Moving to Spain

We were internet marketers that needed a break. So we started a tapas restaurant in Spain. Some said we were crazy, some said we were brave. We say we are a little bit of both. Read our story, the lessons we learned and our tips.....
It has been almost three years since we moved to Spain and finding our way around has been fun and sometimes a struggle. When you move abroad you realize that you are giving up your career, your house, the lease car and all. But in return, there is a romantic future lying ahead of you; a future without stress, traffic jams, thousands of emails a day, dark clouds, rain. An exiting future with new possibilities, new people and new habits.
Our romantic and exiting idea of the future was setting up a tapas restaurant in a pretty little village on the Costa Blanca. We would only open for a few hours per day, run it together, and cook all kinds of delicious tapas for our guests.
We were able to rent a location close to a very busy weekly market. Definitely a hotspot. As the unit was completely empty when we rented it, we were able to build it up from scratch. Setting up something new is almost everybody's dream. And yes, it is a lot of fun. However, with only little experience in the catering industry (but not completely brainless), little knowledge of the Spanish language, no knowledge of the Spanish culture or business attitude whatsoever, we were bound to get in a lot of trouble.
But somehow we didn't... Although it took endless discussions, brainstorm sessions, continuous questioning and numerous drives along the Costa to find the right suppliers and equipment.
Some examples:

Buying kitchen stuff. If you want to buy kitchen stuff in Holland, you go to a wholesaler. There you will find all equipment neatly arranged with prices and product details. In Spain only few items are on display and they show no prices at all. We first had to go home to look up all the words in the Spanish dictionary (so we could at least ask what we wanted to have). Furthermore, they gave all prices in Pesetas - on purpose I'm sure - although they kept smiling.
Building the bar was something else as well, because we wanted a non-Spanish bar set-up. That made the beer people, the wine people, and all other suppliers freak and run out immediately with the words 'ai hombre, problema!' - probably catching a beer in the bar next door - and not show their face for a couple of days.
In order to get ice-cream, we had to stand in the middle of the street to stop the sales rep and ask him to come in. He delivered once, came for a refill and then never showed up again. Hence, we had to change brands in the middle of summer..
It took us 2 years to finalize the paperwork for the license. It took numerous visits from the 'ajuntamento' and the health inspection before they finally approved it. Each time they came, they brought a new list with rules and regulations, ensuring us this was the final version.