Orce market
A good book titled "Gone to Spain" written by Tom Proven details some basic facts that I regularly enjoy whilst visiting my village..... firstly he compares his local Spanish village to his village in England, to those who may have read the book and live in the area I am sure you can relate to this.. (in my own words) - Orce has a population of just over 1400 people yet it boasts 2 fish mongers, 2 butchers, several green grocers, 2 banks, a restaurant, 7 tapas bars, a supermarket, 3 bread vans, a school, a post office, its own policeman, mayor and a street cleaner. By comparison my old village of similar size has only 1 pub and a post office (now closed) what there does seem to be a lot of is yellow lines, parking zones and light pollution all of which Orce village seems to manage without.
Orce church August Fiesta
A person once said "Andalucia is 40 years behind the UK but it wont take 40 years to catch up" Our cosy white washed Andalucian villages will I think allways remain true to their traditions, its all about culture and its the people who make it what it is.
In conclusion, I love it here, the quality of life is better and not just from a finacial point of view but from a health aspect, less stress/slower pace and accepting a challenge if you like, its enjoyable learning the language and consequently making new friends and being accepted. Spanish hospitality is as such that this is an easy thing to achieve but at the same time requires effort which in my opinion is just simply polite.
Nearly forgot, Orce even has its own website... www.altipla.com/orce/
4 comments:
Don't get us started on this one!!!!
Our Village in England was very much the same size as ours now and had:
A Pub
A Chinese
A fishshop
A pizza place
A Bank
A supermarket
2 Papershops
2 Hairdressers
A drugstore
A chemist
2 doctors surgeries
A Post office
A school
Many drunk youths
Lots of litter i.e. pizza boxes,beer bottles
And many posh new builds with snooty people in (Mum told me to put that!!!)
In comparison to that....
Castillejar has
A dentist
A doctors
A pharmacy
2 butchers
A fishmarket
3 Supermarkets
2 banks
6 tapas bars
A bread van
2 bakers
A wine van
2 Gas suppliers
A policeman
A Mayor
A Post Office
A street cleaner
A weekly market
A nightclub
2 Estate agents
A fully equipped gym
2 furniture shops
A ferriteria (hardware)
A builders merchants
A town hall
And I'm sure I have missed off others!!!
Yes I am glad we moved!! although I do miss the fish shop!!!!
Kate xx
P.S I hope you don't mind me using something similar on our website.
Ahhh copyright copyright lol, Of course I dont mind, glad you like the blog entry - love getting you guys in castle-jar "started" :))
CR
Good on you for following your dream - I've added a link to my blog. I too love the fact that Spain has a strong tradition of small independent traders most towns haven't succumbed to the sterile chain-stores and theme-pubs that characterise English towns today.
Cheers Nick,
Thanks for your comments, that site of yours is a wealth of information so I,m linking you up at this end too.
CR
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