Love brought Navan-born solicitor Martin Hayes to the Spanish city of Valencia in 2004. It turned out to be a one-way trip.
Hayes had met Maria, the Valencia-born woman who would become his wife, in Glasgow. She was on an Erasmus programme and, having completed a master’s at the University of Strathclyde, he was working for the Jisc legal information service, which provides legal assistance to universities and colleges across the UK on IT issues and law.
While the couple initially moved to Dublin where they both enjoyed law firm careers, Maria hankered for a move back to her native city, a decision sealed for her on one blustery November evening in the Irish capital.
He didn’t have the language or a background in Spanish law but Hayes says he was happy to give it a try. He already had happy experiences of Valencia. “I had been coming over here since I met Maria. It seemed incredible to me that this city wasn’t better known.
“When you fly in there from Glasgow in January and you are cycling a bike in your T-shirt and sunglasses, it really hits you. It’s the light as much as the good weather that makes all the difference throughout the year.”
While it took a while to master the language and gain the necessary qualifications, persistence paid off and Hayes qualified as an abogado, furthering his career locally.
He now holds membership as an abogado with El Illustre Colegio de Abogados de Valencia (the Valencian Bar) in addition to maintaining his membership as a solicitor with the Law Society of Ireland.
He is now a partner at RSM Spain, part of a big global firm of 65,000 professionals, where he specialises in property law, inheritance, civil law and private client services for individuals and, increasingly, commercial investors, both in the region and throughout Spain.
Initially, most of his work for individuals involved dealing with people who were retiring to Spain and protecting their interests when they were buying property but, over time, that has broadened to younger families.
“Remote working has been a huge accelerant in recent years. We’ve a lot of clients working in areas such as technology and finance.”
As well as Irish and European clients, Hayes has noticed a significant upsurge over the past decade in US citizens looking to relocate in Spain. The attractions are obvious, from historic Roman and medieval districts to a lively well-planned modern city and a seafront with a blue flag beach.
Valencia is Spain’s third-largest city with a population of over 800,000 at its core and 2.5 million in the wider region. Valencia was named World Design Capital in 2022 and received a European Green Capital Award, a distinction awarded to a European city each year by the EU for its environmental achievements.
“There’s an elegance to Valencia and it’s a city that people live in which is what I most like. It’s very walkable, family orientated and there’s a real community spirit here,” he notes.
“It is so close to home in Ireland but also so different. They refer to the Irish here as the Latins of the north. The Irish character is very similar and I felt a strong connection from the moment I arrived here.”
One of the highlights of the year for Martin, Maria and their two children is the annual Las Fallas festival in March, a raucous fiesta of processions, fireworks, bonfires and partying that lights up the city for days.
When they are not busy with their law careers, the couple now spend an increasing amount of time in the nearby village of Macastre in the mountains, tending to an olive plantation on a family farm Maria inherited from her parents. The olive crop is currently turned into oil by the local co-op and the longer-term plan is to develop their own brand.
“The locals get a lot of hilarity seeing me driving around in a tractor but it has made us very much part of the community in the village.”
Valencia made international headlines in 2024 because of the catastrophic floods that affected some of its hinterland areas. The wider community rallied around to help in the immediate aftermath and much of the infrastructure has been rebuilt at this stage, he notes. The damage didn’t affect the city itself so tourism recovered quickly once visitors realised that, he adds.
Hayes says any hankering for Ireland is offset by regular visits from family and friends, and a regular Ryanair service. “There are several international airports in the vicinity, including one in Valencia, and I know that if I need to be home quickly, that can happen easily,” he adds.