Chicarona,
My wife and I live in Galicia since a couple of years. We're from Russia. another European country and one of us is even American We also got pets and rent a decent sized villa with view on both river and sea, for a pittance. Ther3e are about 1 million abandoned homes in Spain, and Galician has an inordinate number of those. Along the coastal areas the majority of homes are owned by 'outsiders, so people from far away in Spain or abroad. There are less and less locals here (even 1400 abandoned villages that are for sale for a pittance as well!) and those that stay are elderly people. Tourism feeds the locals in the mere tow month (july/august) they are here. That also means that a lot of rentals are ridiculously priced in those months and beyond them they cost far less but too many owners do not think of renting out for less, so long term. Then houses remain empty for 10 months. You have to actively seek out landlords, even if they only listed the house for sale not for rent. Then you suddenly have much more choice. Agencies are useless, usually rather lazy and hard to reach and rarely getting back to one (on time) and usually they only rent out overpriced properties. rent direct instead.
Galicia is a great place to avoid the heat (and cold), especially if you head for coastal areas. We love the coastal areas and never get any snow nor ice here. It is usually around zero centigrade. The weather is more Irish though in that it is often very humid, but also windy.
If you have papers to tecah English, just let it be known locally the usual informal way here (even talking to a shopkeeper or your heating oil delivery man are opportunities) and you will be teaching soon. It is not well paid of course.
Children we do not have so I cannot tell you how schools are
be attentive to the issue of health care. Only in a few very large towns/cities there are decent clinics and true emergency rooms. beyond that one finds that private clinics and docs are only open during office hours, not even during siestas, have little medical infrastructure, and rural small state clinics, although they are open on certain hours in weekends, are very poorly equipped, have long wait lines and have docs that are mostly rookies. In reality only Vigo and Santiago de Compostela have rather decent clinics and docs.
Children get often picked up by buses here. There is a battle going on though to cut costs. Every little town decides about bus services and is now cutting on those.
Public transportation is very limited unless you are in Vigo or Santiago. In the rural areas it is erratic and starts late and ends early. In the weekends it is abysmal. Get a small used diesel car for your transportation needs ad look for a decent garage. They cost little here.
Avoid electric heating.. It is very costly. Diesel is subsidized and works fine. Always check teh furnace of the rental since that is usually at the core of problems with landlords. It is commonly badly maintained if at all and ancient so inefficient. Do not count on landlords fixing a lot. Many are kids living far away who inherited the place and do little about it.
The attitude towards pets is also different here. Most own dogs and let them outside even in winter. They are quite brutal here towards pets. vets are therefore also not the greatest here with exceptions of course. Public transportation very often does not allow pets on board, some only small ones in a cage.
Food is abundant, fresh and dirt cheap here. get a garden with a few fruit trees. You'll never regret it.
It is a myth that Galicia its coast is overcrowded in summer. in SOME places it is very busy in summerr, but most of the year teh beaches are virtually deserted. Only in teh two torusit months it is a boiit busier in the tourist season and parking is a bit harder. Just avoid doing thois on Saturday and in weekends in general, which is when locals and Spaniards from further away come most of teh times. During the week, and even better during siestas (then only supermarkets), YOU own the place.
On Sundays the towns and during siestas are dead.
We used to live near Ribeira in the North and there was a small convenience store, stocked to teh hilt, =a social meeting point with lots of fresh bread an pastries. Make sure to taste teh breads before you go living anywhere. The better the bread, the better the place. Bread gets home delivered as is fish. Pastry shops are usually open on Sunday mornings.
Take out food you can forget in rural areas. If it exists there it is pitiful.
If you need to deal with the Policia Nacional for immigration issues, look for one in a smaller town. They are far nicer and more flexible most of the times.
Do not bother to import your car. Too much cost and paper work.
Most important is that you get the essencials arranged, which are NIE number (can be done abroad at an embassy for 10 euro in 2 weeks), cell phone number ( a prepaid card only no contract, you need a passport to buy it). With those a lot of doors open. You can use your Irish driver's license.
Galicia is a very laissez faire place. People do not check up on you so much. They mind their own business.
If you decide to live in the southern part of Galicia, fly to Porto. There are good bus connections from there to Galicia and Porto in Portugal is a far better organized airport with better and more airlines than Santiago or Vigo which are second rate.
Please be aware that living in the hilly/mountainous areas of Galicia far from the coats has a great risk of ending up in one of many forest fires that occur every year in summer. Even along soem coastal areas there is that risk, but less than in the back country. Those forest fires are caused by local governments messing around with the environment (planting or removing tress and bsuhed theu should not) and because of the federal laws forbidding building up to 500 meters from any coast (river or ocean). Even wild boars have become a pest in some areas due to these crazy ideas, so make sure your rental property is well fenced in.
The best time here is during the 10 months the outsiders are gone. Sole disadvatage of taht to take into account is that the houses and gardens then do not get maintained and it causes a lot of spreading of all kinds of buts, woodworm, ants, various infestations of trees and bushes, etc. peopel with a grene thumb will love it here, as will people seeking some quiet and more freedom plus teh good weather of course (but highly unstable due to the ocean).
A safe country side place it is indeed so ideal for kids, quite different from living in cities.
As to Internet, it sucks. The state company (they lie they are 'independent') Telefonica/Movistar provides poor quality monopolistic very slow speed service. In some areas it doe snot work half of the times. A 10-15 MB 'speed' is common. If you live along the border with Portugal get a Portuguese data and phone card and a modem for sim cards so you can use their far better pow4erful antenna's and lower rates. Internet is overpriced here. For phone services never sign a contract. It is cheaper to get a prepaid sim card and refill it.
Good luck and welcome. Wise choice to come to Galicia. These are people with good work ethics, also taking time to celebrate, privacy conscious. Many of them have traveled and lived abroad.
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