IL Magazine: Discover the World's Best Retirement Haven for 2022 + 24 more
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Portugal’s Algarve…it brings to mind glittering, golden-sand beaches, hidden coves surrounding by towering limestone cliffs, 300 days of sunshine a year, and cocktails by the pool. This southern region has long been a popular vacation spot for Europeans for decades, the British and Germans in particular. But there is another side to the Algarve that offers a quieter, calmer...
Olhão is in the eastern Algarve, between Faro and the Spanish border. It's a proper working town, with a historic center that has a charm all of its own…and hints of north Africa at its core. The old town is a warren of small streets with square white-washed homes and flat roof terraces. With my lunch companion's words ringing in my head, I set off to explore this "nice place."
“I’m going to write a book about living in Arenal,” Christine Baskin told me. “And I’m going to call it 50 Shades of Green. I mean, just look at all those colors,” she exclaimed as we drove around the huge Lake Arenal.
Cosmopolitan cities, glorious sunshine, delicious cuisine, and low costs—as a retirement or second-home destination, Spain is hard to beat. The southern province of Andalucia, particularly the area around the Costa del Sol, is the epitome of good-value, romantic Spanish living. It has everything: long sandy beaches perfect for strolling on…romantic, white-washed hill towns cling to the Andalusian hillsides...