An unappreciated risk in those places is just the risk of a fall. Those cobbled streets look charming, but they're a major risk to old Americans, as well as the poorly shaped curbs, the stairs everywhere, and a bunch of other little hazards. Most of those people don't speak Spanish, and a fair number live alone.

For the same reason they didn't save for retirement, they also have poor support networks, and poor motivated to integrate with the local community. A lot of them don't have children, or have one estranged child and no grandkids. I'm hoping to spend a few years of early retirement abroad, but I want to do it on better terms than what I often see.