Essential Marbella Magazine May 2011

FREE MAGAZINE - COSTA DEL SOL N º144 - MAY 2011

essential essential marbella® magazine ISSUE 144 • MAY 2011

ESSENTIAL FOR LUXURIOUS LIVING

i

SIMPLY

CLASSICAL & ALTERNATIVE

BEAUTY FAMOUS

ODD COUPLES CLOSER WITH JENNIFER ANISTON THE SUPER FAST FERRARI FF

STUNNING

SCOTLAND ANDALUCÍA’S TOP BEAUTY SPOTS

THEVIBE

WHAT’S BUZZING

N E W S I C U LT U R E I P E O P L E I T R E N D I S T Y L E I S P A I P R O I L E I S U R E I G O U R M E T & M O R E

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Paseo MarĂ­timo de San Pedro de AlcĂĄntara. Marbella T. 952 789 100

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CONSUMER MAGAZINES

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ANNUAL PUBLICATIONS

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PROGRAMMES

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EVENT GUIDE BOOKS

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COFFEE TABLE BOOKS

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PRINT & E-BROCHURES

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ADVERTISING PAGES

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FLYERS & MENUS

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LOGO MODERNISATION

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WEBSITES

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CONSULTANCY

example portfolio of magazine / programme design

example portfolio of advert design

Publicaciones Independientes Costa del Sol S.L. T: 952 76 63 44 www.thepagemakers.com

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Specia l

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packages up

Step out of the dark is your business still a dark spot on-line, or using old fashioned marketing materials?

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Issue 144 • May 2011

S T A F F PUBLISHER AND DIRECTOR

IAIN BLACKWELL director@essentialmagazine.com

GENERAL MANAGER

ANDREA BÖJTI sales@essentialmagazine.com

ASSOCIATE EDITOR

MARISA CUTILLAS editorial@essentialmagazine.com

ASSOCIATE EDITOR

BELINDA BECKETT features@essentialmagazine.com

PRODUCTION MANAGER ACCOUNTS EXECUTIVE OFFICE ADMINISTRATOR

SUSANNE WHITAKER design@essentialmagazine.com

CREATIVE DIRECTOR DESIGN & LAYOUT STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS

MARIANO JEVA cuentas@essentialmagazine.com

PRINTING

MONIKA BÖJTI info@essentialmagazine.com

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DEPÓSITO LEGAL

INMA AURIOLES KEVIN HORN IAIN BLACKWELL, RUPERT BLUFF, AMPARO DE LA GAMA, ANNIE HEESE, AJ LINN, RONAN MAGUIRE, JAN-ERIC ÖSTERLUND, ALLAN TEE, RICHARD WHALEY, TONY WHITNEY FAMOUS, GARY EDWARDS, JOHNNY GATES, JAN-ERIC ÖSTERLUND, KH PHOTOGRAPHY, SALVADOR SALAS ©SUR, JACKIE WEISS JIMÉNEZ GODOY A. GRÁFICAS, MURCIA D.L. MA-512-99

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The Trend

20 Films 22 DVDs 26 Books 28 CD’s 30 Gadgets 32 Cars: The Ferrari FF

The Focus

36 Great Beauties in History 38 Beauty: The Cultural Divide 44 Alternative Beauty 50 Jennifer Aniston: Exclusive Interview 52 Celebrity Odd Couples 58 Rupert Bluff on James Franco 60 Humour: Beauty Contests

The Style

64 Décor: Originals Interiors 74 Décor News: The Atlas Group 76 Gardening: Beautiful Gardening Styles 78 Fashion: Etam Spring/Summer 2011 84 Fashion News 86 Katie-Eula: Jewellery Designer

The Spa

88 The Beauty Myth: Still Relevant?

90 Beauty News 92 Dr. Marco Vricella of the Aria Medical Group 94 Beautiful, Cellulite-Free Legs 96 Dr. Kai O. Kaye of the Ocean Clinic 98 Health News 99 Dr. Francis Dhobb of the Marbella Vein Clinic

The Vibe

101 What’s Up and Who’s Who on the Local Social Scene

The Pro

108 Business Profile: Fine & Country Real Estate 110 Enterprise

The Leisure

122 Travel: The Scottish Highlands and Islands 130 Travel: Beautiful Spots in Andalucía 135 Hotel: The Urban Hotel in Madrid 136 Golf: The World Match Play Championship at Finca Cortesín Golf

The Gourmet

141 Restaurante Buenaventura 143 Grill El Rancho 144 Food News 146 Chef’s Profile: Juan Luis Pérez of Polo House 148 Wine Feature: Truffles and Wine

The Guide 150 Listings 158 Kids Zone

The Blog

159 Pet News 160 What’s On in May 162 Your Stars for the Month Ahead

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THE AMBIENT LIGHTING MACHINE

THE BEST VENUE IN TOWN

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Bang & Olufsen Marbella PUERTO BANĂšS Main Entrance - Tel. 952 817 250

words BY IAIN BLACKWELL

W

here were you 12 years ago?

We were on the beach at Bora Bora in the company of many revellers celebrating the launch of the magazine! You are looking at the beautiful result of these early beginnings, 144 editions later.

It has been said that beauty is in the eye of the beholder and it’s only skin deep, but in this month’s issue, which takes beauty as its central theme, we will see that it is much more than this. Beauty can be experienced as well as extolled, wondered at as well as witnessed and felt as well as focused upon. It is at the same time tangible, ephemeral, transcendent and awe inspiring.

We apply foundation with a look at classical forms of beauty in different eras and cultures, delineate some

form with alternative beauty and embellish with the strange attraction of ‘odd’ celebrity couples.

Jennifer Aniston tells us about her latest projects while on a recent visit to Madrid and we profile Hollywood heartthrob James Franco, Oscar nominated for 127 Hours.

Get strapped in for a power-ride in the stunning new Ferrari FF and don’t miss our travel features on the rugged beauty of the Scottish Highlands and Islands and the beauty spots of Andalucía.

As usual, you will find lots more essential reading material in these pages and this month’s magazine should leave you with an inner calm that will let your beauty shine out.

Happy Birthday

¿Dónde estabas hace 12 años? Nosotros en la playa de Bora Bora, disfrutando de la compañía de muchos marchosos que celebraban junto a nosotros el lanzamiento de nuestra revista. Ahora mismo estás viendo el hermoso resultado de esos comienzos, 144

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ediciones después…

Se ha dicho que la belleza existe en el ojo de quién la mira y también que la belleza es algo superficial, pero este mes, vemos que la belleza es mucho más que todo esto. La belleza verdadera se puede sentir, admirar y también extrañar. Es tangible, efímera, transcendental e inspiradora, todo a la vez.

Este mes, podréis leer artículos sobre los ideales de belleza en distintas épocas, la belleza alternativa y las parejas extrañas de famosos.

Jennifer Aniston, que nos dio una entrevista hace poco en Madrid, nos cuenta

todo sobre sus últimos proyectos, y también disfrutamos de la belleza masculina de James Franco, el actor nominado al Oscar por su increíble interpretación en la película 127 Hours.

Los coches también pueden ser bellos, como es el caso del nuevo Ferrari FF. En la sección de viajes, disfrutamos de la belleza salvaje de las montañas e islas de Escocia, y de los rincones más preciosos de Andalucía.

Como siempre, encontrarás mucho para entretenerte en esta edición y esperamos que te dé la paz y tranquilidad necesaria para que tu belleza brille de dentro hacia fuera.

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Sierra Blanca: Exquisite garden apartment within a beautiful urbanization with well-kept tropical gardens and a fantastic communal pool area, close to Marbella Centre and Puerto Banús. Bright and spacious living-room, covered terrace, private garden. Perfect as a permanent family home or holiday residence with great rental potential. 3 bedrooms, 3+1 bathrooms, built 214 sqm, terrace 68 sqm.

ID-No.: 4000894. Reduced to € 850.000.

Calahonda: Newly built attractive family home in a tranquil neighborhood. Bright living-area, South-facing terraces. Separate guest apartment. Well-kept tropical garden with private pool and barbecue area. 5 bedrooms, 4+1 bathrooms, built 471 sqm, plot 944 sqm.

ID-No.: 5000887. Reduced to € 1.700.000.

Sotogrande Alto: Charming villa with beautiful views of the nearby San Roque Golf course. Living-room with a fireplace, covered and sunny terraces. Beautiful tropical garden, private swimming pool. 5 bedrooms, 3+1 bathrooms, built 416 sqm,plot 1.248 sqm.

ID-No.: 3000071. Reduced to € 750.000.

Nagüeles: Well-priced beachside apartment on the Golden Mile of Marbella, close to the city centre and Puerto Banús. Established urbanization with beautiful tropical gardens and a fantastic communal pool area. 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, built 103 sqm, terrace 12 sqm.

ID-No.: 4001590. Reduced to € 280.000.

Río Real Golf: Spacious duplex penthouse in a sought-after urbanization with beautiful tropical gardens and a fantastic pool area.

Built to highest standards. Several terraces offering great sea and golf views. 3 bedrooms, 3+1 bathrooms, built 159 sqm, terrace 89 sqm.

ID-Ref.: 2002114. Reduced to € 575.000.

Telephone 952 900 077 • Marbella@hansa-realty.com • www.hansa-realty.com

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You only live once,

Sierra Blanca: Spectacular home, built to the highest qualities, situated in a most exclusive, small gated community next to Sierra Blanca.

Breathtaking sea and mountain views. Cinema, sauna, gym, bodega, staff apartment. 6 bedrooms, 6 bathrooms. Built 1.630 m2, plot of 3.203 m2.

ID-No.: W-00D8VJ. POA

Beach side Golden Mile: Beautiful villa decorated in Andalusian style, situated next to the beach in Casablanca, close to Marbella´s centre.

3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms. Built 170 m2, plot of 440 m2.

ID-No.: W-00D5VS. Price: 1.395.000 €.

Nagüeles: A truly exceptional home, impeccably decorated, very private with a lovely garden, situated in the sought after area of Nagüeles. 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms. Built 280 m2, plot of 603 m2.

ID-No.: W-00C17X. Price: 1.350.000 €.

Hacienda Las Chapas: Exceptional Price! Magnificent villa set on large grounds with landscaped gardens and beautiful sea views.

Andalusian style. 5 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms. Built 386 m2, plot of 2.083 m2.

ID-No.: W-00C40A. Price: 850.000 €.

Elviria: South west oriented, elegant villa in Andalusian style with lovely sea views situated close to amenities and restaurants.

4 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms. Built 333 m 2, plot of 1.042 m 2.

ID-No.: W-00D8CZ. Price: 1.100.000 €.

Office Elviria: 952 83 55 80 · www.engelvoelkers.com/costadelsol

Argentina · Australia · Austria · Bahrein · Belgium · Bostwana · Chile · China · Croatia · Cyprus · Czech Republic · France · Germany · Great Britain · Holland · Hungary · Ireland · Italy · Jordan Luxemburg · Mozambique · Namibia · New Zealand · Peru · Portugal · Qatar · Romania · Russia · Slovenia · South Africa · Spain · Switzerland · Thailand · Turkey · UAE · Uruguay · USA · Zambia

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READING / MUSIC / FILMS / GADGETS / MOTORING / TRENDS

Catch up on all the latest entertainment releases, top class cars and cutting edge gadgets…

20 Films 22 DVDs 26 Books 28 CD’s 30 Gadgets 32 Cars: The Ferrari FF

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THETREND REVIEWS

Cinema The Lincoln Lawyer » Genre Suspense » Director Brad Furman (The Take)

» Actors

Matthew McConaughey, Ryan Philippe

Thor » Genre Action » Director Kenneth Branagh (As You Like It) » Actors Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Anthony Hopkins

WORDS marisa cutillas

Mickey Haller (Matthew McConaughey) is a Los Angeles criminal defense attorney who spends most of his time negotiating with clients and colleagues from the back seat of his Lincoln sedan. Haller doesn’t have a very impressive client list, which is mainly made up of petty criminals. Suddenly, what could be a groundbreaking case is offered to him: he is called upon to defend a Beverly Hills millionaire (Ryan Phillippe) accused of rape and murder.

Haller sees it as a great way to make a quick buck and gain some notoriety but the seeming simplicity of the case develops into a complex spider’s web he will have to be clever indeed to escape from.

Water for Elephants » Genre Drama » Director Francis Lawrence (I Am Legend) » Actors Reese Witherspoon, Robert Pattinson, Christopher Waltz

Kenneth Branagh, known for his film adaptations of Shakespeare’s works, takes a leap out of his comfort zone with Thor, an adaptaion of the Marvel comic created in 1962. The story centers on Thor (Chris Hemsworth), a powerful, arrogant warrior whose irresponsibility leads to an unnecessary war.

As punishment, Thor is sent away to live alongside humans and soon, he falls in love with beautiful young scientist, Jane Foster (Natalie Portman). On Planet Earth, Thor discovers what it really means to be a hero, when he is called upon to face far more cunning, evil enemies than he has ever known.

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides » Genre Comedy/ Action

» Director Rob

Marshall (Nine) » Actors Johnny Depp, Penélope Cruz, Ian McShane, Geoffrey Rush

Water for Elephants is based on the best-selling novel by Sara Gruen, about a young veterinary student (Jacob, played by Robert Pattinson) in the Great Depression who is forced to abandon his university degree after his parents are assassinated.

Desperate to make a living, he accepts a post as a veterinarian for the Benzini Brothers Circus, where he falls in love with Marlene (Reese Witherspoon), a beautiful performer married to a cruel animal trainer (Christopher Waltz). Jacob and Marlene form a bond when both try to protect a very special elephant, igniting a spark that will last a lifetime.

ary in gives life to legend Johnny Depp once aga fourth the in , rrow Spa pirate, Captain Jack saga. tes of the Caribbean installment of the Pira oss a acr es com k Jac en wh The story commences n his wee bet z) and is torn past lover (Penélope Cru is only she t tha ion pic sus attraction for her and his in to find the elusive Founta interested in using him tured cap are r love exhis of Youth. When Jack and k is d (Ian McShane), Jac by evil pirate, Blackbear being or e tag hos en tak ng unsure what is worse: bei he ximity with the woman forced to live in close pro never managed to forget.

20 / ESSENTIAL MAGAZINE MAY 2011

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Nueva Andalucía

Specialists

Tel: 952 811 552 www.nordicarentals.com

REF V3086

Charming one floor villa in Nueva Andalucia.

BEDROOM 3 BATHROOM 3+1guest toilet PLOT 1.012 m2 BUILT 220 m2 TERRACE 62 m2

830.000 EUROS REF A3374

Modern Style Penthouse with Panoramic views.

BEDROOM 3 BATHROOM 3 BUILT 176 m2 TERRACE 219 m2

895.000 EUROS REF T3139

Nicely renovated townhouse in a gated community.

BEDROOM 3 BATHROOM 3 BUILT 170 m2 TERRACE 60 m2

395.000 EUROS REF A2523

Bargain apartment in Nueva Andalucia.

BEDROOM 2 BATHROOM 2 BUILT 80 m2 TERRACE 20 m2

155.000 EUROS REF T5012

Large townhouse frontline golf La Quinta.

BEDROOM 5 BATHROOM 5 BUILT 254 m2 TERRACE 70 m2

795.000 EUROS

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THETREND REVIEWS

Dvd

WORDS marisa cutillas

The Kids are All Right

Kudos to Lisa Cholodenko for celebrating the personal, varied, wonderful idea that is family. The Kids are All Right focuses on a quirky family composed of lesbian couple Jules (Julianne Moore) and Nic (Annette Bening), who have a daughter (Joni, played by Mia Wasikowska) and a son (Laser, played by Josh Hutcherson), both of whom are struggling with ‘issues’ but who are, on the whole, quite all right. The family’s alternative bliss is given a kick in the behind by the appearance of the children’s sperm donor father Paul (Mark Ruffalo), a restaurant owner who is keen on getting to know his children.

When Paul and Jules get a little too close for comfort, the paranoid Nic must come to terms with the possibility that Jules’ sexuality may actually be more all-encompassing than she thought. The film offers excellent performances from Moore, Bening (nominated for an Oscar for Best Actress for this film) and Ruffalo, and is as warm-hearted as it is packed with comedic situations. A definite celebration of the best and worst of family life.

e FEATURED DVD RELEASE

OF THE MONTH

» Genre Comedy » Director Lisa

Cholodenko (High Art) » Actors Annette Bening, Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo

Black Swan

ent film about the r, Darren Aronofsky’s magnific Do you remember The Wrestle nted Mickey Rourke tale the , sion in life? In that film importance of living one’s pas the ring but continued ill health who should have quit gave life to a pro wrestler with supermarket worker. a as leading a non-glorious life to practice his sport instead of n it means sacrificing whe n eve nt, tale lging one’s true The film was a testimony to indu thought that you ately, one’s own life. If, like me, forward to personal relationships and, ultim ing look e wer and cinematic experience The Wrestler offered a magical d. ppointe Black Swan’s , Black Swan, you could be disa Aronofsky’s latest blockbuster vidual: Nina Sayers, indi r we spoke of, is a talented main character, like the wrestle cer in the New York dan ed iplin disc and most devoted (Natalie Portman), perhaps the is called upon to she re production of Swan Lake, whe Ballet. Given the lead in the new ection) and the perf to s orm perf white swan (which she ired abandon), give life to both the innocent, requ its she has difficulty portraying with d to endure: min lusty, sensual black swan (whom frail her for too many obstacles from her seems hopelessly vulnerable with tion Nina peti com ing cutt re and Gen ctor » mother, a lecherous Ballet Dire ring et, Nina rbea ball ove the an s join is) Psychological s, lusty new dancer Lily (Mila Kun le the Whi cer. fellow dancers. When rebelliou dan lead as role thriller her spiral as she struggles to keep rd nwa the dow of a on said ds be hea » Director great, the same cannot tuming and performances are cos h. It , nes finis to sce t ce star dan from m sky nof gloo Darren Aro eral atmosphere which is gen its or , slow is re ch whi natu e tive pac film’s d Nina, whose competi Actors Natalie difficult to connect with the frigi is it that er help fast on, sn’t ucti doe Mila estr n, th/d Por tma one to wish her logical end, dea and hallucinatory jealousy lead Kunis, Vincent ful to see anybody suffer so pain too it’s ply, sim e Quit w. allo Cassel than Aronofsky is willing to continuously and relentlessly.

Blue Valentine » Genre Drama » Director Derek

Cianfrance (Dream the Impossible) » Actors Ryan Gosling, Michelle Williams, John Doman Blue Valentine is an unadorned story of the breakdown of a marriage, and a study of how even the most passionate beginnings can end in distance and loss. Michelle Williams and Ryan Gosling play Cindy and Dean, a young couple with a beautiful daughter who wonders where the love went. The film flows fluidly between past and present as we relive the couple’s romantic beginnings, six years previously, and the crucial moments that spark difficulties which grow like a cancer.

Let Me In Let Me In, a remake of the 2008 Swedish horror film Let The Right One In, is the story of a 12-year-old boy called Owen (Kodi Smit-McPhee) who is bullied at school and tossed from one parent to another following a bitter divorce. Owen is used to being alone and almost convinces himself that he is better off that way, until one day, a little girl his age, Abby (Chloe Grace Moretz) moves into his neighbourhood.

Abby “smells funny” and warns him from their first encounter that they “cannot be friends,” but their mutual isolation leads them to form an unbreakable bond. The makers of the Twilight film saga could really take a lead from Matt Reeves, who manages to blend horror and love in a strangely appealing fashion. “Do you believe in absolute evil?” Owen asks his father, only to be told to change the subject. The question is actually far more relevant in shaping the young boy’s mind, than his father could ever imagine. Disturbing but riveting!

» Genre

Horror/Romance » Director Matt Reeves (Cloverfield) » ACTORS Kodi SmitMcPhee, Chloe Grace Moretz

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La Zagaleta - Ref NDV1011

Recently completed luxury “soft classic” style villa, located in the private resort of La Zagaleta. Offering all the modern conveniences expected from a new and purpose built property and finished to an exceptionally high standard throughout, with great attention to detail. Features include a master suite with “His & Hers” bathrooms and walk in dressing areas, office, bar lounge, spa and home cinema, as well as a guest apartment with separate entrance, staff accommodation, an extra spacious garage for car lovers and a private driveway which leads onto the imposing circular entrance to the house.

Beds: 7

Baths: 7

Built: 1.415m2

Plot: 4.580m2

6.950.000€ Fuente del Espanto - Ref NDV1203

Nueva Andalucía - Ref NDV1204

Front line golf villa, ideally situated within a gated and secure community within the Golf Valley in Nueva Andalucia. Immaculately presented and built to a very high standard, this property benefits from a lovely south-westerly orientation overlooking Las Brisas golf course.

Attractive south facing villa for sale in the exclusive private estate of Fuente del Espanto in Benahavís. The property is built all on one level and has been modernised and decorated to a high standard, maintaining a traditional Andalusian style throughout.

Beds: 4 Baths: 4 Built: 545m2 Plot: 1.307m2

Beds: 5 Baths: 4 Built: 440m2 Plot: 1.825m2

2.400.000€

Capanes del Golf - Ref NDA904

1.400.000€

Las Cañas - Ref NDA1198

Bank repossession for sale in the exclusive luxury complex of Capanes del Golf.

The property features 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a living/dining room, a good size terrace, a private underground garage space and store room. Communal areas include various swimming pools surrounded by beautiful tropical gardens, an indoor spa area, gym, massage room and 24 hour security.

4 Bedroom duplex penthouse, ideally located along the Golden Mile, in a beach front community with 4 swimming pools and private access directly onto the promenade. This property is spacious and well presented and with its south western orientation, makes an ideal permanent residence or holiday home.

Beds: 2 Baths: 2 Built: 125m2

Beds: 4 Baths: 3 Built: 182m2 Terrace: 71m2

299.000€

Centro Expo Loc.11-12, Bulevar Alfonso Hohenlohe, Marbella, 29602 (Málaga) Tel: 952 866 072 • Fax: 952 866 963 • info@nicholasdunne.com

www.nicholasdunne.com

1.250.000€

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Casa Chaos Marbella, Malaga, Spain

Cortijo de Nagüeles - 2.950.000 € Casa Chaos is located in the prestigious Marbella address of Cortijo de Nagüeles, with elevated views over its beautiful gardens and Mediterranean Coast. This fantastic location has easy access to all local amenities, beach, Marbella town centre and is only a short journey to Malaga International Airport.

The main body of the house consists of 5 large bedrooms, all with ensuite bathrooms. The extremely spacious master bedroom boasts a separate sitting area for relaxation and expansive terracing to allow enjoyment of the coastal views. It also has a glorious ensuite bathroom, with lavish fixtures, fittings and travertine marble floor, as well as a Jacuzzi bath, walk-in shower, steam room, sauna and well equipped gym area.

Casa Chaos enjoys a spacious ground floor consisting of a large kitchen/ breakfast room fully equipped to a very high standard, formal dining room, lounge, snug room and a glorious music room furnished with a grand piano. Staff quarters with a

separate entrance are also housed on the ground floor, with its own double bedroom, lounge, bathroom and kitchenette.

A thatched office is situated in the sizeable grounds with full power and water supply, allowing scope for the property to be developed into many other possibilities, including a guest house.

There are multiple covered and open terraces throughout the property, as well as a good sized heated outdoor swimming pool with its own thatched gazebo, enjoying dining area, bar, music system and satellite television.

Casa Chaos also boasts a state of the art security camera system and electronic gate access, allowing its occupants to relax and privately enjoy this truly exclusive Spanish home.

Fine & Country Marbella Marbella Club Hotel, 29600 Marbella, Malaga, Spain tel +34 952 76 40 10 email marbella@fineandcountry.com www.fineandcountry.es

Multi-award winning luxury estate agents in 300 locations worldwide

FC Marbella ADVERT_Layout 1 27/04/2011 08:22 Page 1

La Casa Verde Marbella, Malaga, Spain

La Casa Verde – 5.000.000 € La Casa Verde has recently been redeveloped to the highest standard with extreme attention to detail. Situated on The Golden Mile, on Marbella’s premiere beach, this very special location is walking distance to all amenities, beach and the prestigious Marbella Club Hotel.

Developed on a private aspect approaching near on 500 square meters constructed, La Casa Verde boasts a total of 5 suites, all with ensuite bathrooms.

La Casa Verde enjoys a state of the art well equipped kitchen, a lounge with feature fire place, a guest cloakroom and sitting room. This whole residence is integrated with the latest intelligent home system, silent air-conditioning and under floor heating throughout.

A large terraced area adjoining the kitchen is the perfect area to indulge al fresco dining and outdoor living. Both covered and uncovered terraces are also enjoyed at this prestigious residence.

The fully stocked and manicured gardens have automatic irrigation and host a feature swimming pool with overflow. This incredible home becomes a picture postcard when the complete exterior and gardens are sympathetically lit at dusk.

This residence is securely positioned off a gated and manned drive with its own beach access. La Casa Verde must be viewed by those seeking modern high class living in Marbella’s most sought after location.

Fine & Country Marbella Marbella Club Hotel, 29600 Marbella, Malaga, Spain tel +34 952 76 40 10 email marbella@fineandcountry.com www.fineandcountry.es

Multi-award winning luxury estate agents in 300 locations worldwide

THETREND REVIEWS Words belinda beckett

Books

2 Beautiful Brain, Beautiful You

by Marie Pasinski

Harvard neurologist Pasinski explores the fascinating connection between brain health and beauty with a seven-step plan for women seeking to age gracefully without resorting to cosmetic treatments. The programme includes setting new goals, trying new activities and eating brain-enhancing foods to tap into the mind’s ability to redesign itself, resulting in greater mental clarity, energy and confidence.

She promises: “Unlock the adult brain’s surprising potential and look radiant from the inside out!”

1 Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty

by Andrew Bolton

A posthumous tribute to one of the most imaginative and inspirational designers of our time. The author, curator of The Costume Institute at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, examines McQueen’s subversive concepts of style and beauty, technical virtuosity and extravagant runway presentations which were not so much fashion shows as performance art. The book includes in-depth studies of six of his collections and an interview with Sarah Burton, the new creative director at Alexander McQueen who was the designer’s right-hand woman since 1996.

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4 Ugly Beauty: 5 Encyclopedia of Helena Rubinstein, the Exquisite

by Jessica Kerwin Jenkins L’Oréal and the Blemished History Actress Sarah Jessica Parker has raved about this offbeat of Looking Good

by Ruth Brandon

3 Cinderella Ate My

Daughter by Peggy Orenstein The author of the groundbreaking bestseller Schoolgirls reveals the dark side of pink and pretty. Concerned about the girlie culture’s effects on her own daughter, she embarks on a quest to discover whether today’s teen obsession with beauty and image is a passing phase, or a sinister marketing ploy with long-term negative impact. To seek answers she travels to Disneyland and the American International Toy Fair, attends a children’s beauty contest and a Miley Cyrus concert and interviews historians, psychologists and marketing men, sharing her findings with biting humour.

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Prominent historian/biographer Brandon exposes the ugly truth behind a global beauty empire.

Central to the story are Polish emigrant Helena Rubinstein, who went from selling homemade Crème Valaze from her house in Australia to become an international cosmetics magnate; and Eugène Schueller of L’Oréal, who started out from a working-class Parisian suburb, inventing a safe artificial hair dye. The take-over of Rubinstein

by L’Oréal to become the cosmetics industry giant was tainted by a political scandal that threatened the reputations of France’s most powerful men, including its President.

encyclopedia of the aesthetic, gushing: “A delightful ode to everyday elegance that brims with tales showing how beauty can be found in the most unlikely places. It left me truly inspired.” Jenkins has channelled her obsession for the exquisite into an idiosyncratic catalogue on beauty in all it’s many facets.

From lingerie, champagne and hot-air ballooning to the art of the Renaissance, the bullfighter’s ‘suit of lights’ and Louis XIV’s love of the Bartlett pear, this is a showcase to the stunning, the singular and the surreal.

6 National Geographic: Simply Beautiful Photographs

by Annie Griffiths

A spectacular visual journey through some of the most stunning photographs to be found in National Geographic’s famed image collection, chosen by award-winning photographer Annie Griffiths to reflect the many variations on the universal theme of beauty. Chapters are organised around the aesthetic concepts that create beauty in a photograph – light, composition, moment, motion, palette – and every image is accompanied by an explanatory text and lyrical quotes from scholars and poets.

Better still, you can order many of the photos as prints, a first in the world of publishing.

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THETREND REVIEWS

Music

WORDS Allan Tee

Gorillaz The Fall

Jennifer Hudson

Gorillaz is a musical project created in 1998 by Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett. It consists of the Gorillaz music itself, plus an extensive fictional universe depicting a ‘virtual band’ of cartoon characters with which we have come to truly identify this always exciting, sometimes impenetrable combo of British talent. Now a true supergroup, this latest album has everything you would expect from the genius of Damon Albarn. It was premiered on the band’s US tour last autumn and much work has been going into the virtual features to accompany its UK and Europe release. It gets under your skin… I sometimes wonder at my musical taste buds, they seem to be blossoming!

Alison Krauss and Union Station Paper Airplane Once regarded as pure bluegrass and folk, despite a long career she was not really mega until the platinum-selling 1995 compilation, Now That I’ve Found You. Krauss started playing the violin at five but soon tired of the regimen of classical lessons and began performing country and bluegrass licks, entering talent shows from the age of eight.

She was only 14 when she produced her first album, Different Strokes, on the independent Fiddle Tunes label, signing with Rounder Records later that year. This new album is a much anticipated collection and, if you have been smitten by her immense talent, them I am sure you will not be disappointed

I Remember Me From those early days of American Idol and her lowly 6th place in the final to her runaway success in the movie, Dreamgirls, eclipsing Beyoncé to win an Oscar, Jennifer Hudson was on a roll. Then tragedy struck in 2008, when her mother, brother and nephew were killed in a shooting. Now she’s back in all her splendid glory in a collection of tracks that truly gives meaning to vocal brilliance. The entire album has been cleverly under-produced; her voice is clear, the music is creative and the variety of images is well exploited, while the album cover picture is simply stunning. The girl done good!

