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Spain was hit hard by the novel coronavirus. Week after week the news was filled with images of crowded hospitals and makeshift morgues. Quickly enacted laws required people to stay home except to buy food, see a doctor or pharmacist, go to the bank, or get liquor. Police wrote over a million tickets for noncompliance with the stay-at-home order. A single violation could result in the accused losing thousands of “euros,” which are a lot like money.

Continue reading “Writing a Book in Spain”

You may have heard of the coronavirus. It’s been in all the papers.

Continue reading “This IS About Coronavirus and Donald Trump”

Do you want to read another article about Donald Trump or the worldwide pandemic? You know, the subject of every news program and talk show and newspaper article? I thought not. So today I will discuss buying real estate in Spain. Entire books have been written about Spanish real estate without even once mentioning Donald Trump or Covid-19. Books about quantum physics also do not mention Trump or Covid-19, but I am not good at math, so the subject will be Spanish real estate.

Continue reading “This is Not About Coronavirus or Donald Trump”

In five years the planet will have been decimated by the Coronavirus. The few remaining people will be savages, dirty and dressed in rags, killing each other for food and scraps of Bitcoin. There will, however, be plenty of free parking.

I did not foresee this future when Denise said we must go to Rome. I looked up from my newspaper and ventured, “Why?”

“Because I just booked two non-refundable tickets.” She explained that the airfare was less than €150. Plus, she found an Airbnb within a half mile of the Vatican. Five days for only €250.

A few days later we learned of some new disease, a Coronavirus, creating a stir in China. Weeks later, as we boarded the plane, we heard that Milan, just 350 miles north of Rome, had pretty much quarantined itself. The disease was spreading.

Continue reading “Going Viral at the Vatican”

If you find yourself in a Spanish city you don’t like, your recourse is obvious. Travel a short distance. The neighboring city will be very different from the one you just left.

We live in El Campello. It is a sleepy little beach town, a coastal Mayberry. There are a few apartment buildings with 10 -14 floors; but if in September, or anytime between that month and June, you stroll along the evening beach promenade you may notice that the condo towers are dark. In each building only one or two apartments are illuminated. Owners of the others are back home, where they earn a living and drive their kids to school.

The lights come on in July and August. Our Spanish Mayberry then bustles with vacationers. Spaniards are exchanging a few weeks of insufferable Madrid heat for the relative cool of a villa or condo on a Mediterranean beach. The vacationers mostly will be clumped in family units that include moms, dads, and children.

If you drive along the coast about 25 miles you will arrive at Benidorm. You will not mistake Benidorm for Mayberry. Although it claims only 69,000 residents, the city has more than 140 buildings with at least twenty floors. This includes Intempo which, at 47 floors, is one of the tallest residential buildings in Europe.

Benidorm needs all these tall buildings to house tourists. Over eleven million people visit Benidorm each year. Eleven million!

Continue reading “Binging on (or in) Benidorm”

I like to think of myself as physically fit. I reason that anyone who can run ten miles is in pretty good shape. I can run ten miles. I know I can because I did it in 1999. I have witnesses!

You may infer from the above that my self-esteem is a fragile contentment built on suspect reasoning. Which is why I avoid physical exertion. Exercise inevitably results in my body telling my ego that it is a damn liar. It can be an ugly scene.

I mention this so you understand my alarm when Denise suggested that we take a Free Walking Tour of Amsterdam.

Continue reading “Drugs, Sex and Improv in Amsterdam”

I’m writing to tell you about finding War Pigs in Copenhagen.

Continue reading “Finding War Pigs in Copenhagen”

I once saw a play set in Denmark. It was called Hamlet. The play was about a Danish prince, coincidentally also named Hamlet, who is very upset with his uncle.

Hamlet gives a long speech that begins “To be or not to be, that is the question.” This is his way of asking whether life is worth living. He narrowly decides against suicide. Literary scholars agree that this is a pivotal decision because it lengthens the play considerably.

Continue reading “Elvis is Not in Denmark”

For some years now I have found it difficult to retrieve seldom used words. Even some that are not-so-seldomly used. I often cannot recall the names of movies and actors that I should know well. I have spoken to many people about this. I would tell you who, but their names escape me right now.

Continue reading “If Age Makes You Wise, Why Ain’t I Smarter?”

I am a guest in Spain. I love my host country and I am loathe to say anything critical about it. However, I was a lawyer for nearly 40 years, and I am compelled to observe one way in which the American legal system is superior to the Spanish system.

Virtually anywhere you go in the United States you will see lawyer advertising on billboards and on TV. This is very handy because it lets people know who to call should they be lucky enough to be catastrophically injured. Spain seems not to appreciate the virtues of lawyer advertising. I have yet to see a lawyer’s name or face on a billboard or on TV. Spanish accident victims have no way of knowing whether a particular lawyer calls himself The Strong Arm, The Bulldog, or The Law Tiger, and therefore lack the fundamental data needed to know whether an advocate is any good.

Continue reading ““Lawyer Advertising in Spain” or “A Lot of Bull””