Be Savvy Spain

 I love it here- I love the pace of life and the people we meet day in and day out. It is not a place where over processed foods have overtaken the day to day lives of families. People naturally get exercise walkiing to most places they need to go. I have a hard time being away from - still light at 9:30 pm  - and stopping in the street when we encounter folks we know. Late nights were made for the two of us. The ability to have a good bottle of wine with dinner for 25-30 Euro and the reasonable cost of daily living. A prescription (with no drug coverage) for 5 Euro. It's not about the costs it's about the mindset that not every single thing one buys has to be an extraordinary profit center. It's that the ordinary citizens are not just folks to feed the money machines of big pharma or ridiculous mark ups on wine in restaurants because the owners won't price their food items appropriately. People are paid living wages and don't fear for a healthcare catastrophe. They don't need to save hundreds of thousands of dollars for a child's college education. Sure, it isn't perfect but it's a lot less stress inducing than other choices. These are just random thoughts on life in Sevilla. Moving here could rank in my top five best decisions in my life. 

I posted that commentary over a repost frrom Be Savvy Spain- 

This post is for you.

Yes… you. Our favorite immigrant. The one who came to Spain with a suitcase full of hope, a million questions, and maybe a slightly unrealistic Pinterest board 😅

You arrived thinking you were coming for:

• the tapas

• the cerveza

• the beaches

• the cheap flights around Europe

And somehow… you stayed for completely different reasons.

You stayed because one day you realized you had fallen in love with much smaller things.

With the abuelas at the mercado.

With somebody saying “buenos días” when entering a tiny shop.

With lentejas on a rainy day and cocido that tastes like somebody’s grandmother put her whole soul into it.

You fell in love with:

“¿Quién es el último?”

With the little bench outside the house where neighbors sit at sunset.

With Pepes and Manolos discussing life like philosophers outside a bar at 11AM.

With hearing “mañana, mañana” and somehow learning not to panic anymore 😅

You learned to use “vale” for almost everything.

You started greeting strangers.

You discovered that people here still share lemons, oranges, tomatoes, olive oil, recipes, and life.

And somewhere between the paperwork, the language mistakes, the long lunches, the voice notes, the sobremesas, and the “nos vemos prontito”…

Spain slowly became home.

Not perfect.

Not always easy.

Definitely not fast 😅

But real.

And that’s the difference.

Because there’s a beautiful line between visiting Spain and truly living Spain.

Living here is not collecting landmarks like Pokémon cards while running from one city to another.

It’s learning the rhythm.

The pauses.

The people.

The little rituals that make daily life feel human again.

It’s understanding that happiness sometimes looks like:

a slow coffee,

fresh bread,

a neighbor waving from the balcony,

and absolutely nowhere urgent to be.

And for those of you who have embraced that version of Spain… this post is for you.

We see you every day in the comments:

“That is SO real.”

“That happened to me yesterday.”

“I thought it was just me.”

We see it in your emails, your stories, your messages.

And honestly? It’s one of the most beautiful parts of what we do.

Because sharing the country we love with people who genuinely learn to love it too… feels incredibly special.

So today we celebrate you.

Not the tourist.

Not the checklist traveler.

You.  The one who stayed long enough to understand why Spain is not just a place… it’s a way of living

And my own photos of recent days - just because I happen to live in one of the most beautiful cities on the planet- ACTUALLY I live in TWO of the most beautiful cities on the planet- 

Below is the church interior of the church our converted convent apartment used to be part of. I just went in recently after living in this apartment for more than two years. Not too religious as you can guess. LOL

At this point. I have thousands of photos of the food and the sights and the streets of Sevilla. But there is always something new...