The Strokes

ANGLES

il York band’s album in Apr this! I featured this New I did . ion sat Wollop! I never expected sen a of bit a sed Album Show and it cau to find on my first 3pm Saturday ks and it was such a joy trac the all to n liste y sor cur a e hav – track, al g usu nin as – sound. The ope a unique and distinctive oes Ech . ney these guys really have mo t on the brave and, musically, righ two No an.

Machu Picchu is bright, eric Am are y the to mind, even though es is Gam of of quality Brit pop spring elly erb und t sof the mix is masterful. The cuts feel the same and k is pure retro. I love it!

Bac inviting, and Call me

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Allan Tee presents the Music Review show every Saturday at 11am on Talk Radio Europe. 91.9 FM. www.talkradioeurope.com 26/4/11 11:04:08

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THETREND GADGETS WORDS Marisa CUTILLAS

Philips Lumea IPL Hair Removal Gadget When it comes to efficient hair removal, we have the choice of the beauty

salon, which can be expensive and time-consuming, or epilators which can be painful when used on the bikini line and armpits. The new Philips Lumea is much less taxing to use and is a step ahead in the technological sense, since it actually stops hair from growing again. The device uses Intense Pulsed Light (IPL) technology, which up to now, you could only experience at specialist clinics. i www.lumea.philips.com

Tanda Clear Acne Light Therapy Treatment

Slendertone Face

If you fear injections and fillers but you’d like your face to look tighter and younger, this is the device for you. The Slendertone emits tiny electrical charges which strengthen the facial muscles, giving them a natural ‘lift’. i www.slendertone.es

This dermatologist-recommended, hand-held gadget emits 414nm blue LED light, which kills P. acnes bacteria. Results can be seen in as little as 24 hours, which is great for those suffering from blemishes that don’t react well to standard acne creams. The kit includes a cordless handpiece, light therapy treatment head, power supply, recharging stand, goggles, and pre-treatment gel. i www.tandaskincare.com

Braun is a worldwide top seller when it comes to epilators and from my own experience I can say that, after switching to Braun from another brand, I never looked back. Quite simply, I found that Braun epilators pull, and therefore hurt less, yet efficiently rid sensitive areas, like the calves and bikini line, of unsightly hair. I recommend our readers try the 5270 Silk-épil X’elle, which is already hugely popular judging by Internet feedback. It uses the SoftLift system, which lifts hair into a system of 40 tweezers. It also has massaging rollers, which reduces the pain level. i www.braun.com/es

Braun 5270 Silk-épil X’elle Body System Epilator

Men, too, can’t live without their favourite gadgets, especially a top-notch electric razor.

The 7 760cc shaver from Braun has a foil head which vibrates laterally, pulsing onto the skin and making the hair stand out more so a closer shave can be obtained. Britain’s Sunday Times calls it the ‘King of shavers’ because it promises a shave almost as close as that afforded by a manual blade. i www.braun.com/es

The Braun Series 7 760cc Shaver

BEAUTY AND GROOMING

We love this multi-purpose styler, which allows you to fashion your own hair in salonstyle hairdos. Choose from tightly wound curls, elegant flicks, smooth waves or ultrastraight lengths. The styler is made up of narrow plates and a round barrel which makes it easy to use, even for beginners. i www.ghdhair.com

Gadgets

One of the things a girl is always most grateful for is her select list of pruning, preening and pampering gadgets – everything from hair straightening irons and epilators for removing unwanted hair to acne treatment machines. With these additions to your bathroom cabinet, turning yourself into a princess on a special night out is a wonderfully possible dream.

Philips Norelco arcitec 1050X For those who like gadgets with style, check out the Philips Norelco Arcitec 1050X, easily the bestlooking shaver in its price range on the market. Not only is it stylish, it also has three protruding, pivoting heads which provide a close yet comfy shave.

It is easy to clean, since each pivoting head pops open individually and can be cleaned under the tap. i www.p4c.philips.com

GHD IV Mini Styler For a refreshing deep clean, few devices work as well as the Clarisonic Plus facial cleanser which uses a patented sonic frequency of over 300 movements per second to clean, soften and smooth skin, reducing the appearance of pores as well. The device has been proven to remove six times more make-up than cleansing with soap or wipes, and twice as much dirt. It is a wonderful way to rid skin of the harmful pollutants encountered in daily life. i www.clarisonic.com

Clarisonic Plus facial cleanser

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G.I.P.E.: Miguel Tobar

VILLA MARKETING Established for 28 Years

Since 1983

BEACH PENTHOUSE Ref. VM09489 Fantastic and unique duplex penthouse on the beach beside Puerto Banus. Totally refurbished to a modern design with 5 bedrooms and bathrooms, several reception areas, outdoor bar and jacuzzi, several terraces with magnificent sea views, sauna, garage, store rooms. Must be seen!

Originally 2.500.000 euros and now 50% reduced. Price: 1.250.000 euros

NUEVA ANDALUCIA Ref. VM09481 Villa with beautiful views of the sea and the valley, completely renovated with high quality, 4 large bedrooms including a very large master suite, spacious living room, dining area, study, modern kitchen and garage for 3 cars.

Price: 1.599.000 euros

NUEVA ANDALUCÍA Ref. VM09955 Lovely, private, bright and sunny villa all on one floor, south facing, with a spacious lounge and seperate dining room. Three good sized bedrooms with bathrooms ensuite. Underfloor heating in main areas and air-conditioning.

Price: 830.000 euros

NUEVA ANDALUCÍA Ref. VM09296 West facing villa with views and a total of 5 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms.Situated in a gated private community with security cameras. Large and sunny terraces, store room and garage. Good opportunity.

Price: 695.000 euros

NUEVA ANDALUCÍA Ref. VM09682 Bright and sunny villa with views in a central position within the golf valley. Spacious living-dining area, 3 bedrooms in total, with 2 bedrooms on the ground floor and the master suite on the upper floor. Plenty of terraced areas for entertaining and sunbathing.

Competitively price: 749.000 euros

Sales office: Casaño 10-B, Nueva Andalucía (Pass the Bullring, beside BBVA bank)

Tel: 952 810 695

www.villamarketing.com Sales - Long & Short Term Rentals - Property Management

CARS

THETREND MOTOR

Recent years have seen a buzz of activity among manufacturers of upscale and exotic sports cars, anxious to create models with full 4-seat capability. Typical examples have been the Porsche Panamera and the Aston Martin Rapide, both of which have four doors as well as four seats.

Lamborghini tantalised car buffs a couple of years back when it showed its Estoque 4-seater concept but the project appears to have been stillborn.

F

errari didn’t go the 4-door route with its new FF which must have drawn a sigh of relief from aficionados of the marque but it does have full four-occupant capability. Shown to the world at the recent Geneva Auto Salon the car is, in fact, the latest in a long line of 4-seater speedsters from the legendary Maranello nameplate.

Ferrari had a 4-seater car as early as 1948 but is best remembered for the 400 models of the 1970s, and the more recent 456, when it comes to packing the passengers in.

Interestingly, the FF marks two key milestones for Ferrari. It’s the first Ferrari to feature four-wheel drive and it has the largest capacity engine ever produced by the famed Italian maker – a 6.3-litre V-12. I’ve long been an advocate of four-wheel or all-wheel drive for high-performance cars – it simply gets the power to the road more effectively, whatever the weather. Drive an Audi R8 Quattro or a Porsche Carrera 4 on a winding wet road with any enthusiasm and you’ll find out exactly what I mean. Ferrari is a latecomer to supplying power to all the wheels in a sports car, since Lamborghini, Porsche, Bugatti and many other high-end manufacturers have been following this route for years.

The bodywork for the new FF was penned by coach-builder Pininfarina,

FERRARI FF

Full Throttle with the

REPORT TONY WHITNEY PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF FERRARI whose association with Ferrari goes back to the 1950s. It is a very handsome car indeed and has that Ferrari nose job that’s been used (apart from the FF’s high-tech LED lighting) in some form or another for many decades. This is very much an evolutionary styling job in many respects. The profile is rather ‘hump-backed’, like a Porsche Panamera, but that’s the only way that a couple of adults could possibly find comfort in the rear seats. Overall, it will draw far more gasps of admiration than petty criticisms about its roofline.

There’s some nice detailing along the side of the body, including a mesh vent with an adjacent prancing horse badge which must be one of the most recognised logos on the planet. There’s a fairly large rear hatch opening to a decent load area, which places this Ferrari truly in the grand touring class.

There’s not much point in having an exotic sports car that will hardly take any luggage at all, and there are lots of them out there. In fact, the FF has more cargo space than many saloon cars, which is almost unheard of in an exotic. This is a front-engined car, as the passenger layout would obviously demand.

The mighty direct injection, 660horsepower V-12 engine provides vast amounts of power and the Ferrari fourwheel drive system makes sure that none of it is lost between the big Pirelli

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tyres and the road. Ferrari claims that its 4WD system is half the weight of any comparable rival and it really does help weight distribution – a key handling point for any performance car. According to Ferrari, the 4WD distributes power to all four wheels but, in slippery conditions, the front ones get a fair portion of it. The 4WD technology works in unison with various other electronic aids this car has – stability control, and the like.

The car uses a 7-speed transaxle manual/ auto gearbox system, which means that it sits somewhere between the rear wheels, again contributing towards optimum weight distribution.

Like all Ferraris (including those in Formula One), the FF uses ultra-powerful Brembo brakes and also adds carbon ceramic discs to the car’s impressive roster of technology. Carbon ceramic brakes have improved tremendously over the last year or two; early versions tended to snatch and squeal but the latest ones are far more driverfriendly.

It hardly needs saying that the interior of this car is a total delight. Climb into an FF and you just won’t want to leave; it really is that well done. As a driving environment, it might just be unmatched by any car manufacturer. I doubt that even Ferrari has ever done a better job than this.

A recent visit to Maranello and a chance to see the craftspeople cutting out and carefully fitting leather hides to the seats and trim proved that there is still a lot of hands-on work in a Ferrari interior. It shows in every corner of the cabin – there’s just no easy way to create an interior like the one in the FF. The seats are perfectly sculptured, front and rear, and the instrument panel is a masterpiece of practicality. The steering wheel is an interesting shape but sit behind it and grasp the rim and you’ll realise that Ferrari has, once again, got this one ‘just right’. As with any rival in the class, all the usual goodies are included, from top-end sound to a navigation system.

The rear seating is cleverly done – there was no attempt to try and squeeze in a third occupant back there. Rear seat passengers sit either side of a deep console/armrest with various containers and cubby holes. It’s snug back there but headroom is generous and, once a passenger is strapped in, comfort levels are high. There’s even an entertainment system available for rear seat passengers, for TV or DVD applications.

The latest in a long line of 4-seaters from Ferrari, the FF is sure to be very much soughtafter, especially by business users who have to accommodate passengers from time to time but don’t want to give up driving what would surely be the favourite vehicle in their stable. As a family car, it would obviously be the ultimate and, with so much power on tap, crossing challenging mountain passes would be just as easy to deal with as cruising the German Autobahns at 250 km/h.

The splendid new FF won’t be available until next year and no firm price has been set.

Speculation ranges from as little as €280.000 (which seems highly unlikely) to €480.000. On that point, we’ll just have to wait and see. e

g Engine 6.3-litre V-12, 660-horsepower TRANSMISSION 7-speed dual-clutch auto/manual ACCELERATION Zero to 100 km/h in approx. 3.7-seconds TOP SPEED Around 335 km/h I LIKED… Mostly, great looks, neck-snapping power and rock-steady handling four-wheel drive. Luxurious and practical interior styling with beautifully handfinished leather trim. Almost unbeatable brand prestige I DIDN’T LIKE… Profile of car is a little ungainly, possibility of very high price MARKET ALTERNATIVES Porsche Panamera, Maserati Quattroporte, Mercedes-Benz CL, Aston Martin Rapide WHO DRIVES ONE? Serious Ferrari fans will be first in line for the FF, regardless of price, but also buyers who’d like an exotic sports car but need reasonablysized rear seats PRICE AND AVAILABILITY Available during 2012 with a yet-to-be-announced price tag

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CULTURE / HISTORY / FAMOUS PEOPLE / INTERVIEWS / FEATURES / HUMOuR

Jennifer Aniston exclusive, celebrity odd couples, James Franco and the strange side of beauty...

36 Great Beauties in History 38 Beauty: The Cultural Divide 44 Alternative Beauty 50 Jennifer Aniston: Exclusive Interview 52 Celebrity Odd Couples 58 Rupert Bluff on James Franco 60 Humour: Beauty Contests

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GREAT

THEFOCUS FACTS

IN HISTORY

NEFERTITI (CIRCA 1370–1330 BC)

was chief consort of the Pharaoh Akhenaton whose bust, attributed to the sculptor Thutmose and now in Berlin’s Neues Museum, is one of the most copied images from ancient Egypt. Depicting her with a long neck, arched brows, high cheekbones, a slender nose and an enigmatic smile played about red lips, the bust established Nefertiti as one of the loveliest faces of antiquity and she remains an icon of international beauty to this day.

As beauty is this month’s theme, Belinda Beckett checks out the great lookers of yesteryear to see if they measure up to modern standards.

Chinese history honours THE FOUR GREAT BEAUTIES, three of whom were genuine historical figures who influenced emperors: Xi Shi (c. 500BC), whose beauty made fish forget how to swim; Wang Zhaojun (c. 100BC), whose appearance caused birds in flight to fall from the sky; and Yang Guifei (719-756), whose face put flowers to shame.

The fourth, Diao Chan, said to be so luminous that the moon would hide, was probably fictitious. But they weren’t that perfect.

According to some Chinese literature, Xi Shi had big feet, Wang Zhaojun had deformed shoulders and Yang Guifei had BO!

EMMA, LADY HAMILTON (1765–1815) was elevated from

CLEOPATRA VII (69–30BC) was

THE POET LORD BYRON (1788–1824) was the first modern

somewhat less stunning than Hollywood would have us believe. The discovery of a 32BC Eygptian coin bearing her likeness reveals the last Pharoah of Ancient Egypt to have had a pointed chin, thin lips and a beaky nose. Plutarch supports this theory, writing that “her beauty, as we are told, was in itself not altogether incomparable, nor such as to strike those who saw her; but converse with her had an irresistible charm”.

Perhaps she talked Caesar and Mark Antony into bed!

GEORGE VILLIERS, 1ST DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM (1592 –1628) was the

favourite of two kings (James I and Charles I of England) and, some say, the lover of the former who called him his ‘sweet child and wife’. Despite a patchy military career which ultimately got him killed (he was better at dancing and fencing) he was one of the most rewarded royal courtiers in history, married to the richest woman in the country and described as ‘the handsomest-bodied man in all England’. His portrait by Rubens, now hanging in the Pitti Palace, Florence, shows him to be quite tasty by modern standards.

maid to mistress due to her great beauty.

The muse of artist George Romney, she was passed around members of the nobility until one of them (Lord Hamilton) married her.

Famous for her love affair with Admiral Lord Nelson, they produced a child and lived in London with Lord Hamilton in a scandalous ménage a trois. In later life Emma became obese while, after Nelson’s death at the Battle of Trafalgar (not far from here), the instructions he left the government to provide for her were ignored and she died in poverty.

‘pop idol’ whose public adulation was termed ‘Byromania’. Renowned for his personal beauty, which he enhanced by wearing curlpapers in his hair at night, he was athletic despite a deformed foot which he hid with specially-made shoes. His numerous love affairs and other aristocratic excesses lead one of his mistresses, Lady Caroline Lamb, to describe him as “mad, bad and dangerous to know”. If his portraits are true likenesses, he’d still be a pin-up today The timeless beauty of actress LILLIE LANGTRY (1853–1929) seduced a Prince of Wales and she was the first woman to endorse a beauty product (Pears Soap) by virtue of her porcelain skin. Stunning even in her trademark black dress, she was the future Edward VII’s mistress for three years (although both were married) and was even presented to his prim mama, Queen Victoria (who was assuredly not amused).

Her portrait was painted by Millais and she moved in aristocratic circles, acquiring great wealth and, later, a divorce to marry a ‘toyboy’ baronet. Witty as well as pretty, when Edward once complained to her, “I’ve spent enough on you to build a battleship,” she tartly replied, “And you’ve spent enough in me to float one”.

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THEFOCUS HISTORY

Piercing may seem to be a modern phenomenon but it was actually embraced in ancient Roman and Indian cultures

From Egyptian crocodile dung baths to Japanese flesh-eating fish pedicures, the pursuit of pulchritude has a gruesomely fascinating history, as Belinda Beckett reports.

BEAUTY

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M

ost history books will tell you that the ancient Egyptians were the first civilisation to use beauty aids and it’s true that they were epilating with sugar and deodorising with incense balls long before L’Oreál and Estée Lauder came along. However an archaeological dig in the Spanish province of Murcia last year turned that right on its head with the discovery of a set of sculpted shells dating back 50,000 years, containing traces of complex mineral pigments. The world’s first, primitive make-up compacts? Bristol University archaeologist Professor Joao Zilhao, who led the study, certainly believes so. “This is the first secure evidence for Neanderthal use of cosmetics,” he stated.

“The use of these complex recipes is new.

It’s more than body painting.”

Although the worldwide cosmetics and perfume industry today generates a whacking $170 billion globally each year, humans have been using naturally-derived cosmetics and treatments since the dawn of history, whether to denote social status or enhance their looks. Long before the modern technology of microdermabrasion, Japanese geishas applied fish and bird droppings to keep their highly-prized complexions smooth and a variation on this treatment is offered in high-end Japanese

“COSMETICS ARE A BOON TO EVERY WOMAN BUT A GIRL’S BEST BEAUTY AID IS STILL A NEARSIGHTED MAN” YOKO ONO

The Egyptians were one of the first cultures to give so much importance to beauty

The Victorian crinoline: an accepted torture device for women

health spas today. In the Orient for centuries, epidermis-eating Doctor Fish have been used to treat skin disorders as they are naturally inclined to nibble away at dead skin. The Egyptians took crocodile excrement mud baths to firm and tone the skin and tattooed their bodies with henna as an erotic adornment while Cleopatra, who wrote books on the use of cosmetics, wore lipstick made from crushed cochineal beetles which produces a carmine red pigment still used in cosmetics today.

And, if you think piercing is a modern form of body modification, check out the ancient civilisations of Rome and India where nipple and genital piercing, respectively, were once in vogue.

Beauty, as defined by Webster’s Dictionary, is “the qualities that give pleasure to the senses or exalt the mind” but concepts have differed radically through different eras and cultures; think the pre-Raphaelite

fashion for voluptuousness compared to today’s anorexic size zero look, or the rise and fall of breasts which billowed from 18th century Empire-line dresses but were bandaged into pancake-flat submission by flappers in the Roaring 20s (otherwise their long beads wouldn’t hang straight)! Today’s desirable JLo butt was also popular in Edwardian times though, in the absence of buttock implant surgery, you simply attached a horsehair bustle under your gown.

Many beauty practices went hand in hand with suffering and cruelty.

Tiny lotus-shaped female feet were considered desirable in China for 1,000 years but foot binding, only outlawed at the beginning of the last century, resulted in lifelong disability or even death from septic shock for many of its victims. The Burmese Kayan Lawhi tribeswomen, dubbed ‘giraffe-kneck women’, stretch their necks to up to 15 inches long with the addition of

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Clara Bow’s lips were emulated in the distant and recent past

“A WOMAN WITHOUT PAINT IS LIKE FOOD WITHOUT SALT” PLAUTUS

Lotus shaped shoes were the epitome of fashion in China

large brass rings from as young as five years old. This form of ‘beautification’ originally began to protect women working in the forest from attack by tigers, which suffocate their kill by the throat. Among the Surma and Mursi people of Ethiopia, young brides-to-be are prepared for wearing larger and larger lip plates (up to 20cm in diameter) as a symbol of strength and selfesteem, a horrifically disfiguring practice even by the standards of collagen lip-filler devotees. The Wai-Wai people of Guyana bind young girls’ legs below the knee in order to create a swollen calf, considered highly attractive, and the Dinka men of southern Sudan wear tight, beaded corsets that cause their buttocks to swell in a manner that emphasises their slim waists. In Mauritania, one of the poorer African countries where obesity is regarded as a status symbol, a method of force-feeding called

The Roaring Twenties: a time when small breasts were all the rage

leblouh is still practiced, with girls as young as five or six being made to consume up to 20 litres of camel milk, two kilos of pounded millet mixed with butter, and even their own vomit.

As ever, the unobtainable is often the most desirable, hence skin-whitening products are bestsellers in dark-skinned nations, fair-skinned races go for tanners and bronzers while, in Africa, hair straighteners are all the rage. In Iran, where a staggering 60,000 rhinoplasties are performed annually, earning it the title of ‘nose job capital of the world’, women flaunt their post-surgical bandages with pride as most other parts of their bodies are covered up.

Until the cosmetics industry was regulated in the 20th century, serious health problems have sometimes resulted in the name of beauty. The ancient Egyptians of both sexes wore elaborate eye make-up as an adornment but kohl’s antibacterial qualities were also used to deter flies. No one knew, then, that it contained lethal doses of lead sulphide that could cause blindness. Ceruse, used by Renaissance belles to produce a

porcelain complexion, contained poisonous white lead oxide and carobonate hydroxide which lead to hair loss, muscle paralysis and death. Other toxic beauty aids included mercury, used to bring a glow to cheeks, and belladonna to brighten the eyes. In Italy, one scheming Signora Toffana created a skin tonic made from arsenic for unhappily-married wealthy women who wanted to fast-forward their inheritance, instructing them to apply it when their husbands were feeling amorous. Six hundred dead husbands (and many wealthy widows) later, the game was up and Toffana was executed for her crimes.

Even when not lethal, women have gone to extraordinary lengths to achieve that ‘killer’ look. The ‘big hair’ style

“I WOULD RATHER LOSE A GOOD EARRING THAN BE CAUGHT WITHOUT MAKE-UP” LANA TURNER

fashionable among 18th century women was achieved with an early form of hair extensions.

Hair was combed up into gravitydefying styles held in place with finely ground starch and orange flower or lavender water. Other ploys included tracing veins with blue to make the skin appear more translucent, adding black silk or felt beauty spots (originally devised to disguise smallpox marks) and inserting herb-filled pomander balls in the mouth to plump up aged, sagging cheeks.

Queen Victoria’s commitment to strict morals and modesty among women created a backlash against cosmetics which were associated with prostitutes and women of questionable morals.

But there were other perils for fashionable women… The Victorian crinoline, a steel cage,

18thcentury hair wa s ‘big’ and plenti ful

as at lengths to look ce Women went to gre in the Renaissan ble ssi po as le pa

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Villas from € 495.000 ! e t i s b e rw u o t i s i V www.swissmadehomes.com Real Estate Marbella/Spain, Tel. (+34) 952 765 071 – Mobile (+34) 699 234 266 E-Mail: info@swissmadehomes.com

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“I WILL NOT RETIRE WHILE I’VE STILL GOT MY LEGS AND MY MAKE-UP BOX” BETTE DAVIS

VANITY OR INSANITY? To mark its centenary in 2009 L’Oréal, the world’s largest cosmetics company, published a fi ve-volume tome documenting the central role played by beauty across all civilisations and cultures. Penned by 300 authors of 35 nationalities, including anthropologists, archaeologists, sociologists and historians, 100,000 Years of Beauty covers everything from cosmetics and hair colour to jewellery, fashion and other aspects that have defined cultural identity, beauty and social status. The epoch-spanning compendium proves that the power of pulchritude has always been a priority – it’s just methods that have changed. Before L’Oréal launched the first mass market hairspray in 1960, women used a mixture of shellac, water and alcohol and a mechanical sprayer to do the job!

Here are some of the lotions, potions and crazy notions concocted in the name of beauty.

HAIR REMOVAL

950 A.D. Arab women rid themselves of unwanted hair at hammams with a paste made of caustic quicklime or boiled-down lemon and sugar, applied from the eyelashes down.

1400s In jousting-era Europe, the eyebrows and hairline were plucked with tweezers to create the illusion of a high, curved forehead, the neck elongated by removing hair at the nape.

worn to make a dress stand out, made sitting down fraught with danger; the wearer could topple over and show everything she shouldn’t underneath while, rather than inflaming passions, many a lass standing too close to the hearth could find herself on fire with no easy exit. Tight whalebone corsets also wreaked their own brand of havoc; fainting was common, while some women broke ribs and damaged internal organs trying to squeeze themselves into a tiny waist (13 inches is the record).

During the 20th century, makeup was repopularised big time

by Hollywood. Women began emulating Clara Bow’s lips and Mary Pickford’s baby-doll face

and entrepreneurs like Max Factor and Helena Rubinstein saw the opportunity for mass-market cosmetics. However, even in these relatively modern times, cosmetics were not without their dangers. In the 1930s, a permanent mascara brought out in America called Lash Lure caused one death and 15 cases of blindness, due to the presence of toxic paraphenylenediamine as the dyeing agent.

In the 21st century, the trend is for a more natural look and a return to organic and mineral ingredients provided by Mother Nature.

However, health scares persist over ingredients such as parabens, used as cosmetic preservatives, and aluminium chloride, used in

many anti-perspirants.

With the advent of cosmetic surgery, a whole topic on its own whose global market is forecast to reach $40billion by 2013, the pursuit of beauty is as relentless as it ever was, with some women going to the lengths of having their little toe removed to accommodate slim-fitting designer shoes.

Meanwhile, cosmetics companies compete furiously to come up with new money-making beauty products. An extreme example is the recently-launched Betty Beauty pubic hair dye, formulated in blonde, brown, black and auburn to match your Barnet, or in hot pink just for fun! Even Cleopatra didn’t think of that!

TEETH

1500 de 3rd Century A.D. The first dentures – ma and ry, ivo e, Japanese women bon cow of lacquered their teeth white marble – were iron of nd ble a h wit ck bla introduced in Europe filings, oak apples, and while green hazel twigs e, sake or tea. The practic were a popular early known as Ohaguro, toothbrush. prevented tooth decay uty ! and was a mark of bea

HAIR DYE 100 B.C.–300 A.D. GrecoRoman women bleached their hair using carbonised beechwood and goat fat, while the darkerhaired disguised traces of grey with sediment from wine fermentation.

1500s A shade known as Venetian blonde was all the rage in Renaissance Italy, achieved with a highlighting concoction of twigs, barley, licorice bark and lemons and a wide-brimmed Venetian Hat (to prevent skin tanning) with a hole in the crown. Long hair was coated in the mixture, then pulled through the crown to bleach in the sun.

HAIR EXTENSIONS

618–907 A.D. Women of the Tang Dynasty swept their hair over faux pieces to create elaborate sky-high buns with names such as ‘alerted swan chignon’.

1774–1789 Marie Antoinette sparked a fashion for extravagant threefeet-high hairdos, amping up the volume with wire, gauze and cloth and ornamenting it with vegetables, flowers, feathers and model ships to reference current events.

“DRESS, HAIRSTYLE AND MAKE-UP ARE THE CRUCIAL FACTORS IN PROJECTING AN ATTRACTIVE PERSONA” VIVIENNE WESTWOOD

The use of hair extensions can be traced back to the 18th century

42 / ESSENTIAL MAGAZINE MAY 2011

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Essential Marbella_230x300_eng.indd 1

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THEFOCUS HISTORY

THE STRANGELY

BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE WORDS MARISA CUTILLAS

T

“I DON’T LIKE STANDARD BEAUTY - THERE IS NO BEAUTY WITHOUT STRANGENESS” KARL LAGERFELD

here is an old Chinese proverb which says that if you find yourself with only two pennies left, you should spend one on a loaf of bread and the other on a lily. It is easy to say that all we need in life is health and companionship but surely beauty underlies every moment we consider magical: whether it be an embrace from our children, a great song playing on our car stereo or a work of art, brilliant like Van Gogh’s Sunflowers, when viewed in person for the first time.

The case is pretty much the same with people; yes, most of us would agree with the choices on the Most Beautiful People lists but, of these many perfect faces and knockout figures, few really manage to make our heart sing, to keep us inspired, to ignite a flame every time they star in a new film, release an album or give an interview.

Beauty is such a personal notion; feminists would jump for joy (as would the 40+, those with a few kilos to spare and those who are otherwise ‘imperfect’, i.e. everyone) if they knew that the consumer industry and existing social structures may have won the battle, but definitely not the war, when it comes to bombarding us with images of what is considered beautiful. For every Elle McPherson fan club, there is also a group that has always rushed to the premieres of Pedro Almodovar’s films, just to get a glimpse of 50-something-year-old actress Carmen Maura’s amazing eyes.

For every hormonal teenager extolling the virtues of Robert Pattinson’s jawline there is a 40-year-old married woman (like myself) who reads up on what films sexy, scruffy actor Mark Ruffalo is currently working on. For every million

made by the undoubtedly gorgeous Brad Pitt, chubby actor Seth Rogen is putting out a hit film, making us laugh and making the list of Hollywood’s best-paid film stars.

This month’s essential is devoted to the theme of beauty. However, while we accept the fact that we have to watch Cristiano Ronaldo’s model girlfriend, Irina Shayk, writhing about in tiny underwear on the television every day, we’d also like to pay homage to a small yet representative list of artists who may not possess the symmetry or slim physique of a supermodel but whom many of us simply cannot get enough of. Contemplating them in a still shot, watching them perform or listening to them sing or play music is like drinking a cool glass of water after a hot walk in the desert. These are the strangely beautiful people.

Never before has a musician been so obsessed with murder, sex, guilt and redemption. Nick Cave, with his elongated face, deep-set eyes and receding hairline, has also been one of the alternative set’s biggest sex symbols since the 1980s. Founder of rock bands Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds in 1984 and Grinderman in 2006, Cave is a prolific poet and writer who manages to marry beauty and violence, love and death, innocence and experience in a manner reminiscent of William Blake, Dante or Dostoyevsky.

