Stories from 2 months on the Road in the Balkans and Spain
February 26, 2020
We’ve been travelling fast (by our standards) over the last two months since leaving Croatia in early January. It seems so long ago now that we were in Montenegro, then Serbia, then Budapest…before arriving in Spain on February 1st. We’ve now been in Spain over 3 weeks and time seems to be flying.
One of the things about travelling fast is you get more experiences over a shorter period of time. And I don’t care what anyone says – it’s those experiences that over time you remember more than anything.
Just a whole bunch of experiences, observations and tips from the last little while in this post.. I’ve also got a few photos that will make you think less of me.
Living in “Pura Mierda” in Alicante
I recently wrote about getting our bank account and private insurance in Spain. What I didn’t mention is that we spent a full day in Alicante trying to find the proper police station where we could get an NIE number. We went all over city, being told by police officers at each that theirs was not the proper station, that we had to go to XYZ station. They were all friendly and helpful though (by the way, if you don’t speak any Spanish forget about doing it yourself. You’d be up shit’s creek).
Finally we arrived at the ¨Oficina de Extranjeria¨. The Police officer there was at first a little gruff but when Lissette ordered him to speak D-E-S-P-A-C-I-O he laughed. If you’re used to Latin Spanish you’ll have a hard time with Spanish Spanish where they speak incredibly fast while also cutting their words and somehow managing to do it while also seemingly having a mouth full of marbles. 3 weeks here and I have to admit we’re both feeling a bit lost with the language (including Lissette, a native Spanish speaker).
The officer ended up being our best friend, taking a piece of paper out and writing out all the steps required to get an NIE. Then, with the line growing behind us, he started to ask us personal questions (“as a friend, not a police officer”). We told him we were in Spain for 3 months to find our new potential home. That’s when he started telling us the places in Alicante province where we should live. He wrote on the piece of paper: Benidorm. Elda. Elche. Denia. Alcoy. Torrevieja. He then asked us where we were staying right now.
I told him Alicante North, near the Hospital. He looked at me. “That area is mierda. Not just mierda, but pura mierda” he said with a smile.
It’s true. Lissette and I had found a wonderful apartment at a good price about 20 minutes walk from the center. But it certainly feels a bit like the ghetto…and walking around you feel more like in a neighborhood of Santo Domingo than in a major Spanish city. Still, we’ve got a nice 2 bedroom apartment with a full kitchen, a gym 5 minutes away, a large Mercadona grocery store 3 minutes away, and you can take a really spiffy modern tram downtown and get there in less than 10 minutes.
Still, we found it funny having a police officer, with gang tattoos on his fingers, telling us that we live in a neighbourhood that’s “pure shit”*.
*Hosted by a lovely Ukrainian lady from the Donbass region who left 5 years ago when war broke out in the region. We made an instant friend.
By the time we left the line behind us was 15 deep. The police officer didn’t care. He was all smiles and shook our hands and wished us luck in finding a future home in Spain.
Airbnb: Balkans Vs Spain
Travelling fast, with an average 5 days in the places we’ve stayed, we’ve had to be a bit more flexible in the places we stay because costs really add up (the longer you stay in an Airbnb, the cheaper the cost). What people don’t always get: if you’re taking a 2 week vacation you don’t mind paying more for accommodation. You pay for convenience, comfort and location. That’s fine because you’re on vacation. When you travel full-time you have to keep an eye on the cost because you don’t want to be spending $3000/month on accommodation.
In Montenegro and Serbia it was pretty easy keeping costs down, there is a lot of choice and prices are reasonable, especially in January. Between Kotor, Budva, Belgrade and Novi Sad we spent 23 nights, averaging $57.45 Canadian/night (that’s $43 US/night). In Spain we’ve had to work harder at finding good quality accommodation at good prices. We’ve also negotiated discounts at a few places where we found prices too high. Prices in the first few cities we visited were high (Malaga and Granada) but we’ve done better in Alicante, Valencia, and Leon (some of our upcoming bookings). Average Cost $57.91 Canadian/night ($44 US/night).
So, in January and February we’re paying the same in Spain as we did in Montenegro and Serbia*.
