Olive Press Newspaper - Issue 198

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EXCLUSIVE By Imogen Calderwood

Continues on Page 5

A NORWEGIAN fam-ily got more than they bargained for

on their Marbella beach holiday, when they stumbled across a 50 kilo haul of marijuana.Gitte Waage Egeland and her family were stunned to find the package, but they still had time to snap a quick selfie before alerting the police.

Beware the love rat!

Irish lothario - who conned woman out of €80,000 - arrives on Costa expat dating scene

Flash the hash!

AN Irish lothario who se-duced an American woman and then conned her out of €80,000 has turned up on the Costa del Sol.Sean Whelan has joined a dat-ing website, despite tricking Florida-based Annie Predun out of her life savings in 2007, after meeting on a similar site.The 60-year-old, from Dub-

lin, has now set up an account with Costa del Sol dating site Connectingsingles.es, which states he is ‘living and work-ing in Manilva’.Introducing himself as a ‘wid-owed Irish businessman’ with a Masters degree, he insists he is a ‘sensitive and caring’ man.

“I know how to treat a lady and seek a confident, kind and intelligent lady,” he con-tinues, under the username ‘Tullyview’.Luckily however, one eagle-eyed expat from Marbella has come forward, having been for a date with the trickster.The 71-year-old mother-of-two, from Leeds, who met Whelan for lunch at the H10

hotel in Nueva Andalucia, now wants to warn other expats of his dubious past.Dressed smart-ly and driving a silver Audi, he seemed like a true gentle-man, she told the Olive Press.“But then I Googled him, and I couldn’t believe what I was reading,” she said.“It’s lucky that I was curious, but I am sure many other women could fall into the same trap as his first vic-tim.”The ‘love-rat conman’ met

his first victim Predun via dating site Match.com in June 2007.Within a week of meeting the 52-year-old, Whelan flew from Ireland to Florida and just days later they were dis-cussing marriage.He promised her a dream lifestyle dividing their time between the US, Ireland and Mauritius.He also promised to invest her $100,000 life savings in an offshore bank in Mauri-tius – where he allegedly had business connections – as part of what he called ‘Project Annie’.After he had received the money, Whelan returned to Ireland saying he would re-turn a week later, but an end-less string of excuses kept him away.Eventually, Predun got a law-yer, and in October 2009 she was awarded a court judge-ment against her ex-lover.When contacted last night, Whelan denied all knowledge of the dating profile on Con-nectingsingles.es, and in-sisted that he had not met up with any women on the coast.When asked about his history with Annie Predun, he said ‘that was a long time ago’.

A BRITISH novel has been banned from the Alhambra Palace (above), in the first such incident for 30 years.The launch of the book - which had been scheduled for the Granada monument next week - has had to be re-located, after the authorities ‘inexplicably’ took against it.Song of Granada, by expat mother-of-four Anne Sikking, has been banned from all three of the Alhambra’s book-shops as well as the state-run parador hotel, within its grounds.

Expat’s novel banned from the Alhambra

CAPTION COMPETITIONThe Olive Press is looking for the wittiest caption for this photo, as we launch a new community-driven, photo-sharing web-site, Olive Press Insight (OPi) - a fantastic way for our readers to interact with us.Visit insight.theolivepress.es or contact [email protected] with your caption ideas

AROUND 100 people are currently under observa-tion for Ebola in Spain, it has been revealed.As well as the 15 people currently at Carlos III Hospital isolation unit, a further 83 people are be-ing monitored at home after coming into contact with infected nurse Te-resa Romano.Each is subject to home visits twice a day, essen-tially to take their tem-perature.

Continues on 9

Hundred patientson Ebolawatch list

OLD TRICKS: Whelan (above left) and first victim, Predun

2 www.theolivepress.esthe olive press - October 16 - October 29 2014 CRIME NEWSthe olive press - October 16- October 29 2014

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A VIOLENT criminal wanted in the UK has been caught after he posted pic-tures of himself in Spain on Facebook. Scott Kelly, 33, spent seven years in prison for attempt-ed murder before breaking his probation and escaping to Spain last October. But he committed a massive own goal when he taunted police by posting pictures of himself relaxing in Spanish restaurants, drinking with friends and even enjoying a skiing holiday in the Sierra Nevada. However, his game ran out when he posted a picture of a sunset on a beach in Ali-cante.Detective Inspector Paul Fell, from organised crime unit Zephyr, said: “We were able to point the Spanish

Not Scott-freeGangster Scott Kelly arrested after cops spot his Spanish location from his Facebook page

CAUGHT: Police recognized Alicante sunset (above) andScott (right) in Granada

POLICE have raided homes in Malaga in a crackdown on a high tech gang specialising in electronic fraud. A total of 31 people were arrested in the raids, which also took place in Bulgaria. The gang specialised in ATM ‘skimming’ with cops finding eight laboratories using 1,000 devices including micro-cameras, card readers, flash drives and plastic cards ready to be encoded.

THE best friend of an Irish-man gunned down in Mar-bella has had his home raided in Ireland.So-called ‘kingpin’ Paul Rice had his home raided by Dub-lin police after the Elviria death of pal Gerard ‘Hatchet’ Kavanagh last month. Armed police, backed up by Spanish detectives, car-ried out a dawn raid on the 45-year-old’s Dublin home. Rice is said to be one of the leading enforcers in Estepo-na-based gang leader Christy Kinahan’s drug ring.British boxer Jamie Moore was shot outside his son Dan-iel Kinahan’s house, also in Estepona, in August.

AN X-Factor singer spent weeks in a Spanish jail after being arrested in Ibiza on suspicion of drug dealing, it

police in the right direction.“The Spanish police don’t like having British criminals

living on the coast believing they are immune from the authorities so they were

more than helpful and were very keen to detain him.“I am sure Scott went to Spain and was living the high life thinking he was untouchable. Many more may feel the same – but they are not.”The runaway, who was jailed in 2005 for the stab-bing of Stephen Rank in Exeter, was held on a Eu-ropean Arrest Warrant, ex-tradited back to the UK and has now been returned to prison.

X RATED ORLA

has been revealed.Orla Keogh, who has now been eliminated from the ITV show, remains under investi-gation after being detained on the party island just months before her audition.She had been working as a rep when she was arrested at the Ocean Beach Club in San Antonio, co-owned by Gary Lineker's brother Wayne.Officers allegedly confiscated 21 ecstasy pills, ten tablets of LSD and ‘another’ unknown hallucinogenic substance.She could be jailed for up to six years if convicted.A source at the court in Ibiza said: “This case is still being investigated. If and when trial proceedings are initiated we may be in a position to give more information.”An ITV spokesman said: “We were not aware of her arrest. At no point has she informed the production team.“The X-Factor has a system to complete criminal and wel-fare checks for every contes-tant from the bootcamp stage onwards.”

By Rob Horgan

NO MORE FAKING IT The gang also used 3D printing equipment to produce fake card slots to be installed on ATMs.They used stolen data ‘skimmed’ from ATMs around Europe, including Spain, Italy and Turkey. Using this data, they created fake cards which they used to withdraw vast quantities of cash from victims’ accounts in countries like Peru and the Philippines.

Mobster home dawn raid

3www.theolivepress.es the olive press - October 16 - October 29 2014NEWS

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the olive press - October 16- October 29 2014

GIBRALTAR’S 30 worst of-fending barbary apes have been sent to Scotland af-ter too much monkeying around on The Rock.The apes - who have been harassing locals, rummag-ing through bins and pick-pocketing tourists - have been transported to Blair Drummond Safari Park, near Stirling. The move is the first large-scale export of the apes away from The Rock since the 1990s and will prevent Gibraltar’s environmental agency culling the iconic animals. Gibraltar’s environment minister John Cortes said: “This was the group that

Wipe away that grin!

Gibraltar’s most mischievous monkeys swap The Rock for a life in Scotland

By Rob Horgan

PENELOPE Cruz has been named the Sexi-est Woman Alive by Esquire magazine. The Madrid-born actress has become the 11th woman to be awarded the coveted title, taking over from last year’s two-time win-ner Scarlett Johansson. Posing on the cover in just a plunging black bathing suit, the 40-year-old leaves no questions as to why she takes the title. Cruz has two children with Spanish husband Javier Bardem, 44. The pair married in July 2010 – after star-ring together in Woody Allen’s 2008 film Vicki Cristina Barce-lona, along with Scarlett Johansson - but they first met on the set of Jamon Jamon when she was 17.

Cruz’in to victory

SPOTTED: Jerome Flynn (left) poses with a fan

A FILM about Punk leg-end Joe Strummer’s time in southern Spain has pre-miered in New York.The documentary - I need a Dodge: Joe Strummer on the run - is now set to screen around Spain and the UK.It tells the story of how the Clash lead singer lost his Dodge car, somewhere in Madrid, after a big weekend of drinking in 1986.The London rocker spent many holidays in Spain after becoming disillusioned with the UK punk scene in the early 1980s.He had a Spanish girlfriend from Granada (Paloma Romero) and later bought a holiday home in Cabo de Gata, in Almeria.The film begins with an in-terview with Joe on Spain’s national station Radio 3, in which he recalls leaving his car ‘in some garage in Ma-drid’.

Counter-culture

It goes on to tell how he planned to search for the un-marked grave of murdered writer Federico Garcia Lorca. Filmmaker Nick Hall – who spent four years working on the documentary – claims that Strummer was drawn by the ‘Movida Madrilena’, the countercultural scene fol-lowing the death of Franco in 1975. His time in Spain has been commemorated with a square named after him in the evocative Albaicin barrio of Granada.The film will be premiering across Spain throughout Oc-tober and November, includ-ing Barcelona on October 26 and 30, Madrid on November 1, and Bilbao and Pamplona later in November.For more information, see http://www.ineedadodge.com/

Granada calling

was giving us the most prob-lems.“It is sad to see them go, but they will be going to an excellent home and it is so much better than culling them.“We wish our monkeys a safe journey and a happy fu-ture in Scotland.”The marauding macaques - 11 males and 19 females - were identified as Gibral-tar’s most mischievous by the environmental agency after officials monitored their movements. There are still around 200 apes on the Rock and ac-

FILMING of Game of Thrones’ fifth season has begun around Andalucia.Fans have so far spotted Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, who plays the part of Jaime Lannister, as well as Jerome Flynn, who plays Bronn and Indira Varma, who plays El-laria Sand.As well as using Sevilla’s Real Alcazar, film crews are also said to have been in Ronda and will this week shoot in Osuna.While the Olive Press is

cording to folklore, The Rock would cease to be Brit-ish if the monkeys leave.This was reinforced by Win-ston Churchill during the Second World War, when

he shipped extra monkeys from Morocco to bolster their population.Barbary apes are also found in the Rif mountains, in northern Morocco.

PLANNING a beach wedding can be a painful process, what with licences and locating the right venue.But when you own a restau-rant on the beach, it makes the job that bit easier.Indeed all Guy and Lucy Mc-Crow had to do when they recently got married at their eaterie the Beach House, in Elviria, was walk downstairs and turn left.Naturally the reception was also at the venue and guests were treated to a display of Andalucian dancing horses and a late night round of golf on the beach. Naturally.

The new royals come to town

BEACH SPLICE: Guy and Lucy with sons

Life’s a beach

STAR-STRUCK: Fans with Indira Varma (left) and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (right)

keeping close tabs on its movements, staff at the Al-cazar are being told a bare minimum.“They are coming and going,

but only filming on complete-ly closed off sets,” said one source.“They are only using parts of the palace and gardens and doing a lot inside.” It has left thousands of tour-ists and fans disappointed as they try and snap pictures through a series of barriers put up around the gardens.About 250 actors and extras are working on set while 40 trucks laden with costumes and tropical plants are driv-ing around supplying parts for the sets that represent the ‘Kingdom of Dorne’.According to the produc-tion source, filming over the weekend was hampered due to heavy rain. The record-breaking series, based on George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire, will continue being filmed at the Alcazar until the October 18, be-fore the whole cast and crew moves to Osuna and other ‘secret locations’.

Has you spotted a Game of Thrones film crew or actor? Send your pics and story to [email protected]

ON SCREEN: Strummer

By Jacqueline Fanchini

4 www.theolivepress.esthe olive press - October 16 - October 29 2014

28TH

the olive press - October 16 - October 29 2014NEWS 5

NEWS IN BRIEF

SPAIN has received world-wide criticism over its han-dling of Europe’s first Ebola case.The European Commission has demanded an urgent ex-planation as to how nurse Teresa Romero, 44, was not diagnosed with the virus until a week after she began feeling unwell.Health minister Ana Mato has now been demoted to ‘a less public role’ after up to 100 people were put unneces-sarily at risk from the lethal virus.

The Spanish inquisition

Global spotlight on Spain for triggering Europe Ebola panic over two priests

By Tom Powell

NURSE Teresa Romero remains in a ‘very critical’ condition. while none of the people she came into contact with have been diagnosed with the virus, they still remain in isolation.Despite scares and rumours at other hospitals around Spain, so far nobody else has caught the virus.The government has announced it is ramping up training for health workers and emergency services dealing with Ebola cas-es, to avoid similar incidents.

Critical condition

NEW anti-corruption political party Podemos would seriously dam-age the Socialist party stronghold in Andalu-cia and possibly take charge, new polls re-veal.While the ruling PSOE party would still win if an election was held this month they would suffer a serious eight point drop in votes, ac-cording to the survey by Spain’s Social Observa-tory (OSE). The PP meanwhile would lose 12 points. It would mean Podemos (meaning ‘we can’), tak-ing power if they united with the left wing IU party and the environ-mental party Equo.In the poll, an incred-ible 18% of voters said they would vote for the party, led by professor Pablo Iglesias Turrion, and which was only founded this year.Podemos - whose main policy is to stamp out corruption in Spain - managed to take an in-credible 8% in the Euro-pean elections in April, just four months after being formed.A former Malaga Uni-versity (UMA) profes-sor has also joined the Podemos ranks this month, to help formu-late the party’s econom-ic plan. Economist Juan Torres - who taught Applied Economics at UMA un-til 2008, and has pre-viously advised both the PSOE and IU – will draw up Podemos’ eco-nomic plans. The survey also found that a favourite govern-ment for most Andalu-cians would be a coali-tion between Podemos, the IU and green party Equo.

Yes, we canwin

Romero was the first person outside of Africa to contract the virus after she helped to treat two Spanish priests who were, controversially, repatri-ated from Africa to Madrid with Ebola.Aside from the ethics of why the authorities took the mas-sive risk to bring back the two missionaries an investigation has been launched to deter-mine exactly how she con-tracted the disease.She was supposed to be work-ing within strict safety guide-lines, and should have been placed in isolation well before she was.Her husband meanwhile has revealed she was only given half an hour of training in how to stay protected, and slammed the government for not doing enough to keep her safe.Animal rights campaigners gathered in Madrid to furi-ously protest the ‘unneces-sary’ killing of her dog, Ex-calibur.In the USA, health authorities decided to quarantine one

Ebola victim’s dog instead.Foreign Minister Jose Manu-el Garcia-Margallo defended the government’s decision to repatriate the two priests, who both later died."This is what all developed countries which have had this problem have done," he said, ignoring the obvious irony of the priests chosen profession.Neither of them had lived in Spain for decades and had chosen to live and work abroad.The Ebola outbreak has killed

FOUNDER: Pablo Iglesias

This is the same process that was used to assess Romero, who was diagnosed with Eb-ola on September 30.Among those being moni-tored are ambulance staff and residents who live in the same block as Romero in Alcorcon.Of the 98 people under ob-servation, only Romero has tested positive for Ebola.

EBOLA WATCH

From front page

4,000+ The number of people who have died from Ebola so far, mostly in West Africa

€20 million The amount Facebook owner Mark Zuckerberg has donated to fighting Ebola in Africa, the same amount Spain budgeted for foreign aid for the whole of 2014

1,000 The number of possible new Ebola cases each week, according to the World Health Organisation

38.6 The temperature that if exceeded means a person is considered at risk of Ebola

98 The number of people under inspection after com-ing in contact with Ebola nurse Teresa Romero

200 - Number of people given Ebola training in Gi-braltar

1 The number of people infected with Ebola in Spain

Ebola by numbers

Boozy tripsONE in seven youngsters coming to Spain on holiday have admitted that they are drunk on the plane, according to a survey by website Jetcost.com.

Adding up THE Junta has ap-proved the creation of a new municipality, Dehe-sas Viejas in Granada, meaning that there are now 774 Andalucian mu-nicipalities.

Unseen PicassoA NEVER-before publicly exhibited self-portrait by Pablo Picasso, painted in 1901, will go on show in central London this week at the Ordovas gallery.

Hot wheels MOTO GP sensation Marc Marquez sealed back-to-back championships with his second placed finish in Japan making the 21-year-old the youngest two-time champion of all time.

SPAIN will send 300 soldiers to Iraq to help train its na-tional army combat insur-gents Islamic State (IS). Defence Minister Pedro Morenes said the troops, were not being sent to fight but added that ‘anything could happen’.The Spanish soldiers will be training Iraqi troops in ex-plosives handling, landmine clearance and special opera-tions as they continue to fight against IS advances.

Send in the troops

HELPING HAND: Spain to train Iraqi soldiers

It will be the first time that Spanish troops enter Iraq since they withdrew in 2004.

over 4,000 people, mostly in West Africa.

VICTIMS: Romero and her dog


Tel: 951127006 / 665 798 618 (admin/editorial/sales/advertising) Accounts: 658 750 424 Sales: 655 825 683or [email protected] or [email protected] campaigning, community newspaper, the Olive Press represents the huge expatriate community in southern Spain - 200,000 copies distributed monthly (130,000 digitally) with an estimated readership, including the website, of more than 500,000 people a month.

Luke Stewart Media S.L - CIF: B91664029Urb Casares del Sol, bloque 21, portal 70, bajo b, Casares 29690, MalagaPrinted by Corporación de Medios de Andalucía S.A.Editor: Jon [email protected]:Newsdesk [email protected]

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Admin / Distribution / Accounts: Anna Cockell 951127006 [email protected] Mirian Moreno [email protected] TEAM:Stephen Shutes 671 834 479Classified Sarah Adams 655825683AxarquiaCharlie Bamber 661 452 180CadizElizabeth Gould 683 337 342

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THE following companies have been blacklisted from doing business with the OlivePress (Luke Stewart Media SL - CIF B91664029), due to long standing debts:- MWM Investments Ltd - Petersham Coins, Marbella - Investor Spain - Simple Care - Autotunes Manilva - Hotel Embrujo, Arriate

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The details are being published in support of other companies that may be unaware of the problems that might be faced by providing credit facilities to the businesses and their present individual owners.


OVER half a century has passed since the first high-speed sleeper was

laid on Spanish soil, sparking the nation’s bullet train fasci-nation into motion. Inaugurated in 1992, Spain’s first high-speed train whizzed passengers through the Si-erra Morena mountains on the 470km track connecting Madrid and Sevilla in just two and a half hours. The sophisticated track de-sign, alongside a complex tunnelling mission, saw the line labelled as ‘one of the most advanced high-speed lines in the world’. Today Spain's bullet train net-work spans across more than 3,000km of track - weaving its way across the country like veins around a body. Reaching speeds up to 300kph, the AVE is now the second largest high-speed rail system in the world, beat-en only by China's enormous 11,000km network. However it has not all been plain sailing.

Technical setbacks

Due to the difficult terrain across Spain, and the enor-mity of the network, technical setbacks were almost inevi-table.Work on the Abdalajis tunnel - north of Malaga - cut into a nearby village's natural water supply in 2008.The derailment at Santiago

Bullet trains stay on trackSpain’s high speed trains are set to stay despite setbacks to the second most complex rail network in the world, writes Rob Horgan

SPAIN’S bullet trains can go much faster than the country’s rail network can handle. The most recent Siemens and Talgo manufactured trains are capable of hitting 350kph, but this speed is seemingly unat-tainable in Spain as current track beds are loosened at speeds over 325kph. The higher speeds also see stone chips flying up and dam-aging trains’ undercarriages, while signalling systems would need upgrading too. The newest German high-speed network has created fully concrete tracks to avoid this from happening and the UK plans to create its own high-speed network which will see trains reach 360kph.

Runaway train

Europe currently operates 7,351km of high-speed rail, with over 13,000km of track either under construction or in the planning stage. Spain and France are the biggest operators of high-speed trains in

Europe and they are set to get bigger still. The UK’s HS2 project will see them oper-ate the fastest service (360kph) but for now French trains are the quickest, reach-ing speeds of 320kph.

de Compostela in July 2013 - in which 79 people lost their lives - was Spain's worst rail disaster in 40 years.And even today, the Junta is taking Ana Pastor, the Min-

ister of Public Works, to the European Court over a 'lack of sufficient action' into the reconstruction of track be-tween Bobadilla and La Indi-ana. And tempers are set to boil over, when the likely decision comes to terminate further work on the semi-finished AVE route between Marchena and Bobadilla, which has so far cost the Andalucian gov-ernment a huge €280 mil-lion.ADIF - Spain’s high-speed track manufacturers - an-nounced that it will construct a €23 million loop near Cor-doba as an alternative, how-ever it would appear a total lack of joined up thinking and planning between central

and local governments has resulted in an unnecessary exhaustion of funds. So, how does a line so tech-nologically advanced - en-countering so many setbacks - support itself financially in a country marred by economic difficulties? The simple an-swer: it doesn't. Investment appraisals for high-speed routes are a sor-cerer’s arena of accounting - just look at the UK's attempts to put a figure on HS2 plans.RENFE however is making substantial positive net earn-ings on its AVE routes, and anyone regularly travelling on the Malaga-Madrid line knows that booking Turista class in advance is necessary because of the high demand.

Big demand

In fact RENFE recently or-dered a multi-million euro stock of new AVE trains from Siemens, as Talgo (Spain's manufacturers) is already producing at maximum ca-pacity. It is, however, more difficult to estimate net profits after allowing for capital depre-ciation and interest charges, in addition to the high cost of high-speed track mainte-nance. One recent estimate for the break-even date for the Madrid-Sevilla route alone is 2080 - 88 years after launch-ing - and for HS2... Infinity! Despite the cost, the benefits

THE bullet train celebrates its 50th birth-day this month. A symbol of modern technology, the bul-let train was inaugurated on October 1, 1964, in Tokyo in Japan. The first journey from Tokyo to Osaka

took four hours, shaving two and a half hours off the 513km journey.Today’s models can do the same jour-ney two hours quicker and can reach speeds in excess of 300kph.

