Though my apartment in Peñíscola is big (3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms) and obscenely reasonably priced due to the owner fearing another dismal summer rental season, it doesn't have central heat. Meaning it has neither steam nor electric radiators affixed to the walls under windows and in bathrooms.

Instead I have (oil-filled) electric radiators on wheels which I drag around from room to room (exactly like the ones I used to supplement my heat in Charlotte). The apartment is furnished with plenty of thick blankets which keep me warm during the winter. And the huge (by Madrid standards) kitchen keeps me warm with homemade chicken soup. I’m able to close off half of the apartment so that no heat is wasted in unused real estate. It reminds me of winters at my grandmother’s, where we would huddle in one cozy room while the cold, wet weather blustered outside, waiting for the spring.

The apartment is in a primo location, with sea views from both the adequately sized front balcony - where I can also see the Castillo Papa Luna - and from the ginormous kitchen balcony, which also has a sweeping view of the hillside and the beginnings of the Serra d'Irta_Natural_Park.

I quickly learn the three shops that supply my life - the grocery, the Chino (imagine a jumbled Tarzhay with only half of the selection), and what I call "the soap store", which truly specializes in cleaning supplies for home and body, and drugstore level cosmetics.