Cave, the son of a literature professor and a librarian, has a deep, powerful voice which he uses to tell tales of violence and passion and to revive legends hitherto lost in history. What makes him so sexy, in addition to his dark fitted suits, brooding gaze and intense body language, are his lyrics, capable of surprising us with their originality, arousing our sympathy for the suffering of his characters and reminding us of the darker facets of love. Those with an interest in Russian novelists of the 19th century have also found an idol in Cave, who touches on similar themes. Cave has also been prolific in other realms, completing a wide variety of projects. He has written the forward to a recent publication of the Gospel According to Mark, composed musical scores for the theatre and written novels and essays. For a fantastic introduction to this great artist, we recommend his album The Murder Ballads. His song The Mercy Seat, from the Tender Prey album (1988), about a man on death row awaiting his fate, is also a must. We end our tribute to Cave with a paragraph from this song:

Nick Cave 44 / ESSENTIAL MAGAZINE MAY 2011

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Beth Ditto

Photography: Evans.co.uk

The lead singer of rock group The Gossip, Beth Ditto has also managed to establish herself as one of the leading figures in the fashion world. This is despite her extra large size, controversial statements and the fact that she’s a proud lesbian. One of the things people most like about her is that she oozes confidence, dancing suggestively and wearing skimpy outfits (sometimes just her underwear) on stage. Beth manages to fuse grunge and glamour to perfection, admitting to not shaving her armpits because she’s “a punk” and she should therefore be “smelly”, yet gracing the premiere cover of London’s Love Magazine, almost completely naked and oozing glorious femininity. She also opened Jean Paul Gaultier’s Spring/Summer ready-to-wear show during Paris Fashion Week, and designed a clothing line for UK fashion company Evans, which makes funky clothing for larger sizes. Beth’s most extolled virtues include her beautifullyshaped legs, exotic fringed bob, porcelain doll skin and 1950’s pin-up style. Think of her as a fuller-figured Dita von Teese, whose actions speak louder than words. A beautiful woman is anything but passive, quiet and serene.

I hear stories from the chamber How Christ was born into a manger And like some ragged stranger Died upon the cross And might I say it seems so fitting in its way He was a carpenter by trade Or at least that’s what I’m told…

In Heaven His throne is made of gold The ark of his Testament is stowed A throne from which I’m told All history does unfold.

Down here it’s made of wood and wire And my body is on fire And God is never far away.

MAY 2011 ESSENTIAL MAGAZINE / 45

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ROSSY DE PALMA

He may be skinny, he may dress in rags and sport a hairdo that looks like he can’t afford a trip to the hairdresser’s… but Scottish songwriter and crooner, Paolo Nutini has a huge following among both male and female fans. If you have never seen him perform, then it may be difficult to explain why his appeal is unique, especially to those in their early 20s who are enraptured by his soulful, romantic lyrics. He was born to shine, though if destiny had had its way he would we working in his family’s fish and chips shop!

Encouraged by his grandfather to sing, Paolo escaped from his hometown by working as a roadie for the band Speedway and also as a studio hand at the Park Lane Studio in Glasgow. The defining experience that turned him into a singer was winning a pop quiz at a David Sneddon concert, when he was given the chance to sing onstage to a packed audience. The response, especially from the feminine contingent, prompted music manager Brendan Moon, who was in the audience at the time, to take Paolo under his wing. Three years later, the talented lad was playing sell-out concerts in the UK and his album, Sunny Side Up, debuted in 2009 in the number one slot. Nutini is currently on a world tour, with concerts sold out in many cities.

We may never see Paolo Nutini with Enrique Inglesias’ abs; he may never grace the cover of Men’s Health or model for Vogue; but he will have us hooked as long as he keeps writing lyrics like those from the single, Last Request, in which a young man in the middle of a painful breakfast asks his love to lie down by his side, just one more time.

This Mallorca-born actress, muse of Almodovar and hailed as ‘a living, breathing Picasso’ is famed for her odd profile and asymmetric looks, yet also for her sultriness, charm and elegance. She possesses all the chic associated with having being part of the cultural revolution known as the Spanish Movida in the 1980s, and with starring alongside Spain’s very best actors: Carmen Maura, Antonio Banderas and Victoria Abril. ‘La suerte de la fea, la guapa la desea’ goes the Spanish saying (‘Beautiful women could only wish to be as lucky as ugly women’) and for those who consider de Palma one of the latter, consider her twice lucky: in addition to a highly successful film career, she has also worked as a model for world-renowned designers such as Gaultier, Thierry Mugler and Sybilla, appeared in fashion spreads of the world’s most prestigious fashion magazines and put her designing skills to the test alongside Luis Vuitton.

PAOLO NUTINI

CLINT EASTWOOD

This actor, director, producer and writer seems to get more and more handsome as the years go by, the raw perfection of his earlier years giving way to a softer, more lined and masculine beauty. Many fans agree that, while he was fabulous in hits like Escape from Alcatraz and Dirty Harry, nothing beats ‘the new Eastwood’, born in the 1990s (when he turned 60) and wowing audiences both with his acting and sophisticated directing ability.

Directing is not a new pursuit for Eastwood; his first feature length film, the heart-stopping thriller, Play Misty for Me, was made as far back as 1971. It was not until 1992 that he won an Oscar for directing and producing that year’s Best Film, Unforgiven, which told the story an ageing cowboy who takes to the saddle again to avenge an unjust death. The 1990s were, without a doubt, a prolific period for Clint who directed exquisite films like In the Line of Fire, The Bridges of Madison County and Absolute Power, revealing an innate talent for stirring the emotions and capturing the beauty of nature.

He has been equally prolific in the new millennium, winning another Best Film Oscar for Million Dollar Baby in 2004 and achieving great box office success for 2010’s Gran Torino, in which he also starred, while unfailingly charming his female audiences.

I have a great weakness for action heroes of the 1980s like Bruce Willis, Kurt Russell and Robert Redford, many of whom have proved that, like Eastwood, age is really sexier in a man who embraces Mother Nature’s ravaging caress.

46 / ESSENTIAL MAGAZINE MAY 2011

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TILDA SWINTON Looking androgynous enough to play both a female and male without needing to resort to special make-up, Oscar winner Tilda Swinton fits into a unique category of stunning, plain, masculine and feminine all at once. Her ethereal looks make her the perfect choice for parts like the Archangel Gabriel in Constantine and The White Witch in The Chronicles of Narnia, roles which any actress less statuesque or other-worldly could never pull off. Though often criticised for her odd fashion choices, Tilda has not given up her penchant for geometric, masculine outfits over the years and opts for short hair and no make-up when she is not working. Tilda has all the elegance and grace of the stunning Cate Blanchett, the personality of Kathryn Hepburn and the confidence of Meryl Streep, qualities that make her one of the most watchable actors of her generation.

Onika Tanya Maraj, the hip-hop recording artist and songwriter from Trinidad better known as Nicki Minaj, is the coolest of cool, the very definition of modern style as portrayed in top fashion magazines. I first came across her in 2010, during her appearance at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards. The first thing that struck me was her get-up: pink hair, a tight one-piece that highlighted her sizeable derrière… and I was won over by her unabashed confidence, much more palpable than in traditionally beautiful performers like Rhianna, JLo or Beyoncé.

Minaj may be new to the industry but she is already making history: she’s is the first ever artist to have seven songs on the US Billboard Hot 100 charts simultaneously, the first female artist to be included in MTV’s Hottest MC List and the first sole female artist to top the US Billboard Hot Rap Songs chart since 2002.

She is also giving Lady Gaga a run for her money in the fashion stakes, wearing odd yet glamorous styles that, soon after, are being worn by young girls in bustling city streets. The last we saw of her,

she was sporting a Frankenstein’s bride hairstyle embellished with leopard spots at the hairline!

Minaj refuses to define her sexuality, claiming that she doesn’t date women or men. She told Vibe Magazine: “I say girls are beautiful and girls are sexy and they need to be told that, and if they don’t have anyone to tell them that and mean it, I’m gonna tell them that. But I feel like people always want to define me and I don’t want to be defined.” This is perhaps the key to the Minaj charm: its refusal to be confined within established boundaries.

NICKI MINAJ

STEVE BUSCEMI

Dubbed ‘The Original Gangster’ by Esquire Magazine, actor Steve Buscemi is somewhere between homely and sexy, plain and plain mad. Starring in action-packed box office hits such as Reservoir Dogs, Armageddon, The Big Lebowski and Fargo (his most violent role to date), he has a huge cult following among women who find him oddly beautiful. His enormous, expressive eyes are capable of conveying warmth and aloofness, kindness and violence, all at once. Unlike more traditionally handsome actors, it is hard to tire of Buscemi whose glorious imperfection is somehow extremely pleasant to contemplate. e

48 / ESSENTIAL MAGAZINE MAY 2011

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THEFOCUS PEOPLE

Jennifer

J

ANISTON

ennifer Aniston, star of Friends and many hit romantic comedies, is still a goddess. Whether she is 40 or 20 is irrelevant. She looks divine as she sits, feminine and composed, on a sofa of the Villa Magna in Madrid, conjuring up the magical heights of Olympus as she runs her hands through her hair and laughs girlishly. Dressed in a sleeveless black shirt and black trousers, she tells us that she is delighted with this point in her career.

She knows she is currently one of the celebrities who influences fashion and beauty trends and she uses her innate charisma for charitable purposes too, lending her support to causes such as breast cancer. Her next challenge is Project Five, which she is tackling with Demi Moore to promote research into breast cancer that could prevent the onslaught of this often-deadly disease.

Is ageing a sin in Hollywood?

(She laughs) It hasn’t got that bad yet. Actually, it hasn’t affected me at all; I just turned 42 and I feel better than ever, more vital than when I was 20! At the moment I haven’t event considered surgery; it doesn’t attract me in the least but I also have to say I’ve got nothing against it. As long as whoever is doing it is happy with the results, that’s what counts. Everyone’s free to pursue what makes them happy.

You seem delighted with your latest film, Just Go With It. Tell us a bit about it.

The film is set in Hawaii. I’m there with my boss, a surgeon (Adam Sandler) and we begin to fall in love with each other without having expected it in the least. At the beginning of the film I play an ugly ducking but, eventually, I transform into a bit of a swan, almost as beautiful as Brooklyn Decker who plays my boss’s girlfriend.

‘The Rachel’ was one of the most popular haircuts in the 1990s. Now your new, shorter bob is already one of the most asked-for styles at many salons.

Yeah, I had a haircut. It’s cute and comfy. I’m really pleased with it. I hope it stays the same until I’m a very, very old lady (she laughs).

It’s refreshing to hear you speak about age and growing older with such aplomb.

When they ask me my age, I always say, ‘Let’s just say I’m over 30’. It sounds better (she laughs).

Your latest roles have all been in romantic comedies. Do you enjoy working in this genre?

I love comedy and I’m proud to be associated with it. I love making people laugh and I love stories about how people fall in love. I don’t feel pigeonholed; I mean, if you shine at something, why change it? In life we all look for a place we feel comfortable in. I love making a fool of myself and, above all, making others laugh.

50 / ESSENTIAL MAGAZINE MAY 2011

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What do you think of Spanish cinema?

I think it’s great. I admire the kind of crazy, fun films that are made here. This evening we’re dining with (Spanish comedian) Santiago Segura. Sandler says he’s very mad so he’s going to seat me by his side. He says that Santiago is real loud, so I’m sure we’ll have a big laugh together.

Are you as laid back in real life as you are on film?

Of course. I’m a very transparent person; there’s not much mystery to me.

“I feel better and more vital now than I did when I was 20!”

Does this practicality extend to your fashion sense?

Yes. My personal style involves everthing that’s comfortable, basic. I don’t think I have a defined style. I’m just as likely to wear a pair of jeans from the 1990s as I am to wear a current pair.

I hear you’ve created a perfume… what was your inspiration?

I put all my heart into creating it. It’s inspired by the summer, on those marvellous moments on the beach with friends when you can lay back and just smell the ocean. The smell and freshness of the moment stays with you, even after you’ve had a shower. To me, summer is incredibly romantic.

Are you planning on marketing any other products?

No, I’m not likely to be promoting clothing or a yoga video soon (she laughs). I hardly know how to dress myself, let alone play stylist to anyone else.

I’m a disaster. Everyone should just wear what they want; that’s the secret of feeling confident.

Are you superstitious?

Not so much superstitious as ritualistic.

Whenever I travel, I pack a candle and photographs of my dogs so that I feel at home in the many hotels I sleep in. You spend so much time away that you have to make the experience as personal as possible. I used to take a special pillow with me to take care of my neck… I should start doing that again!

In, Project Five, you’ll be trying your hand at directing a film about breast cancer, alongside Demi Moore, Alicia Keys and Patty Jenkins. Tell us a bit about that.

Each of us will be directing a small segment of the project, which will be aired on the Lifetime channel. We aim to educate people on the topic and bring them closer to the problems posed by breast cancer for so many women and their families. There are so many stories of courage, love and hope and we seek to share these stories with the audience.

Is Project Five somewhat of a catharsis for you?

All I want is for the film to stir the emotions, to give strength and hope to those who are affected by a disease that could touch all of us, regardless of who we are. e

40

BEAUTIFUL AT INTERVIEW BY AMPARO DE LA GAMA

MAY 2011 ESSENTIAL MAGAZINE / 51

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THEFOCUS PEOPLE

UR MILLER MARILYN MONROE & ARTH

(1957-2007)

Odd Factor:

Of the ‘misfit’ couple, Miller got the better deal, living to the ripe old age of 89 with a 34-year-old girlfriend at his side who hadn’t even been born when Marilyn died.

Brains and beauty turned out to be an oil and water mix in the marriage between America’s greatest living sex siren and greatest living dramatist.

She admired his beautiful mind (he wrote Act I of his Pulitzer prize-winning Death of a Salesman in less than a day) over his geeky looks and sought a father figure (although he was only 11 years older). He couldn’t get over the fact that he was having sex with the hottest ticket in Tinsel Town, and dumped his first wife and childhood sweetheart to marry her. It was a stormy liaison blighted by miscarriages and pill-popping which Miller retold after Marilyn’s death at 36, from a barbiturate overdose, in After The Fall Fall. In a later interview he called her “highly self-destructive”, adding “All my energy and attention were devoted to trying to help her solve her problems. Unfortunately, I didn’t have much success.” Miller is said to have written The Misfits as a Valentines gift to Marilyn, but the marriage was all but over when filming began and a year later, with Monroe barely cold in her grave, he wed a photographer he met on the set of the movie.

Still stunning at 76, the Italian screen siren broke hearts everywhere when she married fellow countryman and film magnate Carlo Ponti. They first met at a beauty contest he was judging (she came second). She was 15, he was 37 and already married, but became her manager. Their own marriage by proxy, seven years later, became one of the scandals of the decade as Italy didn’t recognise Ponti’s Mexican divorce and the couple were forced to have an annulment to escape bigamy charges. They eventually remarried in France in 1966. Ponti co-produced several of Loren’s Hollywood movies, though most were flops, while she could pick her own producers after she won 21 awards, including an Oscar, for Two Women (1962). The couple had two sons and although Loren is now a grandmother three times over, it didn’t stop her posing for the Pirelli calandar in 2007. Despite a bad start, theirs seems to have been a marriage made in heaven, lasting until Ponti’s death in 2007, aged 95. When asked in a recent interview if she was ever likely to marry again, Loren replied, “No, never again. It would be impossible to love anyone else.” Sweet!

She was the cultured, sleek and classy widow of an assassinated US President, of whom one White House advisor said: “She had more men per square inch than any woman I’ve ever known”. He was a short, paunchy, unrefined Greek shipping magnate 23 years her senior but he was rich as Croesus, and they wed on his private Greek isle of Skorpios when Jackie was 39 and he was 62. Labelled a ‘whore’ by some, in her defence Jackie had came to fear for her family after her brother-in-law Robert F. Kennedy’s assassination. Onassis offered the security she craved (although if she was that concerned, it’s a wonder she allowed herself to be ‘shot’ nude sunbathing in Greece by paparazzi and splashed all over Hustler magazine).

However, the marriage was a contract, pure and simple, and the couple spent increasing times apart, with Jackie jetting off to social engagements rather than remaining at her husband’s bedside when he lay dying in 1975.

Odd Factor:

Onassis reportedly offered Jackie US$3 million for herself and $1m for each son in return for marriage, plus US$150,000 a year for life after his death. Following a legal battle, she eventually accepted a $26 million settlement from step-daughter Christina Onassis, but died in 1994 before she could spend it all.

OTLE ONASSIS JACKIE KENNEDY AND ARIST

(1968-1975)

52 / ESSENTIAL MAGAZINE MAY 2011

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NTI SOPHIA LOREN & CARLO PO

(1957-2007)

Odd Factor:

When they returned to Rome after their first marriage, the couple lived under assumed names and didn’t appear in public together in order to keep Carlo out of jail. Sophia recalls: “I was being threatened with excommunication, with the everlasting fire and for what reason? I had fallen in love with a man whose own marriage had ended long before… We should have been taking a honeymoon, but all I remember is weeping for hours.”

Shrek and the lovely Princess Fiona may just be a cartoon beauty and the beast love story but the little black book of human Hollywood hook-ups would seem to suggest that opposites do attract, at least for a time, as Belinda Beckett reports.

CELEBRITY

ODD COUPLES MAY 2011 ESSENTIAL MAGAZINE / 53

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GELIL CELINE DION AND RENE AN (1994-present)

NE OZZY AND SHARON OSBOUR

(1982-PRESENT)

Odd Factor:

Sooo many… mostly on Ozzy’s part but biting the head off a bat during a concert, snorting a line of ants and urinating on a cenotaph while wearing Sharon’s dress because she’d hidden his clothes give a taster of this turbulent partnership.

Despite her Cruella de Vil style and his total lack of any, Ozzy and Sharon’s 38-year marriage is something of a record in the rock genre. Yet, somehow, they’ve made it work through many trips to rehab (themselves and their kids), financial difficulties and various health scares, including Sharon’s battle with cancer while filming their hit reality show, The Osbournes. Back in Ozzy’s riot-filled days and nights with Black Sabbath, Sharon was more suburban hausfrau than rock chick, yet Ozzy’s feisty Mrs kept her renegade husband’s feet on the ground during those crazy years, after he was fired from Black Sabbath in 1979 and spent the next three months locked in his hotel room, consuming vast amounts of drugs and alcohol. (He himself has admitted that he would certainly have died if Sharon had not agreed to manage his solo career, taking over from her father who managed the band.) Now this wealthy couple are reaping the rewards and, through all the madness, one thing has remained true: the genuine love they share.

The couple first met when she was 12 and he was 38 and became her manager.

Nothing creepy about that, maybe, but it caused speculation even in free-and-easy Tinsel Town when they started dating (although he waited until she was of age). But the Hollywood busy-bodies were thwarted as, not only have they been happily married for over 16 years, Celine gave birth to twin boys last October, having had her first son in 2001. So even if the 43-year-old Canadian singer of Titanic theme tune fame could pass for her 69-year-old husband’s daughter, he must still have what it takes; or maybe not, as the kids were all in-vitro babes.

Odd Factor:

For their sixth wedding anniversary, Dion and Angelil renewed their vows in Las Vegas with a tacky 1001 Arabian Nights theme, complete with camels.

HOWARD MARSHALL ANNA NICOLE SMITH AND J. (1994-1995)

© Grey Goose Vodka

H AVID FURNIS D & N H JO N ENT) SIR ELTO (1993-PRES

Odd Factor:

Five a.m. feeds don’t disturb this couple’s sleep as Zach doesn’t live under the same roof. He has a nursery in his own palatial apartment next door.

Odd but also oddly inspiring, there must be hissy fits aplenty behind closed doors but trophy husband David, 15 years the 64-year-old Sir Elton’s junior, is reportedly able to sooth the parts others can’t reach. Their eyes first met across the dinner table at Elton’s Windsor pad and they’ve sent each other I Love You cards every Saturday night since. “I was attracted to David immediately.

He was very well dressed and shy,” says Elton (so opposites DO attract). The dapper Canadian is the perfect foil for the prima donna of pop, and his rock too, having helped the star overcome a drink and drugs addition. Now proud parents of surrogate baby Zachary, it’s unclear who’s Mum and who’s Dad but they have two nannies to change the nappies.

With a 63-year age gap, this was possibly the craziest pairing in Hollywood history and one that was most likely love at first sight of his bank account. Nevertheless Anna Nicole, a busty stripper and Playboy Playmate with an 8th-grade education referred to the 89-year-old wheelchair-bound billionaire as her “Prince Charming”.

And, whether or not she needed her eyes testing, she certainly brought a gummy smile to the toothless oil tycoon’s wrinkly face and goodness knows what else although perhaps it hastened his demise as they had barely celebrated their first anniversary when he died.

Then Anna Nicole made the revolting discovery that she had been left out of his will! If she was a gold digger, he had the last laugh as she died from a drug overdose in 2007, her legal battle for a share of his fortune unresolved.

Odd Factor:

Smith reportedly never lived with her husband, and the honeymoon period was short and sweet as, immediately following their wedding, she flew to Greece with her bodyguard.

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I ARLA BRUN (2008-PRES

ENT)

EN AND WOODY ALL

With a 13-year age gap and a significant height difference, French Premier Nicolas Sarkozy raised Gallic eyebrows with his whirlwind romance and quickie wedding to supermodel-turned-singer Carla Bruni. Italian-born Carla has a chequered past (her ex-lovers include Mick Jagger and Eric Clapton and she has a child from an affair with an ex-lover’s son!). A raving Leftie when Sarkozy was styling himself as France’s answer to Margaret Thatcher, she had previously declared her intention to pursue a man of “nuclear power” and this is a lady who gets what she wants (Sarkozy has at his disposal more than 350 nuclear Bruni refuses to give up her music warheads). She has played the dutiful career but it didn’t help her wife on state visits (renouncing heels husband when she released an so she doesn’t tower over her vertically album of breathy songs, including challenged husband) but while he one in which she admitted to once said of their relationship: “You will having had 30 lovers, and another see, we will do better than Marilyn and comparing the President to a Kennedy,” she has publicly stated that class-A drug “more deadly than she is easily “bored with monogamy”.

Afghan heroin”.

There have been allegations on Twitter that both parties are having extramarital affairs and the normally liberal-minded French voters are so not amused. Watch this space!

Odd Factor:

EVIN SOON-YI PR

E (1997- PRES

NT)

Neurotic movie director and genius Allen said in 2005: “If somebody told me when I was younger, ‘You’re going to wind up married to a girl 35 years younger than you, and a Korean, not in show-business’, I would have said, ‘You’re completely crazy’.” If they’d also told him she would be his adopted daughter too, would he have punched them? After 15 years and two adopted children of their own, they seem happy although any man who can coolly tell his lover, “I’m dating your daughter” doesn’t deserve it; that was how Allen broke the news to Mia Farrow after she discovered nude pictures of Allen and Farrow’s biological son, Ronan Soon-Yi (whom she had adopted with Farrow, has refused to forgive the actor, her then-husband, the conductor saying: “He’s my father married to my André Previn) in Allen’s apartment. sister. That makes me his son and his Soon-Yi was 22. She has said she brother-in-law. That is such a moral always regarded Previn, not Allen, as transgression.” her father, while thrice-married Allen defended his actions stating: “The heart wants what it wants. There’s no logic to those things.”

Catherine and Michael share the same birthday (September 25), give or take a quarter century.

Odd Factor:

Odd Factor:

NES D CATHERINE ZETA-JO MICHAEL DOUGLAS AN

(2000- PRESENT)

© Famous

He may be old enough to be her father (the 25-year age gap is kind-of freaky) but, after 11 years of marriage and two kids, foxy 41-year-old Catherine and Michael, now looking all of his 66 years, have proved the sceptics wrong. Initially the workingclass Welsh lassie and her mother were reportedly worried about Douglas’s reputation as a recovering sex-addict, and maybe they were right to be as the smitten actor’s first words to Catherine Zeta (presumably after formal introductions) were: “I want to father your children.”… and he was as good as his word, as the couple didn’t marry until after the birth of their son Dylan. But while the high-kicking Chicago star’s career goes from strength to strength, her husband has been battling throat cancer, somewhat galling for Douglas considering his actor-father Kirk is still a sprightly 94.

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Built: 105m2 • Living: 80m2

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Monte Biarritz, San Pedro area

Great family home! This is a lovely four bedroom townhouse located in a residential area walking distance to amenities and the beach. On the main floor, there is a living room with fireplace, dining area, fully equipped kitchen and guest toilet. Excellent for a family with children as the terrace has direct access to the community garden and view to the pool. The second floor is very bright and has four bedrooms and two bathrooms. On the top floor there is an ample solarium with shower. Big double garage, laundry room and storage in the basement. Also a very large gated guest parking lot shared by only five houses. Built: 175 m2 • Terrace: 77 m2

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This is a wonderful private villa with absolutely stunning views of the coast and El Paraiso Golf Course. This very large property is set on a 2.400 sqm plot of land and features five spacious bedrooms and bathrooms. The beautifully furnished kitchen has direct access to the terrace and garden area. It is shared with the dining room and the living room. Ample master bedroom located upstairs with its own bathroom en suite with access to a lovely terrace. There is a large basement which has not been finished, it would be suitable for games room, cinema, bodega, more bedrooms etc. Plot: 2.400 sqm • Built: 433 sqm • Living: 348 sqm.

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Urb. Monte Biarritz, Pueblo Jardin, Local 4 29688 Estepona (Málaga) Tel: +34 952 90 42 44 Fax: +34 952 89 68 49 Email: info@marbella-estates.com 144 Marbella Estates.indd 1

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THEFOCUS HOLLYWOOD WORDS RUPERT BLUFF

W

SHOOTING HOLLYWOOD DOWN “James Franco was an individual who was taking all the boyish, 14-yearold fantasies that any introspective, dweeby kid – like myself – thought they could do when they grew up. And he’s accomplishing them, both commercially and artistically. So he’s acting, he’s directing, he’s a heartthrob, he’s an artist… he’s Superman.”

Artist Nic Rad

hen James Franco sits opposite a reporter for an interview, he’s probably used to always being asked, first and foremost, how he does it all. An actor hailed by many as the best of his generation (he already has a Golden Globe and an Oscar nomination to his name, despite his youth), he is equally at home playing gorgeous anti-heroes (Spiderman) as he is at playing dopey, spacedout, hippy characters which seem uncannily similar to Franco himself (his role as a drug dealer in Pineapple Express springs to mind here). He can be sinfully gorgeous, with an infectious, charismatic smile, and also terribly grungy, so much so that one can wonder what all the fuss is about… That is, of course, until we see him act, when we are blown away by his charisma and depth.

Funnily enough, acting is not the ‘be-all and end-all’ for Franco, nor the main occupier of his time.

Unlike other actors of his caliber, such as Christian Bale or Edward Norton, Franco’s life is divided into a wide spectrum of pursuits, from artistic to literary and intellectual.

James FRANCO It always seems amazing when a busy actress like Natalie Portman manages to whiz through a degree while maintaining her status as one of Hollywood’s most successful stars but Franco takes it to a whole new level. In addition to his film work, he is also a film producer, director, painter, photographer, performance artist, screenwriter and author (he has published a collection of short stories called Palo Alto). He has held several artistic exhibitions, worked in conjunction with other artists (such as the notorious Marina Abramovic), and written a screenplay with his younger brother. He is also reticent to give up the student lifestyle and is currently completing a PhD in English at the University of Yale. Indeed, nothing about Franco is typical; when he was studying for his undergraduate degree at UCLA he requested, and was given permission to complete, 62 credits per quarter (the normal maximum is 15). He graduated in 2008 with an impressive grade point average, going on to complete an Honours thesis. After that, he moved to New York where he took two courses at the same time: a writing programme at Columbia University, and a film-making course at New York University. In addition to his PhD, he is also planning on taking up a course at the Rhode Island School of Design.

All this while building one of the most successful careers of any young actor on the current scene, and indulging his penchant for devouring literature too! Hollywood Producer Judd Apatow, who worked with Franco on Pineapple Express, said that the crew was

stunned to find Franco reading The Iliad and James Joyce between takes.

Franco’s brother Dave, meanwhile, once asked his brother on camera if he had ever just sat in front of a television doing nothing, “just to relax”. Franco’s laughing response: “Doing nothing, and sleeping, amounts to defeat. I only sleep when I physically can no longer stay up.”

Franco may often say that acting does not satisfy him to the same level as academia, yet he is very serious about his craft. He started young (at 17) and has never shied from immersing himself 100 per cent in his roles. He clearly follows the ‘method acting’ school, living on the streets for many days to play a homeless youth in City By The Sea (where he acted opposite Robert De Niro); obtaining a pilot’s licence for the film Flyboys; and losing a great deal of weight to play entrapped mountain climber Aron Ralston in 127 Hours (which garnered him the Oscar nomination).

Yet Franco is a far cry from other actors of his caliber; talented thespians such as Edward Norton and Christian Bale spring to mind.

While an aura of sobriety and seriousness emanates from these actors, Franco is often seen as goofy, exuding the charm that many great artists do. In a word, he is eccentric and, for me, always his funniest when alongside his brother Dave. If you’re up for a good laugh, check out their video series for Funny or Die, where Franco ‘gives Dave some acting lessons’, teaching him how to cry, act in front of a green screen and act in a scene. The boyish humiliation to which Dave is exposed, and Franco’s irresistibly contagious irony, is one of the funniest things we’ve seen Franco do. Somehow, he is a jack of all trades who also manages to be a master of everything. e

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THEFOCUS HUMOUR Words belinda beckett

BEL’S BLOG

• William Shatner (beauty contest host in the film, Miss Congenialty):

What is the one most important thing our society needs?

• Sandra Bullock (an undercover cop posing as a contestant): That would be harsher punishment for parole violators, Stan.

• Sandra Bullock: Oh… and world peace! [crowd cheers ecstatically]

N

ot a lot of people know (or care) that Miss World turns 60 this autumn. The oldestsurviving major international pageant has been parading its line-ups of pulchritudinous ‘world peacenicks’ since 1951. The X-Factor of its day (or make that the DD-Factor), watched by millions at its peak, for the contestants it was a fast track from the typing pool to a modelling career, while guys had an excuse to eyeball female flesh at close quarters and girls to bitch, “36-inch hip, no way!”. But what really made it compulsive viewing were the dumb answers given to the dumber questions as the girls attempted to define world poverty or the hole in the ozone layer in a sentence, something even politicians can’t manage.

