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You are here: Home Life in Lifestyle Worlds apart: Spain's North-South divide

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13/11/2009Worlds apart: Spain's North-South divide

Worlds apart: Spain's North-South divide Sun-seeking pensioners live in southern Spain, while arty young entrepreneurs move to Barcelona or Madrid. Right? Expatica explores if the North-South expat divide is true or just cliché.

They don't speak Spanish and just come here for the sun, sand and sangria.

They are the Costa del Sol 'lobsters' who go bright red at the slightest hint of sun, read the British daily The Sun but never mix with the Spaniards.

Up north, they are the arty-types who think they are part of a glamorous set in Barcelona or part of la movida madrilena in Madrid and kid themselves they have become Catalan or Spanish.

Two clichés or the true version of different types of expats?

A geographical divide which translates into a sociological version of the same thing is a phenomenon associated with Britain and many other European countries.

But have English-speaking expats in Spain reproduced this North-South divide here?

Has the expatriate community in Spain succumbed to that same mentality of stereotyping their fellow countrymen?

We spoke to residents from around the country to discover if they perceive a North/South divide.

Caroline Smith, originally from London, now works as a writer for a magazine in her new home town of Barcelona.
She loves the Catalan capital and feels that it is home to young, creative professionals. She admits that her views of expatriates further south in Spain are somewhat stereotyped.

Smith describes the Costa del Sol as a place that attracts, in her words, “Mafioso on the run or semi-retired Mafioso's in huge villas with six swimming pools (one for each mistress).”

The Costa Blanca, in south-east Spain, comes in for a similar treatment from Hector. She sees it as full of "people of lesser intelligence who got conned into buying a timeshare flat in some skyscraper five years ago and are now ‘making the most of their retirement’… and estate agents’ retirement.”

Others however, do not perceive a great difference between foreigners in different parts of Spain.

Tanja Zum Busch is originally from Munich in Germany. She studied Spanish at university in Barcelona for two terms.

During her limited time in the north of Spain, she claims to have had no experience of stereotyping directed at expatriates in other parts of Spain.

But London-born Rob Newsam, who came to Jávea, on the Costa Blanca in south-east Spain, believes different parts of Spain do attract different types of expats. He came to Spain to work as a DJ for a local English radio station.

Newsam told Expatica: “I think the Costa del Sol is full of rich, working class ‘Essex’ types…the Costa Blanca is mainly retired or early-retired middle class…Barcelona - more urban, cosmopolitan and media types.”

So what do the expatriates who actually live in the south of Spain think about their northern counterparts?

Some have a very different version of the kind of people who are drawn to Spain's deep south.

Bianca Farbey, from London, now lives in Marbella and works for an English language TV company, making programmes about Andalusia.

She describes her environment as one of “aspiring professionals”, not quite in line with the stereotypical perceptions some ‘northerners’ hold about people who live in the south of Spain.

Her views of expats in the north, however, are in line with how some 'northerners' saw themselves.

“People in Barcelona appear more professional and creative,” she says.

And speaking of Madrid, she says: “Madrid attracts professional - career driven people.”

Jamie Greene also works in Marbella as a researcher for a TV company. He is originally from Glasgow, but has also lived in London and Barcelona. He does not agree with typical perceptions of the Costa del Sol.

“I was surprised in the south to find a network of recruitment agencies offering high quality, well-paid jobs for only English-only speakers," says Greene.

"There are resorts where everyone works in bars and sells houses, there are other areas where people of a middle-class background work and live too.”

A constant opinion expressed is that Madrid attracts career-driven professionals, much like London, Berlin or Paris.

Brian Panner, who is originally from London, now works as a finance manager in central Madrid. His appears to have clear ideas that different areas attract different people.

“The Costa Blanca is full of estate agent; in Madrid the foreign residents are usually teacher; Barcelona – students…Costa del Sol, let’s just say I don’t have a very high opinion of the Brits that move there!” says Panner.