WHEN a deadly virus triggers an international emergen-cy, a country needs its government and health officials to be on top form, and do everything to ensure the safety of its people.What did Spain do? Properly train its army of health workers? Ramp up checks on people arriving from affected areas? Prepare secure isolation facilities in hospitals?No, Spain decided to bring home two elderly missionar-ies infected with the highly contagious virus to its capital city and ordered unprepared workers to sort it out.Shock horror, a few weeks later one of those workers is diagnosed with Ebola and the government is forced to defend another monumental failure. Welcome to Spain, Ebola, you’re gonna love it. You’ll do well here.

Ebola: Welcome to Spain

IT would appear that the pockets of Spain’s bankers and politicians have hidden depths. With more than 86 former Caja Madrid and Bankia direc-tors under investigation - many of whom also held politi-cal roles - it beggars belief how these greedy bankers are incapable of keeping their hands out of the money-filled cookie jar. With their wallets already favourably lined from ridicu-lously high salaries, the revelation that more than €15 million was claimed on tax-free expenses via so-called ‘magic cards’ should come as a shock… But, after the corruption scandals of recent months, it is unsurprising to the point of being predictable.

Greedy bankers

AMID all the corruption scandals and Ebola scares, it’s nice to see that at least one criminal is digging his own grave.It’s reassuring that not all of them can get away Scot-free and that police do make arrests, at least when they’re handed to them on a platter.Did attempted murderer Scott Kelly really think that it’d be wise to post holiday pictures on Facebook while being on the run?We say this nitwit got what he deserved.

And the blockhead award goes to…

7www.theolivepress.es the olive press - October 16 - October 29 2014FEATURE

Bullet trains stay on track

AN enormous amount of abandoned high-speed rail has been left strewn across the Andalucian countryside. ADIF - Spain’s high-speed rail manufacturer - has an-nounced that the unfinished 76km track from Marchena in Sevilla to Santa Ana in Caceres will not be complet-ed due to funding cuts. The proposed route was started in 2005 after former president Manuel Chavez and Magdalena Alvarez agreed the government of Andalucia would fund the project.

Ghost train left behindBULLET: Train whizzes across bridge near to Antequera station

of having the world’s second largest bullet train network are clear to see. ADIF has established itself as a world leader in high-speed track design and is set to become one of Spain’s lead-ing exporters, with projects already underway in North and South America, eastern Europe, the Middle East and central Asia. This means constructing high-speed tracks in Spain is also considerably cheaper than in other parts of the world.

World leader A high-speed tunnel in Spain costs approximately €22,000 per metre, whereas in the UK it is nearer €80,000. Punctuality of AVE trains is also a big plus, with over 99% of trains on time, and com-pensation paid to passengers for services running just a few minutes late. The density of traffic on AVE routes is presently low so punctuality is easier than, say, in Germany where me-dium distance and commuter trains use the same network. The downside being, due to the steeper gradients of AVE rail compared to conven-tional tracks, the use of high-speed lines is not possible for freight trains unless they are light.As for the argument that AVE routes encourage dispersal of industry and commerce away from Madrid to the country’s outer regions, the jury is still out. It might be the case that businessmen can locate their core activities in Madrid more easily and live in the outer re-gions.However, the evidence sug-gests AVE routes in Spain are not just for businessmen on expense accounts. The majority of passengers on the Malaga-Madrid route are in fact people visiting rel-atives, on shopping trips, and tourists. As for the cost to the com-muter, AVE trains charge a fair buck and then some.

EXTENSIVE: AVE rail network

Compared to journeys offered by Avant, Alvia and Altaria - largely operating on the same track, and still reaching high speeds in some sections - the cost of a bullet train journey can be almost double the price. In fact, services operated by Avant can reach a maximum speed of 250kph for a much more affordable price. And when you consider AVE trains very rarely actu-ally clock their 300kph top-

speed, questions over the bullet train’s continual expan-sion are awkward to answer.Although it is advertised that AVE trains travel at 300kph, a journey between Cordoba and Sevilla has an average speed of 220kph and Barce-lona to Madrid around 200 kph - speeds which can also be reached by the more cost-effective Avant service. And yet, the increasing de-sire to cram more hours into the day drives the dream of

quicker trans-port. Hundreds of mil-lions of euros have already been - and will continue to be - thrown at the project to keep Spain ahead of the rest of the world when it comes to high-speed rail. Love them or hate them, think they are a neces-sity or a luxury, after 25 years in the Spanish domain, the bul-let train is still shooting across the country.

The route would have cut the journey time down to 71 minutes - 16 minutes faster than currently provided - in a non-stop service.

ABANDONED: Rail track

8 www.theolivepress.esthe olive press - October 16 - October 29 2014 NEWS8the olive press - October 2- October 15 2014

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A FIVE-year-old cancer vic-tim has become too ill to trav-el, just days after his parents raised enough money to take him to Disneyland.Brit Michelle Bennett, 40, and Dutch husband Arjan Van’t Noordende, 39, raised more than €5,200 in the first five days of an appeal launched to help grant son Alex his wish to visit Disneyland Paris and the Eiffel Tower.The appeal - launched on Sep-tember 30 on crowd-funding website Gofundme.com - has now raised €5,950. “Alex has wanted to visit Dis-neyland since he saw the film Ratatouille, and we decided it was finally time to grant him his wish,” said father Arjan. Marbella-born Alex has been battling RMS - a sarcoma type of cancer - since he was

Wish for a star

diagnosed at the age of two. The family were due to travel to France from October 12 to

17, but Alex has now been on morphine for a week while undergoing treatment at Malaga’s Materno-Infantil Hospital. “He has not eaten for nearly a week, so we are keen to get him off the morphine so that he is awake enough to start eating again and strengthen up,” said Arjan.As well as the huge support from family, friends and members of the public, the family had also been given discounts for the Marriott ho-tel on the Champs-Elysees to help fund the trip.The family are ‘heart-broken’ that Alex has now become too ill to go on the holiday, partic-ularly after receiving so much support.“You try to be hopeful, but now he’s so incredibly weak we can’t travel. We don’t want to see him in pain,” added Ar-jan. The family will now use the money to put towards Alex’s treatment instead, but hope to be able to take him on his dream holiday when he is feeling better.To donate and for more in-formation go to http://www.gofundme.com/alexander-fundorg

HOTELIERS are in uproar over a ‘discriminatory’ draft bill that aims to regulate hotels and B&Bs in Andalucia for the first time. Under the new regulations, a property will need to have a tourist licence if it puts up guests for more than 30 days in a year. Legitimate B&B and hotel owners insist this is far too lapse and should be for anyone who rents for five days and over during the whole year.Otherwise, they claim, ‘registered’ businesses are at an unfair advantage to people who rent rooms and homes ‘on the side’.The five days rule demanded by Andalucia’s Hotels and Apartments Federation (FAHAT) is currently in place in Ma-drid and Barcelona.

Disgruntled hoteliers

HOLY SCOOP


COURAGEOUS: Alex has won the support of many people

OUTRAGE: Hotels in Malaga

A CHURCH in Sevilla has won a coveted architec-ture award in Singapore.The Iglesia La Ascen-sion del Senor scooped the prize at the seventh World Architecture Fes-tival.

9www.theolivepress.es the olive press - October 16 - October 29 2014NEWS NEWS10 the olive press - October 2- October 15 2014 9 9www.theolivepress.es

News IN BRIEF

the olive press - September 18 - October 1 2014AXARQUIA the olive press - October 16- October 29 2014

OLIVE PRESS 256X342 BANDERAS INGLES.pdf 1 03/10/14 11:13


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A FINNISH grandmother ordered to demolish a nine-year-old extension has ac-cused Estepona Town Hall of being 'racially motivated' and 'singling' her out. Terttu Balson, 70, has been involved in an ongoing six-

They’re singling me out! Pensioner, 70, complains of discrimination

after being ordered to take down extension, despite neighbours all having the same

EXCLUSIVE By Rob Horgan

year legal battle with the town hall after they served her with a demolition order and fined her €24,300 in 2008 for building a loft extension

without the correct planning permission. Several other properties in the Seghers community have similar extensions without planning licences - including Balson's next door Spanish neighbour - but Balson is the

only resident facing court ac-tion. "It is completely discrimina-tory, I cannot help but think that it is not a coincidence that I have been chosen when I am the only foreigner liv-ing here," she told the Olive Press. Balson believed she had re-ceived planning permission when she contracted a Span-ish architect Mario Jones in 2005.Now however, she feels that he did not do his job properly despite being paid €2,500 to take over the project and sort out the building licence.Jones, however, said he feels 'no guilt or responsibility and that Balson is to blame for the situation.He said: "I told her from the beginning that she wasn't allowed to build. Most peo-ple get away with it but she hasn't. "She is definitely being un-fairly treated and I am not sure why. I hope that the town hall is not targeting her because she is foreign. "Maybe that sort of thing happened in the old days, but

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A WANTED property fraud-ster has been tracked down to a luxury home in Benahavis, after an exclusive Olive Press investigation this month. According to neighbours in upmarket La Heredia urban-isation, Rebecca Wells, 37, has fled owing money to sev-eral businesses.Keen horserider Wells - who spent eight years posing as an estate agent - is now being sought by police, as reported in the Olive Press last issue, after four denuncias were posted against her.“She owes money to the butcher, restaurant and the baker, as well as for repairs to her car,” said one neighbour.An expat couple living oppo-site Wells’ house in the ur-banisation reported that they saw her packing all the fam-ily’s possessions into a rental car on October 1 the day our expose came out.When the Olive Press visited a few days later, the house had clearly been abandoned and the family car - a black Chrysler - was apparently dumped outside.

Meanwhile another

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VICTIMS are hunting an alleged prop-erty fraudster who has vanished from the Costa del Sol owing tens of thousands of euros.The Guardia Civil confirmed last night it is investigating horse-owning expat Re-becca Wells after receiving four denun-cias against her.Briton Wells, 37, also known as Prior, is accused of duping people into paying de-

AN embattled animal rescue centre owner has admitted the place is ‘out of control’.Kim Halliwell (above) has now agreed to allow an initial 15 dogs and many cats to leave her Mijas kennels, following an Olive Press investigation.It comes after police also in-spected the site, following various denuncias from for-mer staff.After we told of the ‘terrible conditions’ at Kim’s Animal Rescue, friends and support-ers rallied around with the aim of cutting the number of animals by half.The Olive Press attended an emergency meeting, spoke with various other centres and has found new volunteers.We have now launched an appeal to find homes for the animals.

Taken for a ride Police probe alleged expat property fraudster who ‘took deposits for homes she didn’t own’

posits to rent properties that she has no claim to.One victim, British expat Raymond Paul, told the Olive Press: “I Iost a €1,000 de-posit on renting a home she didn’t own.“She had actually only rented it for four

days as a holiday rental, but she showed me around it and convinced me to sign an 11-month contract.“I want her caught and punished,” he de-clared.Wells, a mother-of-two from Wolver-hampton, appears to have repeated the same trick at different properties around the region over the last eight years.A Facebook campaign has now been

It’s the pits! launched by the group, aim-ing to gather as many victims as possible.In the case of Paul, 60, from Yorkshire, he put down €500 as a deposit and €500 for the first month’s rent at the prop-erty in La Cala de Mijas in August.But after just three days Wells asked Paul and his wife to clear out ‘so an urgent energy certificate matter could be dealt with’.“We were left in the dark for two days, and upon returning discovered another couple staying there, with many of our possessions still inside,” he said.

“We still haven’t managed to get some things back, we are absolutely furious and have filed a denuncia.”When Paul set up an urgent meeting with Wells to dis-cuss what had happened, she failed to show.However another couple in their early 20s also turned up telling him they had lost a similar amount of money.“Lots of her victims are in a worse situation than us, and who knows how many more are still to come out of the woodwork,” he added.Another victim who lost out is Stuart Hall, 44, and his

EXCLUSIVE

EXCLUSIVEBy Imogen Calderwood

A LUXURY yacht that burst into flames in Puerto Ba-nus is owned by ex-Formula One racing driver Bertrand Gachot, it can be revealed.The 51-year-old Frenchman, who raced for Jor-dan between 1989 and 1995, is the owner of the €2 million yacht Gilliana that blew up on Sunday morning.Two crew members were rushed to hospital, one with serious burns to his hands and another, a woman, 34, was treated for smoke inhalation.The 23-metre Princess yacht Gilliana costs €42,000-a-week to rent, via Diamovit Exclusive Rentals.A source said: “Gachot is very upset.”The driver was famously thrown out of the Jordan Grand Prix team for spraying CS gas at a taxi driver on the roundabout at Hyde Park Corner, for which he re-ceived a two-month prison stint.His race seat was temporarily filled by Michael Schum-acher, making his Formula One debut.

‘Animal centreneeds rescuing’

Maddie:Newsightingclaim

Page 11

See S.O.S Animal Rescue on Page 6

HUNTED: Rebecca Wells on her horse

EXCLUSIVE

BLAZE: F1 legend Gachot (inset) loses yacht in fire

Continues on Page 5

with so many foreigners liv-ing on the coast I don't think it happens now." Despite numerous attempts Estepona Town Hall did not answer any of our questions.

former neighbour Frank Co-myn, president of the Palm-eras del Golf urbanisation in Benalmadena Costa, has

DESPERATE: Balson and dogs

SPOT THE DIFFERENCE: Terttu’s ‘illegal’ extension and adjoining neighbour’s (right)

Ashya thanksBRITISH ambassador to Spain, Simon Manley, has thanked the Hospital Materno Infantil in Malaga for its treatment of Ashya King, on behalf of the British government.

Top stampsSPECIAL edition stamps of King Felipe and Queen Letizia have been launched by postal ser-vice Correos. Showing of-ficial photographs of the Royal duo, they can be bought for €1.


Big Willy MANCHESTER City goalkeeper Willy Caballero has told La Liga officials that he was approached by a match-fixing syndicate when playing for Malaga last year.

reported concern for her four children.Comyn, who lived opposite her for two years said: “The

FLASHBACK: Wells’ scam revealed last issue

kids barely went to school and rarely even came out to play.“She never mixed with the lo-cal community here and one day she was gone leaving an unpaid electricity bill.”The Olive Press has still been unable to contact Wells, over her defrauding of expats who paid rent on properties she did not own.Wells, aka Prior, allegedly took a series of deposits for homes which she did not own.If you have any information about Rebecca Wells, please contact [email protected]

DISAPPEARED: Wells and La Heredia, where she rented a home

11www.theolivepress.es the olive press - October 16 - October 29 2014NEWS 11

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SUPERMAN’S super-speed might put him at a distinct advantage as he competes in the Rock Run this month. British actor Henry Cavill, who starred as Su-perman in the 2013 film Man of Steel, will run alongside his Royal Marine brother for the mil-itary group’s 350th anniversary celebrations. Cavill, who is currently working on two Super-man spin-off films, is also ambassador for the Royal Marines Charitable Trust Fund.He has said he is ‘honoured’ to be a part of the weekend’s celebrations, with the run taking place on October 25.“I will remember this day fondly and probably with a little bit of physical discomfort, which only seems fitting considering what this day represents,” he added. Lieutenant Colonel Nik Cavill, the actor’s brother, will also take part in the 5km uphill climb, accompanied by 40 other competitors.

A SPANISH incursion in Gi-braltar’s territorial waters has sparked accusations of ‘bullying and harassment’ from the Chief Minister.The survey vessel ‘Angeles Alvarino’ carried out probes and disobeyed Royal Navy orders to leave the area. The actions were denounced as ‘dangerous’ and ‘irrespon-sible’, and criticised as an unnecessary challenge to UK sovereignty. Gibraltar’s government is now planning to take more robust action to prevent fur-ther incursions in the future. The Spanish vessel sent out probes to ‘take samples’ of the reef at Europa Point, one of which hit a Royal Navy in-

Probe ship sparks Rock row

DANGEROUS: The latest Spanish vessel to intrude into British waters

Event organiser Alan Hardy said he is ‘de-lighted’ that Cavill is joining in the celebra-tions and hopes the British actor enjoys ‘what Gibraltar has to offer’. “Gibraltar will always hold a special place in Royal Marines history,” he said. “We have organised a fantastic weekend of fun and celebrations for participants and the locals of Gibraltar.”Other planned celebrations over the week-end include a gala cocktail reception hosted by Lieutenant General James Dutton and a Royal Marines band concert in St Michael’s Cave.Lieutenant General Dutton said: “I am de-lighted to be able to endorse this event, which in raising funds for the Royal Marines Charitable Trust Fund underpins the status, history, and importance of Gibraltar’s unique relationship with the Royal Marines.

• GRAPHIC DESIGN• INTERIOR ARCHITECTURE • FASHION DESIGN

International Design School

Coffee morning MACMILLAN’S World’s Biggest Coffee Morning hosted more people worldwide than ever, with Gibraltar’s efforts raising more than £1,500.

Ice ageGIBRALTAR has hosted a meeting of the international Ice Age Europe Project for the first time. The project - with 18 partners in Europe - is a network of archaeological heritage sites.

Future uniPLANS for the University of Gibraltar have officially been launched. The centre of the university - to open on September 1 2015 - will be based at Europa point.

flatable boat that had gone to investigate the defiant vessel. “Gibraltar continues to be at the receiving end of Spanish bullying and harassment,” said Chief Minister Fabian Picardo.“Nothing is achieved except needlessly risking mariners' lives and wasting precious euros on diesel.” Europe minister, David Lid-ington, expressed ‘grave con-cerns’ to Spain’s Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and pointed out the unlawfulness of the event. He said: “Under no circum-stances should Spanish ves-sels be provoking a situation that could result in serious injury or a fatality.”

A BRITISH acting duo are set to deliver this issue of the Ol-ive Press to Gibraltar for the final leg of a new documen-tary. For the final episode of The Middle Aged Road Trip, Dan Coll and Dan Carey distrib-uted 4,500 copies of the Olive Press around the Rock.The duo started their journey in Yorkshire with just £10 in their pockets. And after an eventful fortnight they are ‘delighted’ to have teamed up with the Olive Press for the big finale. Coll said: “It’s really exciting to team up with Olive Press, it

Middle-aged paper boys

PAPER BOYS: Dan Coll and Dan Carey lend the OP a hand


Rock and run Is it a bird, is it a plane… No! It’s Superman, and he’s heading for Gibraltar SUPERMAN: Cavill takes on the Rock

will make great TV and it will be a great way for us to end our trip.” “It has been a heck of a ride and I am just glad we made it this far.” On their trip, the Dans met up with a host of celebrity friends including Coronation Street star Kevin Kennedy, model Charlotte Dawson and X-Fac-tor star Frankie Cocozza.The duo even hooked up with Paddy Doherty - one of Danny Dyer's Deadliest Men - before heading to the Olive Press HQ.To watch the actors’ adven-tures visit www.themiddle-agedroadtrip.com

October 18, 7.30pmPink party and Abba tribute night at Bianca’s restaurant, in aid of Cancer Support Gibraltar. Tickets £22, including three-course meal and raffle. Call 580 08944.

October 23-25International Jazz Festival 2014 at Queens Cinema Theatre. Visit www.gibraltarjazz.gi, or call 200 66819.

October 26, 8pmMusical and visual extravaganza by the Scottish Royal Marines, at St Michael’s Cave. Tickets £20 inc. return transfers, on sale at John Mackintosh Hall reception or www.rmctf.org.uk

12

13www.theolivepress.es the olive press - October 16 - October 29 2014

14 www.theolivepress.esthe olive press - October 16 - October 29 2014 GREEN NEWS

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11.30 Channeling Healing Vibration Dorothea Quantum Singing (Sunday) 12.00 Time Line Therapy Marion Dias Hypnosis BSc Author (Saturday) 12.00 Empower Yourself Marion Dias Hypnosis BSc Author (Sunday) 12.30 The Atlantis Mission Nollaig McKeoghan Author Atlantis Mission 1.00 Asea a revolution in holistic health Richard Waterborn Saturday 1.00 Voice spectrum analysis for healing Richard Waterborn(Sunday) 1.30 Sirius A Model for Living your best life Ronan Rooney 2.00 Demonstration of Mediumship David Ratcliffe-Feterston (Saturday) 2.00 Demonstration of Tarot Mercedas Lopez (Sunday) 2.30 The Intuitive Pathway to Holistic Living Bernedette Phillips (Sat) 2.30 The Joy of Numbers Stan Phillips Numerologist (Sunday) 3.00 Kangen Alkaline Water Benefits Jim Thompson & Jacinta Hannon

3.30 Demonstration of Mediumship Anna Pearson (Saturday) 3.30 Recalibrate Your Perceptions Hollie Rolla Life Coach (Sunday) 4.00 Demonstration of Spiritual Mediumship by Jennifer Mackenzie 4.30 Intergalactic & Lemurian Healing work by Liz & Christina Berggren 5.00 Demonstration of Mediumship Wales top Psychic Lee Petulengro 5.30 How to live an abundant life Gail Nelson Snell Metaphysical teacher 6.00 Your Soul Plan Hollie Rolla Life Coach (Saturday) 6.00 Toxic House = Toxic Body & Mind Michelle Julian (Sunday) 6.30 Channeling Healing Vibration Dorothea Quantum Singing (Saturday) 6.30 Reconnection Healing with Ramon Boquera Ruiz (Sunday) 7.00 Emotional Healing with Essential Oils Michelle Julian (Saturday) 7.00 Psychic Clairvoyance Melita Shekinah Entrance 10 euro includes all the above Talks/Demonstrations

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A FLOTILLA of boats pro-testing plans for a fracking survey on the Costa del Sol has been backed by Green-peace and the Junta.The protest, on Sunday, will see hundreds of boats set off from Fuengirola port, pro-testing Repsol’s plans to be-gin exploratory drilling for natural gas off Mijas Costa, as early as February 2015.The ‘Siroco’ project aims to drill wells 1,600m deep, just 12km southwest of Fuengi-rola.This is despite Junta tourist minister Rafael Rodriguez insisting the venture is ‘in-compatible’ with tourism development on the Costa del Sol.If the project is a success, opponents fear it could pave the way for more fracking in the future. Fracking is a highly con-troversial topic, with envi-ronmentalists insisting the science surrounding the ex-traction process is unprov-en and dangerous. They say the process can cause small tremors, which risk releasing carcinogenic chemicals into the sur-rounding waters. Rodriguez has now met with the umbrella group organis-ing the protest and has given

A THIRD of the Spanish population are breath-ing air above European-wide pollution levels.More than 16.8 million people – 36% of the population – have been exposed to dangerous levels of pollutants, with diesel engines be-ing the main source. Green group Ecolo-gists in Action have also warned that 95% of Spaniards are exposed to unhealthy pollution levels, taking into ac-count the stricter rec-ommendations made by the World Health Or-ganisation (WHO). “International health authorities estimate the number of premature deaths [in Spain] to be 20,000 a year,” due to complications arising from air pollution, said Miguel Angel Ceballos, one of the report coor-dinators.