Of course, not all of the gals were clueless … Oprah Winfrey and Halle Berry were both beauty contest fodder in their youth…

Founded by the unlikely duo of Eric and Julia Morley (he seemed pervy and she made Cruella de Vil look cute), traditional family values were rigorously enforced and the ideal contestant was stated to be: ‘between 17 and 25, five foot seven, eight or nine stone, waist 22-24”, hips 35-36”, no more no less, a lovely face, good teeth, plenty of hair, and perfectly shaped legs from front and back, carefully checked for such defects as slightly knock knees.’

However, where beauty queens strutted, controversy followed: 1974’s British Miss World, Helen Morgan, was forced to abdicate for being an ‘unmarried mother’ (tut tut!) while others were dethroned for posing in Playboy, homosexuality and other unpatriotic activities.

Growing feminist opposition to these ‘cattle markets’ reached a haitus with the flourbombing of the 1970 contest, hosted in Britain by a for-once humourless Bob Hope. As a result, Miss World got a more PC facelift as ‘Beauty with a Purpose’, with a charity angle and intelligence and personality tests (not

Beauty Contests

a good move since very few girls seemed to possess either). And, when ‘to be happy’ and ‘world peace’ became every pretty girl’s wellrehearsed ambition, we all switched off; all of us except the citizens of Sanya in China which, curiously, has hosted the Miss World finals five times between 2003 and 2010. Apparently it’s good for tourism, but have you heard of Sanya?

The contest disappeared from British TV screens for 10 years until Channel 5 brought it back, but with an audience of 2.3 billion for the first contest of the new millenium, it looks like Miss World will still be around to get its telegram from the Queen.

Today there are zillions of alternative beauty pageants for both sexes, including Mr Gay World (for ‘straight’ gays) and Miss Gay America (for drag queens seeking to get in touch with their feminine side), but the most pointless contest of all has to be Miss Arab World. Girls in six-inch heels totter down the catwalk disguised in burkas, chadors and even veils, requiring judges with X-ray vision as neither flesh nor vital statistics are revealed.

Last year’s contest in Cairo opened with a song whose lyrics Gadafi might have had a hand in: ‘Her beauty is she’s Eastern, the prettiest thing about her is she’s Arab, her culture and values no one can dispute. You are a symbol for the greatest nation, you free Arab girl.’

The organisers insist it’s not about looks but a beauty contest with no beauty content? Now that’s what I call dumb!

And the finalists for Miss Dumb World are: Miss Panama 2009, asked to explain the Confucius quote,

most ancient.”

Miss Gay Philippines contestant: “Good afternoon everyone, my name is Luzviminda Cortez from Camarines Sur, may you rest in peace.”

Miss USA 2004 on the importance of her new role: “Miss USA is a woman of the new millennium… she appears in public in jeans, a cute sexy top and a pair of heels, because that’s what the modern woman can relate to.”

Miss USA contestant on the most important event in her nation’s history. “Pearl Harbour, because it ended the great depression and forced us into the World War II, and our country experienced patriotism and unity.”

Miss Hawaii, at Miss World American 1992: “We are truly the land of the great. From the rock shores of Hawaii to the beautiful sandy beaches of (long pause)… Hawaii..., America is our home.”

Miss Teen South Carolina, on why one in five Americans can’t locate the USA on a world map: “Because, uh, some people out there in our nation don’t have maps.” e

A PLATFORM FOR WORLD PEACE? ‘Learning without thought is labour lost’: “Confucius was one of whom invented confusion and that’s why he was one of the Chinese… Japanese… who were one of the

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Untitled-1 1

23/7/10 10:49:55

INTERIORS / ARCHITECTURE / ART

/ DESIGN / GARDENs / FASHION

Originals interiors, gorgeous spring fashion, gardening advice and one of a kind jewellery...

64 Décor: Originals Interiors 74 Décor News: The Atlas Group 76 Beautiful Gardening Styles 78 Etam Spring/Summer 2011 84 Fashion News 86 Katie-Eula:

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Jewellery Designer

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THESTYLE DECOR

Report Belinda Beckett Photography KH Photography

It’s not every day that a local design company wins commissions in Monte Carlo and the City of London on the strength of work accomplished here, especially when the client could have had their pick of renowned designers based in those cities. That company is Originals Interiors, established in Marbella since 1992.

Since they established Originals Interiors in 1992, designers Doreen Burton and Debbie Pea have built up an enviable, mostly word-of-mouth reputation for transforming the ordinary into the extraordinary. The company’s exclusive clientele includes home owners at the Marbella Club, Puente Romano, La Zagaleta, Torre Bermejo, La Trinidad and Mansion Club. A recent project at Los Granados del Mar in Estepona also bears the Originals Interiors singular hallmark. As this is the celebrity playground of Marbella, it’s also no surprise that a number of their clients are well-known personalities but discretion is this company’s byword and the designers refuse to namedrop, even off the record!

In the current economic climate, this company is triumphing through its ability to work to almost any budget,

in many cases saving customers money in the process. Even a simple refurbishment can work wonders as Originals can testify because, having staged homes for sale highlighting all the positives of the property and scope for improvement, these properties have sold very quickly.

Hiring a personal interior designer sounds very high-end but most people choosing the DIY route have a cautionary tale to tell about costly mistakes made. Instant purchases can be risky as you may get them home to find they don’t fit the dimensions or character of the room, and paying for a little advice can be cheaper in the long run. The two designers point out that if

you go into any major large furniture store you certainly won’t be able to discuss your requirements with the owners and their team directly and review all possibilities and options on site, if wished. You may also pay a higher price for items that everyone else can have, too.

Conversely, this dynamic design duo and their talented team enjoy such a close personal relationship with their clients that the bond has very often continued to the next generation, through projects they have carried out for clients’ now grown-up children.

Also, through their extensive network of contacts in the design world, they can source exquisite fabrics and furnishings that cannot be bought over the counter locally – and at the most competitive prices. Vivienne Westwood, Julian Chichester, Cavalli Visionaire and many other top names in decoration are old

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Originals

INTERIORS:

Elegant by design MAY 2011 ESSENTIAL MAGAZINE / 65

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friends. They work with companies in France, Italy and the UK as well as Spain and have an ‘in’ on the latest trends through annual visits to the top trade fairs. They have built up a trusted team of local artisans who can produce bespoke furniture to fit any space and scheme and, with their in-house team, they can also produce beautiful handpainted pieces.

With their eye for style, they design their own collections, too. Many of their eye-catching pieces are on sale in the shop attached to their Golden Mile design studio where you’ll be welcome even if only to browse, or to purchase a small item such as a hand-made lampshade or cushion cover.

Working with an interior designer is not only a stress-free solution to sourcing original designs for less. It’s also a way to breathe new life into your house and make exciting changes you won’t instantly regret. You might never have dreamed of painting your bathroom in a bold colour or pattern

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but experienced designers like Originals can find a way to do it that turns an unremarkable room into one all your friends will be talking about.

The company’s stated philosophy is to ‘avoid being classified as part of any style apart from our own look’.

Unique is a much-abused word but it is applicable to the Originals Interiors’ design concept which is different for every client, and stems from the designers’ innate ability to bring out the soul of a home. Whether catering for the classic and the modern, the singular and the exclusive, the rustic and the elegant, there’s a sense of splendour in the ambiences they create through the use of fascinating lighting, the creative distribution of spaces and the careful combination of textiles, tones and textures.

They try to avoid the ‘instant’ or high street chain store style decor which is very repetitive and dates quickly, in preference for something that will appear fresh and lovely in five years time. There are no set rules.

Colour, according to the two designers, has to be the single key expression of style, creating an instant atmosphere and ambience as well as the creative framework for the room. The colour ties it together!

Even in a mostly neutral room with layers of textures, an accent or detail in colour is sometimes the important finishing touch. They always try to include at least one piece of original art work in every project, painted by one of their talented local artists.

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The Originals Team knows that the greatest growth in contemporary interior design and architecture is the maximising of light and space in every possible way.

Wall textures play an important role in today’s décor, and accenting wall areas, whether subtly or more boldly, can add a very interesting dimension to any room. All projects very much depend on the style of home and the personality and lifestyle of the owner. Are there children or pets, is the property for holiday use or a forever home, how does the family like to live? These are the questions they need to ask first. Of course, some people want them to replicate a design from a magazine and they can do that too… and improve on it!

The Originals studio stocks sumptuous textiles, wallpapers, furniture and floor coverings. Row upon row of swatches reveal the many opulent options: delicious woven and printed fabrics by Andrew Martin, sumptuous silks, jacquards, linens and embossed velvets from Lizzo of Italy, alongside many collections of Spanish and

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Portugese fabrics, classic wallpaper designs from Cole & Son and textured papers from many other renowned suppliers. In furniture, you’ll find everything from Julian Chichester’s classically-inspired English style to Cavalli Visionaire’s voguish, neo-gothic collections featuring glass, chromised metal, crystal, animal, fish and reptile skin, semi-precious stones and other contemporary materials.

Many exquisite furniture pieces bear Originals Interiors’ own label; they are designed in house and can be made to order in many varieties of finishes, colour and size.

Client confidence and satisfaction in their creative work is the reason Originals Interiors has remained constantly busy since opening. Gaining the confidence and loyalty of clients is what makes the company most proud of its name and reputation.

ORIGINALS INTERIORS, S.L., Centro Comercial La Poveda 6, CN.340, Km. 178, (next to Marbella Club Hotel), Marbella.

Tel: 952 863 230 originals@computronx.com www.originalsinteriors.com 72 / ESSENTIAL MAGAZINE MAY 2011

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THESTYLE BUILDING

C

enturies separate the ancient art of Venetian stucco work and the ultra-modern technique of beach surface pool finishes. One is a luxury material made from powdered marble that was once used to grace the palazzo walls of Roman emperors; the other is an exquisite natural aggregate made from sea shells, invented in Australia to complement that great Antipodean custom, the poolside barbie. Both techniques are now available in Marbella from the Atlas Group, specialists in luxury pools, villas and home reforms with added wow factor.

Renowned for its craftsmanship and superior finishes, this Esteponabased company has undertaken projects at some of Marbella’s most prestigious addresses, constructing a replica of the stunning Puro Beach pool at Laguna Village for a house in Sierra Blanca, and a trio of pools with a chiringuito hand-assembled from rough-hewn quarry stone for a home in La Zagaleta.

With its own architect and inhouse team of 22 master builders and artesans, the company can offer a drawing board-to-turnkey service for every kind of bespoke project.

Atlas relishes challenge, whether your dream is a soothing Zen water garden filled with Koi carp or a tropical rockfringed lagoon. Constantly seeking new ideas that turn the ordinary

into the stunning, the company has just announced a new first: antique Marmorino stucco decorative wall and floor finishes, a classic Venetian plaster dating back to Roman times that is applied by hand.

With its pure lines, depth of colour and smooth, lustrous feel, stucco is ideal for today’s fashion for minimalism while its longlasting quality means it only needs to be applied once, with minimal maintenance. Hugely versatile, it comes in 107 colours and 20 varieties of finish to give different effects: not only glossy or matt but mother of pearl, faux marble, terracotta, glitter and metallic, adding opulence to any salon. It’s also perfect for bathrooms as, being lime-based, stucco breaths, helping to regulate indoor humidity.

A more durable version with the same aesthetics is used for flooring and can usually be applied straight on top of your old floor surface.

From an ancient art to a technique developed more recently by the outdoor-loving Australians whose definition of keeping up with the Joneses is a beautiful pool. Atlas is the exclusive licensed installer of Pebble Tec pools on the Costa del Sol, available in 18 beautiful colours and effects that make water features look like Mother Nature herself had a hand in their creation. This is achieved with a mosaic of the

Laguna Village lookalike

ATLAS

Report Belinda Beckett Photography courtesy of Atlas Group

Pool with poolhouse in Sierra Blanca

finest pebbles and seashells tightly fused and lightly buffed to create a luxurious surface. It has the elegant look of rich granite while being nonslip, incredibly strong and stain resistant, imbuing the surface water with an iridescent, icy sheen.

Other beautiful finishes, such as Moroccan mosaic, pool surrounds in Travertine marble and natural stone and stylish hardwood decking are also within the ambit of Atlas, along with concrete, liner and polyester pools (indoor or outdoor, skimmer or deck level), flowing cascades and bubbling swim spas, gazebos and pergolas, artificial rocks, lighting (in and around the pool) and many other features. To help customers decide, Atlas uses the latest video software to create 3D virtual images of all its designs. Clients can see how their chosen pool will look in brilliant sunshine, at night and how it changes colour when they dive into it (they can even hear the splash)!

In order to deliver its promise of ‘turning dreams into reality’, Atlas has all the practical solutions, too. In terms of vital pool filtration, an area where customers are tempted to cut corners, the company can install the very latest systems which replace traditional sand with finely crushed, recycled glass – safer and with lower operating costs.

Atlas operates a ‘green’ code of Quarry stone pool house at La Zagaleta

ethics, favouring the most cost- and energy-efficient pumps, filters, lights, heaters and control systems which use some 60 per cent less electricity than they did 20 years ago: solar swimming pool heating; geothermal heating which derives warmth from the subsoil; salt systems that turn ordinary salt into a self-regenerating supply of pure chlorine, safer than harsh, chemically-produced chlorine; and UV technology to reduce chlorine-resistant bacteria.

All these systems can be automated to give the owner push-button control over their outdoor lifestyle.

The Atlas philosophy that a home should be a reflection of the owners’ personality and lifestyle means that clients are very much the team leaders. Atlas partners them through each step, identifying their dreams, assisting in the choice of quality products best suited to their budget and using their expertise throughout the construction process to make those dreams come true.

g Further information from Atlas Group, Arquimedes 5, Estepona, Tel: 616 487 788/679 175 766 or see the websites www.atlaspools.eu (for pool construction); www.atlasart.eu (for Venetian stucco); www.atlasbuild (for property construction).

Stylish stucco

THE ARTISANS OF HOME DESIGN

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Creating Dreams Construction Structures Refurbishments

Swimming Pools Pool Covers Heat Pump 3D Design

Venetian Plaster Microcement Pebble Tec Artificial Rock

www.atlasbuild.eu

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www.atlasart.eu

www.atlaspool.eu

C/ Arquímedes 5 29680 Estepona Tel. 952 90 41 86 Fax 952 88 05 54 info@atlas-group.es

28/4/11 14:25:37

THESTYLE GARDENING words by Richard Whaley

I

t’s said that ‘beauty is in the eye of the beholder’ and that’s certainly true with gardens.

Two garden types are associated with the Mediterranean region: informal and formal. However, I have for some years designed a third style, which I call ‘modernistic-fusion’.

Informal gardens tend to feature gravel, with planting arranged in structural groups or masses. This look is inspired by the shrubby vegetation (maquis) of the south of France or the more arid regions of southern Italy and Spain. Olives, citrus fruits, vines, lavender and rosemary thrive in these conditions, as do succulents and grasses, while colours tend to be muted, incorporating soft sage-gray greens and purpleblues. Gravel is used between areas of planting and to create pathways. Drifts of plants appear to emerge spontaneously in the gravel, perhaps punctuated by arrangements of rocks and boulders. Sometimes a dry stream bed is recreated with clusters of informally arranged, drought-resistant plants. For more intimate or urban spaces, terracotta instantly evokes the style, supplemented by mosaic tiles or features to add splashes of colour. Walls are often whitewashed, creating clear backdrops for shadows but, where paint is used, hues are often bold. Rustic containers introduce colourful planting at key points and may be used as focal features or arranged in informal groups of different sizes.

The formal gardens of the Mediterranean tend to utilise water and stone, often with clipped hedges and specimen trees such as tall, slender cypresses. In some of the gardens of Spain and southern Italy there

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Director of Richard Whaley Landscaping, a garden design and construction company established in 1987.

GARDEN STYLE is a clear Moorish influence, as seen in the courtyards and water features of the Generalife and Alhambra. Decorative parterre planting is also typical of the formal style, with plants selected for foliage rather than flower colour, and densely planted trees such as Quercus ilex (Holm oak) providing cool shade.

Modernistic-fusion gardens tend to make use of up-to-theminute materials and technology.

They are usually simplistic and to the point, often using glass, water and feature/statement plants.

Geometric, sharp clean lines are generally employed to form views and shadows, enhanced by lighting at night. A warning however; what may be fun and funky today may not be tomorrow; a balance must be achieved.

All of these gardens need to attain a state of 100 per cent efficient irrigation, and provide the plants, flowers, and turfgrass on your landscape with the correct amount of water at exactly the time they need it. Achieving this with regularity and precision has proved elusive for commercial

and residential users of irrigation systems.

Studies show that most landscapes are significantly overwatered by up to 50 per cent in Spain, causing needless waste, plant damage and harmful runoff. To solve the problems associated with overwatering, a

suitable professional needs to be employed to examine the combination of factors required to create optimum watering schedules, including:

Z Z Z Z

Tasks for may:

Z Z Z

Z Keep weeding to eliminate an abundant crop of weeds later Z If you see pests on shrubs or plants, eliminate them now Z Re-pot indoor plants and set outdoors to enjoy the summer Z Plan and plant successive sowings of annuals, and vegetables in situ Z Add mulch to beds to conserve moisture and suppress weeds Z In the meantime, enjoy your outside spaces… That’s why we live here

Z

A specific plant type’s water needs A specific plant’s root depth Type of soil at the site (clay, sandy or loamy) Plant microclimate (full or partial sun or shade) Slope of landscape (flat or incline) Irrigation method used (sprinkler, drip, or bubbler) Daily weather conditions at the site Pool/water features

Information about each of these variables is needed to create an intelligent watering schedule for your landscape. In addition, when any one of these variables change, water use must be immediately recalculated to avoid overwatering and other problem conditions, such as plant wilt caused by sudden heat.

OK! I believe I have written enough about water recycling, and economy issues. e

g For any questions, or landscape design enquiries: rvwhaley@gmail.com or Tel: 676 331 700.

26/4/11 17:14:16

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27/8/10 11:09:48

THESTYLE FASHION

Blossom

in Spring

Fashion Compiled by Marisa CUTILLAS

rench lingerie and women’s wear marque Etam never fails to send hearts a-flutter with a marriage of naughty and nice garments women love and men fall in love with. This spring, retro and country girl are the main themes, with checked tops, A-line skirts and flared trousers reminding us that, despite the changing fashions and seasons, the essence of feminity remains the same.

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i

www.etam.es

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THESTYLE FASHION

SPRING d Here comes the sun… aned ait here comes the long-aw aced spring fashion season,cogrlou rs, with joyful pastel d an s sexy little mini dresse u’re yo funky jewellery. If ing, in the mood for splurgests Marisa Cutillas sugg . these top picks

Ladybird ring

by Accessorize

Bag by Dior

FASHION

Bag by Coach

Top by Benetton Floral jumpsuit by Geri Halliwell for Next Waist belt by Accessorize

!

ACCESSORIZE www.accessorize.com BENETTON www.benetton.com COACH Available at El Corte Inglés, Puerto Banús. www.elcorteingles.es DIOR www.dior.com FRENCH CONNECTION www.frenchconnection.com INTERNACIONALE www.internacionale.co.uk KALEIDOSCOPE www.kaleidoscope.co.uk NEXT www.next.co.uk PAPRIKA FASHION www.parikafashion.co.uk TALLULAH TU www.talullahtu.co.uk

Mini dress by Benetton

Swarovski earrings by Kaleidoscope

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Bikini by Geri Halliwell for Next Bangles by Kaleidoscope

Bag by French Co

nnection

Bracelet by Dior

Mini jacket by Paprika Fashion

Bracelet by Tallulah Tu

Drop earrings by Internacionale

Headband by Accessorize

Maxi dress by Kaleidoscope

Necklace by Dior

Bag by Coach

Sandals by Benetton

MAY 2011 ESSENTIAL MAGAZINE / 85

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26/4/11 11:27:38

THESTYLE FASHION

Katie-Eula of Zorluna WORDS Marisa CUTILLAS photography kh Photography

Designing and Creating Wearable Art

J

ewellery is a complex, subjective concept that signifies so many different things to different people; for some, it is a symbol of material success; for others, a great way to complement an outfit; for London designer Katie-Eula, founder of Zorluna jewellery, it is wearable art, capable of bringing joy, sparking conversation and awakening the imagination for many years to come. The beauty of art is that it changes over time and, according to the person who contemplates it, conjures up different emotions and sensations in an endless fashion.

Katie, 29, actually had a different path in mind originally, having completed a degree in drama and psychology.

She fell into jewellery design quite by chance over five years ago, when her aunt gave her a very special present: a pair of home-made earrings. Katie, who had always believed that accessories make the outfit, decided to give it a go herself, designing easier pieces first, like a simple pair of drop earrings, and progressing over the years to intricate charm bracelets and artistic pieces which all have one thing in common: they tell a tale or touch upon a particular

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theme that people cherish, can relate to or associate with important memories. “I have always loved stories,” says Katie, “and I think many people never grow out of their love for fairytales, where there is always a happy ending, unlike in the real world.” Each of the pieces she creates is unique and will never be repeated.

Katie describes the process of jewellery-making as a treasure hunt; it takes her months, sometimes years, to find all the pieces she needs for a work to be ready for actual creation. As she shows me some of her bracelets, made with a mixture of semi-precious stones, vintage pieces and beads, I marvel at their glorious chunkiness, and cannot help but ask for the thoughts behind the choice of each charm. Each bracelet explodes with colour and femininity, and contains everything from crystals to pearls, polymer clay pieces which are handmade by Katie and even charms made from leather or suede. “Texture is very important when it comes to enjoying a piece of jewellery,” says Katie, always on the lookout for original ways to give shape to her artistic vision.

One of my favourite pieces, called Hansel and Gretel, is inspired by two of Katie’s favourite parts of the classic Hans Christian Andersen tale. She explains: “First, there is the imagery of the gingerbread house (the bracelet has everything from tiny cupcakes with colourful sprinkles, made by Katie, to lovely loaves of gingerbread). Secondly, it is inspired by the characters’ discovery of all that wonderful, shiny treasure, enabling them to live happily ever after (the bracelet contains strands of vintage Swarovski chain, vintage pink Lucite beads with gold tone frames, Austrian crystal rhinestone and beautiful Austrian crystal bezel charms in a brass setting).”

Another bracelet which dazzles me with its joyful, positive energy is Green Fingers, inspired by the wonderful world of gardening. Katie explains, “I had

acquired these lovely undrilled vintage green rings and I wasn’t sure if they were charms or beads but, while pondering on how I could use them, I subconsciously placed a couple on my fingers. As I was admiring how retro-cool they looked, the concept of gardening came to me.”

The original bracelet has everything any green fingers could wish for: pewter charms including a watering can, cutters, a gardening glove, a rose, a scarecrow, a frog and a dragonfly, as well as vintage items (a watering can charm, green beads, plastic white teardrop beads), gorgeous faux pearls and much more.

The effect is certainly one of stepping into a beautiful garden, the kind only found in legends.

Katie also has other projects keeping her busy, including the creation of a line of jewels for The Twelve Quests series of children’s books by author, Ana Fischel.

The books, set in the Victorian era, focus on the Leadington twins, who have to complete 12 deadly quests in order to lift the curse placed upon their parents by the evil witch, Belladonna Divitan. Katie and Ana have already dreamed up 12 different designs, each one reflecting one particular quest and carrying some of the book’s most memorable images; items such as the suede satchel, message in a bottle, raven, magic key, leaves and boat all make perfect sense once you have read the books, and enable you to wear symbols that have meant as much to you as a reader as they have to both Ana and Katie.

Katie sells her jewellery online and at popular venues such as Portobello market, and business is going so well she is currently hiring staff. As a lover of both art and jewellery, I have to say that there is nothing like seeing Katie’s work up close, touching all the charms and recalling some of my favourite childhood stories. Katie truly brings the treasure we have yearned for since we were children into our hearts.

g Katie’s work can be bought online at www.zorluna.com or www.etsy.com (search for Zorluna)

26/4/11 10:47:20

TREATMENTS / PRODUCTS / Beauty / SPA

/ SCIENCE / health

Banish cellulite, meet the doctor, health news, top products and the beauty myth 20 years on...

88 The Beauty Myth: Still Relevant?

90 Beauty News 92

Dr. Marco Vricella of the

Aria Medical Group

94 Beautiful, Cellulite-Free Legs 96 Dr. Kai O. Kaye of the Ocean Clinic 98 Health News 99 Dr. Francis Dhobb of the Marbella Vein Clinic

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THE

BEAUTY

I

’ll never forget life in the 1990s when I was a university student in Queensland, Australia, coming across many new, revolutionary ideas, some of which would remain in my mind so many years later. Of all the feminist literature I read, perhaps the most influential work for me and many of my colleagues was The Beauty Myth by Naomi Wolf, credited with bringing the third wave of feminism to life.

The Beauty Myth not only challenged Platonic ideals of beauty; it explained how, in the face of a growing number of empowered, educated, forward-thinking females, an even larger contingent of dissatisfied, perfectionist, competitive women had arisen who staunchly adhere to, and are victims of, The Beauty Myth.

Wolf – a woman who, ironically, fits the bill of ‘beautiful’ according to contemporary tenets – claims that the pressure to conform to standards which, for most of us, are unachievable is a kind of modern iron maiden or torture device, set in motion by a patriarchal society that seeks to punish us both physically and psychologically. In a world where every 40-year-old wishes to be Jennifer Aniston (who doesn’t have a love handle or laugh line in sight), we often get caught in an eternal circle of diets, aesthetic procedures and exercise routines in an attempt to erase our years of experience, our curves (many of which are acquired thorough the beautiful experience of motherhood) and, most sadly of all, our sense of self-acceptance.

Since The Beauty Myth was first published twenty years ago in 1991 it has been fervently embraced by feminists, with Germaine Greer calling the book: “The most important feminist publication since The Female Eunuch.”

The best-selling work has also copped its share of criticism, mainly owing to a few statistical discrepancies. All up, though, it makes a number of valid points which every woman should at least be aware of, as part of our never-ending quest to come to a place of peace and acceptance of self.

Still Alive in 2011

LITERATURE

WORDS MARISA CUTILLAS

THE BEAUTY MYTH

Some of the most interesting ideas espoused by Wolf are the following: > Paralleling the great strides made by women in ‘breaching the power structure’ in the 1980s, the number of women suffering from eating disorders and undergoing cosmetic surgeries rose dramatically. > When we pursue the ideal of beauty, we fall into a spiral of self-hatred, obsession with our physique, fear of ageing and fear of lost control over our appearance. > The second wave of feminism put an end to myths that kept women in the home: myths involving motherhood, domesticity, chastity and passivity. The quest for beauty came along to replace these myths, driven by ideals of patriarchal domination and billion dollar markets such as the diet, cosmetics and pornography industries. > Beauty is not universal: the Maori admire a fat vulva and the Padung, droopy breasts. Beauty is also not a changeless concept; for instance, western ideals of female beauty have changed markedly since the 1950s, when women were primarily encouraged to take the roles of home-maker and mother and ‘allowed’ more natural, curvy physiques.

> Nor is beauty a function of evolution: “Anthropology has overturned the notion that females must be ‘beautiful’ to be selected to mate,” writes Wolf. Darwin himself said that for women to compete with other women through ‘beauty’ reverses the very nature of natural selection and the way it works with other mammals.

Interestingly, in the case of higher primates, it is the females who initiate the sexual act, and they take a variety of partners. Wolf adds: “The inflamed sexual organs of primates are often cited by male sociobiologists as analogous to humans relating to female ‘beauty’ when, in fact, it is a universal, non-hierarchical female primate characteristic. > In other cultures, it is the men who are encouraged to pursue ideals of beauty. For instance in the case of the Nigerian Wodaabes, women wield economic power while the men spend hours beautifying themselves with lengthy make-up sessions and colourful clothing. > There is no real historical or biological justification for The Beauty Myth; it exists to maintain the current power structure, economy and culture. > The qualities deemed to be beautiful in a given period, says Wolf, “are merely symbols of the

female behaviour that that period considers desirable. The Beauty Myth is actually prescribing behaviour and not appearance.” > The Beauty Myth divides women: the old are encouraged to compete with the young. > A woman’s identity is connected with her ‘beauty’ so women are constantly vulnerable to outside approval. > Before the industrial revolution and the development of technologies to mass-produce photographs, magazines, etc., the value of women lay in their work skills, economic intelligence, physical strength and fertility. “Beauty, as we understand it, was not a serious issue in the marriage marketplace.”

The Myth began with urbanisation and the factory system, which created a new category of ‘breadwinner’ who left home for the workplace, and another category of ‘homemaker’. It was in the 1930s that the cult of domesticity, and ideals of feminine beauty began to gain importance. > Part of the Myth is the idea of the ‘ugly feminist’, first coined to humiliate 19th-century feminists. > The Myth is eroding the ground women have gained through “a long and honourable struggle”. e

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26/4/11 11:03:29

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25/4/11 15:29:54

THE

BEAUTY

PRODUCTS

WORDS MARISA CUTILLAS

Marks & Spencer Lime Fresh Foam Bath It seems Clinique Redness Solutions Daily Relief Cream When redness and

blotchiness take over your complexion, covering up with heavy foundations and concealer can only make the problem worse. Take it easy on your skin and try this extra-gentle, oil-free moisturising cream by Clinique, which calms persistently red skin and relieves rosacea and blotchiness. It also lessens the harsh look of broken capillaries.

Clarins Body Treatment Oil This gentle, firming and

toning oil is made from 100 per cent pure plant extracts (including essential oils of broom, chamomile, geranium and marjoram), which makes it ideal for all skin types, especially sensitive ones. Aside from firming up flaccid skin, it also eliminates toxins, leaves skin satin smooth and is ideal for relieving tired legs.

