First visit - some reflections

What a lovely account of your La Marina experience! It's nice to read positive things about this area. Here's to many more happy visits to your Spanish casa 😊☀️☀️

Thanks, Yorkshirelass. I'm a great believer in credit where credit's due. So far, our experience has been fantastic. We had read some negative comments about La Marina before we visited, as well as people's experiences of buying in Spain and it's great to be able to honestly give a more positive account.

Hi and welcome to la marina...we had similar experiences to you 6 months ago and found buying in spain so much easier than buying in england...ours is just a holiday home but we have managed to continue to get out every few weeks,it makes gettingup early for work better knowing that our next trip is a couple of days away.....la marina is our little gem on the costa blanca and gets us away from the uk rat race,nice food,good beer and friendly people and the sun help too!!....phil and helen

Totally the same with us, Phil and Helen!  Owning a little bit of Spain gives purpose to all the hard work over the years and is a reward for the years of studying and stresses and strains of climbing the greasy pole.  As retirement beckons it's time for us to start chilling a bit more.  We've managed to find cheap flights in October, November, December and January so we've booked for a few wee short breaks! Can't wait.  Hope you continue to enjoy your place.  La Marina rules!!!!

Fair play mate...we did just that too..came out twice a month when we could get the cheap ones....our best is £42 return from birmingham......we arnt out in august but come out sept and october....think we might just cry nov and dec as all our hols have gone and we start again jan 18.....we have made many many friends and would love 2 meet you for a beer if ever we can....

Hi there Phil and Helen, yes it's a "little and often" pattern of visits for us for the foreseeable future. Just came back last Mon and I've managed to book a cheeky week later this month on my own - just couldn't bear the thought of waiting until October which is our next joint trip. Whereabouts is your place, if you don't mind me asking? We're in Parque del Tajo - lovely sea glimpses on one side, park on the other and only five minutes from the Grey Area (our fave part) and less than ten minutes from Consum Square. Aren't we all so lucky to have found such a great place?  We haven't had much chance to make friends there, but I know that will happen as everyone we met was pleasant and sociable.  A beer with you guys sounds great!

Hi I'm glad you like La Marina.  We have had our home here for 30 years we were the first group of English people who came here and we opened the first Lola by cutting the tape on the front door ( which is up by the vets as you enter the site) Spanish Cava was opened(Spanish chapagne) the price of the property was £13,900 for a 2 bed roomed detached villa on 250 square metres.  At that time  there were no phases as no one knew if this site would take of. there were no bars and no shops, so we had to shop in the village of La Marina.

There were no pavements at that time in La Marina Village only outside the 2 main bars.  We bought our wine at the Bodega in the village which was owned by an old woman who talked non stop and was very friendly but, we did not have a clue what she was on about.   When we got back with the wine we would invite any neighbours in that were setting up their homes and had great days and evenings together.

At that time we were only 50 years old and were working so we only here 3 times a year did not come to live here till we were in our sixties and have seen many changes as we are now just in our eighties.  We still love it and speak Spanish enough to get by when talking to our Spanish neighbours.

Its a great place to live and we hope we will be here for many years yet.

But it is important to converse with the locals as they can tell you the lovliest places to visit throughout Spain and what the Spanish do to enjoy themselves too.

Hope you will love it as much as us.  Good luck to you both.

Hi Dennis,

It was lovely to read your message - it must have been exciting being a pioneer back in the day! It's great that you still love the area after all this time and no doubt there have been many changes along the way. We just fell in love with La Marina when we arrived, not looking at it through rose tinted glasses but taking everything in the round it exuded a restful and contented air. We're realistic enough to realise paradise doesn't actually exist but  La Marina ticks enough boxes to come close.  I'd love to learn more about the history and evolution of the urb - we've bought in Parque del Tajo which I think from the deeds was built in 1989.