REPSOL’S oil and gas exploration plans off the coast of the Canary Islands are to be put to the vote. Residents on the islands will be asked to vote ‘for’ or ‘against’ banning the exploration near to the archipelago. It comes after protesters from various en-vironmental groups descended on Madrid after Repsol was granted permission to ex-plore waters off the islands. The regional president, Paulino Rivero, will

GREEN FORCEGreenpeace and the Junta are backing a protest flotilla against fracking

14

his support for the action.The minister has also vowed to take the matter to Ma-drid’s tourist commission to try and get the project scrapped.The flotilla protest will be


joined by Greenpeace’s ice-breaker ship, Arctic Sunrise, which is now in the area. Vessels will leave from vari-ous ports on the coast but the main body will depart from Fuengirola’s port at

10am on October 19 and sail to the Mijas coastline affect-ed, roughly 8.5km from the Punta de Calaburras. Anyone looking to partici-pate should contact: 616 636 108

FRACK OFF: Greenpeace boat Arctic Sunrise to join protest

Dirty air

OIL VOTE FOR CANARIES

FLASH flooding is causing chaos in Andalucia as tor-rential downpours continue to fall in southern Spain. Dramatic storms across the region have led to road clo-sures in Mijas, Sevilla and Estepona this week. If you have your own stormy photos then why not submit them to the OP’s new pho-to-sharing website, insight.theolivepress.es

Stormy skies

RAIN IN SPAIN: Flash flooding in Mijas

now hold a referendum on November 23, as he fears offshore drilling could disrupt the environment and impact tourism.He said: “Do you think the Canaries should change its environmental and tourism model for the sake of oil and gas exploration? That is the question that will be put to the vote.” A civil rights group is also encouraging resi-dents of the seven islands to join them in a protest on October 18 under the slogan ‘We live here, we decide here’.

15www.theolivepress.es the olive press - October 16 - October 29 2014GREEN NEWS AXARQUIA

ALMUNECAR Town Hall has launched an ambitious proj-ect to clean and treat almost 8,000 palm trees in a bid to stave off pests.Hundreds of trees have been destroyed by palm weevils and other invasive pests

Almunecar moves to save 8,000 palm trees from killer weevils

A GRANDMOTHER has died, and her granddaughter is critically injured, af-ter the pair fell down a lift shaft in Al-machar. The 62-year-old woman, Maria Cisne-ros, entered the unfinished building while desperately searching for her

GRANDMOTHER DIES IN A LIFT SHAFT

across Axarquia in the last decade.An infestation of palm weevils can result in the yellowing and wilting of palms, which even-tually leads to its death.

Good versus weevil

WORK on the Nerja sewage plant has been boosted by €12.5 million of state funding.The water treatment centre is expected to be finished by the start of 2016 and ready for use by the summer.The government has allocated the sum as part of next year’s budget, in a bid to speed up progress on the only sewage plant on the Costa del Sol still unfinished. Work began on the plant, in Aguahierro, this January as part of the national plan to im-prove water quality.“40% of Malaga’s towns do not treat their water,” said Junta spokesman Victor Gonzalez, who warned that the Junta may face fines from the EU over lack of water treatment plants.

Killer jailedA MENTALLY-HANDICAPPED resident of an medical institution in Velez-Malaga has been sentenced to six years in prison for killing a fellow resident.

Turtle trouble AN endangered Loggerhead turtle has been rescued by police officers off Valle Niza beach after it collided with a boat propeller. The creature was taken to an animal emergency centre.

New market THE Mayor of Velez-Malaga has opened a new food market on the site of the town's old bus station. The project has cost around €800,000.

AN influx of toxic organisms has forced the closure of Malaga’s biggest fishing harbour, the Caleta de Velez. Fishermen in Malaga are facing tough times ahead after the an-nouncement that five out of the total nine zones may have to close.The ‘red tide’ - as the influx is known - at Caleta de Velez is re-portedly a natural phenomenon caused by a large concentration of toxic organisms.The Junta has announced that compensation will be paid to fish-ermen whose area is closed for more than 20 days.However, many fishermen are being forced to seek alternative employment due to the closures.

Fishing washed upNews IN BRIEF

Sewage boost

FIGHTING: Weevils


Resident in nearby Colmenar, expat Bea Wood told the Ol-ive Press: “Palm weevils have destroyed one of two beauti-ful palm trees in our garden.“I’m trying to kill them be-cause I don’t know if the other tree has been infested as well.”The head of Almunecar’s En-vironment Department, Luis Aragon, said: “The campaign has started late this year to avoid upsetting the influx of tourists here enjoying the good weather in September.“We have several crews to speed up work and avoid af-fecting the residents.”

missing two-year-old grandson, after he disappeared from a neighbouring property.She fell down the five-metre lift shaft - which was thinly covered with bricks - while carrying her nine-month-old granddaughter.

The grandmother died from her in-juries the same day, while the grand-daughter suffered severe head injuries and has been operated on. The children’s 30-year-old mother was also injured, after jumping into the shaft to try to help her family. END OF THE ROD: Caleta de Velez fishing zone closed

By Joe Chivers


Letters should be emailed to [email protected]. The writer’s name and address should be provided. Opinions are not necessarily those of the Editor.

CROSSMOT 42

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Across7 Man (6) * 8 Balancín (6) * 9 Gris (4) * 10 Ahogando (8) * 11 Andando (7) * 13 Vestido (5) * 15 Herida (5) * 17 Crop (7) * 20 Moliendo (8) * 21 Cinta (4) * 22 Prism (6) * 23 líder (6).

Down1 Strap (6) * 2 Obedecer (4) * 3 lectura (7) * 4 These (5) * 5 Northern (3, 5) * 6 Pinturas (6) * 12 Bondad (8) * 14 Aproximadamente (7) * 16 Worker (6) * 18 Saltó (6) * 19 Cigarro (5) * 21 Brings (4).

lETTERS

Halal horrorDEAR OP,

Interesting as your article on halal food was (‘Halal of a time, issue 197), the writer should have remembered Mrs Beeton’s initial advice when presenting a recipe for hare, ‘First catch your hare’.The preparation of halal food is dependent on the way the animal is killed, and no men-tion was made of this. West-ern countries have allowed national laws that require an-imals killed in slaughterhous-es to be stunned before killing so as to minimise their suffer-ing, to be ignored. Whether for shechita (Jewish) or ha-lal (Muslim), the unfortu-nate animal has its throat cut while fully conscious and bleeds to death over a pro-longed period. In the Muslim rite it has the questionable comfort of being able to listen to recorded verses from the Koran as it slowly expires.Since in many institutions such as schools and hospitals it is not feasible to serve both halal and non-halal meat, all meat served is now often halal, meaning innumerable animals are suffering a pain-ful death that does not even serve to feed Muslims. Den-mark is, I believe, the only EU country that has had the guts to enforce stunning for halal slaughter in the face of oppo-sition from the Muslim com-munity. In other countries, as is the way of such things, the matter has become a politi-cal hot potato and politicians support what is effectively an unconstitutional measure in

WE tried Jack’s Chicken Shack this summer un-aware of the Ramsay makeover (‘Shack attack’, issue 198). The owner Jack was very entertain-ing and the children loved him. Having watched the show I now realise that we fell for Gordon’s menu and were up-sold on lots of extras – but that’s fine. They were well priced and tasty.The chicken is a bit hit-and-miss but the cala-mari was fresh and the best I’ve had for a long time. However, I stopped popping in there after I heard chef Juan making snide remarks about me in Spanish. Until I saw the show I thought he owned the place but now I realise he’s just

the incompetent chef. He clearly has a mas-sive chip on his shoulder and stands around the bar area like a fart in a trance. How much money has that guy cost them over the years? It’s astounding! Jack and Jon seem very nice and I wish them the best. But, perhaps while Jack is sweating outside trying to bring in customers he should think about why he keeps Juan employed to stand around inside losing him business.

Andy Smith,Fuengirola

order to win votes.Anyone who recommends ha-lal cuisine is condoning ani-mal suffering.

AJ Linn,Marbella

Cat killersI HAVE been looking after the feral cats in Estepona port. These cats are essential to the health of the beach en-vironment, as they kill rats and mice. One day I sud-denly discovered the whole area had been pruned. I then found metal garottes, poison canisters and ground glass in cat food.All the cats have now van-ished except five or six. Of course, the council garden-ers claim no knowledge as to the whereabouts of around 17 very healthy cats. People say: "Oh the Spanish are cruel to cats." Well, it takes more than a cultural view to garotte a cat. I have found the majority of Spanish people to be great animal lovers, but everyone needs to understand the dif-ference between a stray cat and a feral cat.Feral cats help restaurants and bars keep vermin free. If anyone feels like killing a cat, please let me know before you do and I will come and get it. Then I will send you to the doctor for a psychiatric ap-praisal.

Cate Baum, Estepona

Cruel chargesI AM writing in response to your article, ‘Estepona resi-dents fired up over unfair infrastructure charges’ (issue 197), I am a resident myself. A large majority of our mem-bers are pensioners and many of those are living on minimal state pensions. We have a mix of nationalities includ-ing Spanish and many have lived here for up to 30 years. Residents are being charged for an upgrade of our infra-structure, not just roads. We are told that if we do not pay

the charges then the town hall will extract money from our bank accounts. If that should fail then they tell us we will be evicted from our houses and the property auctioned. All the Spanish lawyers we have spoken to tell us this is quite legal. The people here came to Spain to enjoy their retire-ment. What is happening can only be described as cruel. None of us deserve this in-justice, nor the mental strain and upset that it is causing.

John Shepherd, Valle Romano

Double whammyI HAVE received not one but two speeding fines while driving late at night on the A45 between Casameja and Malaga. The cameras photo-graphed me twice within four minutes of each other, mean-ing I have two separate fines. I admit that I should never have been speeding, even by just over the 80km limit. But why on earth has trafico decided after many years to reduce the speed limit from 120km and 100km per hour

to 80km, on a busy main road into Malaga.Is it because of road works, an accident blackspot, or an endangered animal crossing point?No: it’s purely a way to gener-ate more income.The other side of the A45 on the same stretch of the road remains the same as before. Drivers are now backed up on the inside lane into Malaga doing exactly 80km per hour. Next time you see a new traf-fic police car remember it was me who paid for the tyres.

Rob Parris,Colmenar

Total bankers MAYBE when you reach bot-tom, the only way is up.And now Spain fines drivers for both real and made up reasons – they made €500 million last year – so of course the books are looking better.How about thinning down government employees, re-ducing corruption and al-lowing the housing market to reflect the true value of thou-sands of empty properties

ENTERTAINER: Owner Jack and (inset) Gordon Ramsay

and homes deemed illegal at will.Oh silly me, bankers don’t care about people!

Jo Webb, Torremolinos

Motoring heavenI FOUND it hard to believe the almost surreal moment when I came to my senses in the Malaga Motor Mu-seum. I had known for the past nine years that Malaga had a motor museum, but had always put off going be-cause I thought it would be rubbish. How wrong could I have been! For a guy like me, (piston head, with oil for blood and a V8 fetish) it was heaven! I can still feel the tin-gling in my spine as I found myself standing between a pristine 1960 Aston Martin DB4 Superleggera and a 1957 Mercedes 300sl (Gullwing). Over a million pounds worth of beautiful motoring master-piece in my hands. The tour is on your own, with no time limit, and at your own pace.

Steve Walsh,Mijas

Spanish serviceI OWN a Spanish bar and employ Spanish staff but find them very frustrating. They are all good people but find the concept of good service beyond them. Yes, they tend to serve the first drink at the table well but after that they neglect the customers and don’t try to sell more drinks. This drives me mad and no matter how many times I tell them they fall back into the same hab-its very quickly. The UK ser-vice industry is pretty good, especially in tourist areas where businesses are look-ing to maximise their prof-its. It always shocks me how bad in general the service is in bars and restaurants in Fuengirola, seeing that tourism is its bread and but-ter. Recently an ex-business partner of mine visited and was shocked at the lack of service at his hotel (the best hotel in Fuengirola) and in general while walking around.Mark Smith,Fuengirola

Mark Smith,Fuengirola

Sack him Jack! It’s for the best

17www.theolivepress.es the olive press - October 16 - October 29 201417la cultura 17

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THE hidden dock from which Christopher Colum-bus set sail for the New World in 1492 has been dis-covered in Huelva.

BEARDED and long-haired, the widely ac-cepted image of Jesus Christ may in fact be a myth. Archeologists have unearthed one of the ear-liest depictions of Jesus, inside a religious building in the ancient town of Castulo, Jaen - and he doesn’t have a beard! The smooth-skinned figure is engraved on a glass plate believed to date back to the fourth century AD. It shows Jesus wearing a philosopher's robe flanked by two apostles, believed to be Peter and Paul.In fact, the conventional image of a fully-bearded Jesus with long hair did not become established until the sixth century in Eastern Christianity, and much later in the West.

Buried treasureArchaeologists discover the exact place Columbus set sail for the New World in Huelva

UNEARTHED: Columbus’ starting point

After excavating the land for two months, archaeologists from Huelva University be-lieve they have unearthed the port in the town of Palos

de la Frontera, where Co-lumbus allegedly recruited sailors for his American voyage. They also discovered the remains of a potter’s work-shop, an inn and a tavern - suggesting that La Fonta-nilla port was once a vibrant point of trade. The leader of the excavation project, Juan Manuel Cam-pos, said: “The reef was the port’s customs area, and it was the place where Colum-bus negotiated and made the arrangements necessary for the success of his histor-ic voyage.“This is the most satisfying dis-

covery we have ever made.” Researchers had suspected the port was located in the area since 1992, but it is only now - 22 years later - that they have been able to prove their suspicions. Excavation work will con-tinue for another week, af-ter which researchers will examine the ‘thousands and thousands of articles’ al-ready found. The discovery came just one week after an American explorer claimed to have found Columbus’ lost flagship - the Santa Ma-ria - off the northern coast of Haiti, only for Unesco to dismiss the claim.

To beard or not to beard?

BABY-FACED: The Jesus plate

what’s on

Secure Mail BoxesAsk in the shop for details

The BookshopSabinillas

Email: [email protected]

www.sabinillasbookshop.com

Tel: 952 891 545

The Sabinillas Bookshop

Monday to Friday 09:00 - 14.30 / 16.00 - 19:00 Saturday 09:30 - 14:00 Sunday - Now Closed

Daily Newspapers • MagazinesPassports • Mail Boxes • Postal Service

Balloons • Day Trips • Maps Guides • Books • Cards

We now offer a passport renewal service. We can also help

with lost and stolen passports.

bookshop - olive press Winter:Layout 1 08/10/2014 16:57 Page 1

Manilva. October 15, 6.30-8pmWomen’s

business networking event, at the Wine Centre CIVIMA in Manilva pueblo. For more information and to RSVP contact [email protected]

Malaga. October 22, 5pmArchidona

Cinema presents the seventh Festival of Andalucian Documentaries, at the CAC Malaga. Free entry. Visit www.cacmalaga.eu, or call 952 120 055.

Fuengirola. October 23, 4.30pmTalk on

the importance of being in the Padron, by lawyer Bill Oliver. At the Lux Mundi centre, entry for €1. Call 952 474 840, email [email protected], or visit www.lux-mundi.org.

Marbella. October 25, 9.45pmMeet

and mingle at an ‘Art Lovers’ singles party, at Panorama 187. Entrance fee €10, and RSVP is a must. Visit www.dateclubconnect.com, or call 687 856 411.

GOOGLE has paid tribute to a philosopher from Ronda to mark the 175th anniversary of his birth.Considered one of Spain's greatest intellects and a key democrat, Francisco Giner de los Rios featured on Google's home page on October 10.He is most famous for criti-cising the government for attempting to stifle academic freedom in 1875, for which he lost his job at the University of Madrid.

Deep thoughts

A 111-YEAR-OLD car that be-longed to an eccentric Span-ish aristocrat is to be the star lot in a London auction. The 1903 Panhard et Levas-sor Phaeton – said to be the 18th car to be registered in Madrid – is expected to fetch more than €800,000 at the auction at the Bonhams an-nual London to Brighton Sale Having belonged to the Marques of Ivanrey, Ricardo Soriano – a well-known Mar-bella entrepreneur - for 71 years, the car is in ‘astound-ingly good condition’.Famed for his eclectic pur-suits, Soriano was an early promoter of tourism on the Costa del Sol, particu-larly Marbella. A key road is named after him.It is one of 60 lots at the Bon-hams auction on October 31.

Going twice

UP FOR AUCTION: Car

18 www.theolivepress.esthe olive press - October 16 - October 29 2014 18 la cultura

ABOVE the Sierra Nevada David Garcia had closed his eyes but was far from

sleeping. He had reviewed the files whilst sat in the departure lounge at JFK. The baggage handlers barely visible in a thin dawn with relentless drizzle, he had allowed himself to remem-ber the last time he had trav-elled to Europe, before. Before Richard had died. Before the Twin Towers had been razed to the ground. Before he’d opened his mouth and spoken a viewpoint no-one wanted to hear.What he had seen of Spain he scarcely remembered. Of course the Alhambra, who could forget that? And of course the strong Spanish An-

dalucian accent, so foreign to his own Cuban. But anything else was blended such that even he, a sharp observer, was hard pressed to distinguish one

set of scenery from another.And all the time Richard dying of thirst, begging for just one drop, and David desperate to get him to the UK where they

could find a Chapter of AA that spoke English. And now here he was, set to go to Europe again, only this time on his own, all expenses paid, and not a pleasurable moment in sight.

Tiptoeing through the gener-alife in the Alhambra, Mary

Stansfield noted the patterned pebble work, beautiful under her feet, as it dug up through the thin soles of her shoes. The cypress trees flanked her, the gentle sound of falling water caressed her ears. The prom-ise of sun touched her back and shoulders. Something in the unexpected peace seemed unnatural.As dawn was breaking, a huge bang had made her jump in bed. Whether thunder or the backfiring of a vehicle she could not have said. Then all had fallen quiet again. In the end it was the deathly quiet of the dawn which had fully awak-ened her.Despite the early hour, the sun was almost shining. A well re-hearsed repertoire of Andalu-cian folk songs ought to have made her carefree. Even their Granadino hosts could not fail to be pleased with the pro-gramme highlighting works col-lected by Granada’s most fa-mous son Federico Garcia Lor-ca. But as she continued along the paths she had a creeping anxiety. It was momentarily re-placed by delight as she came across her choristers in a natu-ral amphitheatre. Mary, thrilled to have the chance of a sound-check with no-one around, sounded a note on her tuning fork and raised her arms. On the upward stroke of her hand the men opened their mouths and sang. The noise filled the Generalife.Then they stopped, staring over her shoulder, and she turned and saw him for the first time.He looked like death warmed up, and very, very angry.

Mario’s in New York was al-ways a perfect haven. Un-

AWE-INSPIRING: The Patio de los Leones and (inset) author Sikking

“A work of art”Radio COPE

“Marvellous”THE OLIVE PRESS

“A vision”CANAL SUR

“tense from the first to the last moment”

Brígida Gallego Coín

“a book you cannot put down”

J G Harlond

“electrifying...Lorca fans will thrill to this”

Pan Zador

Available in bookshops and online from

October 20, 2014...

Check out www.song-of-granada.com

for events, reviews and local appearances by the

author

Alhambra under fireTerrorists have taken over the Alhambra Palace, in new expat novel Song of Granada. Laced with drama and intrigue, Anne Sikking weaves a story of compassion and spirit in the face of terrorism. Here, the Olive Press presents the first of a two-part serialisation


able to sleep, Commissioner O’Reilly had left home in the dark and taken his usual booth. He drank long and deep of his coffee, pleased García was already far away. He hated David Garcia, or rather Angel David Garcia. Angel. What sort

of a man was called Angel?One, Garcia was a queer. And O’Reilly hated queers. He hat-ed queers because he believed that all of them were essential-ly afraid, and fear made them weak and malleable and unreli-able. No policeman could want

19


to put his life in the hands of a fellow officer whose common platform of belief could not be depended upon. He hated it that Garcia was a policeman, and worse, until 9/11, a popu-lar one.Two, Garcia was Hispanic. And O’Reilly hated Spics. But he was not afraid of them, either. By rights, O’Reilly, himself only a third-generation Irishman, should have felt camaraderie with Garcia. God knows the Irish had suffered the indigni-ties of immigrant communities the world over. Yet he hated it that unlike the Irish, Spics could hide in language which in turn had safeguarded their culture, whereas the Irish had pretty much lost theirs, with only their surnames, and seething Irish anger to distin-guish them.Three, Garcia was a Catholic. And O’Reilly, being one him-self, definitely did not hate Catholics. Nor was he afraid of them. But he did hate the Da-vid Garcia type of Catholic. His daughter had wanted to know what the difference could pos-sibly be between one type of Catholic and another. O’Reilly had avoided answering.He did know the difference; he just didn’t want to tell her be-cause it sounded ridiculous. The difference was colour. When he thought of the Ca-tholicism of an Irishman, he thought green and white. When he thought about the Catholi-cism of the Italians or the His-panics the colours he could see were yellow, red and gold. That was the difference. His Irish Ca-tholicism was calm, controlled and pure. Theirs was running riot, irreverent. They had, what O’Reilly could only think of as heat. And he hated heat.Finally, the one thing in the lit-any that O’Reilly found hard to articulate was that Garcia was quintessentially smart; saw, knew, ‘got it’, in a really un-usual way. Until 9/11, that is, when he messed up big time. And that was what made it pos-sible for O’Reilly to live with his hatred without it chewing him up from the inside. Garcia had made a big mistake, and now he was having to pay for it...

