Escaping from America!!

Nice is certainly a Nice city (no pun intended). I've never lived there but have visited on many occasions and always felt very welcomed. I guess where ever you go you will have some lunatics lurking around. But from what I saw I didn't come across any. I would recommend that you visit the city first.

I hope that helps

SimCityAT
Expat Team

THANK YOU!!

The snobbiest of the french tend to be Parisiens and when they get old they like to move to places like Nice, Cannes, Biarritz, Montpelier and anywhere else warm in the south. Sure the french are cultured, and the great thing about living along the south coast is that you can easily drive to Spain or Italy or Switzerland from there. But remember, in France people pay very high taxes.

It's true though what you say about what some people think about Americans, uneducated, loud, know-it-alls, but not sure about being uncultured. Yes I believe there are less highly religious (Catholics) in France than before, but then there are a lot more Muslims than in many other countries. I mean there has been quite a large influx of people from Africa, Pakistan and the Middle East now living in France. France has lots of minorities of different religions and races.

But, if you can do it, then I think living in France (or Italy or Greece or Spain) would be nice.

Excellent! Thank You for responding!

Hello shill88,

I generally agree with your statement except on the countries that you propose to our new friend.  It will be easier to get used to in Belgium or Portugal.  Because the political and economic situation is not really better in the destinations that you have proposed...

Shill88 wrote:

The snobbiest of the french tend to be Parisiens and when they get old they like to move to places like Nice, Cannes, Biarritz, Montpelier and anywhere else warm in the south. Sure the french are cultured, and the great thing about living along the south coast is that you can easily drive to Spain or Italy or Switzerland from there. But remember, in France people pay very high taxes.

It's true though what you say about what some people think about Americans, uneducated, loud, know-it-alls, but not sure about being uncultured. Yes I believe there are less highly religious (Catholics) in France than before, but then there are a lot more Muslims than in many other countries. I mean there has been quite a large influx of people from Africa, Pakistan and the Middle East now living in France. France has lots of minorities of different religions and races.

But, if you can do it, then I think living in France (or Italy or Greece or Spain) would be nice.

Thanks phiphiemar.

Yes agree, Portugal is interesting too. I have friends who retired there from the UK and even my own brother was planning to until he found problems with doing that. Not sure why but he found that moving there would have been a problem.

For Belgium, I think it really is a matter of taste. One of my ex-brother in laws was Flemish, and I used to travel to Flemalle and Liege on business trips when the company I worked for bought up a steel plant factory at Phenix Works about 30 years ago, but never really felt much interest in Belgium. Also I am guessing that our new friend is looking for somewhere warm which is why I suggested those countries. I have the same feelings for the north of France too, not too interesting for myself and I assume for the new member too.

For those other countries, I personally would happily live there (if I wasn't enjoying myself so much in Asia), but I have never checked out the requirements for foreigners to live there. Would it be easy for an American citizen to live in Belgium or France for retirement?

Thank You Both for the helpful and interesting discussion!

You're welcome. I lived in Paris for one year and then in Biarritz in the southwest of France for six years and have British friends living in France and four grown up children living around the country.

Places like Nice, Cannes, St. Tropez, Monpelier etc are going to be quite expensive as far as property is concerned, but living a bit more inland or choosing other places such as Biarritz,/Bayonne, Bordeaux etc might be a lot cheaper. Biarritz is more seasonal mind you but it is just a 30 minute drive to cross the Spanish border so cities like San Sebastian are very close.

Good luck with your move.

Thank You! How did you like living in Paris? I have this romantic notion (maybe Naive) that living there will be as fun and cultured as when the American writers and artists like Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and others in America's “Lost Generation” lived there in the 1920's.