Why Sahagún?

Darlene has asked why Sahagún and perhaps others are also wondering why we find ourselves in a very small town in rural Spain. Here is our answer.

Elyn first lived in Sahagún in 1982, when she was doing research for her dissertation on the Camino de Santiago (a pilgrimage route across northern Spain). She spent a year here with her young son, Jesse, who attended the local school. A local family, the Luna/Tovars, became good friends and they more or less took Elyn in as a member of their family. In 1997, when we decided to return to Spain we chose Sahagún because of this family.

Everything here is made easy because of the friendship of the Luna/Tovars. The son of the family, Pedro, is vice president of one of the local banks so all financial matters work quite smoothly. The daughter of the family, Piedad, took us to the local officials and helped with processing our visas and application for residency. Paca, the matriarch of the family and Piedad worked to find us housing and we find ourselves after only two days in a nice three bedroom apartment which costs us very little money.

When we arrived in Sahagún, Pace cried tears of joy to see her “Elynita.” The warmth and love this family shows us daily makes Sahagún an attractive place to live, in spite of the lack of cultural life like we find in Santa Fe.

Sahagún has other advantages, including a major train line that gets us very quickly to Madrid, León, or into France. Since we are senior citizens, we are eligible for the senior 40% discount on most train fares. The regional capital, León is only an hour away by train. Anything we need can be found there.

Almost no one speaks English, so my Spanish is bound to improve here. Overall, we find ourselves happily settled here and we plan to travel from here to other European destinations from time to time.