THE Olive Press is offering an unbelievable 10 chances to win a copy of Song of Granada, by Anne Sikking. We have five copies of the book to give away in English, and five in Spanish – for those wanting to brush up on their language skills. For your chance to win your own copy of Song of Granada – which comes highly-recommended by the Olive Press – simply answer this question: What famous Spanish monument does this anagram spell out: HARM THE ABLE ALPACA?Send your answers to [email protected], including your name, where you live and which language you would prefer.

WIN WIN WIN

ARRESTING BEAUTY: Alhambra ticket scam spanned four years

Alhambra under fireNEARLY 50 people have been arrested over a €3.5 million fake ticket scam at the Alhambra Palace.The 45 people are facing prison sentences of between four to nine years for being involved in the fraud that took place between 2002 and 2005.Those arrested include, travel agents, hotel workers and staff at Spain’s most popular tourist destination. As well as demanding the re-turn of the money, prosecu-tors are also seeking an ad-ditional €3.1 million for the additional wear and tear to the site and for tarnishing its international image.

€3.5m fake ticket fraud at AlhambraUnder the scheme, local ho-tels and travel agents took tourists directly to the UNES-CO World Heritage Site and effectively got them in via the back door.They were given fake tickets concocted by the site’s head

of IT and two other officials in the ticket officeAn estimated 50,000 tickets were distributed and a daily excess of about 50% of tour-ists were allowed into the site which receives approximately three million visitors a year.

THERE is no doubt the mechanisms of how the Alhambra is run are outmoded and strange.When the Olive Press visited the site earlier this year for a full page feature, it took numerous calls to secure some press tickets.Only able to offer an early morning slot for Sunday (9.30am), we were told to get there an hour earlier to pick up the tickets, but not that there would be a cost (full price) and that we had to pay in CASH.When asked why there were no discounts for journalists - we had never before had to pay money for press tickets in Spain - and why we had to pay in cash, we were met by blank looks and shrugs.Thankfully we had brought some cash with us and paid in full, but the whole experience left us wondering if the Junta was really the right organisation to be running such a key monument.That some 45 staff have now been caught selling fake tick-ets is no surprise at all, given the current state of corrup-tion the region finds itself in.When you have leaders of the Junta itself taking over five BILLION in the ERE and bogus training courses scams, is it any wonder a couple of lowly workers at a monument feel they can get away with it?

Outmoded and out of touch

OPINIONA release party – booked, paid for and scheduled to take place at the Alhambra on Oc-tober 20 – has now been put in jeopardy.“It is very disappointing to find it being excluded by peo-ple who admit to not having read it, not least because it is a work of fiction,” Sikking, who grew up in York, told the Olive Press.“It’s still not clear to me what is being objected to,” add-ed Sikking, who also rents a farmhouse, just outside Granada.Both the Alhambra Palace and its parador hotel feature heavily in the book, which documents a terrorist attack in the palace grounds.The reason for the ban, ac-cording to the publisher, is that it is thought the book shows both Granada and the Alhambra in a bad light.The Alhambra press team were unable to make a com-ment before going to print.

BannedFrom front page

20 www.theolivepress.esthe olive press - October 16 - October 29 201420 la culturathe olive press - October 16- October 29 2014

Jack’s CornerTHE Roman Empire’s in-

fluence on the Iberian Peninsula is omnipres-

ent and unmistakable. Sego-via’s infamous aqueducts, Sevilla’s Italica, Cordoba’s Roman Bridge, the amphi-theatres in Tarragona, Carta-gena and Merida... the list of stunning works of Roman architecture is endless. The Roman imprint is also found in some not-so-obvious ways. The Romans spoke Latin - the linguistic precursor to today’s Spanish. In cuisine too, for example wine and olive oil; Spain’s system of laws, mar-ket economics, etc. are also all derivatives from the Roman heritage. However, how many of us are aware of the reverse - namely, the Spanish imprint on Rome? An unbroken chain of ‘Spanish-born native sons’ who made significant contri-butions in the areas of oratory skills, literature, theatre and education. In the city of Rome itself, for over a century, there was an intellectual circle of Spanish-born denizens who were the arbiters for all things literary, educational and phil-osophical. Let us meet some of them….

SenecaIn today’s Cordoba, near the ancient Roman Almodovar Gate, stands a statue of a short, bald man dressed in a toga. He is focused on a manu-script scroll. It is a likeness of what some consider Spain’s foremost intellectual - a think-er named Seneca (4 BC - 65 AD). Seneca was born in Cor-doba but was sent to the city of Rome at an early age to study.

Viva Roma!Jack Gaioni unearths the best and brightest ‘Spanish sons’ who made it big in ancient Rome, setting the literary and intellectual agenda for many centuries to follow

There, he immersed himself in rhetorical skills, law, phi-losophy and natural sciences. He tutored the young future Emperor Nero, and remained an influential advisor as Nero rose to political fame. Seneca’s powerful influence extended to the Roman military, politi-cal and social elites. Literary works attributed to Seneca range from treatises on Stoic philosophy, dramas (mostly tragedies), comedies and sat-ire, discourses on political statesmanship and education. Seneca was Rome’s leading intellectual throughout much of the first century and some

believe Seneca was, in fact, the de facto ruler of Rome. What is most interesting about Sen-eca’s place in history is that his prestige has survived the test of time. His philosophy has been referenced by such later thinkers as St. Augustine, Dante, Chaucer, Erasmus and many others. In 1965, Spain recognised the bimillenary commemoration of Seneca’s death, heralding yet another Seneca revival into the last de-cades of the 20th century.

QuintilianQuintilian (35 AD - 100 AD) was born in La Rioja. Like

Seneca, he was sent to Rome to study writing and philoso-phy. He quickly became a star pupil and gained the attention of Emperor Vespasian. He ex-erted such a strong influence amongst the Roman elites that he was rewarded with sub-stantial endowments. He used these grants to launch what has been labeled the ‘first public school system’ in the Roman Em-pire. Quintilian’s pupils reads like a ‘who’s who’ list of influen-tial individuals who went on to exemplify the future glory of Rome, for example Pliny, Tac-itus, Suetonius and Domitian, to name a few. His best known literary work, Institutio Ora-toria, became a well-known handbook on approaches to education and public-speak-ing. Quintilian’s influence on education continued for another 500 years within the Empire. LucanBorn into a wealthy Cordoban family, Lucan (39 AD - 65 AD)

was sent not to Rome but to Athens to study logic and liter-ary skills. This difference pro-vided the young Lucan with a well-defined Stoic philosophi-cal view of the world around him. He took this outlook to Rome where he, like Seneca, became a close associate to the infamous Emperor Nero. He was rewarded with various senatorial positions but what set Lucan apart were not his political positions but his epic poems. His best known work, Pharsala, told the story of the civil war between Julius Cae-

sar and the forces of the Roman Sen-ate. At some point, Nero (thought by many to be insane) be-came jealous of Lucan’s

real-time popularity and for-bade the publication of his poems. Lucan responded by writing witty and insulting po-ems with political overtones directed at Nero. Things got so heated between the poet and Emperor that Lucan was ‘obliged’ to commit suicide. Lucan’s work was not only popular during his short life but throughout the Middle Ages.

MartialMarcus Valerius Martialis,

known simply as Martial (41 AD - 102 AD) was a first centu-ry poet. He was born and edu-cated in Zaragoza and moved to Rome soon after complet-ing his formal studies.His earliest published works centred on exposing the urban vices of aristocratic Rome. Martial’s keen curios-ity and power of observation manifested itself in a series of poems in which he cheer-fully satirises city life and the colourful (yet scandalous!) ac-tivities of the Roman elite.He romanticised the simpler pleasures of rural life. His style was unique in that his poems were short and concise with inexact meter which of-ten used obscene language for effect. This stylistic approach has led some to consider Mar-tial the father of the modern ‘epigram’ - or keenly pointed and satirical prose.During his life in Rome, Mar-tial never rose to a position of prominence and always strug-gled with poverty.Interestingly, the works of Martial became highly valued, emulated and popularised by Renaissance writers - in-cluding Petrarch, Machiavelli and even Shakespeare - some 1,400 years after his death. These Renaissance writers shared with Martial an eye for the follies of the urban aristo-cratic class of their own time.

CRUCIBLE: The colosseum in Rome

Quintilian’s influence on education continued for

another 500 years within the empire

21

August 7 - August 20 2014

21

errania de RondaAll about S the olive press - October 16- October 29 2014TIMElESS

THE giant stone pillars rise up out of the gorge, forming one of the most famous - and photo-

graphed - sights in Spain.But the Puento Nuevo (New Bridge) of Ronda is anything but ‘new’, as it turns out… It has been the centrepiece of this stun-ning town for more than 200 years.There is noth-ing that pre-pares you for the moment that you first approach it from above and witness the view and 390 foot drop down to the river be-low.Chef Jean Chris-tophe Novelli de-scribed it as the ‘coño moment’ (best left untrans-lated); the second you look down for the first time. I found myself dazzled by the sheer enormity of the gorge, and its majestic back drop, and I knew it would be diffi-cult to eventually tear my gaze

Hidden in soaring mountains and straddling a mighty gorge, Ronda is the stuff of dreams (and video

games) but also the adventure of a lifetime, writes Tom Powell

away from.But there is nothing about the so-called ‘City of Dreams’ that fails to impress.Ronda, located in the heart of the soaring Serrania de Ronda mountain range, is precisely

the kind of magical town found in fairy tales.It is no sur-prise the latest Gran T u r i s m o video game features a circuit that traverses the m o u n t a i n roads before crossing this very elegant bridge.Thousands of tourists tread its streets ev-ery day (it is the third

most visited town in Spain) discovering the rich his-tory and culture around every corner.US President’s wife Michelle Obama made the trip in 2010,

HISTORIC: A horseman outside Almocabar gate while (top right) the Puente Nuevo bridge and (right) the Arabic baths Turn to Page 22PI

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district, where you will find the Iberian Peninsula’s best pre-served Arabic baths.The baths, currently undergo-ing a restoration, were origi-nally built in the 13th century and operated by a water wheel, bringing water up from the Riv-er Guadalevin below.A stroll around the immaculate chambers, arches and col-umns conjures up images of the lifestyle enjoyed by travel-lers around the then Kingdom of Granada. A fantastic recon-

struction film really brings it to life.Leaving the baths and walking up the charming cobbled paths takes you into the buzzing old town, which is ripe with key historic buildings and charm personified.The typical Ronda furniture is abundant, along with pottery and handicrafts, all rich in Mo-roccan influences.This quarter, La Ciudad, is the city’s oldest and was a favou-rite haunt of filmmaker Welles, due to its beautiful Moorish structures interspersed with fine renaissance mansions.Built in 9BC, Ronda is one of Spain’s oldest towns and was a key military bastion in the Roman Empire, as well as boasting its own thriving wine industry.But it was later completely transformed by the Moors, who were responsible for many of the special sights that make it so popular today.It is possible to walk along the Moorish city walls, past the crumbling Alcazar, and look

HARVEST: Picking season at one of Ronda’s 30 bodega and (bottom) nobleman Don Bosco’s home

So special

touring the old town and dis-covering the Moorish dynasty with her daughter Sacha.UK Prime Minister David Cam-eron has been on several occa-sions, as have Jamie Oliver and Bill Gates, along with a host of other famous faces.And when it comes to writers, they have waxed lyrical about its timeless streets, its breath-taking backdrop and hardy lo-cals for centuries.German poet Rainer Maria Rilke donated the name ‘City of Dreams’, Orson Welles took a shine to its bullfighters, while Ernest Hemingway fell in love with, well, just about every-thing.“Ronda is the place to go if you are planning to travel to Spain for a honeymoon or for being with a girlfriend,” he wrote. “The whole city and its sur-roundings are a romantic set. Nice promenades, good wine, excellent food and nothing to do.”Hemingway, who has a street named after him, would want to revise his last remark if he were alive today. For the city is actually brimming with things to do and opportu-nities for adventure.The most famous attractions are undoubtedly the old town and its three bridges, spanning the gorge and connecting the city’s Roman and Arabic roots with its modern town.Look out for the 14th century San Miguel bridge, the 17th century Puente Viejo and of course the 18th century Pu-ente Nuevo. Hemingway used it as a setting in his novel For Whom the Bell Tolls, in which he described prisoners being thrown from it to their deaths below during the Spanish Civil War.A great starting point is at the bottom of the Arabic quarter, today known as the San Miguel

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the olive press - October 16- October 29 2014errania de onda

out into the Serrania, where the view has barely changed in centuries.Another highlight is the soon-to-be luxury hotel Casa del Rey Moro, where Michelle Obama surprised onlookers in 2010 by descending the 300 difficult steps down the water mine – ‘La Mina’ - an experience many tourists pass on.But America’s First Lady want-ed to witness at first-hand how the Arabic defenders used to collect water from the river be-low during violent sieges in the 14th and 15th centuries.The Obamas also visited the delightful Mondragon palace, which houses the municipal museum as well as beautifully kept water gardens from which the sweeping Serrania can be gazed upon.Exhibitions vary from Stone Age history to local geology, but the charm of the wonky floor and low ceilings remains throughout.Nearby is the Santa Maria la Mayor church, which domi-nates the Plaza Duquesa de Parcent, a large shady square perfect for cooling off in.

RONDA is as much about its local mountain land-scape, walks and vil-lages as its main town.

There is enough to keep you oc-cupied in the surrounding Ser-rania de Ronda for days, if not a week.You can easily spend a day or two walking or driving around the luscious Genal valley, book-ended by stunning Gaucin.Then there is a fascinating side trip to the haunting remains of the Roman town of Acinipo and nearby Setenil de las Bodegas, where the Romans kept their wines.Don’t forget to pop into the charming authentic town of Ar-riate, to visit its ham factories

Mountain of possibilities

HARVEST: Picking season at one of Ronda’s 30 bodega and (bottom) nobleman Don Bosco’s home

Originally built in the 14th cen-tury as a mosque, these days the ornate church is open to tourists and is well worth the visit.Nuns can still be spotted cross-ing the square, reminding you that this part of Ronda’s history is still very much alive.Across from the church is the landmark neo-classical town hall, with its bold stone arches which are so typical of Ronda.The Bandoleros Museum is an-

other great op-tion for anyone with so much as a pass-ing interest in swashbuckling bandits, battle and treasure.And for those with an adven-turous side, before crossing the bridge to the new town, there is the opportu-

nity to delve down into the gorge and discover what lies below.As of this year, a cliff-hugging footpath reminiscent of El Chorro’s Caminito del Rey has been opened, giving a new view of Ronda for those hardy enough to brave it.And take it from me, gazing up at the beautiful old build-ings teetering perilously on the edge of the cliff is just as spec-tacular as looking down.There is just as much to do in the new town as the old, with the bullring – one of Spain’s oldest – taking pride of place.

and enjoy its great local restau-rants.And finally if it is nature and wilderness, head for the great

outdoors of Grazalema natu-ral park with its scenic villages of Montajaque, Benaojan and Jimera de Libar.

The journey once took four hours on

barely passable roads but is now less than an hour

VISTAS: From the old town and (right) Maruja Limon

Once a year the country’s most famous bullfight, the Goyesca, takes place here, with thou-sands descending on Ronda for the event.The rest of the time, apart from the odd bullfight in the Spring, the ring is popular for its mu-seum dedicated to the sport. In 1994, it also served as the set-ting for Madon-na’s hit song Take a Bow.From outside the bullring and the tourist in-formation office you can catch a traditional horse and carriage for a more authentic tour of the town. It is surprisingly good value.The large, shady Almeda del Tajo botanical gardens are ab-solutely vital to experience on a hot summer’s day, providing welcome respite from the city buzz as well as shade and wa-ter fountains.A stone footpath from there, Paseo de los Ingleses, skirts round the edge of the cliff

taking full advantage of the sweeping panoramic views on offer.The heart of the new town is certainly the bustling main shopping street, Carrera Es-pinel, (known as ‘La Bola’ by locals) which is bursting with handicraft shops, local pro-duce and infinite places to stop

off for a cafe con leche.In fact it is one of the most alive and buzz-ing in Andalu-cia, while the square Plaza Socorro is

where Blas Infante declared Andalucian independence 200 years ago from its charming Casino.The journey to Ronda, which once took four hours to under-take on barely passable roads, is now less than an hour from the coast. That first sighting as you wind down through the mountain is still just as spellbinding, as the ‘City of Dreams’ comes to life.

PRAYER: Santa Maria la Mayor church

CHARMING: A classic Arabic building and view of bridge

Flamenco show’s12:30-1:15-2:00 and 8:00 (1 hour)Fantastic tapas and wines by the glass

Paseo Blas Infante s/n. 29400Ronda-MalagaInformation and bookings608272205 / [email protected]

Alegria, alegria, alegriaIT was a random Tuesday lunchtime but the

alegria (happiness) could be felt from the bullring next door.

As the third cork popped from a cava bottle the group of gypsies started to sing with real passion and the guitars came out in force.I could quickly tell this was not part of the excellent show that new flamenco bar El Quinque is putting on four times a day. If not quite duende (the occa-sional spirit that flamenco performers talk about) it was certainly a spontaneous outpouring of hap-piness.Cigars and tapas were the order of the day and a quick 30-minute lunch turned into a two-hour hand-clap session, replete with splendid food and wine.Opened by two flamenco aficionados, Angel, a guitarist, and Pablo, a singer, the new addition to Ronda’s entertainment scene should do well.Both have lived and worked among the celebrated gypsies of the Sacromonte area of Granada and both have obvious passion. “We are trying to do something authentic and of true quality,” explains Angel, whose wife Noelia is a talented artist to boot.Shows take place throughout the day with a longer show at 8pm in the evening. The food, including de-licious oxtail croquettes, was NOT an afterthought.

GYPSY STYLE: An impromptu show and (right) the owners

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errania de ondaAll about S R errania de ondaAll about S R24

WHILE Griffon vul-tures and crag martins dominate the skyline in the

Genal valley south of Ronda, there is another rather differ-ent species enticing tourists in - Smurfs.I began my foray into the ver-dant valley on 9 km of twisty, turny concrete, descending from the San Pedro-Ronda road to Igualeja.Chestnut tree-covered slopes eventually give way to this pic-turesque pueblo, nestling at the foot of the valley.It is the region’s largest village with a population of around 1,000, and boasts the source of the Genal river nearby.Said to be Europe’s cleanest river, crystal clear water trick-les from a cave before becom-ing a steady stream.Venturing deeper into this fer-tile, green valley I arrived at Pu-jerra, a hidden gem of a pueblo that wears its individuality proudly on its sleeve.For the few tourists who make

Heading off the beaten track, Tom Powell takes a diversion to explore the luscious Genal valley and investigate its tiny blue celebritiesthe journey, there is a well sign-posted woodland trail with pic-nic tables, a beautiful central plaza and the remains of a deserted medieval community.Every November the village holds its chestnut fiesta, with

the delicious, nutty smell of roasting chestnuts wafting all the way down the valley.Next up was the village I was most excited to see for myself, Juzcar, which seems to firmly divide opinion between visitors.

STUNNING: Cartajima and (below) the source of the Genal river

YOU don’t need to fly to New England for the fall… just take a drive up the Ronda road to the Genal Valley.Here in the Alto Genal, the sweet chestnut trees (castaños) that carpets the moun-tainsides put on a magnificent display of autumn colours – red, yellow, gold and or-ange. The seven villages of my area dot the Ser-rania de Ronda like a string of magical pearls.Unique villages, with their own cultures still intact, they have plenty to offer for the traveler looking for a dream escape and some stunning, classic nature.It is this time of year to look out for the valley’s wine festivals, as well as the chestnut festival in Pujerra and even a mushroom festival in Juzcar.Meanwhile Parauta is famous for its rab-bit and Cartajima celebrates its delicious ‘mosto’ wine.My favourite autumn/winter treats are the setas or edible fungi. Some nestle under the chestnuts and other species hide in the crevices in the

Spain’s New England

The Alto Genal valley is truly a valley for ‘all seasons’, writes Di Beach (right)

Riscos, the formidable crags above the vil-lage of Cartajima. Either way, the villagers winkle them out and serve them up raw with scarlet pome-granate seeds, drizzled with olive oil, sprinkled with salt. Now is the perfect time for the discerning culturally-minded traveller to come up and explore.Or pop up in the spring when you will find a glorious abandon of wild flowers, migrat-ing birds back from Africa, the bright flash of bee-eaters and swallows. A season of rich abundance it is also a great time for a walk between villages.Finally, the hedonism that is summer. Each village has a swimming pool, open to all and a superb place for observing local life.All night fiestas in every village celebrate ostensibly the patron saint but actually are worshipping Terpsichore and Diony-sus!Come visit us at any time of the year. We won't disappoint you.Di runs the charming los Castanos hotel… see www.loscastanos.com

BLUE-TIFUL : Giant Smurf welcomes tourists

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THE recession might be as deep in Ronda as any-where else in Andalucia,

but some are doing well.While plenty of expats have been forced to relocate to the UK as la crisis worsened Dawn Hutchinson has thrived.Since rolling the dice to relo-cate to Ronda in 2007 she has set up and created an online marketing business ArayoWeb, that now employs four people - three of them Spanish.Originally from Brighton, Dawn, 33, left her marketing job in the UK to set up the business.“I worked from home for the first five years but now I have an office in Ronda’s main street.“If we continue to do well we hope to open another office in America, but we will always have an office here as I love the area so much.” Her company also sponsors the local rugby team Los Bandole-ros as she feels ‘a real connec-tion’ to the Spanish community (see story on page 28).