*Although with more work. And of the 3 countries Serbia is easily the least expensive. Our 11 nights there averaged $47 Canadian (ie. $35 US/night).
Serbia: “We’re a serious country”
I’ll be writing about Serbia soon. We really enjoyed our time in both Belgrade and Novi Sad and met some nice people.
We were at a café in Novi Sad and I was paying with my credit card. The owner put the card over the machine and it worked instantly, I didn’t have to enter the PIN. I was surprised and made a comment along the lines of “wow! I think that’s the first time that’s worked in the Balkans”. He looked at me with a little smirk (you could tell he was thinking “stupid American”) and said “Yes. This is a serious country”. We just laughed.
We thought about him a couple of days later when we arrived in Budapest with no Forints (the Hungarian currency) and the hotel clerk asked us to pay the city tax. “Do you accept Serbian Dinars?” I asked him.
He just laughed at me.
We also found it funny to hear a Serbian mentioned that the Croatians are “very nationalistic”. We spent 11 days in Serbia seeing more Serbian flags flying per square meter than anywhere else. People always seem to have very set ideas on other places, particularly their next door neighbors.
Related: A Guide to Novi Sad – and why we really like Serbia
People are going home
One of the interesting things we’ve noticed especially over the last year are people coming home from places like Canada and the US. In Belgrade we met a Canadian-Serbian couple who had moved back to Serbia after many years in Vancouver. They were a bit older, recently retired, and just wanted to live closer to family and have a cheaper cost of living (PS. They told me that Serbia is now a medical destination and has excellent facilities in both dentistry and medicine. It’s become a favorite of many Europeans).
We’ve had similar experiences in Greece and Bulgaria: people who had lived 15 to 20 years in North America but who’ve decided because of a mix of politics, cost of living, or lifestyle to move back home.
Keep your eyes to yourself
Am I the only person who gets looks when sitting down at a restaurant?
4 photos where I get stared at (and these are the ones captured on photo which represent maybe 1% of the times we catch people staring)
So what to do when people stare at you?
Maybe something like this.
PS. People always ask why aren’t there more photos of Lissette on the blog? The simple answer is that she’s not as photogenic as I am 🙂
The best thing about having a blog…
…are the people we’ve met because of it. That’s particularly been the case with this Spain trip and on working towards Spanish residency.
A reader, our Australian friend Michael living in Belgrade, referred us to Norah, another Australian living in Jaen (Spain). She’s helped us tremendously and she’s (for now) our official address in Spain. Patti, a fellow blogger from One Road at a Time, put us in touch with Donna, an American expat living in Seville. She’s also given us great advice. Donna has invited us to visit her in Seville. Finally there’s Glenn, who I met last year in San Miguel de Allende when he was living in Mexico. He’s now living in Valencia. He’s also given us great advice and we hope to see him on our upcoming visit to Valencia.
All these people, from and living in different parts of the world, we’ve all met because of the blog. While we get encouraging comments about the information we give on the blog, oftentimes we’d never get that information without the help of people we’ve met along the way. Having a blog gives us a sense of being part of a travel community. I think that’s pretty cool.
Covid
I’m trying not to think about Covid/Coronavirus but I have to admit it’s increasingly weighed on my mind. I’m wondering about the possibility of borders being closed and/or being stuck in a region in lockdown. And, as I write this, stock markets are down 5% over 2 days.
I try to keep it light in these newsletters but I have to admit it’s all getting worrisome. I’m also wondering how many people are re-evaluating their travel plans right now…
Ps. See all our Newsletters here.
even the dog stared at you! funny
Frank, your sense of humour is just so great. I can’t stop laughing at the “staring at you” even the little dog…hilarious. But also the police officer calling the area you are staying “mierda”…priceless. We also have been worrying about the Corona virus and particularly getting stuck here in Asia…gulp. Stock Markets falling like a stone are also a huge worry. Can’t see how things are going to improve in the short term, since this virus appears to spread so easily and there is no hope of a vaccine for a while yet. We are re-thinking our travels plans also, since we wanted to tour Italy with our motorhome in April, but now we started thinking of other options. Great and hilarious post 🙂
I did a day trip many moons ago to Novi Sad and saw a little of the place, but I’ll be interested to hear about it from someone who stayed a few days. The photos are brilliant, especially the one from South Africa!