Natura Bissé Spa Hand Silk Those with very dry hands

need a product that is top notch and specifically aimed at their problem. An ideal solution is Hand Silk, a long-lasting hand cream that intensely hydrates skin, protects it from external elements (cold, wind) and is rapidly absorbed, so your hands don’t feel oily. An added bonus is its light magnolia aroma.

odd that in Spain the bubble bath phenomenon, popular since the 1950s in the USA, is nowhere to be found. At least that’s the impression we get when we look for bubble bath gels in moderns Spanish supermarkets. In the USA and the UK, on the other hand, the variety of bubble baths available is outstanding, with new, irresistible lines coming out seasonally. This spring, we will be lathering up some Lime Fresh Foam Bath by Marks & Spencer, which is citrusy fresh and given an extra kick by black pepper extracts. Don’t forget your rubber ducky!

We love the glorious, French-inspired La Maison de Senteurs line, which has everything from body and hand creams to colognes and bath creams. Our personal favourite is the Gardenia Rose Body Cream, a rich, moisturising blend of shea butter and Vitamin E, enhanced with the delicate perfume of gardenia oil and the soft floral fragrance of white lilies, rose and violets to promote a state of calm.

MARKS & SPENCER LA MAISON DE SENTEURS GARDENIA ROSE BODY CREAM

BEAUTY SOLUTIONS This month, we dedicate this section to a string of hot new products that are making it more pleasurable than ever to be as beautiful on the outside as we feel inside. Take your pick from our personal selection…

The Body Shop Limited Collection for Eyes This bright, explosive, 1980s-inspired

eyeshadow, brush and eyeliner set is part of a limited collection, so make your way to The Body Shop’s Marbella store soon if you don’t want to miss out. It comes in various shades and is all you need for beautiful eyes on a special night out on the town.

The Body Shop Rainforest Shine Shampoo This lovely shampoo,

for all hair types, reflects The Body Shop’s commitment to using natural ingredients in products. With no silicones, sulphates, colourants or parabens, and with plenty of pracaxi oil, cameline seed and Community Trade olive oil, it leaves hair shiny, soft and squeaky clean, with no harmful build-up. The Body Shop also has chemical free shampoos for all other hair types.

Marks & Spencer Daly Body Sheen It’s May but

the weather’s already warm enough to show off your beautiful shoulders and arms. The problem is that you still don’t have your summer tan and are reticent to appear ghostly white. Try this award-winning sheen by Marks & Spencer, which illuminates skin and gives you a hint of a tan, leaving you with a gloriously sunkissed, natural look.

The Body Shop 100 Per Cent Biodegradable Shower Gel What a great way to do something good for the environment as

well as for your own skin: The Body Shop’s brand new earth-lovers line is made up of seven different gels, all contained in a 100 per cent recyclable bottle. Choose from pear and lemongrass, lemon and thyme, apricot and basil, cucumber and mint, melon and eucalyptus, fig and rosemary or the fragrance-free version.

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i CLARINS www.clarins.com CLINIQUE www.clinique.com M&S www.marksandspencer.com NATURA BISSÉ www.naturabisse.es THE BODY SHOP www.thebodyshop.es 26/4/11 10:55:48

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25/4/11 13:36:55

THE

HEALTH

THE IMPORTANCE OF TIMING IN

PROFILE

Dr. Vricella, what does the word ‘timing’ mean to you in your work?

For me it expresses an idea, a goal to achieve for every patient: performing the right treatment at the right time.

Why is timing so important for you?

Because I feel it is key to success in aesthetic surgery – something that enables me to make my patients happier by providing the best possible results for each individual case.

In what sense happier?

In the sense that, through many years of experience, I have learned that if the patient does a certain treatment at the right time in life, or at the right time of the year, he or she definitely has a much higher chance of being happy with the result obtained.

Can you give us an example?

If I do a liposuction in patients who should ideally lose three stone in weight, it is more than likely that they won’t be happy with the result. I would suggest that they lost the excess weight first and then come back for liposuction in order to reshape the body profile.

Can ‘timing’ be different from person to person?

Naturally, yes! We all have an anagraphic age and a biological age. For me, each particular patient’s age is unimportant. The bigger question is: ‘At what point of the ageing process is he or she’? This is the start-off point for me to take the decision as to whether or not the patient is a candidate for a particular procedure or nonsurgical treatment.

So there are no real rules in timing?

Not really; I basically tailor the procedure necessary for each individual patient; I listen to their desires and then, and only then, decide whether now is the optimum time to perform surgery, or whether it is better to wait for one, three or even five years.

AESTHETIC SURGERY Do you find that patients are happy with this approach?

In the majority of cases, yes, because they feel they have been given a very honest opinion.

For example, I recently saw a 40 year old patient who wanted a full facelift. After examining her I decided that, as she only had very slight jowling and since I felt it was too soon to perform a full facelift, I suggested she should go ahead with a less invasive procedure, such as a thread lift. She left the consultation knowing that I was not trying to sell a procedure that she didn’t currently need and was very happy to know that there was an alternative procedure that was more appropriate for her at this time.

Have you seen many people who have regretted not having done cosmetic surgery at a different time?

Plenty of times! For example, I have met many women in their thirties who, after having a breast augmentation, have told me that it was the best thing they have ever done and that they regretted not having taken the decision many years before, thereby enjoying a much improved body shape and more self-confidence in the process. This is true for many procedures but especially breast augmentation, breast reduction and rhinoplasty (nose reshaping) surgeries.

And why is that?

Because the recovery can be quicker and easier for the patient when it is not so hot.

Swelling reduces less quickly in the heat. In addition, patients who need to wear post-surgery garments – those having an abdominoplasty or a liposuction, for example – find it much more comfortable to have to wear a tight, restrictive garment when it is cooler.

So, in a nutshell, can you give our readers a suggestion on the best time to opt for surgery?

Not so soon that the improvement will not be noticeable or so late that your friends might say that you look too different! And, of course, don’t decide to do anything three weeks before you want to go to the beach to show off your new summer body!

What can you tell us about how important it is to have a certain surgery at the right time of the year?

We operate all year round because certain patients normally wish to have surgery done at a certain time of the year, for instance in the summer when they are on holiday. But generally it is always advisable, if possible, to have any cosmetic surgery procedure performed between October and June.

In the realm of aesthetic surgery, like most important things in life the right timing is a crucial element of satisfaction and success. If you’ve ever wondered when to opt for particular procedures, or what time of the year is best, check out our question and answer interview with Dr. Vricella, Founder of the Aria Medical Group, on the important issue of the perfect time to improve your physical appearance.

92 / ESSENTIAL MAGAZINE MAY 2011

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g Centro Península 8, Camojan, Marbella. Tel: 952 895 088 / 671 639 353. www.ariamedicalgroup.com 26/4/11 13:38:54

Cosmetic Surgery | Non Surgical Procedures | Cosmetic Dentistry

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HC Marbella is one of Europe’s most exclusive hospitals, with a highly professional and pioneering team of medical experts that provide world-class care across the hospital’s ten exceptional medical units: Cosmetic Surgery & Anti-Aging; Oncology; Preventive Medicine; Gastroenterology & Obesity; Gynaecology & Fertility; Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation; Orthopaedics; Urology; Cardiology; and Anti-Aging.

Dr. Marco Vricella is Director of the Aesthetic Surgery unit at HC Marbella Private Hospital.

Call (+34) 952 895 088 in English (+34) 662 936 058 en Español

HEALTH

THE

HEALTH

She’s Got Legs An Apple Cider a day keeps the dimpling awaY

For some reason, many of us think that cellulite is an inescapable evil, a genetic malady that transforms a growing number of beautiful, fit women into insecure ostriches who prefer to bury their heads in the sand in summertime, rather than show off their bikini bodies.

Cellulite is a cruel and arbitrary enemy which often shows up where you least expect it to (like J-Lo’s thighs), yet is benevolent to many fuller-figured ladies. To a great extent, the appearance of orange peel skin on our thighs, abdominal area and arms are determined by our genetics but gone are the days when we sat back and accepted its onslaught passively. This spring, let’s take a two-pronged approach to cellulite, battling it from inside and out by following these tips:

Every morning, mix two spoons of apple cider vinegar into a glass of water. This is a well-known diet trick which is ideal for breaking down fat. Apple cider can also be used as a massage oil for the legs, buttocks, stomach and arms. Just mix one fourth quantity of apple cider and three fourths of almond or olive oil, and you’ll have a magnificent fat buster that would cost you far more at any cosmetics store.

Brush it off: One of the best ways to promote circulation in affected areas is to perform a vigorous massage with a firm bristled brush. Dampen skin then pass the brush over your thighs, arms and abdomen, in the direction of your heart. Do this vigorously, but not so hard that it damages your skin. This isn’t the most pleasant of treatments but it is one of the most effective.

Make your own blend of essential oils: More fragrant than apple cider and perhaps even more potent, are essential oils, which are powerful enough to penetrate into the deeper layers of the skin and which contain high energy frequencies which affect your mental, as well as your physical state, in a positive way. For cellulite, use oils such as fennel, juniper, patchouli, cedar wood, lemon and rosemary, mixing a few drops with almond or olive oil. Make sure the oils are therapeutic-grade (and sold in dark bottles) as otherwise, the effect will be nullified. Coconut oil is another great product to use, and is highly favoured by women in Brazil, who are known for their toned, silky legs.

Brew it away: It is a little known fact that one of the most active ingredients in top cellulite creams is caffeine, which increases the blood flow to the skin and helps break down fatty deposits.

The good news is that you can make your own potent caffeine solution at nearly no cost. Just prepare your morning coffee as usual but make enough so that there is at least a handful of coffee grounds in the machine when the brewing is done.

Add a few spoons of olive oil to the grounds to facilitate cohesion, and massage onto the affected areas.

Cover with plastic wrap and leave on for 30 minutes, rinsing off afterwards.

You may need more coffee grounds if you are working on several areas of the body in one session.

Go herbal: mix dry thyme with a little grapefruit juice and carrier oil, wrap in plastic as with the coffee grounds, leave on for 30 minutes and rinse off.

Invest in a good cellulite cream: If you’re too busy to take matters into your own hands, do your research and invest in a good cream that has proven results. Top sellers include Revitol (which is composed of 100 per cent natural ingredients such as caffeine, L-Carnitine, algae and green tea); Murad Firm and Tone Serum (composed of cayenne pepper, horse nut tea extract and cat’s claw); and Osmotics Lipoduction (made with a patented nano technology that increases the delivery of ingredients such as pure grapeseed extract, by an incredible 700 per cent).

Beautiful, Cellulite-Free Legs

Go on the anti-cellulite diet: Drink plenty of water and green tea to flush out the toxins that cause dimpling, avoid fast and processed foods, and stay away from refined sugar products. Avoid caffeine and soft drinks, and increase your intake of lean meats, fish, fruit and vegetables.

Cardio train: In order for cellulite to diminish, you need to improve your circulation, especially in affected areas, through cardio-vascular activity.

Aim for half an hour a day, five days a week, of activities like aerobics, kick boxing or cycling.

Strength workouts are also ideal for targeting specific areas; for instance, if the dimpling is concentrated around your thigh area, try squats or leg or hamstring presses. If your arms are also flabby, opt for bench presses and bicep and tricep lifts.

Use light weights but perform many repetitions.

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PLASTIC PROFILE

PHOTOGRAPHY KH PHOTOGRAPHY

BEAUTY

Cosmetic surgeons have their own ways of attracting customers but the promotional slogan associated with Marbella’s prestigious Ocean Clinic – Beyond Beauty – had Belinda Beckett intrigued. Here she talks to Dr Kai Kaye, the clinic’s surgeon/ director, to discover its meaning.

I

f there’s one subject I was sure I would never get into with a cosmetic surgeon, it’s mathematics. Yet here I was, listening to Dr Kai Kaye telling me about Pi while trying to stop my focus from straying through his office window to take in the beauty of Alameda Park, now in lush spring leaf.

Pi, as I recall (pronounced pai), was a Greek symbol for some intangible ratio I could never get my head around in geometry class. I thought we were here to talk about beauty! But, as Dr Kaye continued, I began to see the connection.

Pi, also known as the ‘Golden Ratio’, is the closest we’ve come to a definition of symmetry, harmony and perfection (we’ll pass on the mathematical reasons why). The Greeks themselves may have used the Golden Ratio to build the Parthenon, Leonardo Da Vinci certainly employed it to achieve the perfect proportions of his masterpiece, The Last Supper, composers and industrial designers use it as a yardstick today. It also occurs naturally in the symmetry of flower petals (and the leaves and branches of trees in Alameda Park), even in the human face. It’s therefore logical (but news to me) that cosmetic surgeons like Dr Kaye also use it as a basis in their work.

“I can look at a face and see

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where there is a deviation from this ratio that prevents someone from looking more beautiful,” he explains.

“That way, it’s possible to achieve a radical difference with very minor changes. But there are factors other than mathematics that make someone beautiful… I don’t mean inner beauty, which no surgeon can

NOT JUST ‘PI’ IN THE SKY give, but that special something that transcends sex, race and skin colour, yet makes us see people of very different appearances as beautiful.

That’s why I also need an artist’s eye to see the form that lies beyond. This is the part of my work that I enjoy most. That’s what I mean by Beyond Beauty.”

I’m relieved that the Ocean Clinic slogan isn’t just marketing hype, a reference to the kind of inner beauty that could only be achieved with a notyet-invented personality transplant.

Indeed, after more than 12 years of studies and a Magna cum Laude

Doctorate, Dr Kaye is well-qualified to deliver what he promises. He devotes practically 100 per cent of his work to aesthetic surgery, which he clearly loves although, like many in his profession, he started out in reconstructive and burns surgery.

Unlike the cosmetic clinic chains whose surgeons are hired on a freelance basis, Dr Kaye runs Ocean Clinic himself, seeing every patient before and after he has performed surgery.

“Apart from having a professional background and experience in performing procedures, developing a good patient-doctor relationship is paramount”. That doesn’t make him the cheapest practitioner on the block but, in case of complications that need rectifying, it’s nice to know you’re dealing with the sharp end of the operation. Some 80 per cent of patients book with Ocean Clinic specifically because they want to be operated on by Dr Kaye, including many who fly over from his homeland in Germany, where he first established his reputation. That makes him not only a mathematician and an artist but something of a travel agent, too, as his clinic handles the bookings!

His clients tend to fall into two groups: 20-30-year olds seeking shape-related surgery, such as a nose job; and the 40+ seeking

age-related procedures. Breast augmentation and liposuction are the most popular op for women, lipo and rhinoplasty for men. Female patients outnumber males by 70:30 although this not-so-Golden Ratio, stemming from the macho perception that beer guts and wrinkles are ok on men, is slowly changing.

Is there undue pressure on young people today to look ‘perfect’, I ask.

“In social groups throughout history there has always been pressure – look at African tribal scarification or the Victorian corset,” he replies.

“It’s more of a problem in America where it’s common for parents to buy their kids a procedure for a birthday present when they’re 16 or younger.

I don’t operate on anyone under 18 unless it’s for a malformation, such as Dumbo ears (protruding ears), which I have performed on children as young as six, otherwise it can lead to painful bullying at school and psychological problems.”

Pushy male partners are sometimes to blame for pressuring women into getting ‘Baywatch babe’ boobs but Dr Kaye has got their number! “I like to see the patient alone as, once they are involved in the decision they feel more comfortable, and often opt for something less radical.”

Referring back to mathematical formulae, it doesn’t take a degree in trigonomics to work out that the beauty business is going to be one of the big financial growth areas of the future.

“There will be more demand from people in emerging countries with no major cosmetic surgery industry and Marbella will benefit as one of the pioneers of medical tourism,” says Dr Kaye. “Longer-term, prices will come down to the level currently being charged in countries like Venezuela and Brazil.”

The dream that physical beauty may be attainable by all may not be ‘pi in the sky’ after all! e

g Further information from Dr Kai Kaye, Ocean Clinic, Avda. Ramon y Cajal 7, Marbella. Tel: 951 775 518. www.oceanclinic.net 26/4/11 10:42:01

Dr. Kai O. Kaye Plastic, Aesthetic & Reconstructive Surgeon

Fellow of the European Board of Plastic, Reconstructive & Aesthetic Surgery EBOPRAS Full Member of the German Board of Plastic, Reconstructive & Aesthetic Surgery DGPRĂ„C Member of the Colegio de Medicos de Malaga (No.29/2909452)

Winner of Marbella Awards 2011 Specialist Clinic

Facelift Blepharoplasty Rhinoplasty Otoplasty Breast lift/ reduction/augmentation Labiaplasty Abdominoplasty Liposuction Thigh lift Brachioplasty Scar correction Deep Peeling Botox - Filler Dental aesthetics Facial feminization

Av. Ramon y Cajal, 7 - 29600 Marbella - 951 775 518 - Mob : 670 770 455 info@oceanclinic.net - www. oceanclinic.net

THE

HEALTH

UPDATE

>

WORDS MARISA CUTILLAS

If you have recently become a vegetarian and imagine that avoiding meat is all there is to it, think again. There are a number of products you may believe are animal-free but which are, in fact, avoided by seasoned vegetarians. These products include: > Gelatine: Extracted from the boiled bones, connective tissues, organs and some intestines of cattle, pigs and horses, gelatine is found in many lollies, supplements in capsule form, ice creams, yoghurts and no-bake desserts such as panna cotta. > Rennet: This is an enzyme taken from the stomach lining of calves and it is found in many popular hard cheeses such as parmesan, and many cheese powders used to coat chips and crisps. > Whey: This ingredient, used to give chips and crisps flavour, is also rennet-derived. > Chicken and beef stock: These can be found in many packet and canned soups, gravies and packaged rice dishes. > Animal bones: Sugar is often refined using bone char from animals. > Anchovies: These can be found in Thai fish sauce, Worcestershire sauce and shrimp paste. > Egg white or isinglass (derived from fish bladder): these are often found in alcohol, since they are used in the clarification/filtering process. Other drinks use cochineal (derived from beetles) for colouring.

>

Most of us think diet cola is somehow less sinful than its sugarpacked equivalent, yet it can be even more taxing on your health owing to the dangerous sweetener called aspartame.

A new study published from the American Stroke Association’s International Stroke Conference 2011, indicates that if you drink diet drinks regularly, you could be increasing your risk of having a stroke. The study reported a 48 per cent greater risk of suffering a stroke or other vascular event for those who consumed diet drinks daily. The study accounted for extraneous factors such as age, exercise habits and history of vascular and heart conditions. The researchers did say they needed to investigate more before coming to a firm conclusion (since those who drink diet sodas daily may also lead less healthy lifestyles in other ways) but the results are still food for thought for those considering quitting the nasty aspartame addiction.

>

PITFALLS FOR VEGETARIANS Can Processed > Foods Lower Your Child’s IQ?

CAN DIET SODA CAUSE STROKES?

Coffee Staves off Prostate Cancer

It never ceases to amaze us how one’s diet is so influential on every aspect of life. A new UK study called the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, which tracks the health of 14,000 children, has found that a diet predominantly based on processed foods at the age of three lowers a child’s IQ by the time he is eight and a half. The brain grows fastest during the first three years of a child’s life, indicating that nutrition at this age is more important than at any other. Encourage a diet rich in fresh, seasonal produce and learn to make easy yet healthy meals at home. Your child’s future depends on it!

Good news for male coffee drinkers: your daily Java may be a lot healthier than you ever imagined, with a new study by the Harvard Medical School indicating that men who drink coffee daily have a significantly lower risk of developing prostate cancer. Scientists report that coffee has also been proven to lessen the seriousness of a heart attack or stroke, and to stave off certain cancers, type 2 diabetes, gall stones and diseases of the liver. Coffee also relieves headaches, improves your mood and prevents cavities. This is exactly the kind of news we coffee lovers enjoy reading!

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PUBLIRREPORTAJE

Vein-Free

legs for Words Marisa Cutillas

photography kh Photography

summer

Bikini season is fast approaching but sadly, every year, unsightly spider and varicose veins keep women in trousers and kaftans in the warmest season of the year, far from the beach and plagued by a condition that can be treated in a couple of sessions, with no pain involved. Dr. Dhobb of the Marbella Vein Clinic reveals how, this summer, you can once again feel like the confident, happy and beautiful woman that you are.

O

n the day of our interview at the Advanced Vein Clinic, vascular surgeon, Dr. Dhobb, greets me with his characteristic warmth and kindness. Today he is beaming more brightly than ever, since he has just returned from a seminar in Paris focusing on health and beauty as a global concept. When we think of looking young, we often consider having procedures done to our face such as Botox, fillers, thread or face lifts, teeth whitening, etc., but what is the point of all this if unsightly veins are wresting your confidence and preventing you from being your best self? Veins on the hands, legs and face can add years to your appearance and make you seem unhealthy, and not even the heaviest coverage of foundation can hide them. Moreover, in summer, there is nothing like the ‘natural’ look, where freshly washed complexions are in, only slightly kissed by the sun and free of excessive make-up. The issue of veins encompasses more than the aesthetic, since in some cases, such as varicose veins, this can lead to deep vein thrombosis, which can be life-threatening.

What would you say if you could get rid of this problem in just a couple of sessions, on an outpatient basis and with virtually no pain? This is precisely what occurs daily at the Marbella Vein Clinic, where Dr. Dhobb utilises two methods for the elimination of large veins: Closure Radiofrequency Treatment and, more often, the ELVes Endo Laser Treatment, known as the ‘Bentley’ of vein treatment technology for its ability to target veins more precisely than ever before, allowing for a virtually pain-free experience, outstanding results and virtually no significant downtime.

In addition to laser treatment, Dr. Dhobb employs a variety of technological systems to achieve the ultimate in precision, including a Colour Doppler Scanner and a tungsten light device, which allows him to see veins which are invisible under normal light. He explains: “The more precise the technology is, the less pain is involved. Even patients who tend to get anxious needn’t worry. At the Marbella Vein Clinic we use a special anaesthetic cream so that during the procedure, they don’t feel anything.”

At the Marbella Vein Clinic, technology is backed by experience. Dr. Dhobb, who has been working as a vascular surgeon for over 20 years, explains: “I have treated many patients who have had procedures done in the past which have caused scarring or pain, or which simply did not work. As is the case with any aesthetic procedure, whether it involves surgery or the application of Botox and other fillers, it is crucial that patients be treated by a qualified specialist.”

Dr. Dhobb shows me ‘before and after’ images of the problems he has corrected: legs bulging with varicose veins are now smooth and silky; complexions overrun by a maze of spiderwebs are now uniform and beautiful; most dramatically, hands, which used to have large veins are now smooth and plump. After the veins are ‘zapped away’, Dr. Dhobb fills in any remaining grooves with hyaluronic acid (a popular and harmless filler that gives hands a plump, youthful appearance).

Problems with veins affect women far more than men (with a 75 per cent: 25 per cent ratio).

Pregnancy and hormonal issues highlight this natural tendency, though many men also worry

g Camojan Business Centre, Office 12E, Marbella. Tel: 952 867 003. www.marbellavein.com 144HeP3_andi.indd 99

about spider veins in the face, especially at the side of the nose. The good news is that grinning and bearing it is now a thing of the past. I’ll never forget a quote from one of my favourite books, Your Erroneous Zones, by Wayne Dryer.

He says: “the next time you are contemplating a decision in which you are debating whether or not to take charge of yourself, ask yourself an important question: ‘How long am I going to be dead’? With that eternal perspective you can now make your own choice and leave the worrying, the fears, the question of whether or not you can afford it and the guilt, to those who are going to be alive forever… in a word, it’s your life. Do with it what you want.” This is exactly the philosophy that drives the life’s work of Dr. Dhobb. There is no need to put up with anything that stands in the way of your happiness, whenever you can do something about it. Life is simply too short. e

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No.1 online magazine for all the events and news from Costa del Sol!

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Make calls and bookings!

Business directory has everything You need in Marbella. Call and make bookings at a restaurant or a beauty salon straight from Your phone. List Your business on our Business Directory!

business & product launches / seasonal parties / charity events / social scene

We have been out and about following the most important and glamourous events taking place in the Marbella area. Did you miss out this month, or can you spot yourself?

102 Macallan Maridaje at Trocadero Beach 103 Golden Goose launches with a fanfare 104 Iberostar Inaugurates Coral Beach Hotel 106 Marbella Club Spring Games

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THEVIBE

MACALLAN MARIDAJE at Trocadero Beach One of the most acclaimed of Scotch Whiskies, The Macallan, invited selected clients and members of the press to a maridaje of fine single malts served at the exotic Trocadero Beach setting. Francisco Hernández González, the Macallan Brand Ambassador, presented the range of malts of differing ages – 12, 18, 25 and 30 years – and explained how the triple cask maturing process imparts more colour to the whisky the longer it spends in contact with the oak. Starting with a refreshing whisky cocktail combining ginger ale and angostura bitters, guests were genuinely surprised at how well the malts accompanied the different dishes, helped in no small part by the excellence of the lunch being served.

“Fine Scotch Whisky by the Sea”

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PHOTOGRAPHY Fredy torra and Pilar López 28/4/11 13:44:44

THEVIBE

GOLDEN GOOSE launches with a fanfare On Friday 25th March, Marbelli’s arrived en masse to celebrate the official opening of appropriately named new restaurant Golden Goose, on the Golden Mile at Forum Marbella, right in front of the Puente Romano Hotel. The proprietors of the new venue aim to provide fine cuisine in a sublime setting comprising restaurant and lounge bar with sumptuous interiors and a spacious outdoor dining terrace and VIP nightclub with live music – motown, soul, funk, rock and pop – to enhance the experience. Guests enjoyed a memorable evening with cocktails, canopies and a live performance from divine diva, Yanela Brooks, who never fails to captivate her audience.

“Soul diva Yanela wows the crowd”

PHOTOGRAPHY Johnny Gates download your photo from www.i-marbella.com PHOTOGRAPHY Johnny Gates ñl ñl download your photo from www.i-marbella.com 144 Vibe.indd 103

MAY 2011 APRIL 2011 ESSENTIAL ESSENTIAL MAGAZINE MAGAZINE // 103 28/4/11 13:45:10

THEVIBE

Iberostar Inaugurates CORAL BEACH HOTEL Antonio Banderas, the new face of the Iberostar Hotel Group, accompanied by his wife Melanie Griffith, joined Marbella Mayoress Ángeles Muñoz for the much anticipated reopening of the emblematic Coral Beach Hotel, which commands an enviable location close to Puerto Banús in the heart of the Golden Mile. The guest list, which included some of Marbella’s most prominent movers and shakers, enjoyed champagne and gourmet canopies while marvelling at the serene setting and beautiful gardens. With an excellent reputation, the hotel supports 4 Stars and comprises 170 rooms, all with terraces and magnificent sea views. Iberostar will shortly inaugurate the impressive new Málaga Playa Hotel.

“Spanish star brings glamour to Iberostar”

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PHOTOGRAPHY Johnny Gates ñl download your photo from www.i-marbella.com 28/4/11 13:45:35

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THEVIBE

MARBELLA CLUB Spring Games Guests arrived at the spectacular beach front Villa del Mar for a sumptuous buffet lunch and medal-awarding ceremony to culminate the Marbella Club Spring Games.

Based on the concept originally devised by Prince Alfonso Von Hohenlohe, participants have to compete in six challenging sports in a single day that include alpine skiing, motor racing, water skiing, paddle tennis, golf and clay shooting. Pablo Hohenlohe joined Marbella Mayoress Ángeles Muñoz in presenting the medals to the winners who showed an impressive degree of stamina.

Luxury brands Audi, Chloe, Dunhill, Ghurka, Hackett and Momo Design gave support through sponsorship and gifts with the proceeds raised being donated to the Fundación Deporte y Desafío, a charity that helps disabled youth to participate in sports.

“Stylish sports prize-giving at the Marbella Club”

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PHOTOGRAPHY Johnny Gates ñl download your photo from www.i-marbella.com 28/4/11 13:46:03

ITALIAN - M ED ITERRAN EAN FIN E D IN IN G

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THEPRO BUSINESS

H

igh-end home owners in Marbella looking for a professional and effective way to sell their property have a new champion in Fine & Country, the world’s fastest-growing network of real estate agencies which has chosen the resort city for its debut in Spain. Future offices will open in Barcelona, Madrid and Mallorca, as the real estate company expands the brand over the coming months .

The prestige property specialist headquartered in swish Park Lane, Mayfair, which sells homes in many other desirable locations (think California to Cape Town, and Dubai’s Palm Jumeirah) has opened its flagship Spanish office at the Marbella Club, also a ‘first’ for the five-star hotel which has never had a realtor on its own doorstep before.

Fine & Country combines the individual flair and local expertise of an independent agent with the power of a globally recognised brand, comprising over 300 licensed agencies working in 12 countries across five continents. Founded in 2002 on the premise that the most exclusive properties require a more compelling, sophisticated and intelligent presentation, it has won multiple awards for its cutting-edge marketing techniques and strategic use not only of the Internet (where 83 per cent of all property searches begin) but also social networking and video sharing sites to drive sales.

Focusing on selling lifestyle rather than merely bricks and mortar, Fine & Country has revolutionised the way properties are presented. Far from just being ‘listed’, every home in its select portfolio is portrayed in a virtual-tour ‘videoette’, with commentary that goes beyond providing basic specifications to include detailed floorplans and information on local schools, shops and amenities, helping buyers make a more informed lifestyle choice.

These can be viewed not only on the company website but also on Facebook, YouTube and, through an ‘app’ developed by the company, for iPhone and iPad users who will also shortly be able to request alerts about new properties coming on stream.

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Fine & Country

Report Belinda Beckett Photography courtesy of Fine & Country Marbella

The Smart Way to Sell Luxury Homes

Meanwhile, at the Park Lane, London office where properties can be viewed by passers-by via interactive touch-screen panels in the actual window glass, Fine & Country is already the talk of the town.

Being christened at a glamorous launch party this month, Fine & Country Marbella rests in the capable hands of Belgian Sales Director Laurent Coulée. With a background in IT, nine years in top-end Marbella property sales and fluent in four languages, Laurent could not be better qualified for the task and, aided by the local property developer guru, John Davies, has had the Marbella Club offices designed to reflect the company’s luxury hi-tech image.

