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Our house sit village in the Andalucian hills

Housesitting – Is it for you?

May 16, 2012 By Jan Robinson 9 Comments

This post may contain compensated links. We may earn a small percentage if you book through a compensated link, but it won’t cost you any more by doing so. You can read our full disclaimer here.


We took on our first house sitting assignment with relish.  It was in a mountain village only one hour from Granada, Spain with one pooch, to look after.

Our house sit village in the Andalucian hillsWe had no car so were restricted to public transport, which meant buses. The buses did not run often, but they were full-sized comfortable coaches that ran to time (well sort of, once we worked out the bus driver’s own timetable).

We had one more restriction – we had to be home at 2 pm each day to take our charge out for a toilet walk as she does not have an area to use at home.  Some people may find this restricting but we did not.

But I am getting ahead of myself!   After ten lively days in Barcelona and Madrid we headed to Granada.   After one night at our hostel, we stored our luggage and explored Granada briefly before heading up to the Alhambra,  a magical experience that totally lived up to our expectations.

Looking up toward the Alhambra from Carro del DarroOur hosts collected us from the hostel that night and together we walked along the Carro del Darro to get coffees.  As we had skyped previously and sent many messages via the Trusted Housesitters site,  we felt that we knew each other already.

On the way to collect the car we saw a little of the Albaicin area of Granada.  Could this be a laid back version of what we might expect in Marrakech?

After two days they said goodbye and headed off on their holiday, hopefully feeling confident that we were looking after their home and much loved pet,  while we settled in to our own apartment which was attached via a terrace to the main house.

Due to our itinerary we only had two action packed days with our hosts before they left.   We stocked up on groceries in a nearby town, searched out Visigoth graves, Roman sights, civil war trenches, walking tracks, an Andalucian breakfast, lunch time drinks at the village bar, and introductions  to neighbours.  It was such a whirlwind that, after they had left, we often found ourselves  referring to the sheets of information they had thoughtfully left for us! .

At first the skies were consistently blue, the mountain views mind blowing and the air wonderfully fresh.  We had both collected sinus problems in the Barcelona and Madrid and the mountain air soon had us feeling on top of the world, pardon the pun.

What did we do –

We travelled into Granada about four times, and took many walks. The walks showed us cave paintings, and wild mountain goats.  We scrambled up a rocky bluff to a watch tower, one of many that formed a line of defence for Islamic Granada, long ago.  The views from the hill tops are amazing.  Like a patchwork quilt – really.  Olive trees are planted with such precision, and coming from Australia where most of the countryside is just native bushland, the level of cultivation of olives, was mind boggling.

We went to nearby Puerto Lope’s Month of the Crosses celebration where there was a parade through the streets.  All the Village ladies and children wore flamenco attire.  Both the floats and villagers in cars proceeded very slowly a few kilometres out into the Country.  We were the only foreigners and the only people on foot. We gladly accepted a lift on one of the floats.  Paella, enough for everyone, was cooked in a huge pan on site, and there was free beer for all.  The silence was broken by huge explosions – fireworks without the display, an Andalucian fiesta accompaniment evidently.

Young Spanish girl in Flamenco dressThen the weather turned cold and wet and we got another perspective on mountain life.  We hibernated, reading our way through multitudes of books, baking cakes, catching up on blogs, emails and Facebook.  All the while watching  for opportune times to go out to exercise our charge and ourselves.  Mountain life is very peaceful and we thank our house-sitting hosts for the opportunity to experience it.  It was our home away from home.  A glimpse into another life – a life in a small mountain village.

Cold and wet in the  Andalucian mountains

A huge plus of house-sitting is to be able to self-cater.  While we loved cooking our own meals we still got in quite a few tapas sessions at the local hotel.  On sunny days we sat outside on the hotel’s terrace.

We could not have asked for a better house sit and we enjoyed it immensely.  The good thing about house-sitting is there are as many different assignments, as there are house sitters.

We used Trusted Housesitters and are very happy with them.  Most days we get an email from them advising us of new house sits as per our selected criteria.

Another one awaits in my inbox – Time to dream and plan – Would house sitting suit you?

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Filed Under: Spain

About Jan Robinson

Jan Robinson writes about travel on her Budget Travel Talk blog. A solo traveller in her teens, for the last 40 years Jan has travelled through Australia, Asia, Europe, Turkey and New Zealand with her husband. They specialise in road trips, caravanning and Independent travel without spending a fortune. Her favourite destination is Turkey and she is currently dreaming of Myanmar and Mexico.

Previous Post: «Albaicin, Granada, Spain, where the only colour is white splashed with flowers. Not the Albaicin again!
Next Post: Essaoiura Blue Flags mark the lines/nets/pots of the Fishermen of Essaouira»

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. D.J. - The World of Deej

    May 16, 2012 at 10:17 pm

    We have often tossed around the idea of house sitting…sounds like it definitely has its benefits!

    Reply
    • Jan

      May 17, 2012 at 2:05 am

      Yes, I would go for it.

      Reply
  2. Lisa Wood

    May 16, 2012 at 10:59 pm

    We so would house sit anyday! Love the idea of travelling from country to country housesitting along the way.

    Gosh your time in Spain sounds amazing – the views, the location, the food, the people – sounds like so much fun 🙂 Love the photo of your walking the day in the rain – gorgeous!

    Reply
    • Jan

      May 17, 2012 at 2:06 am

      I am so happy that our first experience was such a positive one. Some people do house-sitting continuously, and just holiday in between house-sits.

      Reply
  3. Krista

    May 18, 2012 at 10:43 am

    What a lovely idea!! I’ve heard of Couch Surfing and House Swapping but never house sitting – I love this notion. 🙂

    Reply
    • Jan

      May 21, 2012 at 7:47 am

      Yes Krista I think it is a great idea. You can look at the Trusted Housesitters site without joining. Then if you decide you want to do it you can join later.

      Reply
  4. housesittingservice

    August 27, 2012 at 5:39 pm

    There is an interesting article someone who has made housesitting a lifestyle.

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Budget Travel Tips says:
    July 30, 2015 at 10:56 am

    […] a housesit with other travel nearby. In 2012 we travelled for ten days in the north of Spain, House and Pet Sat for two weeks in the mountains near Granada, then flew cheaply to Marrakech and on to Lisbon then […]

    Reply

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