It seems that one have to worry about so many things as one considers moving to Spain. And, the recent spread of the nasty virus from China adds up to it being another dreadful scenario for us who may be contemplating a permanent or temporary move to Spain.
First, Frank, your “staring” pictures made me laugh. Thanks for that!
After reading your post, my first thought was was will you and Lissette leave for Canada to start your residency process sooner than later because of the outbreaks.
We have actually cancelled our upcoming travel plans, primarily because of the reason you mentioned… getting stuck somewhere. I wasn’t as worried about getting sick because seemingly the odds would be in our favor, but we have very little flexibility in our calendar schedules so getting stuck in a hotel for who knows how long just won’t work. I think it’s the uncertainty that is proving to be difficult.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/25/world/europe/spain-coronavirus-hotel-canary.html
Here in the US the CDC is warning people to be as prepared as possible. Again, the uncertainty of it all is worrisome. Especially, because the US does not have a pandemic response team.
In following the reputable news media, I think it’s going to break out everywhere, the question is to what degree? Wait and see I suppose.
Take care.
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-fire-pandemic-team/
Thanks Patti. We’ve been reading the same news.
No, no plans on leaving for Canada early. Still have some documentation to do here…and not looking forward to seeing Canadian winter so will hold off long as we can.
I meant to write in my comment… if you want to be stared out, try being a western woman (from the US) traveling through Iran for 3 weeks! At first I was worried, then I thought, “how rude” but then I realized they weren’t being rude, they were just in awe. Not because I’m something special (ha-ha) but because so many had never seen a western woman, especially the tween-age kids.
I was treated with nothing but respect, and they were so gracious asking to take photos with them, and how did I like Iran, etc. After that, I learned very quickly to respond with a smile when I caught someone staring at me and it worked like magic.
But with that being said, there are definitely times when we’re traveling that I’ve been done to stare right back! 😉
I’ve been “known” to stare right back. Sheesh!
That must have been a great trip Patti. And to have Abi showing you around…
Would love to visit Iran one day and I regret we didn’t go over when we were in Armenia.
The staring photos were hilarious! What is your theory on that? We’ll be in Seville from March 3rd for the month. If you happen to be there, we’d love to meet up. Safe travels!
I’m afraid Seville not in our plans, we’ll be in northern Spain. But I think you’ll love Seville, nice place.
Oh, and my theory which is actually Lissette’s theory: usually guys take photos on the girls, not the other way around. So it’s curious. Maybe they think I’m famous having a photographer with me 🙂
I’m supposed to travel to Sicily in less than two weeks, so if it’s going to blow over, it needs to get on with it. LOL
On another note, I think people stare because they know you are not from around there. It happens to all of us. Like you, I try to use it and make fun of it. I’ve met tons of locals, because if they stare I ask a question, conversation ensues and we have a blast. It’s one of the main things I love about traveling.
Good luck house hunting.
We are really starting to worry about coronavirus too. We’ve started to read articles telling Americans to stockpile two weeks of supplies, which we read as “stuff is going to get real.” We are starting to get worried we will get stuck somewhere with no supplies, barely speaking the local language, and with no safe place to stay. We are also worried about borders closing and being stuck in place with no ability to go home (not that we have a home to go home to). But, so far, we haven’t modified any of our plans.
I think much of it is over the top. Every year about 60,000 Americans die from the flu. The Coronavirus has a higher rate but from what I hear it is starting to peter out in China (at least from what we hear). Maybe it’ll blow over?
Lissette read something today about a case in Alicante and another in Valencia. I have the feeling it’ll hit everywhere, you can’t really do anything about it. But what you say is exactly what we worried about – being stuck somewhere.
In our case we no longer have insurance coverage at “home” (Canada) but are covered here in Spain. And Spain has a good medical system, we speak the language…so if we had to be stuck somewhere might as well be Spain which we are trying to make home anyway.
But have to admit I was weighing whether we should be heading to Canada to wait this out…