The similarities in the views of expats from all over Spain are apparent in their descriptions of ‘typical’ northern European residents in Barcelona and Madrid.

Even those who reside in these two cities seem to believe they fit into the stereotypes into which they have been cast, at least with regard to their jobs.

As for the Costas and in particularly the far south of Spain, it seems that these regions have come under fire, perhaps unfairly,  with negative images of the resident expat community spreading further north.

The southern residents interviewed here do not appear to adhere to the ‘typical’ Costa del Sol stereotype, meaning that perhaps Spain contains a much more diverse range of expatriates than perhaps many realise.

Photo credits: Felicia F


2 reactions to this article

Evelyn Wynne posted: 2009-11-18 12:34:59

I read your expat comments by mainly Expats who are from the South of the UK , and am not surprised at the idiotic, narrow minded views of some nay mainly all of them as they have the same silly views on the UK residents who live in the North of the UK. It is a long standing view of UK southerners that any one who lives North of Watford are illiterate, scrounging, poor souls who should know better and move down South. These people obviously know no better and must be pitied. I am a 72 year old pensioner from Manchester and live in Andalusia in a village near Antequera, with my 73 year old husband, we only have our pensions to live off but have a gentle pleasant crime free life, having the occasional meal out ,going out to our local bar to meet up with our Spanish friends and aquaintances for a cerveza and a chat. There are approximately 200 Britishers from Scotland to Bournemouth among the 5000 Spanish who live here and we all live a nice NORMAL life. I suggest the people who condemn the British Costa del Sol expats do not mix us up with the (mainly Southern) lager lout types who want a boozy holiday and brand all UK residents with the same brush.

Rebrites posted: 2010-09-08 15:24:00

It´s interesting how Expatica has fallen into the same stereotype it´s written about. The only expatriates you interview about "the north" are people who live in Barcelona or Madrid. The "southern people" assume that all expats in "the north" are living in one of those two cities. How NARROW of them, and of your reporter! The North of Spain comprises a huge tract of land and society, populated with thousands of expatriates... including me. Not all of us even live in cities, amazing as that might seem to you! (I live in rural Palencia.)
If you´re going to write about presumptions, you might want to check out your own before you pick up a pen. Why does Expatica assume all the expats live on the Costa, Madrid, and Barca? We are everywhere!

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2 reactions to this article

Evelyn Wynne posted: 2009-11-18 12:34:59

I read your expat comments by mainly Expats who are from the South of the UK , and am not surprised at the idiotic, narrow minded views of some nay mainly all of them as they have the same silly views on the UK residents who live in the North of the UK. It is a long standing view of UK southerners that any one who lives North of Watford are illiterate, scrounging, poor souls who should know better and move down South. These people obviously know no better and must be pitied. I am a 72 year old pensioner from Manchester and live in Andalusia in a village near Antequera, with my 73 year old husband, we only have our pensions to live off but have a gentle pleasant crime free life, having the occasional meal out ,going out to our local bar to meet up with our Spanish friends and aquaintances for a cerveza and a chat. There are approximately 200 Britishers from Scotland to Bournemouth among the 5000 Spanish who live here and we all live a nice NORMAL life. I suggest the people who condemn the British Costa del Sol expats do not mix us up with the (mainly Southern) lager lout types who want a boozy holiday and brand all UK residents with the same brush.

Rebrites posted: 2010-09-08 15:24:00

It´s interesting how Expatica has fallen into the same stereotype it´s written about. The only expatriates you interview about "the north" are people who live in Barcelona or Madrid. The "southern people" assume that all expats in "the north" are living in one of those two cities. How NARROW of them, and of your reporter! The North of Spain comprises a huge tract of land and society, populated with thousands of expatriates... including me. Not all of us even live in cities, amazing as that might seem to you! (I live in rural Palencia.)
If you´re going to write about presumptions, you might want to check out your own before you pick up a pen. Why does Expatica assume all the expats live on the Costa, Madrid, and Barca? We are everywhere!

Add a comment
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