It wasn’t a good start. As we stared out of the windows of the taxi that was taking us to Sitges, windshield wipers kept going faster and faster…it was raining like crazy. Not the best weather for house hunting. However as soon as we passed the toll booths before Sitges (cost about 6 euro one way) the rain magically stopped. We had an appointment with Rachel from the Lucasfox real estate agency at 10.30.
The taxi dropped us off right on the beach in front of an apartment complex. Immediately recognised from the pictures, we were going to see 2 ground floor properties. We still had time, so had the chance of admiring and taking some pictures of the angry dark sky and the incredibly gorgeous sea. No matter what is the weather like, the sea is always beautiful.
A nice lady approached us right on time. Punctuality is important. Walking through the garden ( more like a park) was quite pleasant. The entrance to the building wasnt, very narrow. Walking through the door and we found ourselves in someone else’s home. Such a weird feeling. Smallish living room, separate kitchen, tiny, I mean really tiny garden with your own private gate to go through. Didn’t take much to realise that we don’t like it at all. Didn’t even check out the bedrooms, cancelled the second viewing, same kind of apartment just a bit more expensive.
We had time till the next property , so we discussed our preferences, likes and dislikes.
On the list there was a lovely house up int the mountains at Olivella.
My kind of house, 10 minutes drive through the winding mountain roads, huge land, amazing views, but I couldn’t even persuade A. to have a look at it.
He quickly told the story of our log cabin to Rachel, how it became a permanent residence instead of a vacation home, how all things went wrong , how I put our lives at jeopardy every single day by driving back and forth to the city…so the answer was no way.
The one thing I’ve learnt from this is how much the prices drop if you leave the town.
I know, it is everywhere like this, but here the roads are actually quite good, even the public transportation is great, so it would not be such a problem.
This house in Olivella was about 500.000 euro, while in Sitges this would cost above a million.
Next on our list was an oldish little house in Vallpineda. Quite liked the area, 24 hours security, a guy in a booth at the entrance of the street, nice houses, very green. The International School of Barcelona is right there , so is a health club, tennis courts. Perfect. Everything within walking distance. No need to use the car, you could easily walk to the centre and to the beach. Or just take the bus.
Sadly the house was not what we’ve expected. We could look past the lack of tproper garage, or the lack of pool, but the building itself was so dated ( though I liked the traditional design), that renovating it would have cost a fortune.
In less then a minute A. turned to Rachel and told her that there is no point in going up to see the top floor. Poor owner wasn’t prepared for it, as we were leaving I heard him talking to his wife …he didn’t sound happy. Perhaps it is a good thing I don’t speak Spanish yet. 
We were joking about demolishing the house and starting new and asked her if there are any lands available and how much do they go for.
So this is how it’s happened that before viewing the next house we made a quick detour and saw a land. We had to go from the back, walking through pine trees till we reached the spot. Nestling between two houses there it was. Was told that it is about 1300 sqm, 25 m street front. A few trees, but otherwise empty, but the view! It has sea view. My heart skipped a beat. Kept taking pictures from every angle, the neighbours, left and right, the trees, the back of the land, the front of the land, everything. Didn’t want to say a thing, didn’t have to say a thing. He saw it in my eyes. We walked back to the car and asked her about the price. 490.000. Found it too much.
Next house was a bit further away from the centre of Sitges. Now, this one was huge. So many steps to walk up to the front door ( mind you, there was an elevator installed). Kind of nice, spacious living room, though no fireplace. Decent size kitchen, bathrooms were modern. It had a pool with a wooden deck, with the view of the mountains and the sea if you looked to the right. 4 more bedrooms with 4 more bathrooms on the next floor, each of them with their own terrace, another floor with the master bedroom, and a door leading to nowhere. Actually as you stepped out, you found yourself facing a steep rocky area. Now, this was meant to be the garden.
My son loved it, he tried to convince his Dad that this is it, just if he could help him turn the rocky patch into a garden for Mummy, then it would be perfect. So considerate. He knows that I cannot survive without a garden. Love him so much!
Obviously it was a big NO again.
The last one was a modern , fairly new one. It was rented, and she had to contact the owners to arrange the viewing with the tenants. After about 5 minutes of waiting on the street for someone to arrive to let us in, we gave up. Didn’t like it much anyway.
That was the end of our day with the agent.
As we were getting out of her car by the beach A. made an offer of 400.000 for the land. We started.
The next couple of hours were spent wondering around the small streets of the centre of Sitges, walking in and out of some of the shops, sitting at a beach coffee sipping white wine and waiting for the response …
We had a delicious lunch, bit of an argument with M. (he is such a quick tempered child, wonder who he takes after ), and the sad news of him not accepting our offer.
Taking the scenic route back to Barcelona both of us sat quietly in the car thinking of what next.
By 7 pm. we upped it to 450.000. Is it enough?