While a team of five work at the sharp end of sales and promotions upstairs, the beautifully-appointed ground floor boasts a lounge and kitchen bar where prospective buyers can relax with refreshments while taking a virtual property tour

Sales Director Laurent Coulée © bradleycobb.com

on a 46-inch LED screen, to help them short list properties they wish to visit. Should further contemplation be needed before contracts are signed, a lush green courtyard with a relaxing fountain out back is the perfect spot for reflection. A wall of four screens in the front window showcasing the Marbella property portfolio, sure to catch the eye of the hotel’s international, high-net-worth clientele, will be another important sales tool.

Laurent is excited about meeting the challenge of promoting some of the most expensive homes in the world in a tight economy. “We believe no other real estate company in the area offers this level of global exposure and personal service,” says Laurent. “Although prices may still be going down in some areas, transactions are increasing which shows a turning point in the market and, with Fine & Country’s international marketing strengths and

our fantastic Marbella Club location, we are ideally placed to deliver. We were getting client referrals from head office before we opened and also received instructions to sell probably the most exclusive beachfront property neighbouring the Marbella Club.”

That spectacular property, along with several other exclusive Marbella residences, is “typical of the standard of homes we will be selling,” says Laurent. “Properties with great locations, wonderful views and multiple ‘unique selling points’.”

Like all Fine & Country agents, the Marbella office will have its own microsite on the main website, and many other sales tools. A bespoke glossy brochure for every property, international press advertising and Fine & Country’s own suite of magazines, distributed to upmarket leisure clubs, airport lounges and top hotels, are also part of the attractive marketing package. e

g Fine & Country Marbella, Marbella Club Hotel, Tel: 952 764 010. marbella@fineandcountry.com www.fineandcountry.es 26/4/11 16:54:28

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ENTERPRISE

NEWS /ENTERPRSE / LOCAL BUSINESS PROFILES /

FINANCE / LAW

Wine Tasting Leads Up to the Climate Change and Wine Conference The Hotel Guadalmina hosted a wine tasting event to commemorate the arrival of Kofi Annan to Marbella for the Climate Change and Wine Conference at the Palacio de Congresos. The event was presided over by Master of Wine, Pancho Campo, the driving force behind the Conference. In addition to presenting some fabulous national varieties, Campo spoke of how the melting of the polar caps has far-reaching effects, for everything from coastal boundaries right through to the quality of wine.

At the conference, Kofi Annan delivered a memorable speech focused on protecting the planet where biodiversity is at risk from the effects of climate change and of its impact on the world economy, human life and the environment. g www.thewineacademy.es

New Loewe at El Corte Inglés, Puerto Banús Prestigious Spanish leather goods and fashion house, Loewe, now has a brand new space in El Corte Inglés Puerto Banús, designed in bronze, gold and wood tones and featuring a complete selection of bags, gifts, scarves, leather accessories, sunglasses, jewellery, belts and ties for men and women. Future plans for Loewe include the launching of new stores in Barcelona and Paris, and the remodelling of the Loewe space at El Corte Inglés in the Paseo Castellana in Madrid. g El Corte Inglés, Puerto Banús.

*

Tel: 952 909 990. www.loewe.es

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Wine and Art Exhibition FEATURING Ose del Sol Popular painter of folkloric art, Ose del Sol, is famed for his passionate portrayals of everything to do with the culture of the South: brave bullfighters, gypsy dancers, flamenco, etc. The artist recently held an exhibition at Birdie Vinos, where guests sipped on wine while they contemplated the stunning art works. He also paints in other styles, including fantasy and ornamental. If you missed the Birdie Vinos event, you’ll be pleased to hear that he is holding another exhibition called Humano at Sol i Luna restaurant, which can be viewed throughout this month, featuring paintings of mysterious, dramatic subjects painted with stark realism. g For further

information, www.osedelsol.com / www.solilunamarbella.com

Cohen & Cunild opens in Puerto Banús Cohen & Cunild, a company specialising in luxury real estate, motorcars and watches, recently opened its new showroom in Puerto Banús. The company seeks to be a one-stop shop for buyers seeking the very best. Click onto their website and view high-end real estate, luxury cars (such as the Bugatti Veyron, Porsche Carrera GT and Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera) and watches from the Color Dreams collection by Franck Muller. g Avda. Julio Iglesias 3, Puerto Banús. Tel: 951 770 609.

www.cohencunild.com

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Jensen Presents Supreme Dynamique Bed All of us have our own needs when it comes to the height, inclination and general comfort of our beds and Jensen Beds is pleased to announce the advent of the Supreme Dynamique Bed, consisting of two single sized beds fitted together, which can be regulated by remote control at both the head and foot ends.

The Dynamique has a temperature regulator called Ventronic®, which extracts superfluous heat from the mattress and substitues it with fresh, new air. The bed’s Advanced Technology Ergonomic adapts the bed to the body’s natural movement and has automatic length correction, which means that the head of the bed is always in the right position against your bedside table or the wall, irrespective of the bed’s position.

The middle section can also be adjusted so that your legs are comfortably supported while you sit or lie down. The Dynamique has an alarm system which awakens you with music or even a massage which stimulates circulation and is extremely relaxing for your legs, back and neck. g Polígono Nueva Campana 23,

Lorena Morlote Hair Salon opens at the Hotel Villa Padierna The Hotel Villa Padierna is famed for housing one of the top spas in Andalucía, but now, there is an additional reason for ladies to head its way: the new Lorena Morlote Hair salon, opened by a stylist who has worked alongside celebrities such as Paris Hilton and Shakira. Lorena, who studied in Madrid, Paris and London, is visionary and eclectic and above all, a creator who prides herself with having achieved a unique method, crafted over 20 years in the business. At the Hotel Villa Padierna, she will be offering the Lorena Morlote Concept, in which, through the helps of stylists trained

by Lorena, each client will be able to discover their own style. g CN340, km

166, Urb. Flamingos Golf, Estepona. Tel: 952 889 150. www.lorenamorlote.es

Nueva Andalucía, Marbella. Tel: 952 908 855. www.jensenstore.com

White Tigers Arrive at Bioparc Fuengirola Some thought they existed only in legend; others that they were products of fear and imagination, but deep within the jungles of India, the magnificent White Tiger was all too real and to this day, it is still considered one of the most beautiful animals in the world. Bioparc Fuengirola is now home to two beautiful white tigers, whose majesty and strength blew the audience away at a recent press conference. The tigers, who are one and a half years old, will eventually be bred at the Bioparc, so let’s keep our fingers crossed that healthy tiger cubs will soon be born. g Avda. Camilo José Cela 6-8,

Fuengirola. Tel: 952 666 301. www.bioparcfuengirola.es

Book Week and Open Day at Aloha College Aloha College recently opened its doors to parents and children who wished to learn more about the school. Junior School parents visited the Senior School to see what was awaiting their children after Year six; parents came to see their children in class and give them a surprise, while other families came to discover what might be the future school for their children. Aloha students were also kept busy with Book Week, which involved curricular activities focusing on characters from their favourite books.

On Friday, everyone, including teachers, came dressed as a literary character, to the delight of parents and senior pupils. g www.aloha-college.com

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Jyske Bank Sponsors Essential Marbella Awards 2011 Magazine is honoured to announce that Jyske Bank has agreed to be the Principal Sponsor of this year’s Essential Marbella Awards. Now in their 6th consecutive year, the Awards have grown to become a major event on the Marbella calendar, in which thousands of people cast their votes for their favourite businesses in a number of different categories. Those receiving the accolade of winning an Award are recognised as Businesses of Excellence and Nicholas Wright, the Manager of Business Development and Helen Lengui, the Marketing and Event Manager of the Gibraltar branch of Jyske Bank are both excited about their association with this year’s Awards, which will once again culminate in a lavish Award’s Ceremony at the Hotel Puente Romano in November. g Jyske Bank Private Banking, 76 Main Street,

Gibraltar. Tel: +350 200 59205. www.jyskebank.gi

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Judy and Liza at the Hotel Puente Romano On May 21, the Hotel Puente Romano will be presenting the one and only Spanish performance of the famous musical Judy & Liza in its Salón Andalucía Ballroom. From Cabaret and Maybe This Time to The Man That Got Away, this all-new show, presented by Waverly Productions and performed by West End stars, features exciting renditions of everyone’s favourite Judy Garland and Liza Minnelli hits. Intertwined with images of Judy and Liza, the characters tell the incredible story of the most fascinating and legendary stars of the stage and screen. The evening will include a cocktail and gala dinner. g Tel: 952 820 900. www.puenteromano.com

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Ursula Meyer Exhibition at the Clínica Buchinger Spanish poet Juan Ramón Jiménez, winner of the 1956 Pulitzer Prize for his body of poems, is the inspiration behind a colourful exhibition by Ursula Meyer, available for viewing at the Clínica Buchinger until May 13. For Meyer, the outstanding quality common to all Jiménez’s writing is joy, and she seeks to share this emotion through a series of works created with pigments obtained from earth, marble, sand and many more original materials. The artist, who lives in San Pedro, is a regular visitor to Clínica Buchinger, which she considers a true haven. g Avda. Buchinger s/n, Marbella. Tel: 952 764 300. www.buchinger.es

26/4/11 18:14:22

La Rosaleda Stadium Celebrates its 70th Anniversary The home stadium of Málaga Football Club has just turned 70 years old having been inaugurated way back in 1941. Following some heyday years in the 70s, the ground was reformed and amplified for the 1982 World Cup, held in Spain, and it was remodelled again recently in 2006 to provide a capacity for 30,000 spectators. In June of 2010, the Qatari Sheikh, Abdullah Ben Nasser Al Thani became the President and new owner of Málaga Club de Fútbol, and appointed Abdullah Mohammed Haj Ghubn as Vice President to head the club. On 10th December 2010, President Al Thani announced the purchase of land for the construction of a new stadium with a 65,000 capacity to replace the current ground, which will be called Qatar Stadium. g www.malagafootballenglish.com

SPECIALIST Checks for Over 50s at the USP Hospital The early detection of colon cancer is vital if it is to be stopped, so if you are over 50, it is important to have a check-up, regardless of whether or not you have any symptoms. Every year, 26,000 new cases of colon cancer are found in Spain, and the figures are on the rise. The USP has therefore incorporated the latest techniques in order to detect the disease, which is the second most common cancer in women and the third in men. At the USP, patients can either have a conventional colonoscopy or a virtual colonoscopy. The latter removes the necessity of taking strong laxatives prior to the procedure.

g Avda. Severo Ochoa 22, Marbella. Tel: 952 774 200. www.uspmarbella.com

Bistro Lounge de Pan y Mermelada Opens its Doors to Art Trendy Golden Mile restaurant, Bistro Lounge de Pan y Mermelada is now embracing the beauty of art, through a selection of paintings by talented entrepreneur and artist, Marifé Nuñez. The idea is for the restaurant to also function as a kind of exhibition space, where contemporary artists can present their latest works, delighting art fans while they indulge in delicious dishes like couscous, pastries and home-made temptations. Bistro Lounge de Pan y Mermelada also has live music every Friday night, making it a thoroughly cultural dining venue. g Urb. Marbella Real 16, Marbella.

Tel: 670 063 867.

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AUSBANC Forum on Improving the High-End Hotel Sector

Andalucía Open OFFICIAL CHOICE: Hotels Guadalmina Spa & Golf Resort and Los Monteros

AUSBANC, the Association of Users of Banking Services, recently held an interesting conference on how to improve the competitiveness of high-end hotels in Andalucía. The event, held at the Hotel Vincci Estrella del Mar in Marbella, attracted over 70 delegates, mostly managers from the hotel sector. It was concluded that changes to Marbella’s infrastructure needed to be made, including the improvement of road signs and the establishment of a coastal train. Marbella should also be promoted together with nearby attractive cities, take greater care of its environment, improve the quality of sporting activities, etc. g www.ausbanc.com

The Hotel Guadalmina Spa & Golf Resort and the Hotel Los Monteros were the officially chosen hotels for prestigious golfing event, the Andalucía Open, which took place from March 24 to 27 at the Parador de Golf de Málaga. Both hotels set up stands during the event, attending to players, clients and visitors, while the Hotel Los Monteros catered to select guests at the luxury VIP tent. g wwww.hotelguadalmina.com, www.monteros.com

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Open Air Painting Competition at the Estepona Port Grupo Marinas del Mediterraneo, a group made up of several companies dedicated to the management and development of marinas, is proud to sponsor the first open-air painting competition in Estepona Port, which takes place on May 7. The aim of the event is to promote the work of local artists, who will all feature the Port of Estepona in their works, though the artists are free to elect their style and materials. g For further information,

Tel: 952 801 866. www.marinasmediterraneo.com

Greenlife Golf Marbella Holds First Tournament for Kids Greenlife Golf recently held the first Seve Ballesteros Golf Challenge for kids, to commemorate the birthday of this famous golfer and to foment solidarity and sportsmanship among the youth. Children competed in a nine-hole tournament in the Stableford modality and received trophies and fabulous prizes after the contest. There was also a fun-filled raffle for a trip to Santander for two to meet Seve Ballesteros, the first Spanish golfer to win a Gland Slam tournament.

All funds from the event went to a worthy cause: the Severiano Ballesteros Foundation, which supports research into brain tumours and helps young players with insufficient funds. g www.seveballesteros.com

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Xanit Triay & Triay wins the Da Bruno Trophy The Xanit Triay & Triay team was the official winner of the Da Bruno Trophy, a regatta featuring 11 boats. Owing to impossible weather conditions, the race consisted of a relatively short, two-mile course. The Burbujón yacht came in second, while the Matahambre took the third spot.

All boats will be competing in two more regattas, as part of the fourth Grand Prix Costa del Sol.

g www.dabruno.com

La Quinta Golf & Country Club New Management The La Quinta Golf & Country Club has some exciting news to share with recent changes in its management team: José Luis Gómez Sánchez is now the General Manager, and Nicola Vieira Rodrigues, the new Commercial Director. José Luis has been part of the La Quinta management team for several years and has helped turn the luxurious golf and country club into one of the best on the Coast.

Nicola, meanwhile, has worked overseas in a number of important positions before coming to the Costa del Sol and has specialised in the field of professional football for the past few years, working with premier teams globally. Nicola has happily swapped football for golf and will surely put all her enthusiasm and diligence into making the La Quinta name shine far and wide.

g La Quinta Golf s/n, Nueva Andalucía, Tel: 952 762 390. www.laquintagolf.com

New Archaeology Hall at the Cortijo Miraflores The Marbella City Council has added a new cultural offering to the Cortijo Miraflores: an Archaeology Hall featuring over 150 items found in Marbella, dating back from the Paleolithic age right through to the 19th century. Carmen Díaz, Councillor of Culture for Marbella, told the press: “This new hall will surely establish the Cortijo Miraflores as an important cultural reference, where visitors can learn about Marbella’s rich history.” g Avda. José

Luis Morales y Marín s/n, Marbella. Tel: 952 902 714.

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Aloha College Students Shine in International Exams

Aloha is renowned for providing its students with outstanding education in both curricular and extra-curricular spheres and the school certainly has plenty to be proud of, with students achieving fantastic results in important exams. Some 38 students passed the LAMDA (London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art) examinations with flying colours. The school itself has been designated an official LAMDA examination centre for Andalucía due to its importance in the area. The popularity of these exams is partly due to the fact that UCAS points are awarded to students who sit Grades six, seven and eight, giving them an extra advantage when applying for their first-choice university. Aloha College has also been a Cambridge ESOL Examinations Centre for more than 20 years. This month, students from Aloha and other schools on the Coast completed their KET and PET exams, and for the first time 50 Aloha students and seven EIC students took the Cambridge Young Learners (YLE) examinations. g www.aloha-college.com

Anti-Crisis Strategy Seminar The Business Confederation of Andalucía was joined by the Junta de Andalucía’s Economy, Innovation and Science Council and CIT Marbella, to host an interesting seminar called Strategic Planning in Business: How to Step Out of the Crisis. The conference was given by José Luis Carrión, who has worked as a General, Commercial and Marketing Director in many companies.

Carrión told the audience how to maximise business opportunities, how to discover the dimensions, methodologies and concepts that are key to strategic planning, and how to understand the importance of revising one’s strategies and solutions. g www.citmarbella.es

Dancing for Heart Disease at the Hotel Puente Romano

The Social Welfare department of the Marbella City Hall and the Spanish Heart Foundation recently held a benefit dinner at the Hotel Puente Romano, to raise funds for heart disease. Manuel Cardeña, councellor of the Social Welfare Department, thanked the Spanish Heart Foundation “for choosing Marbella to host this important dinner,” and told the press of the importance of leading a healthy lifestyle and of supporting research into cardiovascular disease. The event was as fun as it was purposeful, with women dressed to the nines in red dresses and men in swish tuxedos.

Attendees enjoyed a delicious dinner followed by dancing. g www.marbella.es

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THELEISURE TRAVEL

Loch Linnhe, south of Fort William

Rugged T

here’s water everywhere… pouring down from a leaden grey sky with the strong wind blowing it sideways into my face, however I try to turn. The moorland is soaked by thousands of years of rain and my wellies sink down into the bog, where I expected a firm turf to step on. The sea is not far away, breaking into the land in lochs created by the glaciers from the last Ice Ages, dividing the islands neatly into smaller parts.

And beside me is a waterfall which I am trying to photograph. Yes, it’s water everywhere: I see it, I

Jan-Eric Österlund takes the high road on a photographic trip to the Highlands of bonnie Scotland.

Report and Photography Jan-Eric Österlund

feel it, I hear it, I even imagine I can smell it, too.

I am in Scotland on the Isle of Mull where I arrived two days ago. I have always been challenged by the Scottish landscape and wanted to capture it, with its brooding clouds and windswept moors, with its lochs hiding deep secrets (does the Loch Ness monster exist?) and its white stone cottages with peat fires sending their warmth and scent through draughty rooms.

The challenge of catching a contemplative mood, a Scottish ‘soul’ of bagpipe and whisky and

haggis in the landscape, while still preserving and enhancing the beauty of it, appealed to me.

The first morning on the Isle of Mull I drove north from Craignure – not much more than a ferry terminal – when the sun broke through in the morning and lit up a couple of rotting fishing hulks keeling over at low tide. I got out my camera and tripod and felt immediately happier. Maybe I had caught the soul of Scotland already, with this first exposure?

I continued to Tobermory, the capital of Mull

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Tobermory harbour, Isle of Mull

but only a tiny village by most peoples’ standards: a few houses reflected in the still water of the harbour with the dark hills and clouds above. As I was walking along the waterfront, the sun lit up the houses which exploded with colour, as did their reflections in the dark harbour water. The composition was there, ready to be captured, without the need to add or subtract a thing.

But on day two on the Isle of Mull, the rain arrived. With rain and a grey sky, the light was very soft – not very exciting for wide landscape pictures

but ideal for rivers, streams and waterfalls. The water was swirling around my wellington boots as I was standing in the stream, trying to catch the depth and movement of the running water. The soft, blurred, rippling water fits the Scottish mood – or at least my vision of it. So I was happy not to freeze the water droplets but to let long exposures create a smoothness representing time, or maybe rather the absence of time; action, but an action where nothing changed; a constant movement turned into softness; a flow becoming a path!

Walking over the bog, I saw those paths everywhere, meandering down the mountains to the bigger burns and rivers along the valleys. They connected the sky and the sea lochs doing their part in recirculating the water, relentlessly falling down on me as I got soaked both from above and below. Man’s capacity to appreciate beauty, even in the most adverse conditions, never stops astounding me. But then, the next day, the sun was back again. The drama was gone for a gentler beauty.

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På oppdagelsesjakt i nabolaget Hemmelighetene her på kysten er mange om du bare kommer deg litt bort fra tettbebyggelsen. Økonomisk kirurgi Spareoperasjonen skal, etter flere år med økning i de offentlige utgiftene, kutte 15 milliarder på budsjettene i 2010 og 2011.

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The early morning sun hits the Old Man of Storr

The Old Man of Storr

Long ago, the Hebrides were filled with volcanoes exploding and pouring their lava over the older basalt rocks. Both the Isles of Mull and Skye were covered with lava flows which have broken down over time. On the northern part of Skye, the Trotterish Peninsula, the mountains of basalt and lava have cracked and big chunks have fallen down, creating the most bizarre formations. I had moved to the Isle of Skye the day before and was climbing up one of those brokendown escarpments to reach ‘The Old Man of Storr’.

Storr is the big mountain, about 700 metres above sea level, on the north side of Skye. Towards the east, the mountain has collapsed and an escarpment has formed a large black wall a couple of hundred metres tall, with a tumble of rocks below. The Old The Old Man of Storr captured from Loch Leathan

Man of Storr is 48 metres high and very narrow, standing just below the main mountain of Storr, looking over the east side of Skye towards the mainland.

Lots of photographers had been there before me. I just wanted to see the ‘Old Man’ for myself and to photograph him. I had to rise early and started my climb more than an hour before sunrise to catch the first rays lighting up his form. I was totally alone and used my torch to find the path but it was well worn and easy to spot. I scouted out a position and set up my tripod just as the sun rose above the horizon. As it lit up the Old Man, the landscape was transformed.

The darkness was gone, replaced by hope and aspiration. The rays of golden light engulfed him and made him glow. He was magical in his pride,

standing tall among all the other rocks lit up by the rising sun. Below him was the tumble of lava rocks and stones and, further away, hills covered in the autumnal colours of yellow and red while on the horizon, between Skye and the mainland, were the Western Highlands.

I stayed nearly three hours and was alone all the time, apart from a few sheep and rabbits. I walked around finding new angles and positions to pay my respects to the Old Man. Sometimes he stood out, commanding the mountains and the seas below; sometimes he was dwarfed by the other bergs beside him and I thought: ‘There is no real truth. It is all in my interpretation!’ I sat down, contemplating the wisdom of this. The sheep approached me, sensing that I had a great philosophical issue to address although they didn’t really contribute anything to my thinking! Also the rabbits became braver, bringing their paths closer and closer to the contemplating photographer as they jumped along.

The escarpment on the Trotterish peninsula on the Isle of Skye

The Three Chimneys and The House Over-By The first time I went to Scotland I was only around 20 years old. We set off on a journey with great expectations and very little money. I remembered even now, more than 40 years later, the over-cooked food served devoid of fresh greens. This time I was prepared for the worst but I was very pleasantly surprised!

Lots of small seafood places have appeared in the countryside and, with my love of shellfish, I could rest assured that a mussel soup or a dish of scallops would warm my body and brighten up my day. On the second day on the Isle of Skye, I drove 45 minutes from my hotel to a restaurant I found in the Michelin Guide which went by the simple name of The Three Chimneys and The House Over-By. It was a great evening experience and well worth the long drive. I had a seven-course dinner of which five courses were seafood, served in a charming house that was once a crofter’s cottage. The freshly-caught mackerel and scallops melted in my mouth.

My hotels and restaurants were mostly simple and run with great Scottish charm.

The evenings ended with a glass of single malt from the well-stocked bars. I love my Armagnac but for two weeks my habits changed and I was educated into the world of the single malts by knowledgeable bar staff eager to share their experience. In contrast, on the very last day of my twoweek trip I stayed at Inverlochy Castle, just outside Fort William. A typical Scottish baronial house, it was a world away from the small hotels I had hitherto sampled here, very elegant but maybe a little pretentious. However the food certainly lived up to the restaurant’s Michelin star!

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From the Islands to the Highlands

tell. But how to limit a composition when everything is so beautiful? In the end I decided to stitch a panorama together. If you cannot make up your mind, catch it all! It is a glorious panorama but, of course, far too wide to fit anywhere so the decision I couldn’t quite make, when I took the photograph, will have to be made on the computer instead, when I crop the picture.

Loch nan Dailthean northeast of Poolewe

After the Isles of Mull and Skye I turned back to the mainland and drove north along the sea lochs to Torridon and Gairloch, where I teamed up with a group of photographers. One afternoon our driver slammed on the brakes as, through the trees, he had spotted a photo opportunity: the autumnal colours reflected in the millpond surface of Loch nan Dailthean. We squeezed through a gap between the trees and found a safe spot to admire the landscape, the stillness in marked contrast to the howling winds that had chilled our bodies on the previous day.

We didn’t see one landscape but two, the lower one being a perfect reflection of the real one above. The only thing telling us that one was a reflection were the reeds shooting up through the ‘mirror’ loch.

This is the other Scotland: the sky is blue, the air is warm and calm, the colours are vivid and the story is there for us to Neist Point Lighthouse, Isle of Skye at autumn sunset

12th century Kinlochaline Castle northeast of Mull in the western Highlands

Listing keels in the Sound of Mull

Ghairbhe River at the eastern part of Glen Torridon

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Loch Tollaich, northeast of Gairloch in the northwestern Highlands

A snow-covered Ben Eighe seen from Glen Torridon

Reeds shooting through the water in the reflection of Loch nan Dailthean

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13th century Eilean Donan Castle, situated at a sea loch near the Isle of Skye

Battleground and Massacre

I spent the last two days of my Highland tour on my own again, returning south but, this time, inland. I travelled again through Glen Torridon and saw the Isle of Skye from the mainland. I passed the Eilean Donan castle, arguably the most photographed castle in Scotland. It stands on a tiny island in a loch about ten miles inland from the Isle of Skye but it is still on a sea loch. The indented coastline of the Highlands makes it difficult to know if you are at an inland lake or a sea loch but in this case it wasn’t hard to tell; it was low tide and the kelp around the shore disclosed immediately that this castle had direct access to the sea.

Eilean Donan, or the island of Donan, was probably named after an Irish bishop and saint who came to Scotland in the sixth century. It was originally built in the 13th century and, circa 1720, it played an important part in the Jacobite uprising that took place in Scotland. A small Spanish garrison supporting the uprising was stationed at the castle and the English bombarded it from three ships but, due to its very thick walls, they didn’t succeed and had to storm it to destroy it.

The castle wasn’t rebuilt until the beginning of the 20th century when a new owner of the island reconstructed it after 200 years of decay and neglect. The design was based on surviving original drawings and it has an air of mystery. Like so many photographers and sightseers before me, I had to stop but, without any sun brightening up the menacing walls, and with the low tide preventing any extensive reflections from the loch, this photo would never make it into the National Geographic Magazine.

Kilt Rock and waterfall on the east coast of the Trotterish peninsula

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Highland cow

Sunrise at Inverlochy Castle

because of the bloody massacre that took place there, a little more than 300 years ago. In 1691, King William III offered the Highland clans pardon if they swore an oath of allegiance to the crown. However clan chief Alastair MacIain waited until the last day and failed to arrive in time to swear the oath. This was later used as a pretext for the massacre that took place the following year. A regiment of soldiers from the Argyll Estates and Lowlands under the command of Captain Robert Campbell were billeted with the MacIains (part of the clan Donald) at Glen Coe but these ‘guests’ sacked the place and murdered their hosts (some 40 men, women and children) in one day. Those who did not die that morning (some 40 more) perished from exposure to the cold February weather after their homes were burnt down. At a subsequent inquiry into the massacre, the blame was ultimately placed on the Secretary of State for Scotland, John Dalrymple. However, it can probably best be described as a conflict between Highlanders and Lowlanders where the rules of hospitality were flouted in the (failed) ambition of wiping out a Highland clan.

When I entered the valley and started the climb it was calm and peaceful although probably as

cold as it had been that fateful February morning in 1692. Glen Coe is a valley through high mountains separating the Highlands from Loch Lomond and, further on, Glasgow. Nearby is Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in Britain but none of these mountains looked that impressive. They are very old, geologically speaking, and several glaciers have polished and rounded the mountain tops so the ragged tops of the Alps or Andes are absent here, although the grandeur of the landscape with its vast moorland dressed in autumnal colours is still awesome. Driving up the glen, now the artery bringing goods and tourists to and from the Western Highlands, I imagined the cottages burning on the day of the massacre, and men and women fleeing the soldiers only to be shot down in the river or along the mountainside.

That smoke has long ago blown away and the cries have been silenced. The air seemed as clear as in Antarctica and stillness enclosed me during my walk. Yet the memories of cowardice and treason remain in the history books and in tales still told here: a history of clan fighting and changing allegiances in a setting of snow-covered mountain tops and vast moorlands; that’s the essence of the Scottish Highlands. e

Glen Coe, near King’s House Hotel

I ventured into the nearby village to get a bite to eat and found an inviting pub. The bar area was filled with locals having a pint and speaking in a dialect I had to work hard to understand. Arriving with my iPad, I felt like an alien entering a place where time stood still. But I had a great lunch and a friendly chat and the iPad remained unopened on my table.

On my last morning, I drove along Loch Linnhe towards Glen Coe. It was very cold – 3 degrees – and a heavy frost had covered the car in the early morning. However, that didn’t bother me as the footman at Inverlochy Castle, where I’d spent the night, had started the car, warmed it up and parked it ready for me at the hotel entrance. There was an absolute stillness as I drove along Loch Linnhe; the mist that had enveloped me while I captured the sunrise at Inverlochy had melted away, giving me the reflections I craved for.

Further on was Glen Coe, well-known to all Scots

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THELEISURE TRAVEL

NORTHERN HIGHLIGHTS: Nature in the raw, up where the eagle flies Deeper inland but easily accessible from Ronda, Sierra de Grazalema Natural Park encloses another network of white villages.

This spectacular Biosphere Reserve, with its jagged limestone mountains and 400-metre deep Garganta Verde gorge is a flora and fauna fest. Vultures of many types abound.

You might spot Spanish ibex, red deer and perhaps even a Booted eagle.

ADD-ONS: The Pileta Cave paintings near Benaocaz, Ubrique and Prado del Rey for Roman remains and the nearby Roman amphitheatre and baths of Acinipo. And, if you’re near the village of El Bosque, don’t miss El Castillejo Botanic Gardens.

GRAZALEMA, huddled under 1,500 limestone peaks, is

ARCOS DE LA FRONTERA, hemmed in on three sides by

SETENIL, north of Ronda, is well-worth a detour, unique

the wettest village in Spain so you might need to purchase one of its famous, locally-spun lambswool blankets or shawls. The high rainfall accounts for the unique microclimate and botanical bonanza. The most popular base for exploring the park, its steep, cobbled streets are immaculately kept while the Plaza de España is the perfect arena for people-watching.

the Guadalete River, is a National Historic Monument that tops the list of pueblos blancos you should visit. From its hilltop eyrie, a much-photographed terrace opens onto a valley of neatly cultivated green fields and flowering orchards. You’ll need all your reserves to walk up the tortuous streets to the atmospheric Old Town; nevertheless the dazzling view from the mirador is worth the puff. There’s also a splendid Parador.

among white villages, thanks to its cave houses and bars.

