Hello,
French in Madrid for 17 years, I just recently moved to Vigo (province of Pontevedra, Galicia).
Reasons why I left Madrid:
. Too hot in summer. Last one was 10 weeks of continuous heatwaves of 5 days around 38-40 degrees (or more). The city accumulates the heat and the temperature does not go under 30-32 until 3.00 am in the night. I had a small terrace where to (try to) sleep but no wind and lot of noise in the street. Pollution burnt my lungs
. Expensive. My rental in Vigo is 2/3 the price I was paying in Madrid, a little bit smaller apartment, but in a central pedestrian area, so probably one of the most expensive part of the town. I was in a cheapest area in Madrid, I did like the surroundings but it was noisy and not that clean.
Vigo is north-west of Spain, west of Bilbao, north of Portugal, on the shores of Atlantic ocean.
It's the main fishing port of Spain, and one of the largest in the world. I thought it would make it an industrious sad and grey town, but not at all. It's a nice old city, pretty much "bourgeois". Well, at least where I live, maybe because pedestrian streets have more fashion kind of stores.
It's located on an hill that falls in the sea, so it's nice to walk in the streets, and a good health exercise also, some streets climb a lot.
Currently, the temperature is around 30 degrees while we are entering August. Often, there is a nice little sea breeze. I really feel relieved. Just one unique small rain during the night, in the last 2 months. I don't know how cold it will be in winter, but that won't be a problem for me (I'm from north of France, much colder).
There are beaches around but I have not been going. I don't have a car, I like swimming but I don't want to try it during summer holidays, with too much people and noise around. I suppose there are some good fishing spots, as there are local guides who can help you to find them.
I am not trying to "sell you" Vigo, but I am happy with my choice to relocate it, at least until now. I would not have gone to Catalu帽a, because I have been there for business, and if you are not catalan... Not a good experience. Nice people in Andalucia but too hot.
Another (small) reason why I did choose Vigo is that it is 2 hours from Porto, and a good place to go visit Portugal. And I plan to learn portuguese and that could be a good way to practice it.
Few 'cons' about Vigo:
, It took me 6 weeks to get the 'padr贸n', meaning registering as a local resident. Without it, no 'tarjeta de salud" and no access to public health service. Municipality bureaucracy.
. Galician nationalism, not as tough as catalan independence, but most public internet sites are in galician. It's still understandable if you speak correct spanish, but I had a problem when registering on a public service because of a term I did not understand and there was no equivalent page in castellano.
Regarding business in Spain: I have been freelance during 7 years, as a consultant in the software sector. The first time I did work with a spanish customer was the last and unique one. It took me 6 months to get paid. In my experience, spanish people are not good at 'win-win' deals: they prefer to not have a deal if they cannot have you in complete dependence. I did work mainly as a 'customer satisfaction' consultant for small to medium european companies who had no offices in Spain but wanted someone to take care of big customers they had there.
Hope it helps.