A new Dawn

WIN: Dawn Hutchinson

Juzcar is in many ways the same as other beautiful pueblos in the region with its quaint smattering of houses perched on the side of a mountain, sur-rounded by lush forest. Except for one major difference - it isn’t white - it’s bright blue.In 2011 the town was painted ‘Smurf blue’ by Sony Pictures to publicise the release of the new Smurfs movie.Although initially intended as a tempo-rary change, Juzcar’s transformation into a blue village and tourism hotspot began to seriously boost the area’s economy.And when Sony offered to repaint the village white, the residents voted in a referendum to keep it blue, and retain

their status as the world’s first and only Smurf village.And when this blue vision first came into view I couldn’t help but smile - it is genuinely unique and surprisingly attractive.Wandering its streets feels rather spe-cial, and while there is not a whole lot else for tourists to do when the initial smiles subside, I wholeheartedly agree with the decision to keep Juzcar blue.The residents certainly seem to have embraced it too, with miniature Smurfs clambering on roofs and windows, hid-ing in doorways or behind chimneys. But don’t be put off - the serene atmo-

sphere and gentle, laid-back village

way of life still pre-vails here.

The road out of Juzcar climbs back up out of the

valley towards the small hamlet of

Cartajima, which is un-doubtedly blessed with the most glorious back-drop in the region.The view from the main street takes in vast layers of craggy limestone ridge tumbling down into a sea of rich greenery, speckled with pueblos.An earthy smell permeates the vil-

Miniature smurfs clamber on roofs and windows, hid-ing in doorways or behind chimneys

lage’s steep, narrow streets, while the church, Nuestra Senora del Ro-sario, stands boldly at its highest point.From these high-up vantage points you can spot a multitude of birds,

including swifts and blue rock thrushes, as well as choughs, rock doves and blackcaps.But after a quick bird-spotting session my dip into the valley came full circle and I

was soon back out on the main road to Ronda, ready to swap the sleepy valley, Smurfs and birds for the bus-tling market town.

GREAT OUTDOORS: Fortress in Benadalid, blue Juzcar and adventurers eye up the Genal Valley

26 www.theolivepress.esthe olive press - October 16 - October 29 2014 26

errania de ondaAll about S RTHE People's Republic of

Arriate is an ‘island’ in the Ronda Mountains. Not an

island in the classical sense of the word, but an eight-and-a-half square kilometers island entirely surrounded by Ronda, from whom it wrestled control some 400 years ago.Fiercely independent of its pico, or snobbish, neighbours, the district – the smallest in Malaga province - has been staunchly left wing since the death of dictator Franco in 1975.Ruled by either the PSOE or the IU (formerly the Communist party) for nearly four decades, fortunately this is what one might call ‘Communist Light’, and has more to do with a shared sense of fun than of the teachings of Chairman Mao.This might perhaps explain, why – despite its apparent hard left leanings - the town has some of the best known Easter parades in the whole of Andalucia.Highly competitive and reach-ing fever pitch around Good Friday, practically every family has a member in one parade or another.Indeed, such is the clamour to be involved, the brotherhoods even hold lotteries for the right to carry the floats (or tronos) of Jesus and Mary.“It has always seemed a real contradiction to me,” says Jose Antonio Coca, a fitness instruc-tor, who grew up in the town. “The processions are taken very seriously and they are very moving, but it is a simple fact that most of those involved

HOME-GROWN

The left-leaning independent town of Arriate has a very different feel from its ‘snobby’ Ronda neighbour, writes Jon Clarke

hardly ever go to church and so it is really just down to the tradition.”Either way, Arriate has a dis-tinctly warm and friendly feel to it and, on the whole, its people look after each other in a sort of anarchic, commune-type way.It is no surprise to learn then, that in the run up to the civil war in 1936, the town's de-fence committee was run by anarchists, who with the CNT had the strongest trade union in the area.Arriate also has the curious distinction of being, aside from Ronda, the only town of the Serrania de Ronda to have grown substantially over the last decade.While most of the dozens of towns and villages have gener-ally shrunk in size, hemorrhag-ing people to the larger cities, Arriate has actually increased to its current figure of over 4,000.Much to do with its near prox-imity to Ronda - coupled with more reasonable prices – the

town has grown well. “It is no surprise with the town being easily one of the most friendly in Malaga province,” explains Carmeli Gamarro, whose fam-ily firm Melgar have been cur-ing and salting meat for many centuries.“The Arriatenos are worldly people, who have travelled all around the world to work,” she continues. “It makes them open and friendly.”This was certainly the case as many of them had to emigrate to Switzerland, France and Ger-many to work in the tough im-poverished years of the 1960s and 1970s.These days, while a new tranche of youngsters is being forced to go abroad to hunt again for work, many of the original emigrants are back and you can’t help but notice the number of happy-looking pensioners hanging around watching the day go by.

One place, Bar La Albarra is so famous for these old boys that a Dutch photographer put together an exhibition based entirely around its clientele. Sitting down to play cards over an 80-centime brandy, the old boys certainly look contented with the world.Another perfect snapshot of the town is at Pedro Montesi-no’s greengrocer, which is the heart of local life and where a queue fre-quently snakes around the shop.It is here that his faithful c u s -tomers p a -t ient ly w a i t t h e i r t u r n , catching up on gos-sip and bar-racking Pedro, who is never short of a bit of banter him-self.A hard-working man, he is up with the lark to source his great selection of produce and spends much of his afternoon delivering it around the nearby area.“And as long as the locals keep supporting our local shops and demanding good quality goods then I will continue finding them,” he says.Luckily the town has managed to keep its local shops. There are only two small supermar-kets and attempts to open a Dia in the town were recently shelved.Almost every house on the

main street has a shop on its ground floor. Many of them have no signs, but just a main door. Some are like caves, stretching back almost 50 metres, and shopping around, you can find some of the best quality meat and vegetables in Malaga province.Tucked away in the town's fab-ric are a number of other in-teresting sites. Best are some of the ‘secret’ meat factories

that are dotted around. One of these in the

charming pedes-trianised Calle

C a l l e j u e l a has been open as a shop since 1900, a fact prov-en by the n u m b e r carved into

its pretty wrought iron

doorway. The factory is at the

back for anyone in-terested in visiting.

Greengrocer Pedro is typical of the Arriate stock. A staunch supporter of old fash-ioned village life, he spends most weekends enjoying the local countryside.A keen hiker, he is forever in training for this or that, the highlight of his year being the annual 101km walk organised by nearby Ronda’s famous For-eign Legion.“It is the best thing about living in a country village like this,” he explains.Indeed, the countryside sur-rounding Arriate – meaning ‘vegetable garden’ from the Arabic word Arriadh – is full of lovely walks.

The Arriatenos are worldly people,

who have travelled all around the world to work

ISLAND HOME: Arriate nestles in a wide valley and (inset) its river view


the olive press - October 16- October 29 2014errania de onda the olive press - October 16- October 29 2014

27

The best goes up what is known as the valley of the Mo-lino Canto to the source of Arri-ate's river Guadalcobacin.A shady stroll through a pristine valley, the path continues up into the Sierra de las Nieves.And yet there is more. For Ar-riate can also call itself some-thing of a musi-cal town, one of the best in Andalucia, with two town bands and plenty of local groups.It is a tradition that can be traced back even before the or-igins of the town, when a mythi-cal group of country musicians roamed the area playing music in the dead of night.Known as La Aurora de Arriate,

the group still keeps up the tradition playing every Sunday morning between the hours of 4am and 6am. With origins from Arabic times in the 13th century, the cop-las, or local songs, have been

passed down from genera-tion to gen-eration and be-came famous when in 1973 the British National Geo-graphic Society

recorded them for an album on Spanish cultural music.A capacity for music is all too obvious with a visit to the in-credible Los Caireles bar on the high street.There are few surprises in the Serrania as pleasant as walk-

ing through the anon-ymous frosted glass doors on a concert night in winter, when it will be full of hun-dreds of music fans of all ages, colours and styles.Much to do with the brothers Roberto and Monolo Rivera, the sur-prise is more the better, if you can persuade them to take you out back. If so, you will realise that the

bar you are standing in is just one small corner of what was once – since the 1940s - Ar-riate's Cine Ideal. And what a gem it is. Still standing today, with its main screen and stage - not to mention 350 original wood and leather seats bought from Cine Paris in Malaga in the 1950s - best of all are the stun-ning brightly-coloured hydrau-lic tiles that line the entrance.“Our father was a real film fa-natic,” says Monolo. “This was one of the most popular cin-emas in the Serrania.“People came for miles around despite the movies being heav-ily censored by the local priest and mayor, who would watch the film first demanding cuts all over the place.”Running until 1988, when due to dwindling audiences part of it had to be converted into a flamenco venue, the brothers have kept it intact despite nu-merous offers from developers to turn it into flats.“This is our legacy and part of our town's key history,” says Roberto. “I grew up watching Cinema Paradiso and always dreamt of one day opening the cinema up again. One day we hope to be able to find the funding to do that.”It is one of those projects, which hopefully a planned new tourist association will help to get off the ground.With a new tranche of talented, hard-working expats moving in, opening hotels and restau-rants (one, El Muelle, run by a Dutchman, number one on TripAdvisor for all of Andalucia, no less), it could well be Arri-ate’s decade.The emphasis is on sustain-ability, organic agriculture and home-grown produce.Its recently set up Fiesta en el Aire epitomizes this mix, a three day festival of the best of Andalucia’s natural produce and music.Thinking small, planning local, growing your own…It could be a microcosm of what Andalucia should really be aiming for in years to come.

Arriadh Hotel is situated in beautiful surroundings just a 10 minute drive from Ronda. The village of Arriate, undiscovered by mass tourism, is within walking distance and offers a wide variety of restaurants and tapas bars.

Arriadh Hotel is the perfect ‘home away from home’ to discover Ronda and the area. Or just to relax and take in the breath taking views and sunsets from the terrace, the garden, the roof terrace or your own balcony. If you want to stay in, don’t worry your hosts, John and Wilbert, always have a variety of tapas available and on request they will prepare a lovely, home-cooked dinner.

On top of the world!

Arriadh HotelLos Cañalillos (MA 7400, km 4,5)Ronda

Tel.: +34 952 11 43 70Mob.: +34 607 19 23 [email protected]/arriadhhotelwww.arriadhhotel.com

From Arabic times, the songs have

been passed down through the

generations

AUTHENTIC: Fiesta en el Aire and (inset) stallholder and (bottom) greengrocer Pedro


errania de ondaAll about S R

KS

Construccionsand poolsKevin Speak

Covering the Serrania de Ronda for 10 years, all types of building

projects, many years of experience

C/Alambique, 1029350 ARRIATE (Malaga) Movil: 678 123 [email protected]

Kevin SpeakConstruccions and pools

HAVE a look at these mountain men.Rugged and tall, it is a little known fact but Ronda has its own rugby team.While initially formed half a de-cade ago, the team has been reju-venated and rebranded under a new name, Los Bandoleros.Sponsored by fast-growing local web design and online marketing business Arayoweb, they have new shirts, new kits, and most

When rugged is exactly the right word

1 GRAZAlEMA AND ZAHARA Grazalema

and Zahara (pictured right) are two of the most evocative towns around Ronda. Both set in spectacular scenery and with some lovely sites, Zahara has a towering castle above it and a great restaurant Al lago, while Grazalema (a beautifully conserved gem) was once the centre of the wool industry and you can still buy delightful rugs and bedspreads.

On tour in the Serrania

TOUGH GUYS: Ronda’s own rugby team

RONDA is surrounded by two national parks, the Sierra de las Nieves to the East and the Sierra de Grazalema to

the West. Both are full of wonderful walks and pretty towns. Here are a few suggestions for excursions out of Ronda.

28



29


IT is one of the most exciting proj-ects a builder could hope for.And during the renovating of the listed 18th century building Mon-asterio del Carmen in Ronda, Kevin Speak has unearthed some interesting findings.The beautiful building in the heart of Ronda’s old town has so far given up hidden arches, lost floors and even a secret doorway that, he believes, was used by Repub-lican soldiers to hide during the Spanish Civil War.“It is a wonderful job and I am really enjoying it,” explains Brit-ish expat Speak, who has lived in Ronda for more than a decade.Bought by a UK developer John Small and wife Carol, from Shef-field, the building is being con-verted into a high-end quality guesthouse.It took seven years to get planning permission for the building, which once, allegedly, put up the king.“I have seen photos of the old king inside,” says Speak. “So we have a pretty good idea of the building’s significance.”

Secret surprise

HAVE a look at these mountain men.Rugged and tall, it is a little known fact but Ronda has its own rugby team.While initially formed half a de-cade ago, the team has been reju-venated and rebranded under a new name, Los Bandoleros.Sponsored by fast-growing local web design and online marketing business Arayoweb, they have new shirts, new kits, and most

When rugged is exactly the right wordimportantly a new ground.“We have just been given ac-cess to use the military sports ground,” explains club president Dawn Hutchinson, of Arayoweb.

Enthusiast“When I first came across Ron-da’s local rugby team, a lot of the committee had moved away and the team was therefore left with little or no financial back-

2 BENAOJAN AND MONTAJAQUEIf it is wonderful mountain scenery you are after and vil-

lages famous for their bandits then this pair are worth a vis-it. Montajaque has a cave with the oldest cave paintings in Spain, while Benaojan is the centre of the ham and sausage

3 RONDA lA VIEJA (ACINIPO) A 15-minute drive from Ronda at the top of one of the highest hills in the

area the Roman’s built their ancient city. It still has much evidence of their skills with a large part of its amphitheatre intact and a lot more to look at, not to mention the views. The visitor centre is only open for the morning, but one can always climb up to the amphitheatre out of hours.

4 SETENIl DE lAS BODEGASOnly 20 minutes drive away, the historic Roman

town of Setenil is a real eye opener and amazing for photography. Nestled in the rolling landscape north of Ronda, it was built on a series of caves, which served to keep the wines of the Romans cool in summer, hence its name. It is best to leave your car outside the town, wander up to the old fortress before heading down to the famous over-hanging cave for a fine tapas lunch.

ing and was therefore dwindling in numbers. “Being a keen rugby enthusiast I therefore saw a great opportunity to become involved with the team and help promote it and push it forward.”The club now has a new coach who travels all the way from Gi-braltar each week and the club is looking for new players, as well as sponsors.For more information visit www.losbandoleros.es

industry. There is a fabulous walk from Benaojan Estacion down the river to Jimera de Libar, from where you can get the train back. At each end is a great lunch spot, with Quercus and Molino del Santo.

MOUNTAIN PASS: The windy road to Montajaque

HIDDEN: Kevin Speak and (below) the Monasterio

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31errania de ondaAll about S R

Quality pre-owned furniture & goods for your home

Open Tuesday to Saturday 10.00-14.00 Evenings by appointment

Plaza de la Constitucion, Jimena de la Frontera 11330Telephone /Telefono – 636 730 542

Opposite Bar Vecina & next to Taxi Rank

Like us on Facebook - dejavuvintageshop-Jimena

déjà vu

déjà vu

A GORGEOUS vista unfolded as we drove past Casares and looped around the

valley towards Gaucin, known as the ‘balcony of the Serrania’ because of its wonderful views.One of Europe’s loveliest drives, I was heading off to-wards the market town of Ji-mena de la Frontera, which sits alongside the amazing Alcorno-cales natural park.The highlight of a stop off in Gaucin is the stunning Castillo del Aguila, which sits at 688 metres above sea level and of-fers a classic eagle eye view of the surrounding area.From here head along a long windy road to Jimena de la Frontera, a whitewashed town officially declared of Histori-cal and Artistic Importance in 1983.A great weekend getaway, it has been inhabited by Iberians and Phoenicians, as well as the Romans, while its 13th century Moorish castle has looked out over many a bloody battle.Today things are rather more

Castle-hoppingJacqueline Fanchini takes a road trip around the castle towns of the Western edge of the Serrania de Ronda

tranquil and you will see plenty of children running around, as well as men on horseback and remarkably few tourists. So friendly is the place that one mother-of-two led us by car to our hostal for the night.It may be a quiet town but that doesn’t mean that the locals don’t know how to party and we had a fun time on Satur-

day night at Hostal Anon, with live music and a decent young crowd.In the daytime though it’s all about putting your walking shoes on and heading around the steep cobbled streets… and, in particular to the castle that rises above.The eighth century castle be-came a National Monument in

1931 and has recently been renovated, but it was once part of a Moorish defence system that stretched from Olvera to Tarifa. It remains as a constant re-minder of Jimena’s intriguing past as a frontera - or frontier - when it guarded the western flanks of the Arabic Al-Andalus with Christian Spain.The castle witnessed many battles as Christian armies laid frequent siege to the fortifica-tions protecting the Moorish stronghold of Algeciras.The view of the surrounding countryside below is amazing, in particular the sprawling for-ests and undulating hills of Los Alcornocales natural park.One of Europe’s largest pro-tected spaces, it is the ideal spot for putting on your walking boots and exploring.When the Hozgarganta River swells there are dreamy water-falls and pools to be found but, as ever, ask the locals to point you to the best spots.The park is also home to the prehistoric paintings at Laja Alta which incredibly date back as far as the Bronze Age.After a day spent exploring the wild and stunning terrain, Jimena offers a range of entic-ing dining options with a mix of Spanish and Moorish cuisine.The area is known for mush-room picking and game hunt-ing, but the one thing you can’t leave without trying is the sweet piñonate cake.For those on a budget, here’s a free tip - since the castle doesn’t get locked up at night, it’s ideal for a candlelit (roman-tic) picnic and some good old-fashioned stargazing.On our way back from Jimena the next day we headed to visit the castle at nearby Castellar de la Frontera.The drive up to the village passes through forests of cork trees and past the beautiful turquoise reservoir formed by the Guadarranque River. When you get there, the small village within the old castle walls has a traditional Hispanic feel but is sprinkled with quirky shops selling a mix of Moroc-can jewellery and trinkets.The Aljibe restaurant is well worth a visit, if only for the friendly Spaniard who’ll let you hold and pat his hawk while you take pictures with it for €3.When you finally head home after a weekend of castle-hop-ping, rejoice in the knowledge that hidden just behind the Costa del Sol’s shining bright lights lie some of Spain’s most precious mountain gems.

GLISTENING: Views over Castellar lake

Keeping prehistory alive

WANT to get an idea what life was like in Andalucia 5,000 years ago?

Well, at the Algaba education centre just outside Ronda, you have the perfect opportunity.Through its hauntingly realis-tic prehistoric village you learn about how our forefathers cre-ated fire, ground their bread, as well as decorated their homes.You can even find out what they did with their dead.Algaba’s work also includes research and teachings on the area’s geology and ornithology, as well as acting as a centre for endangered cows.These include the Spanish Pa-juna – of which there are just 500 left – as well as the Anda-lucian Cardena, which in the early 90s had been reduced to just seven individuals.Guests and groups can now come and stay at the centre’s restored 250-year-old finca.www.algabaderonda.com

HISTORIC: Castle above Jimena and (right) Jimena’s square

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errania de ondaAll about S R

DUBBED the 'City of Dreams', appropri-ately, by German poet

Rilke there are plenty of ex-cellent places to stay in the Ronda area.In the heart of the city there are many emblematic choic-es, but if it is peace and quiet you are after then simple Ho-tel Boabdil is a good bet.Set up by a friendly expat couple it sits in one of the most charming streets of the old town, just yards from an-cient Almocobar gate and its excellent same name restau-rant.The rooms are clean and airy and some boast good views.Also in the old town look out for Aire de Ronda, which is both stylish and traditional in equal measures.In the countryside nearby are some of Andalucia's hippest hotels.Easily one of the best choices is Molino del Puente, run by friendly English couple Ian and Elaine Love, who also have one of the area's best restaurants La Cascada.A bit further away in Benao-jan you must certainly con-sider incredible Molino del Santo, a classic rural retreat, which has been serving the

Dream City

You are spoilt for choice with romantic and hip places to stay around Ronda

area for nearly three decades.Run by English couple Pau-line and Andy, the hotel has the knack of keeping guests happy with just the right mix of comfort, good food and character.Best of all, it counts on one of the best r e s t a u r a n t s in Andalucia, and has many, many returning guests.Closer to Ronda, in the charming village of Arriate, you will find a number of great places to stay.The first, Hotel Arriadh, has been providing weary travellers with lodgings for over a decade in the hills above the town with the most amazing views imaginable.Recently completely reno-vated by a Dutch couple John and Wilfred, it completely capitalizes on the amazing views and light and the gar-dens are incredibly peaceful.Best of all your hosts are in-credibly helpful and friendly and go out of their way to en-sure you have a fantastic stay.Over in the Genal Valley you will find Los Castanos, An-dalucia’s top rated hotel on TripAdvisor.Sitting in the sleepy, authen-tic village of Cartajima, it is the retreat of cultured expats

STYLISH AND TRADITIONAL: Molino del Puente and Aire de Ronda (right)

Diana and John Beach, who go out of their way to ensure you have a superb break.A lovely townhouse, you can walk right from the door

and there are some excel-lent local res-taurants. Best of all there are loads of books and you can also eat in if you fancy it.

Last, but not least, why not try out Hostal Anon over in Jimena, which is a great place for a romantic break.It’s been a classic stopover for travelers for decades and the rooms have a Spanish rustic feel, while the outside inter-twining terraces have a Moor-ish decor.

ONE thing to look out for in the Ronda area are baskets woven out of esparto grass that grows in the area. Once the main source of income for many fami-lies in the Sierra de las Nieves, sadly esparto products are now a dying trade.In Igualeja however you can visit a womens’ cooperative that aims to keep the tradition alive as well as forming jobs for locals.

What to buy: esparto bag

TALENT: Wilfred at Hotel Arriadh

Providing weary travellers with

lodgings for over a decade in the hills

above the town

October 16- October 29 2014

GREEN ESCAPE: Molino del Santo and (above) peaceful Boabdil

errania de onda

You can pick up last minute deals at an award-winning hotel and restaurant near Ronda. Molino del Santo is open until the 9th No-vember 2014 and as an Olive Press reader you can get a 10% discount on ALL room rates by mentioning this article.

You are assured of a warm welcome, excel-lent interesting food, comfortable rooms, friendly staff, a great setting. The hotel was selected as the Number one in An-dalucia this year by Trip Advisor so you know you are going to have a fabulous experience.

Why not try a five or eight course tasting menú with matching local wines? Prices start at just 50 euros.