The Río Tejo was the town architect, chiselling away at the rock into which the houses are nestled, using the overhanging ledge of the gorge as their roofs. One street is actually all tunnel. Partridges, kept in narrow cages on the house walls (used as decoys for game hunting) are another intriguing feature of surreal Setenil.

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Photography courtesy of Turismo Andaluz

ON THE DOORSTEP The mellow month of May throws open a delightful window of opportunity to get out and explore the beauty on your doorstep, before the scorching heat and traffic-snarled roads of high summer kick in. Taking the four compass points as a very rough guide, Belinda Beckett set out in search of local beauty spots do-able from your front door in a day.

ZAHARA DE LA SIERRA ticks all the boxes when it comes to the stereotypical Andalusian village. It boasts a Moorish castle, a 16th-century watch tower, a church with a beautiful Baroque altarpiece, a town arch and a reservoir for a refreshing dip, or something more active in the watersports line.

Next month, during Corpus Christi, the villagers go to town decorating their houses with branches and rushes. On the outskirts, an old olive mill has restored its original British-manufactured Victorian presses and invites visitors to see how oil is produced.

Zahara de la Sierra ticks all the boxes

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EL CHORRO deserves its description as Spain’s Lake District. Linked by hairpin-bend roads to

EASTERN ODYSSEY: Flamingos, lakes and rocky mountain highs

three turquoise artificial lakes bordered by sandy beaches, it’s a favourite with Spanish families who come to fish, swim and picnic in the pine forests. The pantanos were created in the early 1900s by a dam built across the Guadalhorce river gorge: the Garganta del Chorro, an immense fissure 300 metres deep, running between two towering limestone cliffs. El Chorro village, served by two daily direct trains from Málaga or bus from nearby Álora, is rapidly becoming a centre for rock climbing, mountain biking and other extreme sports.

Just 58 kilometres north of Málaga by road, the movida of the coast gives way to a stunning natural wilderness defined by surreal rock formations, rugged canyons, pine forests and man-made reservoirs dubbed Spain’s Lake District.

EL TORCAL NATURAL PARK contains within its 17km2 some of the most surreal natural limestone formations in Europe. The fertile clay soil is pinpointed with lilies, vivid red peonies and 30 varieties of orchid.

Rare raptors circle above El Torcal’s fairytale pinnacles, badgers, polecats and weasels burrow in the undergrowth, lizards and snakes bask in the noonday sun on smooth slabs of rock stacked like dinner plates. The Visitor’s Centre is the starting point for a short walk to an impressive mirador and there are longer, colour-coded hiking trails.

CARRATRACA has been famous for its sulphur water baths since Roman times. Connected to a royal palace built by King Ferdinand VII in the 19th century to accommodate his illustrious guests (Lord Byron, Napoleon’s wife, the Empress Eugénie), the building has been magnificently restored as the five-star Hotel Villa Padierna Thermas de Carratraca, offering a range of exotic spa treatments. www. thermasdecarratraca.com The village is noted for its Easter passion play, performed in the bullring.

FUENTE DE PIEDRA salt lagoon is home, during the spring nesting season, to one of the largest populations of flamingos in Europe and, in summer, the village celebrates the ringing of the new-borns with a festival. The nearby Donkey Sanctuary is also worth a visit.

Side Trip: Antequera, built around a Moorish castle, is known as the City of Monuments because there’s virtually one in every street, including the recently excavated Roman baths, the Baroque church of El Carmen which contains one of the finest altarpieces in all Spain, the 19th century bullring and the Arch of the Giants, built in 1585, which leads up to the 13th century Moorish castle. Freshly baked bread and pastries can be bought at the Convento de las Descalzas, courtesy of the reclusive order of Barefoot Carmelites who transact business via a bell-rope and a revolving wooden door.

Rocks stacked like dinner plates at El Torcal Spain’s Lake District

El Chorro’s spectacular gorge Antequera’s famous rock

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WESTWARD HO: Tarifa and the peachy beaches of the Costa de la Luz Round the Straits of Gibraltar to the Atlantic-washed white beaches and villages of the Costa de la Luz.

TARIFA, a warren of tight, twisting streets

enclosed by Moorish walls, is Europe’s closest point to Africa. It’s also a kite surfer’s paradise with a massive beach and Bondi-style breakers, which gives the town its hip young vibe. Just out of town, check out the charming art deco Hurricane and Dos Mares hotels which both have excellent beach restaurants and great sea views. From here, in season, there is a daily ferry to Tangiers and boat trips to spot dolphins and whales. The only negative – though not for the surfers – is the wind, so watch out for grit in your ‘sand’wiches, or check out windguru.com before you set off. The Festival of African Cinema, screening many films in Spanish, French and English, will be held here from June 11-19 (www.fcat.es).

Tarifa’s fine sand beaches are a surfer’s paradise

BOLONIA boasts stunning champagne-coloured sand dunes and several waterfront chiringuitos serving locally-caught fish. If you get bored, walk over the road to the Roman ruins of Baelo Claudia, from where garum (a fermented fish sauce) was exported to all corners of the empire. The Visitor’s Centre showcases the history and many artefacts.

BEACH HOP through other small resort towns: the family resort of Zahara de los Atunes, trendy Los Caños de Meca whose rocky coves conceal a nudist beach and Barbate, famed for its long tuna fishing history and tasty salazones (salt-cured fish preserves) which you can buy in the shop-museum at the entrance to town.

Charming Conil de la Frontera

Add Ons: If you have a few days to spare, press on to Cádiz, an interesting port city with grand old cobbled squares; Sanlúcar de Barrameda, famous for its seafood, manzanilla and beach horse races in August; Jerez de la Frontera, a stunning cobbled town renowned for its sherry bodegas and equestrian school; and Doñana National Park in Huelva province, Europe’s largest and most important wildlife sanctuary and home to the endangered Iberian lynx.

Barbate, famous for its tuna grounds

CONIL is an increasingly popular holiday resort with a quaint, cobbled old town, a long strip of seafood restaurants and a beach that doesn’t stop until Cabo de Trafalgar, where Lord Nelson met his fate in 1805.

VEJER DE LA FRONTERA is worth a side trip on the return journey from Conil. The picturesque white village with its cobbled streets and Moorish old town is just 10 km inland, perched high above the steep gorge of the River Barbate. Plaza de España, with its ceramic frog fountain, is one of the prettiest squares in Spain.

The Roman ruins of Baelo Claudia

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SOUTHERN SOJOURN: Gateway to Bandit Country

A loop route from Manilva through the white villages of the Genal Valley and/or Los Acornocales National Park.

CASARES, along with its 12th century Moorish

castle, has another claim to fame as the birthplace of nationalist writer and politician Blas Infante, the ‘Father of Andalucía’ who was executed by Franco’s forces at the start of the Civil War (which raged so close you can see bullet holes in some of the buildings). Check out the panoramic cemetery where glass-fronted niches reveal nostalgic faded photographs of the dead, their treasured possessions and, sometimes, a bottle of wine to sustain them en route to the Pearly Gates!

Jimena de la Frontera’s castle is a climb

THE GENAL VALLEY, a winding green corridor hemmed in by rugged mountains

Casares is lord of all it surveys

forested with cork oak, chestnut and dwarf olives, was once a hide-out for bandoleros and smugglers. Bring your binoculars for bird spotting at the many miradores along the way. The route takes in a string of picturesque white pueblos scattered on the hillside like tossed dice, while mule tracks, goatherds and donkey carts are testaments to a bygone era.

GAUCÍN also boasts a medieval castle, jaw-dropping views to Gibraltar and several

pretty rooftop restaurants for lunch. There are thriving expat cottage industries in pottery, painting, sculpture and iron forging showcased at Art Gaucín Open Studios, held over two weekends in May, where you can visit the ateliers and buy work.

GENALGUACIL A life-size sculpture of a man waiting at the bus stop is a whimsical

introduction to this best-kept village. Slinky stone cats crouch on the roofs of houses bordering the church square and the fountain gushes with water through the mouths of three comical mules’ heads. They are the works of visiting artists who, since 1994, have been sponsored by the Town Hall to set up their easels and potters wheels during the August Art Festival, in exchange for leaving their work behind. Botany note: the village is close to one of the last remaining pinsapo pine forests in Spain.

Add-Ons: So many white villages to choose from, you’ll never do them all in a day.

The enchanted woodlands of Los Alcornocales Natural Park

JIMENA DE LA FRONTERA If you opt to take the Cádiz route back to the coast, which traverses the stunning Los Alcornocales Natural Park, stop here. This popular expat enclave is crowned by a Moorish castle, a lung-testing 15-minute walk up steep cobbled streets. Recharge your batteries at the Hostal Anon, beneath the castle, which serves creative cuisine on a higgledy-piggledy suntrap terrace in fine weather. Just out of town, there’s a beautiful river walk where you can swim in some of the cleanest water in Andalucía.

CASTELLAR DE LA FRONTERA is also worth a stop for its extravagantly-restored castle, a Historical and Artistic Monument (though give Castellar Nuevo a miss, a plain Jane modern town where the villagers were rehoused in 1971). Castellar Zoo is worth a detour, run by two young Spaniards dedicated to saving animals that were once bought as pets (tigers included). Buy a bag of nuts to feed the cute monkeys who have the run of the zoo via an amazing maze of overhead cages.

FOR ANOTHER DAY: Catch the scenic train from San Roque to Ronda. The Orient Express it ain’t but, for breathtaking landscape you’d miss by car, it’s a must. Time it right and you can stop off for dinner (or the night) at the delightful Molino del Santo Hotel, a converted mill with a charming garden restaurant three minutes walk from Benaoján station.

Pretty pueblos blancos abound

i Further information www.turismoandaluz.com

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HOTEL THELEISURE

The Hotel Urban, Madrid Ground breaking Hotel ‘For the Senses’

he grand luxury five-star Hotel Urban in Madrid had only been open for a year when it began winning some of the world’s most hotly-contested accolades. In 2005, it was deemed one of the 60 Best Hotels in the World by Condé Nast Traveller, which called it “one of the most surprising establishments in the world”; in 2009, over 25,000 readers of the same magazine voted it one of the 10 Best Hotels in Southern Europe; the Condé Nast Johansens jury also voted the Hotel Urban the Best European Hotel in 2007, and the Urban was awarded the category of ‘grand luxury’ by the Tourism Department of Madrid, a feat that had not been accomplished in Spain’s capital city for the previous 27 years. The New York Times, meanwhile, compliments the hotel for its “avant-garde architecture and groundbreaking, cosmopolitan character”. The hotel is run by the Derby Hotels Collection group, which runs a total of 12 establishments including the plush, grand luxury five-star Claris Hotel in Barcelona and the five-star Villa Real in Madrid, also voted one of the best in Southern Europe by Condé Nast Traveller.

From the street profile, you can already see what gives the Hotel Urban its avant-garde edge. Akin to a 21st century crystal palace, its iron pillars, geometric glass walls and dark, elegant materials set a highly contemporary yet sombre mood, but the hotel is also a place of light and fancy. Indoors, there are some of the most remarkable artworks imaginable, all taken from the Clos Archaeological Foundation

whose President is the hotel’s owner, Jordi Clos.

He wished to create a space that ‘pleased the senses’ and one’s breath is certainly taken away by over 300 works of between 100 and 4,500 years old which grace the common areas and rooms. The objets include Egyptian art, 18th and 19th-century Chinese paintings, 19th-century Hindu sculptures and 19th- and 20th-century pieces from Papua New Guinea.

These antiquities somehow blend in beautifully with the ultra-modern furniture, which includes leather and steel mesh pieces, Macael marble and chrome bathrooms, Philippe Starck Louis chairs, quilted leather headboards and sofas and wood-panelled walls. The hotel also boasts its own museum containing ancient and Egyptian art.

In addition to pampering the senses, Jordi Clos wished to build a hotel for the new millennium, explaining: “Many current hotels are deemed ‘grand luxury’ when, in fact, they are offering their guests what was considered grand luxury in the mid-20th-century. We are now in the 21st century and standards have risen; now, guests demand maximum comfort and cutting-edge technology.”

Comfort is present in the 98 rooms, 14 of which are suites. Top materials, contemporary design and inviting lighting set a warm and cosy yet elegant ambience, while technological offerings come in the form of ADSL Internet connection, available through the television system which also offers a plethora of games and films and allows you to directly download

g Carrera de San Jerónimo, 34, Madrid. Tel: 91 787 77 70. www.derbyhotels.com 144Ho.indd 135

HOTEL

T

WORDS Marisa CUTILLAS Photography Courtesy of Derby Hotels

photos from your digital camera.

Word has got around regarding the Hotel Urban, turning it into a meeting point for the jet set of Madrid. Top models, football players and artists flock to the hotel’s Glass Bar, built at street level and boasting a larger-than-life Swarovsky chandelier, Ghost chairs by Philippe Starck, sofas by Triade and bench stools by Cub. In this cool haunt, visitors tuck into cocktails and chic Japanese cuisine before heading off to their favourite night club.

Cuisine is another star attraction at the Hotel Urban, especially the fare offered at Europa Decó where Chef Joaquín Felipe whips up delicious creative Mediterranean dishes. The La Terraza del Urban cocktail bar, located on the top floor of this contemporary crystal palace, boasts some of the most spectacular views of the Madrid of the Austrias, known historically as the cultural apotheosis of Spain’s capital city.

As if the Hotel Urban’s beauty and comfort weren’t enough (it also boasts an inviting swimming pool and solarium), its location is unbeatable in cultural terms. The Urban stands on the emblematic Carrera de San Jerónimo in the heart of the city centre, a few minutes from the Puerta del Sol and just adjacent to the museum triangle, composed of the Museo del Prado, the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum and the Fundación Reyna Sofía. It is also close to Madrid’s top sites, including the Plaza de la Villa, the Retiro Park and the Royal Palace.

It is easy to understand why the Hotel Urban is so respected, both at a national and international level: at its doorstep is the very best Spain has to offer in a cultural sense; within its walls, its artistic collection whizzes you off to far-off lands, distant in time and space; and its gastronomy invites you to delight in the Mediterranean cuisine that is the buzzword among serious gastronomes. All senses are stimulated, pampered and satiated at the Urban, a hotel that is truly one-of-a-kind. e

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THELEISURE GOLF

WORDS BY RONAN MAGUIRE Owner Director of Ronan Maguire Golf S.L. Tel: 618 546 108. www.golfthecosta.com www.liveandplay.eu www.claretgolf.com

THE VOLVO The History…

The Championship goes all the way back to 1964 and has become a firm fixture on the world’s golfing calendar.

Now 47 years old, the tournament’s Roll of Honours list reads like a Who’s Who of golf, reflecting the importance of this event and the depth of feeling amongst current professionals, who would like to see their names listed alongside some icons of the game. In its infancy, the Championship was dominated by the big three, Palmer, Player and Nicklaus. These greats of the game were later joined by some of their peers…

Seve, Faldo, Woosnam and Norman, all household names, their first names definitely not required.

In recent years, another legend dominated this Championship; so much so that, whilst the event was at Wentworth, it was considered to be his. The ‘Big Easy’, Mr Ernie Els, ruled supreme from 1994, notching up seven wins, an unprecedented domination and something the South African himself never thought possible.

In 2009 in a 36-hole final, a young Ross Fisher closed-out the tenacious American Anthony Kim by 4&3, after playing an amazing 126 holes of golf in just four days over the demanding Finca Cortesín course, saying, “I’m absolutely ecstatic. It was a long, gruelling week, this course was very physically demanding.”

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WORLD MATCH PLAY CHAMPIONSHIP 2011

The Volvo World Match Play Championship starts on May 19th at Finca Cortesín and runs until Sunday the 22nd, finals day, when two surviving golfers will go head-to-head to decide who takes the 2011 crown (practice days on the 16th, 17th & 18th). The Championship is a gruelling test of golf that requires a great deal of skill, unbelievable patience and oodles of stamina, not one for fainthearted golfers.

The Format…

The Course…

Many consider Match-Play to be the purest form of golf, a format that pitches player against player, rather than golfer against golf course. In Match Play, it is the player who wins the most number of holes over the duration of the match, normally 18 or 36 holes, who wins the match.

In this year’s Volvo World Match Play Championship, there are eight groups of three players, each golfer in each group playing the other, with the leading two players from each group progressing to the knock-out stages. In each group match, the winner will collect two points, the loser nil, and if any match is tied after 18 holes, they will share a single point each.

The quarter-finals, which will be played on Saturday May 21st, are a straight knock-out, the man who wins the most holes progressing to Sunday’s semi-finals.

The winners of each semi-final will take part in the Match Play Championship Final, played over 18 holes on the afternoon of Sunday May 22nd, with the Champion earning a record €800.000 (approx. £690,000 / US$1.1million), quite a jump from the princely sum of £5,000 won by Arnold Palmer back in 1964.

In the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final, if a match is ‘all square’ after 18 holes, a suddendeath play-off will take place until a winner emerges.

Finca Cortesín is spectacular and boasts some of the finest holes in Europe. It is a real test of golf and a course that will make even the very best golfers look a wee bit silly if they are not firing on all cylinders. Its terrain is mountainous, thus testing the professionals’ stamina to the max. It was no coincidence that, in 2009, the two youngest and fittest golfers lasted the pace and ended up in the final; conditioning is key to the Volvo world Match Play.

The 2011 players…

To name just a few: Martin Kaymer, Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter, Francesco Molinari, Ross Fisher, YE Yang, Soren Kjeldsen, Robert Karlsson, Rory McIlroy, Paul Lawrie, Johan Edfors.

!

One thing is assured at the 2011 Volvo World Match Play Championship: with a field looking as good as this, we are pretty much guaranteed that yet another legend of the game is going to win the 2011 Championship, carrying on a tradition that goes all the way back to 1964.

See you there!

g GOLF the COSTA Tel: 952 834 642. www.golfthecosta.com, email info@golfthecosta.com.

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RESTAURANTS / REVIEWS / NEWS / WINE / CHEFS / GUIDE

News and reviews, divine dining in Marbella, chef profiles and the best restaurant guide on the Coast...

141 Restaurante Buenaventura 143 Grill El Rancho 144 Food News 146 Chef’s Profile: Juan Luis Pérez of Polo House 148 Wine Feature: Truffles and Wine

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t h e a rt of Fi n e T h a i C u i s i n e

952 818 392 or 670 748 415

RESERVATIONS:

Open Every Evening for Dinner Ctra. de Cรกdiz Km. 175 PUERTO BANร S (Behind The Shell Petrol Station) Marbella

TAI PAN

Chinese Cuisine - Polynesian Bar

Serving Marbella in a Select Atmosphere for 29 years.

Puente Romano, Fase 2, Marbella.

Open Daily for Dinner from 8:00

Tel: 952 777 893 / 952 775 500

Exquisite Royal Thai Cuisine Tel: 952 770 550 Open Mon-Sat.

C.C. Marbellamar, L-3A. Marbella.

NOW OPEN FOR

LUNCH & DINNER!

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RESTAURANT THEGOURMET

Restaurante

Buenaventura Report Marisa cutillas Photography KH Photography

W

hat marks a great dining experience varies from person to person. For me, it is a combination of the right ambience, the right wine and, above all, dishes you begin to yearn for soon after leaving the restaurant; cuisine that excites the palate and surprises, revealing both raw talent and finely-crafted technique. My recent visit to Restaurante Buenaventura in Marbella was just that: a great experience. This is one of the few restaurants that have been at the top of critics’ lists for over 10 years; a beloved institution, well-known ‘secret’ and one of only two restaurants frequented by Michelle Obama during her Marbella visit.

Buenaventura has it all; a cosy setting in the heart of the quaint old town, a romantic garden patio with a flowing Andalusian fountain, an outdoor terrace and homey interiors with wood-beamed ceilings and an inviting fireplace. It boasts a consolidated reputation for excellent seasonal, creative cuisine, served with top wines sourced both nationally and internationally. The foundations of its success are threepronged: restaurant owner, Ramón del Pazo, always at the restaurant and paying great detail to excellence in both produce and service; Alexis González, a gifted chef with great creativity; and the friendly staff, headed by maitre d’

Antonio Leiva, who is always happy to explain the exquisite ingredients behind each dish, or the origin of the wines.

Buenaventura changes its menu on a monthly basis, testimony to its respect for seasonal produce. On my recent visit, my partner and I opted for the tasting menu, incredibly varied and accompanied by a wine pairing experience that opened up a world of new wines I had not encountered on my

Great Expectations Fulfilled frequent gastronomic sojourns.

The meal began with a chilled glass of champagne and delicate tapas, including oyster served with a tangy lime sorbet and a crispy slice of Granny Smith apple – a lovely combination of sea and earth. There was also a selection of bite-sized tapas including tender crayfish ceviche with a fresh grapefruit foam, a rich, thick fresh almond soup served in a tall shot glass, and a flavourful, delightfully fresh red tuna fish tataki with soya sauce.

Antonio then brought us a bottle of Valdespino manzanilla, a favourite companion to seafood in Andalucía and certainly to our wild sea bass tartare with avocado, macadamia and salmon caviar; this dish revealed the chef’s eye for star ingredient combinations and was my personal favourite on the tasting menu.

To follow, the duck foie was original, beautifully presented and surprisingly

g Open every day for lunch and dinner. Plaza de la Iglesia 5, Old Town, Marbella. Tel: 952 858 069.

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sweet in taste, having been macerated in salt, infused with Málaga wine and served over a purée of fig. The foie was accompanied perfectly by an orange VDM moscatel, which paralleled its fruity sweetness.

Next up was pumpkin soup, served with an original ravioli made from paperthin slices of rolled leeks filled with tiny pieces of boletus, complemented by a Hidalgo Gobernador Oloroso Seco dry sherry; then, a market fresh monkfish, served with fresh fennel and a smooth celery-turnip cream, topped with a subtle-flavoured, artistic lemongrass air, accompanied by a fruity, dry Botani moscatel. The final dish was a must for anyone who thinks there are few things as tasty as roast suckling pig; at Buenaventura it is ultra crisp and tender, and served with a sweetly spiced mango chutney and sweet balsamic Jerez, married to an excellent, full-bodied Rioja.

The desserts are elaborated with the same care and thought and there were two on the tasting menu: a fresh, light cherry sherbet with financier cubes and creamy cardamon, and a hot chocolate pudding to beat all others (if you like lava cakes, this dessert is a must); its outer layer is fine as paper, cracking in an instant to reveal a gooey chocolate centre even the most stringent of dieters will not be able to resist.

The fact that the menu changes monthly at Buenaventura is perhaps one of the biggest draw factors of this classic restaurant – the desire to experience new sensations, delight in the colourful presentation and revel in the joy, passion and playfulness behind every dish, is an addictive pursuit but one that is very well merited in the case of Restaurante Buenaventura. e

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REVIEW THEGOURMET

Restaurant

Rancho A Family Feast of Flavours to Savour

A

t 7.30 on a nippy spring evening when most restaurants are just opening, waiting staff at Restaurant Rancho were already busy attending to several familysized tables of diners, and more customers were arriving. Cosy in winter with its rustic beamed ceilings, wine-red walls and the inviting aroma of char-grilled meat, and a tropical paradise in summer with its large, flower-festooned patio (recently replanted and magically illuminated), this is a restaurant that has across-the-board appeal, especially since the new owners took over last year. They are dedicated to raising Rancho’s game by serving only home-made dishes using fresh produce you can really taste, and improving the presentation, wine choice and service, refinements that many customers have commented on.

At Rancho, you can choose from charcoal-grilled Chateaubriand, fillet and entrecôte steak and other temptations collectively known in Spain as carne a la brasa, cooked by the specialist grill chef and served with a choice of eight sauces including fresh béarnaise.

And that’s not counting a positively global choice of dishes cooked in other ways (couscous and tikka,

sashimi and tempura, pasta dishes, stews and steak cooked on a hot stone), all at family-friendly prices.

Go à la carte, or opt for the threecourse menu (six choices for each courses and unbelievable value at €17,50). You can order up this feast from 12.30 lunchtime until 11.30pm (1am in summer) seven days a week; and, no matter how busy the restaurant is, you can still expect prompt service with a smile.

It’s not unusual for Rancho to serve 180 customers on some nights while, in high season, the queue for tables formed by those who haven’t booked sometimes extends beyond the door.

Rancho has an interesting history. Twenty years ago it was a working ceramics factory, as stone from the original kiln and numerous pottery plates on the restaurant walls still bear witness.

The romantic old wheeled carriage fronting the N340 at Las Chapas was added later and has become a famous local landmark. The handy car park, watched over by a security attendant, doesn’t go amiss either.

Vivid red and green illuminated signage and flaming torches flanking the entrance also announce Rancho’s presence while an intimate candlelit bar furnished with wine barrel tables sets the cosy scene.

In the restaurant, there are tables for two, four or for larger parties of many more.

Whether you choose a hearty rustic dish like rabbit casserole, or more elegant fare such as salmon sashimi with ginger, soya and wasabi, there’s a wine to complement it as another of the restaurant’s pièce

g Restaurant Rancho, Carib Playa 11, Las Chapas, Marbella Tel: 952 831 922.

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Report Belinda Beckett Photography KH Photography de résistances is its illuminated, temperature-controlled bodega. This is stocked with a comprehensive range of regional wines and a connoisseur’s choice that includes Vega Sicilia, much-requested Hacienda Monasterio Reserva and other speciality wines chosen by the restaurant’s well-travelled Belgian owners.

While my partner and I sipped flutes of cava and wondered how we could possibly narrow down our choice, up came a plate of golden deep-fried Camembert wedges and tangy berry sauce (a small aperitivo is served to all, on the house). Then a loaf of home-baked bread on a board arrived, with two delicious dipping sauces. We wisely chose light starters: sweet, juicy melon wedges with a very good-quality Serrano ham, and a fresh avocado and tomato salad. I was then presented with my own mini casserole of meltin-the-mouth beef, chunky with vegetables and potatoes (and more veg on the side, including creamybut-crispy fried Duchess potatoes,

a house speciality). We also tried the rack of lamb, six chunky chops cooked with the fat sizzled to a crisp, as requested, but still deliciously tender. After all this, although the head chef’s brother is renowned for his delicious homemade pastries, and the crêpe Grand Marnier and chocolate fondue also sounded tempting, we rounded off our excellent meal with a speciality Irish coffee under the stars on the lovely terrace.

By the time we left Rancho it was heaving with diners, its popularity speaking volumes for the quality and consistency of the food and service. Booking in advance is also highly recommended!

Restaurant Rancho is hosting a fabulous cocktail party to celebrate the opening of their summer terrace on the 15th of May! Free cocktails and canapés for everyone between 20.00 and 21.30. Live music all night long so if you want to stay for dinner afterwards it is recommended that you book a table now.

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THEGOURMET FOOD NEWS

REPORT MARISA CUTILLAS

Da Bruno News Returns in the Spring © Jackie Weiss@Kempinski

TapeArte: Gourmet Tapas Event at the Hotel Kempinski Bahía Estepona

Renowned gastronomic critic, Fernando Ruego recently held a spectacular event at the Hotel Kempinksi Bahía Estepona: TapeArte 2011, a gastronomic extravaganza in which 20 of Andalucías top chefs gathered together to create a selection of delicious and creative tapas. The good news is that you can enjoy these recipes throughout the year at the Kempinski’s Tapas Bar Mistral. Tuck into delights by maestros like Diego del Río (from El Lago in Marbella), Victor Taborda (The Hotel Villa Padierna in Estepona) and Willie Orellana (Uvedoble Taberna in Málaga). You can also read up on the fun event online, on the Hotel’s new e-magazine. g CN 340, km 159, Estepona. Tel: 952 809

500. www.kempinski-marbella.com © KH Photography

Da Bruno heralds in the Spring with their popular publication, Da Bruno News, which is available at all five Da Bruno restaurants in Marbella, San Pedro and Cabopino. The bulletin covers important topics in the area of gastronomy, as well as recent news from the Costa del Sol. In their latest edition, watch out for information on Da Bruno’s new Spring menu (featuring a host of healthy, light dishes in addition to your favourite pizzas and pastas), as well as articles on the Climate Change and Wine Conference, held recently at the Palacio de Congresos in Marbella and featuring a revealing speech by Kofi Annan.

Elsewhere, read about Da Bruno’s new passion for social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. g www.dabruno.com

Brasserie Banús comes to the Port

If you’re after well-elaborated, scrumptious French cuisine served at a reasonable price, step into new ‘it’ restaurant in Puerto Banús: Brasserie Banús. Opened by the owners of the swish Polo House on the Golden Mile, the restaurant, which rubs shoulders with Emporio Armani and a wealth of haute couture boutiques, stands its own in the style stakes, dressed beautifully in a period Parisian-style décor. The family-friendly menu features a classic selection of familiar French favourites, including frogs’ legs, bouillabaisse marseillaise, coq au vin, and – star of the gastro show – a head-turning chateaubriand. The restaurant opens daily from 9:30am to 1am. g Muelle Ribera, 23-25, Puerto Banús. Tel: 952 813 625.

Finca Tabanko opens in Mijas

New Mijas restaurant, Finca Tabanko, pays homage to the word ‘asador’ (‘grillroom’) with a restaurant ensconced in 6,000m2 of vegetation and offering the very best in traditional Basque grilled cuisine. The Finca is delightfully homey, with cosy corners and a romantic terrace offering views of the sun rising over Fuengirola and setting over Mijas.

Tuck into hearty Basque cuisine by a quaint fireplace or sip on a cocktail while you take in the splendour of the Mijas mountain range.

The finca is also available for celebrations and business events, so if you’re after a typically Andalusian setting and mouthwatering cuisine, Finca Tabanko is an ideal choice. g Ctra. MijasFuengirola, Km 4.2, Mijas.

