in
style.

There is protected-water skiing on the large Etang de Salses (just a
sand-spit away from the Med). The towns like Collioure, Port Vendres, etc.,
are scuba centers. At least one of the Med resorts (Argeles-Plage) doesn't
have the concrete apartment blocks common in some other seaside resorts.

You really should take a look. I'm sure you'll find this area much cheaper
than the Cote d'Azur. There a significant airport at Perpignan.

Bob Carpenter

Mxsmanic wrote in
:

Tommy Petersson writes:

It *was* good up until about 7-8 years ago.

What changed?


Mostly the prices sky-rocketed compaired to earlier years, the assortment
is very bleak and "service-minded" has been deleted from the dictionary...

Now there are often better deals in the city of Dubai than at the taxfree
shops, and those prices aren't better than US Internet shops.

After the fall of Soviet Union there was a wave of people with loads of
dollars, and no concept of their worth. Some had of course made them in a
legal way, but many had plundered factories on raw material (a lot of
stolen metal was exported to the west through the Baltic states) they
worked for as a manager. Some worked for or with the Russian mafia, and
some had just taken a loan to be able to go and buy a lot of stuff they
would take back to Russia and sell for a profit to the rich people there
who didn't have time to travel abroad on shopping tours...

Those Russians, the first couple of years, were a strange sight. Women in
tight gold-coloured leather pants, silver top and make-up all over the face
because of the sweat in the heat. Nowadys it's the normal, Russian people
travelling on holiday trips - they don't stand ut in any way from other
tourists, but I belive the damage was done "back then".

/Tommy P.

In article ,
(A_Newsreader) wrote:

Yes, I must say that to this day, I still am not sure that the place I
went to called Dubai was the same Dubai everyone 'raves' about.

My ever lasting impressions of it were

much the same as mine after living there for a few months...

a) unbelievably hot (I thought I could have been on Mars at one point)

and, to a northern european at least, the unchangeability of the weather
is rather disconcerting.

b) teeming with people from india (where are the natives ?? - they
come out at night)

there simply -aren't- many emirati natives in the first place, and the few
that exist are sensibly enjoying the aircon until nightfall!

d) ONLY ONE spectacular hotel (yes the Burj Al Arab) - but that's ONE

to be fair there are a few other interesting modern buildings in dubai -
the city hall, for example, with a very contemporary rethinking of
traditional arabian water themes.

it was a fascinating place to live for a little while - partly, to be
honest, because it's 'middle east lite' affording some of the cultural
insights that other places provide with none of the accompanying
discomforts.

and it's well located for seeing the rest of the region, and one can live
like a prince -- a minor prince with modest tastes, at least -- on not
much money...but there's something rather sterile about it: i couldn't see
it holding interest for very long. i'm also not convinced that being a
brit in dubai is the safest pursuit in the world right now, but let's not
have a long thread about that.