Walking routes from the door, vil-lages to explore, Ronda on your doorstep – you’ll discover another world just an hour from San Pedro. Want to pamper yourself? Molino del Santo has a great in-house mas-

seuse too who offers amazing value in all kinds of unisex treatments.

Some dates are already fully booked but find a gap and you’ll be getting a bar-gain with rooms from just 95 euros with breakfast included.

Treat yourself or someone special soon. But don’t leave it too late. Time is running out….. Call 952 16 71 51 or e-mail [email protected] TODAY!

LAST MINUTE OFFERS AVAILABLE – BOOK NOW!

Special rates at Trip Advisor’s number one hotel

From our Benaoján Correspondent

EDDIE’s THORTS from Molino del SantoJust had ANOTHER hair cut. What is wrong with this owner guy? Just because he’s losing his hair, he seems to want me to lose mine too.

I’m just grateful for customers with hearts. Some folk went to a local res-taurant recently – don’t let the Old Master know they ate out, he gets very odd – and they brought me back a dog-gie bag of left-overs.

Restores my faith in human nature. Thank you C and M. You know who you are.

There’s also talk of cutting off my tail – just because some-one they don’t lke is coming to stay. They’re worried that the person will think they’re welcome. Ap-parently this is funny.

FREE BIRTHDAY MEALS!

Your birthday before the 9th Novem-ber? Come to celebrate it at Molino del Santo and the birthday person gets a FREE meal.

Why not get the train from San Roque for a different birthday treat?

You must book ahead, You must be the first person to request this offer on that day. You can’t come on your own. You must prove it is your birthday.

Book now before it’s too late. Molino del Santo closes on the 9th November 2014, re-opens on the 6th March 2015. [email protected] 952 16 71 51

Eddie

Would you like to make the most of the Ronda Area by having a local direct you to the very best sites? Personal guides don’t come cheap but you can have the next best thing – a totally FREE guide with in-formation about 101 interesting things to enjoy in the Ronda Are. The Free Guide has been com-piled by people who have lived in the area for nearly thirty years.

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• TheDon’t-MissRestaurants• TheBestShops• AWholeRangeofWalks• UnusualAttractions• Children’sActivities• OutdoorPursuits• DrivingRoutes...

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101 Ideas to the Best of the Ronda Area

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to make the most of theRONDA AREACompiled by Andy Chapell with the help of Eddie the dog

Great Ideas

VISIT MOLINO DEL SANTO SOON Peace and Tranquillity 10 minutes from Ronda.

Open to non-residents too. www.molinodelsanto.com [email protected] Telf 952 16 71 51

“Don’t change a thing – this place is wonderful just as it is”

RURAL PARADISE IS CLOSER THAN YOU THINK

Nº 1 IN ANDALUCIA ON TRIP ADVISOR

Ronda’s Most Special Hotel and Restaurant

October 16- October 29 2014

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Reservations: +34 951 709 075 [email protected] www.lagranadadivino.com

Views toGibraltar

and Africa

Come and see what Gordondid next!

Serrania de Ronda’s freshest new restaurant

errania de ondaAll about S R34

More than a hundred wines many by

the glass.Organic and local

produce: Seasonal 30 years of Ronda.

(Closed Tuesdays)

FEW places in Spain have such a good range of res-taurants as the Serrania de

Ronda.Much to do with its ingredients – its olive oils, cheeses, hams, mushrooms, fruits, nuts and vegetables – as long as chefs use local and think big, long will it stay that way.Thankfully every year new res-taurateurs arrive in the region, with fresh ideas and skills, all helping to improve the gene pool.This year’s new additions in-clude the stunning Maruja limon, Juntera and la Cas-cada, while the likes of Casa Santa Pola, soulful Almoco-bar and rural idylls Molino del Santo and Al lago, go from strength to strength.While the excitement award must go to la Granada Divino in Gaucin thanks to its TV show with Gordon Ramsay, the real plaudits must – once again – go to El Muelle, in Arriate.Incredibly, this authentic spot is still (a year on) Number One out of 15,000 restaurants in Andalucia, according to TripAd-visor.Thoroughly deserving, this converted railway storeroom is worth a journey alone, as many people do from Estepona and even Gibraltar.Run by friendly Dutchman Frank Rottgering with chef Isa from nearby Alcala del Valle, it has maintained its attention to detail, its customer service and, above all, its amazing prices.But tiny Arriate has more, thanks to the recent opening of Juntera Gin and Tonic in the heart of the village.Set up by a local lad Ser-gio Marin Garcia, he and his brother David, the chef, use or-ganic produce from his family’s nearby vegetable gardens, with some excellent twists.And then there is Taberna Manolo, which has also been through something of a revolu-tion over the last year, perhaps in a bid to keep up with its ri-vals.Equally authentic, expect to try

The Serrania de Ronda has Andalucia’s best collection of restaurants, writes Dining Secrets of Andalucia editor Jon Clarke

a tartaki of tuna, secretos or a steak in whiskey.Up in Ronda meanwhile you will find everything from creative Tragatapas, run by former Michelin-starred chef Benito Gomez, to traditional Pedro Romero and lots in between.But easily still pick of the bunch is Almocobar, which has been producing consistently good quality food for 30 years oppo-site the old Arabic gate of the same name.Run by a tight-knit team, pre-sentation is important and a new offer includes a series of interesting four and five course set meals, paired with wines from five of the local vineyards.Nearby, Meson El Sacristan, keeps on getting better and better. Run by friendly Antonio from Campillos, this busy spot, which counts on Roman ruins in the basement, has easily some of the best steaks in the

Diners’ paradise

THUMBS UP: Omar at Buenos Aires

DUO: At Porton and (right) Juan at Spice Route

MINE’S A LARGE ONE: At Juntera

Where to eat

TAKING a tour into the green hills around Ronda yields a series of excellent country restaurants.One of the most exciting at present is la Cascada, at hotel Molino del Puente, where Ian Love has been winning plaudits for his tasty creations for many years.Set up with wife Elaine after a number of years on the coast, his food is so highly rated the place has recently entered An-dalucia’s Top 20 on TripAdvisor for the first time.Over in Zahara de la Sierra you will find Al lago, set up by talented chef Stefan Crites, from America, and his wife Mona, from the UK.Consistently one of the best places to eat in the Serrania, Stef specialises in local ingre-dients, including venison, wild boar and mushrooms.You sit overlooking the stunning Zahara lake and can even lay down your head upstairs should you feel you have overdone it.Slightly nearer Ronda is Mo-lino del Santo, where Andy and Pauline have served up the best quality food in the Serrania for three decades.One of the most evocative ter-races in Spain, service is im-peccable, and the menu chang-es regularly and by the season.Over in San Pablo de Buceite look out for Restaurante la Estacion, where Nieves Domin-guez has created a great restaurant on a station platform, hence the name. And don’t forget fabulous local, the charming Quercus, in Jimera de Libar, where you will fall in love with its simplicity and tasty organic food. Last, but not least, if it is authenticity you are after, you must head for the converted olive mill Molienda in Benalauria. One of Malaga’s pretty small villages, this is a true dining secret!

35


Stay at our cosy rural hotel with renowned restaurant specialising in locally sourced produce, game, fish,

paellas and plenty of fresh vegetables.

[email protected]. / 956 123 032 / 662 052 553

www.al-lago.es

Open Fridays though Mondays in November until 15th December. Also open for NY Eve,

contact us for our special stays.

Take advantage of lake views from our terrace or dine in our elegant dining room with fireplace.

Escape into nature this Autumn and enjoy the tranquility of our picturesque village.

town, cooked to a tee in the only wood-oven around. It also has a good wine list.Nearby, with the best views in Christendom, look out for la Maruja limon, recently opened by ambitious Barbara Gasull.Having cut her teeth in restau-rants in Santander, she moved south and found this gem of a spot that sits on top of the fa-mous gorge with a charming garden.The food is organic, homemade and I particularly liked the car-rot croquettes in caramelized onions and her tapa of auber-gine with miel de cana.Another great new opening in Ronda is el Quinque, which aims to combine ‘art and gas-tronomy’ and has some excel-lent flamenco shows to compli-ment its food.Chef Francisco Sobrino has cooked in plenty of places on the coast, including the Marbella Club hotel, and his toasted goats cheese with caremelised onions and oxtail croquettes, not to mention the

shallot tart with chicken livers, were superb. And still there is more with the excellent Casa Santa Pola, which certainly takes some beating for atmo-sphere.This is all thanks to Cata-lan chef Ignacio, who knows Spain’s culinary scene like the

back of his hand, and who has worked around the country and likes to experiment as much as possible.Then, let's not forget the charming El Porton – an in-stitution - run by the same two friends Javier and Pepe for the last 40 years.

STARS OF RONDA: Manolo at Almocobar, Antonio at Sacristan, Ignacio at Santa Pola, Neil at Granada Divino and Frank at El Muelle

Steeped in bullfighting history, here you will find my favourite Ronda tapa, the wonderful quails egg with ham on toast.Finally for something complete-ly different you must try out the superb vegetarian restaurant The Spice Route.The brainchild of livewire Juan, who grew up in Mallorca, this is not only the Serrania's only such joint, but one of the best in Andalucia.Using fresh ingredients and a wealth of herbs, he is proving that you can eat quality food without meat. Oat meatballs, soya cannelloni and veggie mou-saka, my favourite dish was a sweet gazpacho of red peppers. For international food, Ronda also has a friendly Argentinian, Buenos Aires, run by charac-teristic Omar. It is an excellent spot for tapas, breakfast or just a pint to watch the UK football. It probably also serves up the best coffee in town thanks to its fresh milk.www.diningsecretsofandalu-cia.com

RURAl TREATS

EVOCATIVE: Dining at Santa Pola

HOST: Mona at Al Lago

RUSTIC: Bright colours at Quercus


CASARES – 2.450.000 € PRIVATE, LUXURY, COUNTRY VILLAON LARGE PLOT, CASARESBedrooms: 4 Bathrooms: 4m² Built: 500m² m² Plot: 26.754m² Terrace: 150 Garden: PrivatePool: Private Garage: Yes

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RONDA – 1.650.000 € AMAZING CORTIJO IN PRIVILEGED AREA,RONDABedrooms: 5 Bathrooms: 5m² Built: 520m² m² Plot: 26.300Garden: Private Pool: Private Garage: Private

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29690 Casares Malaga SPAINPhone: + 34 952 895 139Mobile: +34 636 546 796

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Villas & Fincas is specialising in Luxury Country Villas, Equestrian Properties, Haciendas & Cortijos, Hunting Estates, Vineyards and Olive Farms in Andalusia.

Call us now to list your property, we have clients waiting for Luxury Country Properties, Vineyards, Quality Equestrians and Hunting Estates.

Bedrooms: 6 Bathrooms: 6m² Built: 800m² m² Plot: 268.700m² Terrace: 120 Pool: Private Garden: Private

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GAUCIN – 6.800.000 € SPECTACULAR COUNTRY ESTATE IN ENVIABLE POSITION, GAUCINBedrooms: 7 Bathrooms: 6m² Built: 995m² m² Plot: 483.729m² Terrace: 272m² Garden: Private Pool: Private Garage: Private

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RONDA – 895.000 € BEAUTIFUL GUESTHOUSE IN NATURAL SETTING, RONDABedrooms: 7 Bathrooms: 7m² Built: 432m² m² Plot: 50.150 Garden: Private Pool: Private

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FOLLOW US ON:

www.theolivepress.esProperty 37


37


A PRE-ELECTION move to amend chaotic urban plan-ning laws in Andalucia has been fast-tracked at the Junta following talks be-tween the PSOE and the IU.The amendments will regu-late 25,000 homes under the so-called Law on Ur-ban Planning of Andalucia (LOUA).

ElectionsThe changes, will attempt to regulate homes built on isolated clusters on non-developable land, they will

Fast-track to votes!

Junta to legalise 25,000 irregular homes, in time for the elections, writes Jacqueline Fanchini

be ready in January.Despite the deadline be-ing just four months before

the municipal elections, Junta boss Susana Diaz insists the changes are not

RINGING THE CHANGES: Junta leader Diaz

A PROPERTY resurgence is under way in Andalucia, after new figures re-vealed a 32% increase in sales to for-eign buyers. Figures for this year's second quarter revealed that 2,985 properties were purchased by foreigners, with a stag-gering 2,222 of those being bought in

And now for the good news

‘an electioneering measure’ but ‘the response to a dra-ma suffered by thousands of people’.However, it is feared the amendments will not help the many British expats whose homes in the Axar-quia, Almeria and Chiclana are already under threat of demolition orders.It comes despite requests from the British Embassy to find solutions for those in the midst of judicial pro-ceedings, or who have al-ready been handed demoli-tion orders.

the province of Malaga (a 33% year-on-year increase).Jaen saw the biggest percentage in-crease, with sales up 63% to 31 sales in total.Huelva was close behind, with sales up 57% after 41 properties were snapped up.

And Cadiz also saw a whopping 55% increase thanks to 155 property sales.Sevilla saw a 30% increase, while 278 properties were sold in Almería, up 20%.Cordoba saw the lowest increase at 18% after just 13 sales.

Offi ces at the Puente Romano Hotel & opposite the Marbella Club HotelTel. (+34) 952 863 [email protected]

An InternationalAssociate of Savills

LA ALZAMBRA Luxurious 3 bed penthouse in La Alzambra, designedby the famous architect Melvin Villarroel. Beautiful tropical gardens with pool. Walking distance to Puerto Banús and all amenities. Ref. 7680

Enclosed: 172 m²Terrace: 109 m²Price: € 900,000

ALTOS REALES Immaculate, south facing, 2 bed, fi rst fl oor apartment with great sea and garden views within an exclusive gated community on the Golden Mile. 24h security service. Ref 8007


EL PILAR Charming rustic style 5 bed family home with modern fi xtures. Heated pool and mature garden with fruit trees. Near shopping centres, a short drive to Puerto Banús. Ref. 7695

Enclosed: 416 m²Plot: 1,042 m²Price: € 595,000

LA PEPINA Bright and spacious, 2 bed, beachside ground fl oor apartment, renovated in contemporary style. Gated community with pool. Walking distance to the beach and Puerto Banús. Ref. 8232


38 www.theolivepress.esthe olive press - October 16 - October 29 2014 Property38


• Litigation and tax specialist (resident and non-resident)• Property conveyancing• Spanish investment and inheritance tax

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WHETHER buying a home privately or from a developer in Spain, there’s one

piece of paper you must have. A Licencia de Primera Ocu-pación (Licence of Initial Occupation), issued by the local town hall, ensures the bank has no trouble lend-ing against the property and helps avoid future problems.Lawyer and real estate expert Adolfo Martos Gross of GAM Abogados has some advice to offer on what should be a straightforward process but, in the worst case scenario, could end in a demolition or-der for an unsuspecting new homeowner. Firstly, once construction of a home is completed, the su-pervising architect and tech-nical architect should provide a Certificado de Fin de Obras (Certificate of Completion) that confirms all work has been finished, together with details of the process and any unforeseen modifications. This must be stamped by the Architects Association. This certificate must then be presented to the town hall, along with various other docu-ments, to request a licence. In Marbella, for example, you must have an application form from the local registry office and proof of payment of any charges and taxes. A stamped photocopy of the Declaracion de Obra Nueva (Declaration of New Building Works) in the land registry is also required. A technician from the build-ing department will then visit the property (without notice)

Right to resideThere are few crucial steps for any property purchases in Spain

to check the construction matches the project descrip-tion. If all is in order, the technician will submit a report to the town hall for council approv-al. You should then receive a certificate, permitting you to legally reside in the prop-erty and connect to water and

power services. If anything differs from the plans, the town hall will nor-mally refuse to issue the cer-tificate until the extra struc-ture is legalised. If a property is deemed illegal, the the town hall will send out a legalisation order and if this cannot be fulfilled, a demoli-

tion order will be issued. When the town hall is un-aware that a greater sized property has been built than was approved and more than four years have passed, a property is classified as fuera de ordenacion (not corre-sponding to planning rules). In this situation you are un-likely to be granted new per-mits for repairs.

The Property Insiderby Adam Neale

MARBELLA is definitely springboarding its way out of the crisis, as its property mar-ket gathers a healthy pace, ac-cording to market experts. Sales have been increasing dramatically year-on-year, and the town is now the lead-ing property hotspot in Spain in terms of sales volume growth. “The reason for this is clear,” explains Chris Clover, man-aging director of Marbella-based Panorama Properties.

PROPERTY on the Golden Triangle of the Costa del Sol 2014 is showing all the signs of an up-turn in the market, according to Antoine Pel-let, sales director for M a r b e l l a -based Pri-vate Prop-erty. “This re-c o v e r y

MARBEllA is having its best year since the crisis started, according to Mark Stucklin, of property information website Spanish Property Insight. “There are many more buyers around, and con-fidence is definitely up,” he said. “But it’s still a price-driven market. People are very price-sensitive and we are not seeing a return to the boom years yet.” He continued: “We are also beginning to see more developments being started in the area, which is a defi-nite sign of increased confidence.”

New Golden AgeMarbella is leading the recovery out of the crisis, and into a new era of affluence, property expert Chris Clover tells the Olive Press

‘Clear upturn’ ‘Best year ever’

“The area is simply not de-pendent on the national econ-omy with 85% of the buyers being foreign.”Indeed, between 2012 and

2013, sales in Marbella in-creased from 2,519 to 3,115 – a 22% increase. And 2014 is looking even more positive, with the yearly total likely to reach more than 4,000 if sales continue on the same path. “Marbella attracts quality people from all over Europe and the rest of the world,” added American Clover, who has been based in Marbella for 44 years. “The town has a no-nonsense

approach to development, and as the southernmost point in Europe it provides the best climate in the whole Mediterranean Basin.” The market hit rock bottom in Marbella about two years ago, according to Clover, whereas the rest of Spain only hit the bottom in the first few months of this year. “This means that Marbella’s recovery is already well ahead of the rest of Spain and the property crisis is finally over here,” he explained. However he added that prices were still 15 to 25% below market highs, even in the most consolidated areas. “This means there will still be good deals for some time to come, particularly in the less consolidated areas and lower price ranges.” For the market to completely recover, however, it means a return of the Spanish buyers – clearly absent due to the re-cession.Clover is predicting that this won’t happen for another two-and-a-half to three years.“But undoubtedly, Marbella is, right at this moment, at the dawn of a new Golden Age.”

RECOVERING: Marbella

has mainly been in Benahavis, Mar-bella and Estepona - known as the Gold-en Triangle - where foreigners make up

70% of buyers,” he said.“The area stands out as the only place showing a

t u r n -a r o u n d in house prices.”



A BRITISH musician who has rubbed shoulders with Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton and Rod Stewart is selling his luxury Puerto Banus home.Harvey Platt – the brother of music promoter Howard Platt – has put stunning Vil-la Montana on the market for €1.7 million.Platt, who started play-ing bass at the age of 16 in Norwich, spent most of his teenage years at the fam-ily’s R’n’B club, the Orford Arms, hanging out with a string of Britain’s musical greats.“My brother booked loads of great acts before they got famous,” Platt, 69, told the Olive Press.“He got Eric Clapton down here hundreds of times, and

Rock ‘n’ Roll pad

A Brit who spent his teenage years playing Scalextric with Hendrix is selling his Puerto Banus home

FOR SALE: Villa Montana

By Imogen CalderwoodRod Stewart used to come down to Norwich a lot too.“My band always used to play support for them all. I very clearly remember getting up on stage with Jimmy Page when I was about 18, but that was long before his Led Zep-pelin days,” he said.“I laid out a giant Scalextric set in the beer cellar of the club and all the bands would come and play to

fill the hours before their sets.” Platt’s music career later took him all over the world, from the UK to Bangkok to entertain the American

troops during the Vietnam War, and

then on to Hong Kong where he ran a recording stu-dio. Platt eventually moved to Mar-

bella in 2001, where he ran Yanx American r e s t a u -rant

for six years. “We filled the restaurant with a rock and roll influ-ence and with lots of memo-rabilia I’ve collected over the years. We were always getting loads of compli-ments for the music,” he added. Built in 2006, the luxury five-bed villa is a Florida-style, open-plan home with panoramic views extending as far as Africa. Just eight minutes drive from Puerto Banus, it is ideally located only min-utes from some of the best golf courses on the coast. For more information, call Harvey on 0044 1603 434332, David on 647 004 714, or visit www.dream-padspain.com

ROCKER: Platt and (right) Hendrix, Page and (below) Clapton

Property VILLA FOR SALEVILLA TIL SALGSVILLA A VENDRELuxury Home - Private Sale

Hillside LocationPuerto del Capitan

To view

Tel: David Fisher 647 044 714

40 www.theolivepress.esthe olive press - October 16 - October 29 2014Top Dollar40


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41www.theolivepress.es the olive press - October 16 - October 29 2014Top Dollar 41

BUSINESS IN BRIEF


DOZENS of politicians, bankers and financial advisers are under investigation after collec-tively spending €15.5 million on undeclared company credit cards handed out by Caja Ma-drid and Bankia between 2003 and 2012.

Hey big spendersPoliticians and bankers embroiled in ‘magic cards’ expenses scandal as Caja Madrid and Bankia probed

A MASS exodus has taken place to escape the country’s economic woes.With a 25% unemploy-ment rate and a lack of faith in government, some 700,000 Span-iards left Spain between 2008 and 2012, accord-ing to Fundacion Alter-nativa’s new research. The institute also re-vealed another 547,890 departed in 2013, al-though officials say just 79,306 of them were Spanish. It appears a large pro-portion of those leaving are heading for South American soil as many of the continent’s econ-omies enjoy a rise in

Adios amigos!

