Barcelona vs. Madeira
Hello!
You might know that Rob and I lived over 11 years in Barcelona and it still is one of our favourite cities in the world. If you’ve ever been there you know why. If you haven’t let me explain what we like about it:
VIBRANT
There’s always something going on in Barcelona, it’s full of cool people and you could compare it to New York. Most of the years we spent there we lived in Poblenou which is an area by the sea and comparable to Brooklyn - cool people, cool cafes, arty shops etc. but also very family oriented and kid friendly. From where we lived we had about 20 playgrounds in a 1km radius which is where we spent lots of our time. The beach was also one of our favourite spots.
INTERNATIONAL
You can find many expats in Barcelona, digital nomads and as there are also a ton of tourists the shops, businesses and restaurants offer a variety of things from all over the world.
WEATHER
Barcelona does have 4 seasons but the winters aren’t as cold and long as in other parts of Europe. The sun also shines in winter and I remember many beach walks in T-Shirt in December and feeling grateful for this. Summers can get pretty hot and we used to be out in the mornings and late afternoons and spend the middays indoors as it was just too hot for us. If you’re lucky enough to have an apartment with a draft you won’t even need aircon (we never had one) but if you don’t, you might find yourself sleeping in underwear with the fan on and spraying water on yourself all through the night to cool down (that happened in my first apartment in 2008).
CENTRIC
Barcelona is located ideally for people who like the variety of having beaches, mountains (even for skiing in the winters) and rural areas nearby. Whereas you don’t really need a car to get around Barcelona city because the infrastructure of busses, metro, trains and trams are excellent, a car comes in handy when you want to do a trip to the mountains, country side, visit quieter beaches further North or South, or even go to France for a few days. Also, no matter in which ‘barrio‘ (neighborhood) you live in, you have literally everything you need in walking distance (restaurants, cafes, medical centres, pharmacies, shops, supermarkets, markets, schools etc).
FRIENDS
This is a very personal matter but I’m sure you’ll find that the people you know in a certain place make all the difference in regards to liking a location. Our older daughter Lima was born in Barcelona and she spent 2,5 years there having many friends who we keep in touch with. I also have a hand full (more like 3 hands full) of people that I think of when Barcelona comes to mind and who I love seeing either in Bcn, Madeira or a completely different part of the world. But there’s a thing about Barcelona and friends. When they’re expats they’re very likely to move at some points so the friends I made in Bcn before having kids are no longer there.
There’s so much more to Barcelona than these 5 things I described and it’s different for everyone but the point here is that Barcelona seemed the most amazing place to live but we were still not 100% set on it as for 5 long years we travelled a lot to find a better place for us and our family and we found it in…
MADEIRA
Madeira ticks all the boxes for us because:
the weather is perfect for us (in Funchal it’s warm all year round)
you can see the ocean from almost every corner of the island and it’s small enough to be at the sea side within a maximum of a 20min drive
it’s big enough to not feel like you’re on an island (claustrophobic)
people are so much friendlier than in Barcelona and not just the customer service is better but people are genuinely friendly and helpful
it’s lush green like in Germany or UK (that’s what Rob and I are used to) all through the year because of the genius water system of the levadas - water streams that spread the rain water from the mountains (it rains there more often so than in Funchal) to the lower areas of the island
the soil is fertile and combined with the intense sunshine you can grow many different types of fruits and vegetables (bananas, avocados, papayas, pineapples, mangos, to mention just a few)
affordable prices when it comes to groceries, eating out and clothing. Housing prices have gone up but it’s well worth the life style
family friendly: people love kids here and they have amazing parks, attractions, playgrounds and activities for them available
many people who are interested in living here are interested in safety, freedom, health and community and at APTB we’re also focussed on these characteristics
Barcelona isn’t as green, safe and calm and it has too much concrete. Even if we’re not living the ‘hamster wheel‘ life (I don’t work and my kids don’t go to school or nursery) I do pick up on the energy of those who are in the ‘rat race‘ and even though I enjoy being in Barcelona, it does get a bit hectic and stressful being around so many people.
To recap… Barcelona is one of the most amazing places to live but Madeira is better ;-)
Here’s the video summary of our Barcelona trip last week:
