Moving to Valencia can be the start of a new life in business and a new love as well! Yvette Muytjens flew to Valencia to meet her blind date, Arthuro Kramer (64), four years ago. He greeted her in the airport with what he calls ‘his secret weapon’, his now nine-year-old Labrador Nina. They haven’t gone back ever since; they’ve picked up the pieces and started all over again, like the serial entrepreneurs they are…
Yvette Muytjens (56) flew to Valencia to meet her blind date, Arthuro Kramer (64), four years ago. He greeted her in the airport with what he calls ‘his secret weapon’, his now nine-year-old labrador Nina. They haven’t gone back ever since; they’ve picked up the pieces and started all over again, like the serial entrepreneurs they are.
Yvette: I came to Spain in May 2017, four years ago, on a blind date with Arthuro. We are both Dutch but I lived in Belgium, and Arthuro is a friend of my neighbour back home. Arthuro has had restaurants in Denia and my friend had boats based there and met Arthuro at one of his restaurants.
I went back to Belgium and we had a back-and-forth relationship till I moved to Valencia in May 2017, as mentioned before. I have two of my girls living here, so I can say that I found my happy-ever-after.
Yvette Muytjens
Arthuro: I had been there 20 years, and my friend said, this beautiful lady is coming in two weeks’ time on a city trip with her daughters, you must meet her! Well, I couldn’t meet her because I was heading out of town on a holiday so I spent the day texting her on WhatsApp, trying to convince her to come the weekend before, so we could meet. And finally, at midnight, she agreed to come!
The next day, she jumped on a plane and I met her at the airport with my secret weapon, Nina, my now nine-year-old Labrador. Put it this way, Yvette has never been back and now we have opened this neighbourhood bistro and bar, in Monteolivete. We are only ten minutes from Ruzafa but this place was crying out for a cool bar, so we grabbed our opportunity!
We have been together ever since. The second I saw him, I thought, “Oh, God, here we go” — it was an instant attraction.
Yvette Muytjens
Yvette: We have been together ever since. The second I saw him, I thought, “Oh, God, here we go” — it was an instant attraction. I went back to Belgium and we had a back-and-forth relationship till I moved to Valencia in May 2017, as mentioned before. I have two of my girls living here, so I can say that I found my happy-ever-after.
Arthuro: During the financial crisis in 2008, I lost my house and two restaurants in Denia. Afterwards, I went to Norway for a business opportunity that was too good to be true. So, I came back to Denia with nothing, but after everything that happened, I didn’t feel comfortable there so I opened a little bar here in the city of Valencia, near Mercat Central. It turned out to be a great success!
“We shook ourselves down, we picked ourselves up and we started all over again”
But then came the pandemic, and I lost everything all over again. We relied on tourists and when there were no tourists, it was fatal. We still had to pay all our staff every month but with no income. We had no choice but to close.
Yvette: But we did what serial entrepreneurs do. We shook ourselves down, we picked ourselves up and we started all over again. We opened this bar last Saturday, and it was a bank holiday weekend so the past three days have been successful and this makes us realise that we have done the right thing.
Our plan is to have something for everyone. We don’t want to be the cheapest, we don’t want to be the most expensive, we want to be informal with honest prices and high-quality, simple food. And I have this beautiful cook (gestures towards Yvette) who runs the kitchen and is in charge of the beautiful design.
Arthuro Kramer
Arthuro: Our plan is to have something for everyone. We don’t want to be the cheapest, we don’t want to be the most expensive, we want to be informal with honest prices and high-quality, simple food. And I have this beautiful cook (gestures towards Yvette) who runs the kitchen and is in charge of the beautiful design. We have lots of Dutch and Belgian businesses here, from Globexs to Cendris and Helloprint, and we expect to attract a lot of these people, but also lots of Spanish people who live in the neighbourhood — luckily, we are both fluent in Spanish. And we are on a corner with a terrace on each side so we get the sun all day. Incredibly, it was the first place we saw, so we say it might be fate.
You just need to follow your heart, as Yvette says — but keep your eyes open.
Arthuro: And follow the rules. People say there is more red tape here but I am not sure that is the case. Businesses open, people thrive. My advice would be to make sure you use a reputable lawyer and relocation expert to be sure you are jumping through the right hoops. Businesses fail or get cheated in Belgium, the UK, so I don’t see that it is any worse in Spain. You just need to follow your heart, as Yvette says — but keep your eyes open.
For no-nonsense straightforward help with turning your dream of moving to Valencia into reality, contact Globexs on +34 962 06 68 14 or by email at info@globexs.com; or drop in to our Ruzafa office for a coffee. Como tu quieres!