SPAIN is the only European country with improved eco-nomic prospects for 2015, ac-cording to the International Monetary Fund.The Washington-based IMF has announced that Spain’s economy will grow by 1.3% in 2014 and by 1.7% in 2015, up from July’s forecasts of 1.2% growth this year and 1.6% growth next year. This is the fastest predicted growth of any advanced Eu-ropean economy, despite a

Spain strongest growth in EU

GROWTH: IMF boosts Spain

The 86 cardholders under investigation include 27 members of Spain’s ruling PP party, 15 PSOE members, 10 trade union leaders and five mem-bers of the IU party. The politicians were given the ‘magic’ cards to

UK Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg’s wife – a high-flying lawyer – has resigned from a €113,000 job on the board of a Spanish company hit by the corruption scandal. Miriam Gonzalez, 46, has stepped down from her position as director of the construction and engineering firm, Acciona. Two of the firm’s senior executives are currently under inves-tigation by a Spanish magistrate and anti-corruption prosecu-tors over allegations of misappropriation of public funds, falsi-fying documents and money laundering. Gonzalez, who earns a reported €640,000 a year as an interna-tional lawyer with Dechert LLP, said her resignation was unre-lated to the inquiry.

Clegg step-down

public debt of nearly 100% of GDP, a 25% unemploy-ment rate and no alternative to construction as an engine of growth. “Growth in Spain has re-sumed, supported by exter-nal demand as well as higher domestic demand reflecting improved financial condi-tions and rising confidence,” according to the IMF report. Spain has been recording gradual gains over the last 12 months, driven first by ex-ports and later by increased consumption, in turn encour-aged by job creation. Elsewhere at the IMF Annual Assembly, things were not looking so positive. Worldwide, expectations for global growth have fallen to 3.3% for 2014 and 3.8% for 2015, down from 3.4% and 4.0% respectively.

pay for their expenses after being appointed to various posts at the banks but none of the spending was ever re-ported to tax authorities. In return for being on the board they effectively got free cash. The scandal has forced the resignation of Madrid’s former finance misister as well as members of the so-cialist party. Two trade union leaders have also resigned.

HolidayOther high-profile figures under investigation include Rafael Spottorno, the former head of Spain’s royal house-hold, and the ex-presidents of Caja Madrid and Bankia Miguel Blesa and Rodrigo Rato. Blesa - who was paid €3.5 million a year in his role - is reported to have spent a mas-sive €436,000, including €10,000 on wine and €9,000 for a hunting break in South Africa.

economic fortunes. While Spain’s econ-omy is predicted to grow 1.2% in 2014, Peru is set for a 5.5% increase, with Mexico to see a 3.0% growth, Chile 3.6% and Pan-ama 7.2%, according to the International Monetary Fund.Combined with a low-er cost of living, the South American at-traction is clear. In a reversal of his-tory, the Spanish fol-low a wave of Latin Americans who have themselves returned to the continent after large numbers migrat-ed to Spain in the late 1990s.

Top 10

MADRID and Barcelona have been voted the fifth and sixth most desirable cities in the world to work in by expats, while London topped the list.

Pregnancy risk

SPANISH businesswoman and mother-of-six, Monica Oriol, has been accused of sexism after saying she prefers not to hire women between 25 and 45, because they might get pregnant.

Forget meGOOGLE has received 13,429 ‘removal requests’ from Spaniards since its landmark ‘right to be forgotten’ EU legal battle. It has received a total of 144,907 requests across Europe.

SAFARI: Blesa proud of his kill paid for by taxpayers

42 www.theolivepress.esthe olive press - October 16 - October 29 2014Top Dollarthe olive press - October 16- October 29 2014

Richard Alexander Financial Planning Limited is an appointed representative of L J Financial Planning Limited, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority in the UK. Contact him at [email protected]

Road to Riches, by Richard Alexander

42

the olive press - September 18 - October 1 2014

Contact HiFX for help with your international transactions Centro Plaza, 951 203 986 or [email protected]

Market mumbles

By Mark Rickard

42

CHANCELLOR George Osborne surprised ev-eryone at the recent

Conservative conference by his pre-election promise to cut the death duties.The Chancellor used the conference to announce that the death benefit tax charge on lump sum pension pay-ments will be scrapped alto-gether with effect from April 2015. The surprise element was the timing, as in the March Budget, he said that it would be reviewed and I think the industry was ex-pecting the details to be in-cluded in the Autumn State-ment later this year.However, this is largely good news for anyone with a UK personal or defined con-tribution pension scheme, whether it is in payment now or not yet commenced.Under current rules, when a person dies either after the age of 75, or if they have commenced their pension

Death tax cutRichard Alexander looks at moves to cut death dutiesbenefits, at any age, their re-sidual pension fund can be paid to any beneficiary but 55% tax will be deducted at source. This is regardless of the tax position or even tax residency of the pension holder or the beneficiary.With effect from April 2015, whether bene-fits have been commenced or not, when a person dies before the age of 75, any b e n e f i c i a r y can receive the pension fund value and this will not be taxed. However, when a per-son dies after the age of 75, until April 2016, a reduced 45% tax charge is to apply to any lump sum payment and thereafter, marginal rate in-

come tax will be payable, with the amount depending on the overall tax position of the beneficiary.These rules apply to all UK tax payers but for those who are expats, the lump sum taxes will still apply but it is unclear how the marginal rate taxes

will be applied and where the beneficiary is a non-UK resi-dent, perhaps it will only be the tax regime in their country of residence that will apply.

We will also still have to wait for the Autumn Statement to find out exactly how the new rules will affect people who move their UK pension fund into a QROPS (Qualifying Rec-ognised Overseas Pension

Scheme). For those who have been non-UK residents for more than five years, they automatically escape the punitive tax changes on death and for those over the age of 75, a QROPS may well continue to be the best option.Even with the relaxation of the rules, there will remain some small advantages to moving their UK pension fund into QROPS, even if they have no intention of moving overseas, but that is another subject altogether.With the much greater flex-ibility in terms of how and when pension funds can be used applying from next year and the revisions to the death benefit tax, this will bring a level of complexity. But it will herald a new era in terms of financial plan-ning opportunities in retire-ment which has to be good news.

It will herald a new era in terms

of financial opportunities in

retirement

HiFX was delighted to be official sponsor of the Seasonal Agent Padel Tournament in Coin.The event – organised by the Property Overseas Group –

was held at the Sierra Gorda Padel Club last weekend.A total of 16 teams turned out for the day - made up of property agents and service providers – in a multicultural melting pot, with Brits, Russians, Spaniards, Dutch, German, and Paraguay-an, to name a few…Despite the various standards, competition was fierce, and after the league matches – which were the padel version of speed dating – the top eight teams qualified.

Coin Gardens ended up eventual victors, taking home VIP tickets – courtesy of HiFX – to watch a Malaga FC match in an execu-tive box.The whole day was a great success, with competitors queuing to get on court. The event will also be run in January and February 2015. If you are interested in the playing in next year’s tournament, please email [email protected]

Without a padel…

PADEL BATTLE: Players at the ready



PURPOSE BUILT VENUEThe Over 50’s Show will be held at the popularPalacio de Exposiones Congressos, convenientlysituated two minutes from the town, and just offthe 340 motorway. It features a 2,000 sq.metre

exhibition area, with a separate conference facility.The venue has free car-parking for over 300

vehicles, plus a free coach park.

Many thanks for a fantastic show...we must havespoken to over 500 visitorsThe Bodyworks Clinic

“

“

The Over 50s ShowReturns to Estepona

Saturday 8th & Sunday 9thNovember 2014

Palacio De Exposiciones y CongresosAn annual public lifestyle event offering FREE Admission and

FREE car parking to all seniors living on the coast

Personal Finance & Wealth ManagementHealth and Well Being l Travel

Hobbies & Pastimes l Homes and GardensComputing l Antiques l Fashion and Grooming

Food and Wine l Keep-Fit & Sports Home Security l Retirement Villages

FREE Golf Lessons l FREE Advice Seminars

The Over 50’s Show is returning to Estepona this November.The last four shows have attracted an

average of 85 exhibitors and 6,500 visitors, mainly British, Irish and Continental expats, as well as

native Spanish seniors. The 2014 show will repeat the well-proven Over 50s Show formula, which

worked so well for us in the past

Interested in exhibiting?For more information call:902003896

or email: [email protected] or visit www.seniortimes.ie(wait for a delay on the line before being connected)

You don’t have to be over 50 to a�end – everybody welcome!

45www.theolivepress.es the olive press - October 16 - October 29 2014Top Dollar

Email Antonio at [email protected]

45


REFORMS have been brought in that re-quire claimants to

pay court filing fees when ‘making use of the public service of the administra-tion of justice’.This enactment has forced lawyers, already under severe stress due to the still-struggling economy, to downsize what they can legitimate-ly request in fees. In fact, even to the point of having to waive the re-tainer to allow a case - or an appeal - to go forward on a no-win-no-fee basis. But what happens when one loses a case? And if no agreement was struck with the lawyer? These notes should help understand the legal fees’ system: a) The Spanish Solici-tors’ Code of Practice es-tablishes freedom to fix legal fees, pursuant to a Supreme Court ruling that nullified the prohibition of conditional feesb) Where no agreement is struck, clients need to be aware that by de-fault they will fall under the legal fee guidelines approved by the provin-cial Bar Association, and these can be pretty hefty (a case worth €300k will attract €25k in fees, only in the first instance)c) Equally, where a case

Questioning feesAdvice on how best to deal with the tricky situation of lawyers’ fees

is lost and the court awards costs i.e. pay the other party’s legal fees, they too will be calcu-lated by reference to the respective Bar Associa-tion, in any cased) If scenarios b) and c) happen to coincide, an unsuspecting claimant could find that a case relating to a property worth say €300k could actually cost him €50k!e) On property convey-ancing, 1% of the pur-chase price is still pretty standard, in spite of the crisis. The reason for this is perhaps to do with the hefty quantum of a potential claim i.e. up to the value of the prop-erty and, notably, the very lengthy mandatory 15-year liability term to validly bringing a claim against a conveyancing lawyerThe above conclusions make it very advisable prior to filing a case, and even responding to a claim filed against one, to ask the acting lawyer for an appraisal of the likely legal costs should the case be lost as, very often, these are ignored ab initio.And naturally, have one’s own fees agreed and ratified by signing a letter of engagement or letter of instruction.

MARBELLA and the Costa del Sol are hon-eypots for expats, who

invest in a second home for holidays or retire out here. What these expats most likely do not take into ac-count, however, is that when they pass away their heirs will have to pay higher taxes than resident Spaniards. This tax discrimination is a dissuasive measure when considering investing in Spain which, when taking place within the European Union, affects the freedom of capital movements set out in Article 63.1 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the Eu-ropean Union. It has led to a ruling by the European Court of Justice, that the Spanish inheritance tax system is discriminatory. Let’s consider this example:John and Lisa, a married British couple, buy a home in Marbella in the year 2000. John passes away in 2012, having designated his wife Lisa as the heir of all of his properties in Spain. At the time of his death the value of the home was €350,000.His widow, as non-resident for tax purposes, is only ob-ligated to pay inheritance tax in respect of properties located in Spain that she inherits from her husband, that is, half of the value of the home, €175,000.

Claim back your inheritance taxSpain’s inheritance tax discriminates against non-residents, writes Adolfo Martos Gross of GAM Abogados

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AGONY ANT YOUR LEGAL PROBLEMS ADDRESSED

ORANGE has overtaken Vo-dafone for the first time since launching in Spain in 2005, to become the country’s sec-ond-biggest mobile operator. The French group now has 11.53 million mobile clients - according to the latest data released by Spain’s telecoms watchdog - compared to Vo-dafone’s 11.5 million. Telefonica, meanwhile, re-mains Spain’s largest opera-tor – with 16.42 million mo-bile clients – despite seeing a decrease in clients for the 39th consecutive month.Competition has been heat-ing up between Orange and Vodafone since both recently announced takeovers of Jazz-tel and Ono, respectively.

The future’s bright

GOOGLE is launching an entrepreneur ‘campus’ in Madrid, following successful launches in London and Tel Aviv. The ‘campuses’ are aimed at entrepreneurs looking for informal office spaces to their start-up projects. With no charge for participation, the offices include working areas, the latest devices and teaching from experienced mentors and business leaders. “We have seen the booming entrepreneurial community in Spain and are excited to make it stronger,” said a spokesperson for Google.

Google campus for Madrid

HOLA!: Google to open campus in Madrid

Let’s assume that this is the value of the inheritance. Lisa, simply due to the fact that she is a non-resident in Spain, will be entitled to reduce that value by near-ly €16,000 and will then have to pay tax on the dif-ference, that i s ,

“Our hope is that Campus Madrid will su-percharge tech entrepreneurs, strengthen the start-up system and encourage even more innovation in Spain, Europe and be-yond.” The launch of the London campus created more than 570 jobs last year, according to Google, and the company is looking to copy this success in Spain. Seoul in South Korea, Warsaw in Poland and Brazil have also recently been an-nounced as other future locations.

€159,000. According to this latter net taxable base, she would have to pay €23,000 in taxes. However, and here lies the discrimination, if Lisa were a resident in Spain for tax purposes (because she spends over 183 days in Spain throughout the year),

she would have to pay no tax whatsoever.In effect, the Junta ‘rewards’ heirs who are residents in the territory by exempting them from paying inheri-tance tax whenever the net taxable base of what they inherit does not exceed €175,000 (direct heirs, spouse, parents and chil-dren), whereas this same exemption (technically it is a reduction) for non-residents is limited to €16,000.In spite of the ruling, Spain has not yet amended the relevant legislation but will have to do so in the near fu-ture.But what source of relief do those who have suffered this tax discrimination have? They can claim the refund of the undue excess tax that was paid, calculating it as

if the heir were actually a resident in Spain for tax pur-poses. This claim can cover any tax paid in the last four years.GAM Abogados are special-ists in this particular claim as they have been litigating on behalf of clients against the Spanish Tax Authority for this same issue since 2012.The claim may last between one and three years, de-pending on how reluctant the tax office is to agree with it.The amounts to be claimed are the undue excess tax to be accrued with 5% default interest since the tax was paid plus legal costs.Clients will not need to be present during the proceed-ings. They will only have to grant power of attorney at the beginning of the agree-ment.For more info you can con-tact us at [email protected]

INHERITANCE EXPERT: Adolfo Martos Gross

WINNING: Orange


OPThe Olive Press’ monthly youth and education sectionXtreme

the olive press - Oct 16 - Oct 2946

TEACHERS’ pay-packets continue to be slashed and are among the fastest declin-ing in the EU. A report released by the European Union revealed countries worst hit by the Eu-

Tough sumsSpain’s teachers see their salaries slashed

THE Spanish wife of UK Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has revealed that there is a problem with self-confidence in Spain, at a networking event for schoolgirls. High-flying lawyer Miriam Gonzalez Durantez spoke to dozens of girls as part of the event at a Glasgow conference centre, in which schoolgirls were given the opportunity to meet a range of successful career women. “Women are often asked about self-confidence, which is something men don’t necessarily experi-ence,” said Gonzalez Du-rantez.

Life lessons for schoolgirls

GOT ‘IT ALL’: Lawyer Miriam Gonzalez Durantez and husband Nick Clegg

rozone’s economic crisis saw the biggest decreases in teacher salaries from 2009 until 2014. Spain’s teaching salaries had previously been reported as being one of the highest

“This is something I re-ally noticed in Spain. That there is an issue with self-confidence that we have to address.” The 46-year-old mother-

of-three hosted the confer-ence for the charity Inspir-ing the Future. “What I would take issue with is the ‘have it all’. I never understand what people mean when they say have it all,” she insisted. “I personally have never wanted to have it all. I just want to have what men have. “Lots of men have a suc-cessful professional life or what looks like success to them and they have put that together with a fam-ily.” She concluded: “We have made lots of progress, but there is still progress to make.”

in Europe, but that is no longer the case. European Education Com-missioner, Androulla Vas-siliou, said: "Not surpris-ingly, the most significant declines have been record-ed in the countries most affected by the economic crisis."As the European Union is recovering from the cri-sis, member states should think carefully about the role of pay and working conditions to attract and retain the best teaching candidates." While Spain saw wage cuts of 5-10%, Greek teachers have endured cuts of up to 40% in the last five years. In contrast, the Czech Republic, Poland, Slova-kia and Iceland have all increased their teachers' salaries.

LET it never be said we don’t have fun at BSM – al-though don’t take this black and white photo as proof!In case you hadn’t guessed from the glum faces, we held a Victorian Day for years five and six.Ignoring comments from wittier members of staff that I was from the Vic-torian age, I commanded children to attend school dressed as Victorians – or else face the cane!Of course I was kidding, al-though swishing the cane at unruly teachers did give me something of a power trip.We arranged desks in straight rows, added a chalkboard and even

Canes and dunce caps

From Victorians to Peace Festivals, headteacher Miss Kirkham describes another fun month at the British School of Marbella

blacked out the windows to create a suitably miserable Victorian atmosphere. We also had times tables recit-als, handwriting practice and dished out the infa-mous ‘dunce cap’.We later held the eagerly-anticipated Peace Festival, to celebrate International Day of Peace.Although the message to Give Peace a Chance was lost in translation on the Spanish dinner ladies, who insisted everyone gave their peas another chance.But thanks to youngsters, we raised €1,380 for the International Red Cross. A massive well done to pu-pils, parents and staff!

STRICT RULES: In Victorian school

MENTAL MATHS: Pay cuts

47www.theolivepress.es the olive press - October 16 - October 29 201435T Sop alud47


OLIVE PRESS – 105mm x 256mm – Colour 16th October (revised)

Marbella 952 863 332 Avda. Ricardo Soriano 12Fuengirola 952 467 837 Avda. Ramón y Cajal 6

Request an eye test online at specsavers.es or by calling your local store

Cannot be used with other offers. Second pair from the same price range or below and to the same prescription. 1.5 scratch-resistant single vision lenses included in the offer. You can pay an extra 69€ and get both pairs with standard varifocals lenses or 59€ for standard bi-focal lenses. Other lenses and Extra Options available at an additional charge on both pairs. Offer does not include non-prescription sunglasses. Ends 30 November 2014. ©2014 Specsavers. All rights reserved. *FREE PARKING: With every purchase at Specsavers Opticas in Marbella and Fuengirola we will refund you one hours’ worth of parking, equivalent to 2€. Ends 31 October. See in store for full details.

For a limited time only, Specsavers is offering a free UV and sun tint on your second pair of glasses when you purchase from the 59€ to 159€ ranges. That’s 2 pairs of complete glasses, with PENTAX standard single vision lenses, scratch resistant coating and a free tint and UV filter valued at 30€ on your second pair.

2 FOR 1 incl. sunglasses59€2 complete glasses from 89€

FREE Parking*Ends 31 October 2014

An annual eye test ‘is vital for the over 60s’In a new eye-health column, Specsavers Marbella director Leighton Griffiths advises over 60s to get an eye test once a year

OLDER eyes are susceptible to cer-tain changes which can be detected during an eye test... so it really is sensible to get a test once a year, when over the age of 60.Why should I have a regular eye test?Some people wait until their vision becomes impaired before having a test. This can be risky because some eye conditions can have few noticeable symptoms until they

reach an advanced stage. Make eye tests part of your regular routine.What problems can affect the eyes over 60?Cataracts - The lens becomes opaque, blurring vision and even leading to loss of sight if left un-treated.Glaucoma - A build-up of fluid within the eye can increase pres-sure, which in turn damages the optic nerve. The loss of visual field

often occurs gradually and slowly therefore can be difficult to notice and this loss of vision can never be recovered, so prompt diagnosis is essential.Macular degeneration - In old-er people, the macula – the centre of the retina which is used for de-tailed vision – thins and occasion-ally bleeds. This can lead to distor-tion, or even loss, of central vision.How can an eye test identify

SPANIARDS infected with both HIV and the hepatitis C virus are less likely to be cured than people of other nationalities, because of their genes. Most coinfected Spanish pa-tients are considered ‘difficult to cure’ due to their genetic makeup, according to data presented at the AASLD/ EASL Special Conference on

CHARGING a phone or tablet in the bedroom can make us fat, according to a new study into the ‘sleep hormone’ melatonin. Research from the University of Granada says that melatonin can combat obesity and diabe-tes, as healthy levels of the hormone help the body break down food efficiently. But the new study has revealed that the light from gadget screens and computers can harm the body’s production of melatonin, causing us to put on weight. Dr Simon Kyle, a sleep researcher at the Uni-

Tough genes

these conditions?Modern testing equipment helps opticians see the back of the eye and when an issue is spotted pa-tients will be referred to the right medical professional for treat-ment.There are Specsavers stores in Marbella and Fuengirola, visit www.specsavers.es for more de-tails.

Spanish people with HIV and hepatitis C ‘difficult to cure’

A fat phone nightmare

SPANISH DNA: Coinfected Spaniards do not respond well to HCV treatment

Hepatitis C in New York. The research was carried out over six months in a special-ist clinic in Madrid, with 161 participants undergoing analysis, of which just 30% were fully cured. “The current profile of HIV-HCV coinfected patients in Spain is dominated by par-ticularly difficult-to-cure in-dividuals who do not usually

respond to new direct-acting antivirals,” said the research report. “Current hepatitis C treat-ment does not seem as suc-cessful in coinfected patients. By contrast, HIV status seems to be controlled in most coinfected individuals.”The one-off conference brought together the world’s top specialists on treating hepatitis C to share their in-sights on global epidemiol-ogy, barriers to care, and po-tential solutions to improve global access to therapy. National health statistics state that over two-thirds of people with HIV in Spain are also infected with hepatitis C.HIV and hepatitis C are both contracted by sharing bodily fluids and therefore people often end up contracting both diseases simultaneously. Having unprotected sex or sharing drug needles are common ways of contracting either disease.

ENRICH your soul and re-store balance to your life at the Mind, Body and Spirit Festival in Marbella. More than 50 exhibitors – including mediums, heal-ers, psychics, tarot readers and nutritional therapists – will be at the festival, on October 25 and 26, from 11am-8pm. Held at the H10 Andalucia Plaza hotel in Nueva Anda-lucia, the festival will also play host to more than 20 expert inspirational speak-ers, giving talks and demon-strations on topics such as mediumship, healing, nu-trition and many more. An entrance fee of €10 will give access to all talks and demonstrations.For more information, con-tact Jacinta Hannon on 670 628 468, or visit www.mindbodyspiritmarbella.com

Back in balance

versity of Manchester, is looking at how regu-lating sleep patterns might help patients who already have diabetes – a disease often linked with obesity. “There is a lot of research showing we are meant to be asleep at night when darkness falls and melatonin rises, and when the sun rises the melatonin is blocked by the sun. This light-dark cycle is good for our bodies,” said Kyle. “So if you start sleeping shorter hours, or re-ceive light at the wrong time late into the night, it disrupts melatonin secretion and that could contribute to alterations in metabolism.”

