Going back to Europe?

A typical street in a medieval city of Ystad in southernmost Sweden (photo by Magnus)

I think this might be the year to go back home, to Europe - for good.

To Sweden, Poland and Spain.

Why? One of the reasons would be nostalgia: I am a citizen of Sweden, I was born and raised in Poland. So if I have - again - taken a residence in the southernmost province of Sweden, Scania (Skane), I could enjoy it's picturesque charms,


its well preserved medieval towns, like Ystad or Simrishamn (photo above)
cheerfully coexisting with avant garde modern architecture, like this "Turning Torso" building in Malmo,

its quaint villages and bucolic landscapes,
its soft, sandy beaches with colorful beach huts, its proximity to "wonderful, wonderful Copenhagen"
Oresund bridge connecting Sweden with Denmark

(about one hour by car or train) , while being only 7 hours away (by ferry) from my first home country - Poland.

Old town square in my hometown of Poznan, Poland. This picture could have been taken from the windows of my old office in the research institute, Institute of Western Affairs, where I once worked.

And why Spain? Well, both Sweden and Poland are in the northern part of Europe and "suffer" long, cold winters, so in winter, i would do, what many retired Scandinavians do: move to southern Spain for a few months.

No, not to Costa del Sol, which is now overrun with - mostly - Brits, but to a more than 2000 years old pueblo blanco (white village) on the Granada's coast: Almunecar, or to neighboring Nerja or Salobrena.

A view of Almunecar

Those Spanish small towns and villages are winter havens for northern Europeans, who already constitute about 25% of their permanent population, while many more northern Europeans spend winters there renting flats or townhouses overlooking the Mediterranean Sea.

Another reason, this one negative, is that I have grown disenchanted with America, which - especially tea party and republican America - seems to be now going full throttle into a wrong direction: toward more inequality, more uncaring about its citizens, who are allowed to be pawns of greedy insurance companies, "big pharma" etc. etc.

Tea partiers and republicans seam so eager to dismantle even the very, very modest (in comparison to Europe) social safety networks... that it makes me want to puke - and not stay in this country any longer.

Yes, I shall miss certain comforts of America, and - most of all - I shall miss a proximity to my daughter, who lives and works here. It won't be easy for me with advancing age to board a plane to USA to visit her, and it won't be easy for her to have to board a plane to visit me, as vacations in America are also far shorter than they are in Europe, but I hope that, perhaps, we could meet during her business trips to Europe, or... she, too, shall grow disenchanted with America and decide to go home to Europe.

Places with a view: Almunecar, Granada's coast

In Almunecar , a very, very old (over 2000 years old) pueblo blanco on Andalusia’s coast in Spain, straight south of Granada, I lived on the 6th floor of a condo building on the eastern sea promenade called Playa de Velilla.

There the view was of the famed blue Mediterranean (sadly polluted, but the view did not reveal this shameful secret), a mostly stony beach with its fish restaurants and their open pits from which a tempting aroma of freshly caught, grilled sardines waffled all the way up, up, to my balcony.

On the beach there were tourists bathing and playing in season, and outside the tourist season retired expats from all over Europe, but mostly from Scandinavia (Sweden, Denmark, Norway) and from Germany and Great Britain - the cold weather and high cost of living countries - walking, exercising... by the colorful fishing boats and fishermen loading or unloading their nets and fish.

Between the beach and the condo there was a paseo , framed with tall, stately palm trees and full of all kind of open air eateries, where people sipped their hot chocolate and ate churros (Spanish doughnuts) or olive drizzled toasts with garlic and tomatoes for breakfast, or munching on an abundance of tapas all day - and night - long.

On the left side of the bay, in the background, there were slopes of Sierra de Grazalema and - behind them Sierra Nevada mountains, with some of their peaks covered in snow, while oranges and bougainvillea were in full bloom at the coast.

On the lower slopes, the view revealed two pueblos blancos, typical Andalusian white villages, oh, so picturesque with their narrow streets and their white houses climbing the slopes.

Between the villages and the sea there was also a carretera climbing up, up, like a serpent full of moving objects, with tunnels and dangerous curves. It was both exhilarating - and quite often scary - to watch the bravado of cars negotiating the carretera.

Ah, my places with a view … I do miss them all, would love to return to them all, but not yet, not yet. Right now there are still plenty of new places and new adventures awaiting. Or so I hope.