Best cities to retire in Virginia (Norfolk, Richmond: condo, houses, theater)

[YorktownGal]

Originally Posted by DAXhound

Dental is outrageously expensive in VA, as a hole. Outside of population centers, grocery shopping is borderline awful. Food Lion sucks, and Kroger isn't far behind... Five years ago it was much better.

I can't find a decent bakery for a cake or a loaf of decent bread. I'm ordering my bagels from Zabar's in NYC. No fresh ricotta, Italian sausage and no real provolone. It may seem minor, but it's a big deal to me.

[ersatz]

Originally Posted by YorktownGal

I can't find a decent bakery for a cake or a loaf of decent bread. I'm ordering my bagels from Zabar's in NYC. No fresh ricotta, Italian sausage and no real provolone. It may seem minor, but it's a big deal to me.

You might think about making a trip up to NoVA now and then to enjoy our festivals and special events. Some people in other parts of Virginia may bad mouth NoVA for various reasons, but it's a wonderful place to enjoy great food and a wide variety of international, locally-sourced, and artisanal groceries.

Chewish Deli in Old Town Alexandra makes the best NY water bagels outside of NYC. The Italian Store in Arlington sells a lot of groceries straight from Italy. Italian provolone is available in most of the higher end grocery stores, as well as artisanal small-producer Wisconsin provolone.

I don't use a lot of ricotta as it is so rich, but I do indulge in it occasionally. I have been thinking of making my own, just as an experiment, given that it is easy to buy locally-produced milk here.

https://farmflavor.com/recipes/homemade-ricotta-cheese/

[badger74]

https://www.baconstbagels.com/
Bodo's Bagels, Charlottesville, VA
https://shop.thefreshmarket.com/shop/categories/25
https://shop.thefreshmarket.com/sear...complete=false
Wegmans

[YorktownGal]

Originally Posted by badger74

https://www.baconstbagels.com/
Bodo's Bagels, Charlottesville, VA
https://shop.thefreshmarket.com/shop/categories/25
https://shop.thefreshmarket.com/sear...complete=false
Wegmans

Fuhgeddaboudit! Nothing beats a New York bagel!

Fresh Market is just okay compared to NY's Italian deli's.

I miss those tin containers full of dipping ricotta. Whole Foods sells it Lioni. Ricotta Fresh 3 Lb Tin. https://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/pro...tin-b07hh15t8s. It's not available in Virginia or D.C.

Neither is Italian Easter Bread. https://newengland.com/today/food/br...ith-dyed-eggs/

I've ordered from Frank and Sal's Italian Deli. https://frankandsal.com and Pennsylvania Macaroni Company https://www.pennmac.com. Pennmac is really been a lifesaver for me. I just got a dozen boxes of pastina from Pennmac. Yeah! Pastina is the equivalent of Italian penicillin. It's in short supply as Ronzoni announced it stopped producing it.

I've substituted Boars Head pastrami for Jewish pastrami. It's good enough and I'm lucky that Publix has a full Boars Head deli. Now if Publix could make a real Jewish deli loaf of rye bread, I would be in heaven.

Food is such a big part of our lives. Cements our traditions and familial ties.

[badger74]

The COL in NYC v VA means you can afford to ship anything you want. I have had stuff from Katz's deli delivered and it is was bad to OK. The corned beef was crap. Pastrami was OK. Better to get fresh made BBQ brisket made right here. https://www.countysmoak.com/our-story
I was ZBT in college and we had NY bagels delivered every weekend. Not that big a difference. They have come a long way in 50 years.
Now go to Biscuitville and get some real Southern food.

[YorktownGal]

Originally Posted by badger74

Now go to Biscuitville and get some real Southern food.

I know! I have to take the bitter with sweet!

[djplourd]

Originally Posted by jessicabush

Fairfax County can be your perfect retirement destination if you're hoping to spend your golden years in the great outdoors. Great Falls National Park and Mason Neck National Wildlife Refuge, the first bald eagle sanctuary in the country, are just two of the many national parks in the area. The Smithsonian Aviation and Space Museum is another option for you to explore.

As long as you can handle the traffic and the high cost of living.

[YorktownGal]

Originally Posted by Great to be here

Thanks for the suggestions, these are wonderful. I’ve heard about Williamsburg and I need to check it out.

Williamsburg real estate is going through the roof. Homes in my area are increasing by $50,000 in a single year! How is that possible?

Before the pandemic, we looked at houses in Portland Maine - especially on Peak's Island. Once the pandemic hit in 2020, those house prices increased dramatically. So we moved to Virginia instead.

If you can find a bargain in Williamsburg, I would say go for it. It's a nice community.

[SmartMoney]

My retired, civil service brother retired from Springfield to Williamsburg. Seems to have a huge influx of government retirees. One area I did not see mentioned that I have only heard a good deal about, but do not personally know the area is Colonial Beach. I have been doing mortgage loans for 30 years and some of my life-long borrowers are heading here. The values are amazing, the most recent a waterfront property (with 100's feet of shoreline) for $526,000. I just pulled up that appraisal and all the comps were waterfront, running from $510K to $540K. Another thing I recall, the frenzy to compete with bids was not present and the values are not escalating like NOVA.

Thank you my friends, I think I know the destination of my next Sunday drive. It's been a long time since I've gone somewhere just to check it out.

[YorktownGal]

Originally Posted by SmartMoney

My retired, civil service brother retired from Springfield to Williamsburg. Seems to have a huge influx of government retirees. One area I did not see mentioned that I have only heard a good deal about, but do not personally know the area is Colonial Beach. I have been doing mortgage loans for 30 years and some of my life-long borrowers are heading here. The values are amazing, the most recent a waterfront property (with 100's feet of shoreline) for $526,000. I just pulled up that appraisal and all the comps were waterfront, running from $510K to $540K. Another thing I recall, the frenzy to compete with bids was not present and the values are not escalating like NOVA.

Thank you my friends, I think I know the destination of my next Sunday drive. It's been a long time since I've gone somewhere just to check it out.

I never heard about Colonial Beach before. It's an hour away from Quantico, VA, two hours away from Williamsburg and two and a half hours away from DC. Between Colonial Beach's distance from DC and Quantico (FBI headquarters) a huge influx of government retirees is not surprising.