IN THE KNOW: Griffiths


Columnists48

COULD someone please tell me why summer shuts down in Spain on September 15?Every year, on this symbolic date, Spanish holidaymak-ers vanish from the beaches like water gurgling down a plughole and our local chirin-guito puts up its shutters for the season. Even our hotel pool closes for the winter – and bad luck to any visiting tourists labouring under the misapprehension that September is still swim-ming weather.Am I the only sane person still sporting flip flops and desper-ately clinging on to the last of the summer wine? You’d think the Spanish would take advantage of their enviable all-year-round sunshine record but not a bit of it. Lo and behold, they’ve even started selling hot roast-ed chestnuts in the streets of our village! As Victor Meldrew would say, I just don’t bloody believe it.I enjoy the aroma of ‘chest-nuts roasting on an open fire’ as much the same as

Autumn leavesThe Mistress of Sizzle, aka Belinda Beckett, bemoans the end of summer

WINTER WARMERS: Chestnuts in September

the next sentimental Brit. But where I come from, that’s a Christmas tradition, not something that occurs mid-September before Santa has even thought about opening his workshop. Mind you, it’s worse over in Gibraltar where Morrisons has been stocked up with

Christmas cards, gift wrap and festive tins of Quality Street since the start of last month!They’d kill in Brighton or Bog-nor for the kind of golden au-tumnal weather Spain enjoys but you just try ordering a gaz-pacho or chilled ajo blanco soup after the calendar has flipped over to September 16. What a difference a day

makes! ‘Sopa fria? Jaja! Sola-mente en verano’, the waiter tells you in a patronising tone, as if you were born yesterday (although yesterday, when it was summer, you could have ordered it without raising an eyebrow).But alas, the vacation sea-son is officially over, the schools have begun the new academic year and the shops are full of fur-lined fashions. Indeed, some of the more avant garde Spanish women are actually sweating it out in their new winter boots al-ready, regardless of the fact that temperatures remain in the high 20s.Perhaps I’m in denial (my own winter clothes are still in a suitcase up in the attic) but can’t we at least wait until the turning back of the clocks later this month to say good-bye to the summer?Apparently not. Last weekend in Los Alcornocales Natural Park (the largest cork oak for-est in Europe) I noticed that even Mother Nature is sport-ing the new season’s colours,

in 50 shades of flame. In fact, autumn is mushrooming all over. The first rains have turned the forest trail into a muddy quagmire and fungus fans are out in force with their baskets, gathering up the bounty that has sprouted overnight.

We’ve decided to go mush-room-gathering ourselves next weekend so I’ll have to hoist my winter suitcase down from the attic and reac-quaint myself with my wellies after all. Mind you, if I don’t swat up on the difference be-

I noticed that even Mother Nature is sporting the new

season’s colours, in 50 shades of flame

tween edible boletus and the poisonous variety I may never see winter again because, according to our local (some-what macho) mycologist: “Mushrooms are like women. For every good one you find six bad ones.”

THEY are opening a new park just down the road from me in San Pedro. It's part of the the new image for the town that they have been heavily promot-ing. In recent years they have built an underground car park (with resultant traffic chaos) a new tunnel (with resultant traf-fic chaos) and only last month announced that there would be a huge new commercial centre built on the outskirts of town (I'll let you guess what the result will be – you are clever people).The new park features plenty of green space, as you'd ex-pect, plus an amphitheatre and

Bridge too farSan Pedro has enough chaos without a new bridge

lots of childrens play areas. The highlight, however, is the pedestrian bridge, which the powers that be have decided should majestically span the town's main roundabout (with resultant traffic chaos).The bridge itself features the type of heavy ironwork that would look more at home in Sunderland than San Pedro. Now I'm not a huge author-ity on the industrial heritage of the Costa del Sol, but if I was planning a new park, I wouldn't have dropped 800 or so tonnes of heavy metal in the middle of the town. Something made of wood perhaps, or that echoed

the Moorish influence of Al-Andalus that Expo 92 in Sevilla did so brilliantly.And the other thing that annoys me about the San Pedro bridge is the design. Once again the architect has plumped for what I would describe as sub Guggenheim architecture, all wavy lines and curves. While that might have been fine for Bilbao, is looks somewhat strange on the Costa del Sol. And it seems to be the default setting for most architecture when there is a new project to be built. When I was living in Antequera the new AVE station looked not so much a transport hub, but more as if the mother-ship had suddenly landed. But most famous of all was Barce-lona's airport, that was rede-signed and relaunched just in time for the Olympics. A huge mass of metal and glass, it was unveiled with much pomp and ceremony, until it was discov-ered (and they never admitted how) that the glass and metal was throwing up ‘ghost planes’ on the outdated air traffic con-trol system. I have since got into the habit of ordering a second Martini when landing in Barcelona, just to calm the nerves....

Radio Silence With a cunning scheme of re-wiring the radio on the Free-lander I have finally got music in the car, and this has meant that I spend a fair part of my time now listening to Spanish radio stations. The positives are that I am able to keep abreast of what is going on in Spain, but the downside is that I have to put up with the constant babble of Span-ish radio presenters and their annoying habit of throwing in English words just for effect. ‘C'mon’, ‘Sexy’ and ‘Week-end’ seem to feature quite a lot.The bit that made me almost crash last week was the fact that Spanish stations seem to play English language tracks without checking the lyrics first. Therefore I was treated to US singer Pink singing ‘You're so f***king special’ and it made me re-member a parent recounting a kiddies performance last year where the grand finale was the massed ranks of four-year-olds enthusiastical-ly belting out Cee Lo Green's ‘F**k You’.It made my British heart swell with pride!

FOUL-MOUTHED: Pink on the airwaves

NEW DESIGN: Barcelona airport

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A GROWING taste for chick-en is being blamed for the dramatic growth of Spain’s carbon footprint.A worldwide survey into food industry sustainability – car-ried out by the National Geo-graphic Society – measured consumption habits in 18 countries.Spain has seen a more dra-matic fall in environmental sustainability than any other

Holy cluck!Growing carbon footprint blamed on increasing demand for chicken

By Imogen Calderwood

country – falling two places since the last survey in 2012.Dropping to 11th, behind India in first place, China in second and South Korea in third, its fall in sustainability is largely being blamed on an increase of chicken production.

This is encouraging intensive farming practices to keep up with demand, according to the environmental agency.This, in turn, leads to large numbers of chickens being crammed into tight spaces and causing increased pollu-

tion from uncontrolled waste management.

Sustainable

Unsurprisingly America comes in last place, while the UK, Sweden and Canada also lag behind Spain in the poll.Alarmingly the Spanish are the lowest consumers of home-grown food, while 42% of the population consumes bottled water daily.But the Spanish do at least have one of the healthiest diets, with Spaniards eat-ing more fruit and veg than most countries and in general avoiding processed foods and ready-meals.India is flagged as having the most sustainable food industry in the world thanks to its culturally-dictated eat-ing habits. Nearly one in four Indians is a vegetarian, and those who aren’t tend to avoid beef, the most environmen-tally-damaging meat.

AS the summer ends and the weather begins to turn, most chiringuitos and restaurants along the coast are packing up for another year… But not the Beach House in Marbella! Guy and Lucy McCrow keep it open come rain or shine throughout the autumn and winter with a new set menu coming in November, with punters able to feast on two courses for €20, or three courses for just €25. Autumn also spells the start of an exciting series of events, kicking off with Halloween.“It is a new one for us, we usually do more classy, tra-ditional nights but this one is all about having fun and getting the whole family involved,” explains Guy. “We will decorate the restaurant, staff will get dressed up and we will add some treats to the menu.” Upcoming events also include the end of season party on November 30, a New Year’s Eve celebration and an Argentinian themed night in the new year. From November 1, lunch will be served everyday from 12.30pm - 5pm with breakfast on offer from 9am on Sundays and dinner available Friday and Saturday nights from 7pm - 10.30pm.

Beach party continues

TO BLAME: Chicken

WINTER HOTSPOT: Beach House

53

5454 FOOD & DRINKwith DINING SECRETS of ANDALUCIA.com

A FRENCH foodies para-dise is set to launch a new online delivery ser-

vice.Recently opened Virginie’s in Elviria has also introduced a line of fresh products, includ-ing cheeses, candied figs and cakes.Virginie’s specialises in gour-met foods, wines and table-ware from the Perigord region, renowned for its gastronomy.Owner Virginie Demonchaux, 47, spent 25 years in the picturesque region building close relationships with the producers who supply her.Her brother-in-law makes the duck foie gras.“I wanted to bring our culture here,” said the food-loving mother-of-three.“We have violet-flavoured mustard, chocolate walnuts and truffles, raspberry vin-

A taste of Gallic luxury

GORDON Ramsay recruited Olive Press editor Jon Clarke as he attempted to revive a flagging restaurant in the lat-est episode of Ramsay’s Cos-ta del Nightmares.The British celebrity chef called in the paper to run a rule over Granada Divino, which was losing its owners Milan and Gina €4,000 a month.Clarke, 45, who is also the main critic for website www.diningsecretsofandalucia.com, was asked to give his honest thoughts on the eat-erie in Gaucin.After Ramsay had spent a week working with head chef

Olive Press soothes Ramsay nightmare

‘Andalucia’s top food critic’ Jon Clarke brought in to review failing restaurant

Neil Brown and his team, Clarke was brought in to give his verdict.Describing Clarke as ‘Andalu-cia’s top food critic’ Ramsay warned staff: “With a food critic in the house you need to be on top form.”Luckily Clarke gave the place a glowing review and praised the ‘deliciously tender lamb chops’.“They’ve made a really good start and I’m excited about the future, it is now easily the best restaurant in Gaucin,” he told the Channel 4 show.Ramsay later returned the compliments, saying: “I like the Olive Press, I’ve seen it ev-

erywhere since I’ve been here.”Clarke has interviewed a number of Spain’s top chefs including David Munoz, Dani

BON APPETIT: Virginie

egar and plum brandy – here it’s all about quality and origi-nality.”Find Virginie’s at Centro Co-mercial Elviria or call 952 83 43 98 for more information.

EUROPEAN ready meal sales are set to be worth more than €40 billion within the next two years as people look to save money and time. The sector - currently valued at €30.5 billion - is set to soar by 12% by 2016, according to food and drink research company Food for Thought. Spain makes up 12% of the market share, with the UK, Germa-ny and France accounting for a massive 60% of the European market. Chilled ready meals will see the largest sale increase (3.7%), with frozen (2.6%), canned (1.9%) and dehydrated (1.3%) meals increasing at a slower rate.

Mealtime billions

Garcia and Pedro Subijana, as well as Jamie Oliver three times, while working for the UK press.

IT is a rainy We d n e s d ay night in Octo-

ber and a sixth couple has just been turned away from a romantic can-dlelit dinner.This is not cen-

tral Marbella, but Cocomo on the N-340 in Benamarra, one of the true dining success stories of the last decade.Out-of-the-way, unpreten-tious, but completely over-subscribed, it is clear that this popular local is definitely getting it right.“We are getting 60 at lunch and 60 at supper, which is about as much as we can happily deal with,” explains Maitre d’ Sally, who is jug-gling big style, having just had a baby to add to two others. “We would sooner turn peo-ple away than weaken our of-fering,” she adds.It is no surprise then that on arriving 25 minutes late for my 8pm table I am told I might have a ‘bit of a wait’. A table of nine middle-aged la-dies has just arrived and mai-tre has to deal with them first, she tells me. Fair enough, I figure.But soon I am nursing a nice glass of Chardonnay from Penedes and nibbling on su-perb toasted ciabatta with a crostini of hummous and coriander, while I peruse the menu. All is well.The place is buzzing, unsur-prisingly, and the tables inside

Go-comoUnpretentious Estepona restaurant Cocomo is packing them in with a mix of good value cooking, writes Jon Clarke

and outside on the covered terrace are full and nicely lit with candles and laid with simple table clothes. Music is jazzy and the clientele is down-to-earth, not showy.Best of all, it runs like an Audi, with an efficient but friendly team… and it is no surprise to discover that Sally trained with the Hilton group, before honing her skills as food and beverage manager with a smaller hotel group in Yorkshire.Adding husband Simon Tay-lor-Lane into the mix and you

have the perfect compliment.The former Savoy chef, who trained under Marco Pierre White at Criterion in London, also managed to run the Ti-ger Tiger group with no less than 67 restaurants. So he can deal with a/stress, and b/demanding food reviewers.His menu is enticing enough and certainly good value. The two-course ‘table d’hote’ menu comes in at €13.95 and includes such delights as Cantonese-style spring rolls and classics like prawn cocktail. There is also always a soup.I tried a variant on a Scotch egg, which was hit and miss, to be fair, but was made up for by a pancake with goats cheese, ham and asparagus.The spring rolls were chewy, but full of bean shoots, car-rots and peppers, and a love-ly ginger flavour.Best of all, though was the salmon Thai green curry, which had – as warned – a real kick to it. Extremely generous in size, it was very creamy and hardly left room for pudding.But in the course of duty, un-like pussy reviewers like Giles

Coren of the Times who fa-mously never has a pudding, I took one for the team and went for the horrible sound-ing ‘Eton Mess cheesecake’.And what a lovely surprise… it was a stunner, intricate, light and surprisingly fluffy with a crunchy meringue and perky red fruits. Yes, I’ll be back.But the last word should re-ally go to the very sensible Sally, a true businesswoman in the making.While running the place now for four years and doing really well, she still has no illusions. “It is not about getting rich and getting a new Land Rov-er… we keep the kids at local school in order to give some-thing back to the customers.”That they certainly do: Two-course dinner, plus two extra starters, a crostini, a pudding, two glasses of wine, mint tea and water… all for just €48. A total steal. Go-como!

CHEER UP: Jon with chef Neil Brown

TUCKING IN: Ramsay lays into Granada Divino staff (left) while Jon Clarke tucks in to dinner

NICE START: The crostini

WINNER: Chef Simon Taylor Lane with his tasty Thai green curry above

55www.theolivepress.es the olive press - October 16 - October 29 2014FOOD & DRINKwith DINING SECRETS of ANDALUCIA.com

55

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Hotelier and Hoteli-HERTHIS article is written while recovering from hosting a big group who colonised the whole hotel... Watching a 25-strong team pulling together to give the best possible service is incred-ibly rewarding. When guests who have dined at some of the world’s finest restaurants lav-ish our staff with praise, it is to be able to pass this feedback on to our in-house team from

Magic man

Hotel - Bar - Restaurante. Bda Estacion s/n, 29370 Benaojan, Malaga. 952 16 71 51 - 952 16 79 27 . [email protected]

our little mountain village.However, there are always anxious moments when expectations are high and last-minute changes come into play. A barbeque on the terrace was crushed by the weather, and so, for the first time ever, we cooked the

meats in our convection oven.How were we supposed to know that this would lead to the oven’s computer system having a criti-cal meltdown? Why does this always happen on a Friday night when there is no technical assistance available until Monday morning?

And... Why does it happen when we are showcasing a five-course tasting menu for more than 50 people on our always-packed Saturday night?At times like this it is fantastic to have an in-house magi-cian (in the shape of a maintenance man) who comes in at 7am on his day off, fixing the problem in less than two hours.Muchas gracias Paco!

OVER the season we have had lots of birthday and anniver-sary groups. But the latest – and the biggest of all – was the 25th Forum of Cardiologists, who chose us as their venue. Groups are simultaneously great fun and a challenge as each one is different and special. They require commitment from staff in all departments and when many have been working double shifts all through the season in the heat of the sum-mer sometimes energy flags. And what’s the best way to reignite staff com-mitment? Give them great feedback. We have a board in their dining room where the countless cards, letters and comments are pinned – and they love reading them. So thank you to all of you who take the time to comment – it truly does in-crease the quality of your experience. We got home last night and have been inundated with thank you notes and electronic messages from the group. Everyone loved the hotel and there has been nothing but praise for the won-derful food, wine and ambience of Molino del Santo.

Boost for morale

AS well as using them in the kitchen, Romans used to offer them to newlyweds as a wish of fertility while in Greece it was Aphrodite’s (the love goddess) sacred fruit.The 4th century AD collection of Roman recipes, by Apicius, includes a quince dessert recipe which requires boiling the fruit with oil, hon-ey, garum – a fermented fish paste from Tarifa - leeks and boiled grape must.Surprisingly, the 15th century prophet Nostradamus was also an ex-cellent cook who was particularly good at making jams. In fact, in his Treatise on Make-Up and Jam he claimed his quince jelly was so good that it was ‘fit to set before a king’.‘Marmalade’ actually comes from the Portuguese word marmelada, which means ‘quince preparation’.

This year why not pick your quinces rather than let them rot on the floor, writes Jacqueline Fanchini

IN Turkey the expression used to describe unpleas-ant situations is ‘ayvay

yemek’ or ‘to eat quince’.And there is certainly nothing more upsetting than picking an apparently ripe quince from your garden and stuffing it in your mouth.For under its deceptive smooth golden skin, raw quince flesh is hard, earthy and bitter.And despite the fruit now be-ing in season the vast major-ity will understandably ripen and then fall to the ground, where they will rot.Luckily, help is now at hand. For the quince goes through a marvellous transformation when the fruit is cooked.Gradually its flesh becomes tender and golden pink, tak-ing on a deep, rich flavour, while the skin’s carotenoids start emitting floral aromas.Just like apples and pears, the quince is related to the

A POTTED GUIDE TO QUINCES

rose family and is seen in some cultures as a symbol of fertility, life and love.In Spain, quinces are often turned into membrillo de

dulce which takes the form of a thick, sticky jelly perfect to serve up with cheese.Quinces are also ideal to add flavour to meat dishes, be it

boiled, roasted or baked. In Morocco, quince is used in beef and lamb tag-ines, a highly sea-soned casserole of-ten spiced with cin-namon and cloves.They can also make for excellent des-serts, and a deli-cious breakfast com-pote.Finally, quinces were once installed in cupboards in Victo-rian England in or-der to keep clothes fresh.

WORTH TRYING: Don’t judge a quince by it’s cover

HAVE a go at a perfect au-tumn vegetable stew with quinces that brings the sea-son’s flavours to the fore-ground. Ingredients: . 1 quince. 2 medium aubergines. ½ kg pumpkin. 1 onion, finely chopped. 1 tomato, chopped. 200gr cooked chick peas. 2 tbsp of wine vinegar. paprika. cumin. oregano. extra virgin olive oil. salt. pepper Roast the quince, pumpkin and aubergine while frying the chopped onion. Once the onion turns golden place it in a large pan along with the tomato, spices and oregano. Peel and cut the roasted quince and vegeta-bles into large chunks and place over the tomato and onion. Add the chickpeas, a bit of water, then set to cook over a low heat for at least an hour.

Alboronia (4 people)

Bittersweet fruit

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SPANISH comedy clubs are bringing in ‘pay-per-laugh’ technology to charge punters based on how much they are enjoying the show. Teatreneu, a small arts club in Barcelona, has already implemented the technology and it is now set to be rolled out across the country. Each laugh costs €0.30 with side-splitting shows capped at €24 or 80 laughs. A monitor is installed into the back of each chair and mea-sures the enjoyment of each onlooker through facial-rec-ognition systems.Tight-fisted onlookers try-

Cost of laughterComedy clubs discover an ingenious way to get around the Spanish ticket tax laws

By Rob Horgan

A SPANISH bride has ad-mitted to cheating on her husband-to-be with a dwarf stripper on her hen night, af-ter giving birth to a baby with dwarfism.Her husband, from Valencia, initially believed the baby was his, and had been conceived on the honeymoon.It was only when she gave birth that her transgres-sion became clear, and she confessed everything to her heart-broken fiancee.

A small mistake

Danger mouse A SWISS plane heading to Malaga was delayed by five hours after cabin crew spotted a mouse scuttling down the aisle as the Airbus prepared for take-off in Zurich.


Vote’s offTHE Catalan gov-ernment has called off the planned in-dependence refer-endum due to be held on November 9 after fierce oppo-sition from Spain’s central govern-ment.

Cancer rateTHE death rate for cancer patients from Malaga is ‘significantly lower’ than the national average, according to researchers.

MORE than 100 children rejected by football teams around Estepona now have a place to play the beautiful game and a swanky new kit to play in. Campeones Junior was set up to give less talented children somewhere to enjoy football after they had been discarded by local teams.At the launch of their new season at the Instituto Medi-terraneo, the boys were pre-sented with their first ever kit thanks to local estate agency Siesta Homes. Marketing manager, Eddie Martinez, said: “A lot of these kids come from tough back-grounds, they aren't shown enough love and support at home and they have been pushed aside by other teams for one reason or another. “Campeones Junior gives them the motivation and self-confidence they need.”

Kitted out

A FORMER cameraman started a crowd-funding appeal on Indiegogo to launch a calendar and postcard project that re-volves around imagina-tive images of his cat. Jesus Segura, 38, start-ed the project with his Persian cat Napoleon to lift his spirits after the Spanish TV network laid him off along with 900 others.The images are digi-tally altered to place Napoleon in surreal surroundings but aims to put his expressions and reactions on centre stage.

A FIREMAN in Valencia may be excused for having a seri-ous case of dog breath, after he saved the life of a young puppy through mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. The fireman found the dog in an unconscious state af-ter suffering a cardiac arrest caused by smoke inhalation.After attempting to revive the pup (below) with cardiac massage and an electric fan the fireman took the plunge. And following some much needed puppy love the dog fi-nally regained consciousness.

MOG SHOT

ing not to laugh have so far failed in their bid to blag a free night, with average ticket prices up by €6. The system was launched in partnership with advertising agency The Cyranos McCann, after audience numbers tum-bled following the Spanish government’s decision to in-

crease tax on tickets from 8% to 21% in 2012.So far the system seems to be a hit, with the Teatreneu

reporting a 35% increase in audience numbers since the ‘laugh-o-meters’ were in-stalled.

PLAY ON: Youngsters

YOU ‘AVING A LAUGH: New comedy system is a hit

Dog breath

Olive Press Newspaper - Issue 198

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