Tel: 952 590 727. www.tabankoasador.com

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THEGOURMET CHEF PROFILE REPORT MARISA CUTILLAS PHOTOGRAPHY KH PHOTOGRAPHY

J

uan Luis Pérez knew he had met his match in Polo House, the chic international restaurant founded by the charming James Hewitt. Within Polo House’s cosy interiors and alongside a staff hailing from different corners of the world, Juan was invited to set his standards, and these were high indeed, having been met for the first time at Michelin-starred restaurants in Belgium, where freshness and excellence of produce is key, as is creativity in its utmost expression.

Juan, a half-Belgian, halfSpanish chef who speaks an impressive four languages (Spanish, French, English and Dutch), was trained in Belgium at the Hotel Tourism School of Namur

JUAN LUIS

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E, INTERNATIONAL TECHNIQU SEASONAL FLAVOURS Citadelle in Belgium and later by legendary Chef Claude Dupont, whose restaurant in Brussels boasts two Michelin stars. Juan laughingly describes Dupont as a man who “weighed 120 kilos and had a very bad temper,” and also as “a staunt perfectionist who would close the restaurant every Sunday at midday and throw away all produce that remained in the restaurant, to ensure that when we opened again on Monday, all ingredients were market fresh.”

This level of perfection marked Juan, who defends Dupont’s insistence of food not only tasting its finest, but also possessing the texture which is only present when it is at its freshest.

Juan, who knows what it is like to sacrifice one’s personal life for the sake of his profession (he is able to spend time with his wife and two children on weekends only owing to his tight schedule), nevertheless defends his love for his work: “In order to be a chef you need to truly love what you do and I personally can’t see myself doing any other thing.” His family history no doubt has fostered this sentiment, since his parents and

PÉREZ

grandparents were also devoted to the restaurant industry. Funnily enough, one of Juan’s first memories is of being four years old and making ice-cream at his parent’s shop.

Without a doubt, it was also family influence which led to him being schooled in Belgium, the birthplace of his mother and grandmother. There, Juan grew extremely skilled working not only with Claude Dupont, but also at the two-Michelin star of the Hotel Radisson in Brussels. He returned to Spain in 1997 to work at the Valderrama Golf Club in Sotogrande, founding his own restaurant in San Roque then moving on to the Casino Nuevo in San Roque, Restaurant Relais de France in Gibraltar, and the San Roque Golf & Country Club.

At Polo House, Juan believes he has reached a high point in his career: “I feel so supported in that from the outset the managers gave me free reign in terms of the produce I required, the dishes that inspired me, etc.” The cuisine, which marries classical influences and avantgarde touches, has indeed taken on a whole new flavour and look since Juan’s incorporation, with diners marvelling at the originality and exceptional taste of many dishes.

One of the best things about Polo House is that despite being decidedly glamorous, it is a cosy, lively venue the whole family can feel at home in. There is indeed something for everyone on Juan’s new summer menu, which offers everything from exotic novelties (such as the risotto verdi with crispy seaweed

and sea nettles ) to hearty, tasty tucker like the spring Burgos lamb rack with a Ronda goats cheese crust. Your mouth will water with fresh, flavourful seafood delights like the chargrilled Atlantic butterfish or the chargrilled yellow fin tuna loin with oyster tartare, Chinese cabbage and mango. The inspiration is decidedly international, with everything from Spanish inspired treats to dishes bearing Oriental touches, such as the roasted duck breast with Canton lychees. Health buffs take note: there is a select choice of irresistibly tempting salads, made with market fresh ingredients like locally produced asparagus and tataki style tuna.

Beautiful, artistic presentation is married to irresistible flavour, and everything is made from scratch and with the finest, freshest produce in season. We are most intrigued about a dish Juan mentions to us: the scallops in ajoblanco and pear with ‘pearls’ of wine. Juan is generous in describing his method of creation: “I add agar to the wine and then release droplets of this mixture into refrigerated oil (which never freezes but maintains the structure of the ‘pearls’).”

Polo House was a winner since the day it opened its doors, owing to a combination of ingredients like the warmth and glamour of the lovely Mr. Hewitt, a friendly and attentive staff and fine cuisine. But now, with Juan Luis Pérez at the helm of the kitchen, a visit to Polo House is simply a must: for when artistry is married to well founded technique, a restaurant will always get it right. e

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THEGOURMET WINE

TRUFFLES & WINE Report AJ Linn Photo courtesy of Viñas del Vero

T

he best truffles in Spain are found in the foothills of the Pyrenees, and at this time of year they are white. The Italian Piedmont region is the home of the most expensive white truffles anywhere. The world record is held

by Luciano Savini and his dog Rocco, whose 1.5 kilo truffle found near Pisa was auctioned simultaneously in Macau, Hong Kong and Florence, being finally secured by casino owner Stanley Ho for $330,000.

Dogs get equal billing with their owners, since while mushrooms can be found with the naked eye, truffles are buried and it takes an animal’s nose to smell them out.

Pigs are also used, but tend to be slow – and greedy. In spite of the large ring many truffle hunters put in their noses to discourage the animal from devouring the prize, a resourceful pig can make the white gold vanish before you can say ham. I saw dogs at work in the Huesca region this spring, and although you wouldn’t necessarily want any of them sleeping on your bed, the owners love them more than they love their wives. Indeed, a good dog is hardly ever sold since it is literally priceless for as long as it finds truffles. But as with all things, science is bent on doing away with traditional methods, and soon an electronic sniffing device will be available for about €2.500, so farewell Fido…

This is the Somontano wine country, one of Spain’s most beautiful regions, with lakes, rivers, deep gorges, green hills and mysterious mountains. The extreme climate is not much fun for

year-round living, but it is great for making wine and growing truffles.

The country-dwellers will tell you that in spite of the high price of the buried white gold, €6.000 per kilo being not uncommon for perfect examples, the number of truffle hunters has dropped drastically. In one village, 18 families that lived by finding and selling the tubers, has dropped to one. This part of Aragon provides half of all the truffles found in Spain.

From December to March each year there is a weekly truffle market in the village of Grau where not only can you buy and sell truffles but also taste them. Local restaurants feature them heavily in their cuisine during the season, and in spite of the prices some prize tubers may fetch, it is not too hard to find a handful of small truffles for a couple of hundred euros.

Truffles and wine are certainly great partners at the dinner table, but in the high Pyrenees?

A century before Christ, the Romans were making wine in this region, helped by a microclimate that is kind to vines, and where the wildlife is as varied as you will find anywhere: vultures, wild boar, deer, eagles, foxes and much more. Here truffles and grapes grow happily side by side and at 700 metres is located one of Spain’s oldest vineyards, Secastilla. The name has nothing to do with the dryness of the wine, rather that this hilltop was home to the seventh castle of a chain that defended Aragon against the Moorish invaders. The present vineyard, owned by Somontano winery Viñas del Vero, is planted with 100-year old Garnacha vines, and produces one of Spain’s greatest, and possibly least-known, red wines.

Viñas Del Vero has been a success story since it was established in 1986 by a local businessman who convinced

three savings banks to join him in the venture. Some 550 hectares of then little-known vineyards were acquired and replanted with, Macabeo, Tempranillo y Moristel plus new varieties Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot y Pinot Noir. Now with 1,000 hectares under ownership, the Bodega has been acquired by Jerez sherry maker Gonzalez Byass. (Sherry houses seem to have an affinity for the Somontano region: Bodegas Pirineos is owned by the Barbadillo Group.)

I have written before that this is one of the few Spanish regions where they make very good red, white and rosado wines – a rare feat indeed. Rather in the same way that Ronda wineries seem to have a love affair with the Petit Verdot grape, in Somontano there is hardly a bodega that does not make a Gewürtztraminer. Viñas Del Vero is no exception and in addition to its competitively-priced brands,

(Crianza red, Chardonnay, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Pinot Noir, Gran Vos Reserva red, and Clarion white) there is a legitimate Gewürtztraminer retailing at €11.

Viñas del Vero owns the top-ofthe-range Blecua bodega, flagship of the Group; the Merlot/Cabernet Sauvignon/Garnacha/Tempranillo blend is much sought after owing to its small production, and depending on vintage can cost from €60 to €100/bottle. However, my personal pretensions are humbler and I prefer the two Secastilla wines as representing outstanding value for money. The VinoTinto Joven con Crianza 2005 currently sells for around €22 and the La Miranda de Secastilla 2006 costs €9,50. Both are aged in French oak and are as good as you will find anywhere at this price. Nor is it every day you get the opportunity to drink wine made from 100-year old vines from the truffle country that is the foothills of the Pyrenees. e

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RESTAURANTS

RESTAURANTS / CINEMAS / GOLF / GYMS /TENNIS

RESTAURANTS ::: AMERICAN ::: HARD ROCK CAFÉ

/ SCHOOLS

locales 4-5, Marina Banús, Puerto Banús. Tel: 952 815 993

::: ARGENTINEAN :::

Puerto Banús. Tel: 952 813 625

Puerto Banús. Tel: 952 812 148

Chateau Mona lisa Open every day for lunch and dinner. Muelle Ribera 8, Puerto Banús. Tel: 952 908 808

Montecarlo Open every day for lunch and dinner. Closed Tuesdays. Avda. Litoral s/n, Estepona, in front of the Palacio de Congresos. Tel: 951 273 994

::: GRILLS ::: Asador Criollo Grill

Open seven days a week for lunch and dinner.

C/Ramón Areces, esq. Marina Banús, Puerto Banús.

Tel: 952 908 024

Buenos Aires South

Jacks

Clericó

Open seven days a week from noon till late. Puerto Marina, Benalmádena. Tel: 952 563 673

Open every day for lunch and dinner. Avda. Antonio Belón, 22, Marbella. Tel: 952 765 683.

New york

Tango

Open from 1pm-4pm and from 7pm to 12am. Ctra. de Cádiz, km.176, 29600, Marbella. Tel: 952 765 533

Open daily for dinner except Tuesdays. Puerto Banús (opp. the car park). Tel: 952 812 358

Open Tuesday to Saturday for dinner only and on Sunday for Buffet Lunch. Apartado 1, Ctra. de Cádiz, km. 132.2 Sotogrande, Cádiz. Tel: 956 791 200

Open from 9am Monday to Saturday and Sunday from 11am for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Centro Plaza, Nueva Andalucía. Tel: 952 818 861

::: FRENCH :::

::: GREEK :::

TGI Friday’s

Brasserie banús

Red Pepper

El Coto

Open from 12pm to 12am. Avda. Muelle de Ribera,

Open every day for lunch and dinner. Muelle Ribera,

Open daily for both lunch and dinner. Muelle Ribera,

Open daily for both lunch and dinner. Ctra. de Ronda

Open Monday to Saturday for lunch and dinner. C/ Virgen del Pilar, 6, Marbella. Tel: 952 779 297

Open nightly for dinner. CN340-A7, km. 166, Cancelada, El Saladillo. Tel: 952 784 463

Nestor

Asador guadalmina

Open Monday to Saturday for lunch and dinner. Urb. Alzambra, Edif. Vasari, Puerto Banús. Tel: 952 929 020

Open Monday to Saturday for lunch and dinner. Urb. Guadalmina Alta, C.C. Guadalmina, Local 3, San Pedro de Alcántara. Tel: 952 883 003

Valderrama Restaurant

Yanx

El Carnicero Open daily for both lunch and dinner. Pueblo Viejo Cancelada. Between San Pedro & Estepona.

Tel: 952 886 307

El Carnicero 2 Open every day for lunch and dinner. Ctra. de Cádiz, km. 176, Marbella. Tel: 952 867 599

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Price guide ::::::: per head for a three-course meal with wine (El Madroñal), San Pedro de Alcántara.

Tel: 952 786 688

820 096

El Gaucho

Open daily for dinner except Tuesday. C.C. Costasol, local 3, Estepona. Tel: 952 888 353

Open daily for dinner from 7.30pm. Galerías Paniagua. Sotogrande. Tel: 956 795 528

el rancho del puerto Open for lunch and dinner every day. Muelle Benabola 4, Puerto Banús. Tel: 952 816 252

Grill del puerto Open for lunch and dinner every day. Muelle Ribera 47H, Puerto Banús. Tel: 952 811 686

MARBELLA CLUB GRILL Open every night for dinner. Marbella Club Hotel.

Blvd. Príncipe Alfonso von Hohenlohe, s/n, Marbella.

Tel: 952 822 211

Jaipur purple khans Open every day for lunch and dinner. Front line Puerto Banús. Tel: 952 814 371

Little India Open daily for dinner from 7pm. Conj. Buenavista, L 21-22, Avda. de España, Calahonda. Tel: 952 931 829

Massala

Open daily for dinner. 57, Duquesa de Arcos (Sabinillas seafront). Tel: 952 897 358 mughal village

under €25

€25 – €40

lunch and dinner. El Castillo de Monda s/n, Monda.

Tel: 952 457 142

AMAPOLA

€40 – €60

€60 plus

Brunings Open for dinner Monday to Saturday from 7 pm. Las Palmeras 19, San Pedro Alcántara. Tel: 952 786 156

Open Monday to Friday for lunch and dinner and on Saturday for dinner only. Closed Sundays. C/ Ortega y Gasset, Local 87, Marbella. Tel: 952 774 650

Buddha beach

Amanhavis

Calima

Open for dinner from Monday to Saturday from 8.00pm. Calle del Pilar 3, Benahavís. Tel: 952 856 026

Open Tuesday to Sunday for lunch and dinner. Hotel Meliá Don Pepe, C/ José Meliá, s/n, Marbella. Tel: 952 764 252

auld dubliner Open every day for lunch and dinner. C.C. Diana Park, Marbella. Tel: 952 886 338

baboo lounge and restaurant

Open daily for lunch and dinner. Urb. Villa Marina, Nueva Andalucía. Tel: 952 813 882

capitán Open for lunch and dinner every day except Wednesday. C/ Avila, Blq. 5, Local 1, San Pedro de Alcántara. Tel: 952 799 635

Open daily for lunch and dinner. Aloha Towers, Avda. del Prado s/n, Nueva Andalucía. Tel: 952 819 240

Open every day for lunch and dinner, closing Sunday, Monday and Tuesday at 8pm. Ctra. Arroyo de la Miel, s/n, Benalmádena. Tel: 902 102 675

Open Monday to Saturday for dinner and Sunday for lunch. C/ San Lázaro, 3, Pza. Victoria, Marbella.

Tel: 952 867 306

Mumtaz

beach club restaurante grill

Open daily for both lunch and dinner. Casa No.7, P. Banús. Tel: 952 812 090

Casanis

puente romano beach club

safFron

Open every day for lunch. Hotel Fuerte, Castillo de San Luis s/n and Hotel Fuerte Miramar Spa, Plaza José Luque Manzano s/n, Marbella. Tel: 902 343 410

beach house

celima

Open daily for lunch and dinner. Urb. Coto de los Doles, Carril del Relojero, Elviria, Marbella. Tel: 952 839 458

Open every day for lunch and dinner. Hotel Hermitage, Ctra. de Casares, Casares. Tel: 952 895 639.

beckitts

cerrado del águila

Open Monday to Sunday for dinner. C/ Camilo José Cela 4, Marbella. Tel: 952 868 898

Open every day for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Urb. Cerrado del Águila, Camino del Acevedo, s/n, Mijas Costa. Tel: 951 773 521

Old Town Grill

Open every day for lunch. CN 340, km 177, Marbella.

Tel: 952 820 900

Open from 7 pm ‘til late night every day. Parque de Elviria, local 7-9, Las Chapas (take second exit, after Hotel Don Carlos), Marbella. Tel: 952 830 146

Restaurante Rancho

Taj Mahal

Open daily for lunch and dinner. Ctra. Cádiz, exit Las Chapas. Tel: 952 831 922

Open daily for lunch and dinner. Private parking available. Ctra. Cádiz, km 179 (behind Venta los Pacos). Tel: 952 857 670/ 629 244 659

::: INDIAN ::: indian dreams Open every day for lunch and dinner. Avda. Duque de Ahumada, Paseo Marítimo 9, Marbella. Tel: 952

boulevard

::: INTERNATIONAL ::: al bacar Open Friday for dinner and Saturday and Sunday for

Open for dinner from 8pm. Avda. La Fontanilla, esquina Paseo Marítimo, Marbella. Tel: 952 860 583

bora bora Opening around mid-May. Open daily for lunch and dinner. C/ Gitanilla s/n, Marbella. Tel: 952 789 100

Casa mono Open Monday to Saturday for lunch and dinner. C/ Calderón Estébanez 19, Marbella. Tel: 952 774 578 Open every day from 6pm except Sundays. C/ Ancha, 8, Marbella. Tel: 952 900 450

cortijo fain Open every day for lunch and dinner. Ctra. de Algar, km. 3, Arcos de la Frontera, Cádiz. Tel: 956 704 131

Don Leone Open every night for dinner. Puerto Banús, Marbella.

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RESTAURANTS

THEGUIDE Tel: 952 811 716

CN 340, km. 188, Marbella. Tel: 952 830 500

952 837 483

Don Quijote

El Restaurante del Casino

Herrero del Puerto

Open every evening for dinner (7pm-12am. Flamenco show on Sundays. Urb. El Rosario, km. 188, Marbella.

Tel: 952 834 748

Open every day for dinner from 8pm-4am. Hotel Andalucía Plaza s/n, Marbella. Tel: 952 814 000

Open Monday to Saturday for lunch and dinner.

Casas de Campos, 1, Málaga. Tel: 952 122 075

Fabiola

hotel marbella club buffet

el bistro lounge de pan y mermelada

Open every day for lunch. Blvd. Príncipe Alfonso von Hohenlohe s/n, Marbella. Tel: 952 822 211

Open Monday to Saturday for lunch and dinner. Urb. Marbella Real, Local 16, Marbella. Tel: 952 829 308

Open Tuesday to Saturday for lunch and dinner and on Sundays for lunch. Cortijo Los Canos, Pueblo Nuevo de Guadiaro, CN-340, km. 132, Sotogrande, Cádiz. Tel: 956 695 114 / 619 694 484

El Bolero

Finca Besaya

Open every night for dinner from 8-11pm. The San Roque Club, CN 340, km. 127, Cádiz. Tel: 956 613 030

Open daily for lunch and dinner. Urb. Rio Verde Alto, s/n. Tel: 952 861 382

El Campanario

Finca El Forjador

Open every day for lunch. Open for dinner on Friday and Saturday. CN 340, km. 168, Estepona. Tel: 952 880 126

Open daily for lunch from 1-4pm, Wednesday to Sunday. Ctra. de Casares, km. 10. Tel: 952 895 120

Open every day from 10am until late. C/ Las Violetas 7, Conjunto Andalucía Garden Club, Nueva Andalucía.

Tel: 952 815 736

Finca las brasas

khala

La Menorah

El Corzo

Open daily for lunch and dinner. Ctra. FuengirolaMijas, between CN 340 and highway. Tel: 952 580 513

Open Monday to Saturday for dinner. NH Alanda Hotel, Marbella. Tel: 952 899 600

Open Tuesday to Sunday for lunch and dinner. Arena Beach, CN 340, km. 151.2, Estepona. Tel: 952 792 734

Galeria San Pedro

LA biznaga

LA SALA

Open Tuesday to Sunday for dinner. Urb. Elviria Hills.

Avda. Las Cumbres s/n, Marbella. Tel: 952 832 371

Open from 11am until midnight. Closed Sundays.

Avda Las Palmeras 15, San Pedro Alcántara. Tel: 952 780 927

Open every day for breakfast, lunch and dinner. C/ Belmonte, Nueva Andalucía, Marbella. Tel: 952 814 145

EL MIRADOR

Golden goose

Open Tuesday to Saturday for lunch and dinner and on Sunday for lunch only. Ctra. Ronda, km. 46, Urb. Las Medranas, local 4, San Pedro de Alcántara. Tel: 951 275 750

Open for breakfast every day. At the Kempinski Hotel Bahía Resort. CN 340, km. 159, Estepona. Tel: 952 809 500

Open daily for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Blvd.

Príncipe Alfonso von Hohenlohe, s/n, Marbella. Tel: 952 764 648

El oceano beach hotel restaurant & spa

Güey

Open daily for dinner. Hotel Los Monteros, Ctra. de Cádiz, km. 187. Tel: 952 771 700

El lago

Open every day for lunch and dinner. CN340, km.

199, Marbella. Tel: 952 587 550

Open daily for lunch and dinner. Plza. de las Orquídeas 4, Nueva Andalucía, Marbella. Tel: 952 929 250

EL OLIVO

hermosa

Open Monday to Saturday for lunch and dinner and Sunday for lunch. At Marbella Golf & Country Club.

Open Tuesday to Sunday for dinner from 7pm.

Closed Monday. Local 1A. Puerto de Cabopino. Tel:

KAMPAI Open Tuesday to Sunday for lunch and dinner. Urb. Guadalmansa, Edif. Salinas, Local 6, Estepona. Tel: 952 896 495

karma

la brisa Open for dinner Thursday to Monday from 7pm.

Kempinski Hotel Bahía Estepona. CN 340, km. 159, Estepona. Tel: 952 809 500

Open for breakfast and lunch until 8pm. Closed Sunday. Flamingo Golf Club, Cancelada, Benahavís.

Tel: 951 318 815

La Esencia Open Tuesday to Sunday for dinner. Hotel Incosol, Urb. Golf Rio Real, s/n, Marbella. Tel: 952 831 303

La Hacienda Open for lunch and dinner Wednesday to Sunday.

Ctra. de Cádiz, km. 193, Hacienda Las Chapas, Marbella. Tel: 952 831 267 / 831 116

La Loggia Open daily for breakfast, lunch and afternoon snacks. Hotel Villa Padierna & Flamingos Golf Club, Ctra. de Cádiz, km. 166 (Cancelada exit), Benahavís.

Tel: 952 889 150

La Terraza Open everyday lunch and dinner. Golf Hotel Guadalmina, Marbella. Tel: 952 882 211

La Terraza Open daily for dinner. La Cala Resort, La Cala de Mijas, Mijas. Tel: 952 669 000

La cabaña del mar

La Veranda

Open every day for lunch and for dinner from Monday to Saturday. Kempinski Hotel Bahía Estepona CN 340, km 159, Playa El Padrón, Estepona.

Tel: 952 809 500

Open Tuesday to Saturday for dinner. Hotel Villa Padierna, Urb: Flamingos s/n, Marbella. Tel: 952 889 150

LA CANTINA DEL GOLF

Open every day for lunch and dinner. At the

La veranda lobby bar

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THEGUIDE Price guide ::::::: per head for a three-course meal with wine Kempinski Hotel Bahía Estepona. CN 340, km 159, Estepona. Tel: 952 809 500

839 901

La Verandah

Open daily for Breakfast, lunch and dinner. Ctra. de Cádiz, km. 199. Urb. Riviera Golf. Tel: 952 931 941

Open week days for dinner at 7:30pm and weekends for lunch and dinner, closed Tuesdays. Ctra. de Cádiz, km. 136. Playa Guadiaro, Torre-guadiaro, Cádiz.

Tel: 956 615 998

Miraflores Golf Restaurant nikki beach Open daily for lunch until 8pm. Playa Hotel Don Carlos, Marbella. Tel: 952 836 239

los arcos

ocean club

Open every night for dinner. Hotel Meliá La Quinta, Urb. La Quinta Golf s/n, Marbella. Tel: 952 762 000

Open daily for lunch and dinner. Avda. Lola Flores, s/n, Puerto Banús. Tel: 952 908 137

los bandidos

OCHO

Open every night for dinner. Muelle Ribera, Puerto Banús. Tel: 952 815 915

Open Tuesday to Sunday for lunch and dinner. C/ Moncayo 12, Fuengirola. Tel: 952 460 232 / 648 502 822

magna café Open every day for breakfast, lunch and dinner. C/ Calderón de la Barca, s/n. Tel: 952 929 578

max beach Open every day for lunch and dinner. CN340, km 198, Mijas. Tel: 952 932 780

Mc café Open every day for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Marbella Club Hotel. Blvd. Príncipe Alfonso von Hohenlohe, s/n. Tel: 952 822 211

Messina Open for dinner Monday to Saturday. Avda. Severo Ochoa, 12, Marbella. Tel: 952 864 895

mil milagros

oyarbide Open Tuesday to Saturday for lunch and dinner and on Sunday for lunch. C/ Acera de la Marina 4, Marbella. Tel: 952 772 461

passion café Open for lunch and dinner every day. C.C. La Colonia, San Pedro de Alcántara. Tel: 952 781 583

polo house Open daily for dinner from 7pm and Sunday Lunch, with club/dancing. CN 340, Blvd. Príncipe Alfonso von Hohenlohe 11, Marbella. Tel: 952 900 380

polynesian’s restaurant & cocktail bar

under €25

€25 – €40

Open daily for lunch and dinner. Laguna Village, Playa El Padrón. CN340, km. 159, Estepona. Tel: 952 800 015

Rojo Open every day for lunch and dinner except Sunday.

C/ Granada, 44, Málaga. Tel: 952 227 486

schilo Open Thursday to Saturday for dinner. Hotel Finca Cortesín. Crta. Casares s/n, Casares, Málaga. Tel: 952 937 800

sentidos Open every day for lunch and dinner. At Sentidos en Río Real Hotel. Urb. Río Real s/n, Marbella. Tel: 952 765 732

shiraz

Open from 12-4pm and 7.30pm until midnight. Closed Wednesdays. Arena Beach, Ctra. de Cádiz, km. 151, Estepona. Tel: 952 796 320

tanino Open daily for breakfast, lunch and dinner. CN 340, km.168, Benamara, Estepona. Tel: 952 883 259

Terra Sana Open Monday to Saturday for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Nueva Andalucía next to the Casino. Tel: 952 906 205. Golden Mile, Marbella. Tel: 952 777 480.

Marina Banús, Puerto Banús. Tel: 952 817 977. C.C. Laguna Village, Estepona. Tel: 951 901 050

The Clubhouse Bar & Brasserie Open Tuesday to Sunday for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Urb. Los Naranjos de Marbella, Nueva Andalucía. Tel: 952 908 844

Skina

the playwright

Open for dinner Monday to Saturday. C/ Aduar 12, Old Town, Marbella. Tel: 952 765 277

Open daily for lunch and dinner. C/Manzana, Locales 8-11, Pueblo Los Arcos, Elviria. Tel: 952 830 868

Small world café

The orange tree

Open Monday to Friday for breakfast, lunch and dinner, 9am-2am, Saturday and Sunday for lunch and dinner, 12.30pm-2am. C.C. Le Village, local 15, Ctra. Istán km. 1, Marbella. Tel: 952 771 046

Open every evening from 6:30 pm-11 pm. Plaza General Chinchilla 1, Plaza de los Naranjos, Marbella.

Tel: 952 924 613.

Suave

Open every day for lunch and dinner. Urb. Guadalmansa, CN340, km 164, Estepona. Tel: 952 798 449

Open every day for lunch and dinner. Paseo Maritimo Rey de España 93, Fuengirola. Tel: 952 866 627

Open every night for dinner. Urb. La Alcazaba, CN340, km 175, Puerto Banús. Tel: 952 816 100

mozaic

Open daily for lunch. Blvd. Príncipe Alfonso von Hohenlohe s/n, Marbella. Tel: 952 820 900

Dinner and afterwards dance to music by resident DJ. Thursday to Saturday. Hotel Puente Romano, Marbella. Tel: 952 820 900

puro beach

Swing

Open for breakfast, lunch and dinner from Monday to Saturday. Urb. Las Chapas, Marbella. Tel: 952

€60 plus

Open Tuesday to Sunday for lunch and dinner.

Puerto Deportivo, Local 15, Marbella. Tel: 952 778 334

Open Tuesday to Saturday for lunch and dinner and Sunday for lunch. CN340, km 179, Marbella. Tel: 952 858 958

puente romano beach club

€40 – €60

SUite

tikitano

trocadero beach Open daily for lunch and dinner. Playa de la Carolina, Marbella. Tel: 610 704 144

zozoï Open every day for dinner from 7.30pm-12am. Plaza Altamirano 1, Marbella. Tel: 952 858 868

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RESTAURANTS

THEGUIDE dalli’s pasta factory

Metro

km. 178, Marbella. Tel: 952 771 799

::: ITALIAN :::

Open Monday to Friday for dinner and on Saturday and Sunday for lunch and dinner. Second Line Puerto Banús. Tel: 952 815 871 / 952 818 623

Open every day for lunch and dinner. Puerto Banús.

Tel: 952 907 037, Puerto Marina, Benalmádena. Tel: 952 446 460

zafferano

Al Dente

De Medici

Pizza Marzano

Open 7 days a week for dinner. Closed on Mondays.

Urb. Jardines del Puerto, local 12, Puerto Banús. Tel: 952 906 181

Open Monday to Saturday for dinner. Urb. El Pilar, C.C. Benapilar, Estepona. Tel: 952 884 687

Open every day for lunch and dinner.

C/ Ramón Areces, local 7, Puerto Banús.

Tel: 952 810 448

Amore e Fantasía

Open every day from 10am to 12 am. Complejo Benabola 13, Beach Side, Puerto Banús. Tel: 952 929 055

Pizzeria Picasso

Asia Food

Open daily from 12 noon. Puerto Banús.

Tel: 952 813 669

Open daily for lunch and dinner. Centro Comercial, Pinares de Elviria, Marbella. Tel: 952 850 060

la pappardella di estepona

portofino laguna village

Asiatico Zen

Open daily for dinner. Front line P. Banús. Tel: 952 812 898

Open every day for lunch and dinner from 1pm to midnight. Puerto Deportivo de Estepona. Tel: 952 802 144

Open every day for breakfast, lunch and dinner. C.C. Laguna Village, Estepona. Tel: 952 808 035

Open every day for lunch and dinner except Tuesday lunch. C/Lirios s/n, Nueva Andalucía. Tel: 952 817 691

Carpaccio

LA pappardella sul mare

Open every day for lunch and dinner. Frontline Puerto Banús. Tel: 952 813 357

Open every day for lunch and dinner. C.C. Laguna Village, Estepona. Tel: 952 807 354

Open daily for dinner. Beach Club, Hotel Puente Romano, CN-340, km 177.5, Marbella. Tel: 952 820 900

Caruso

Leonardo da vinci

Open for dinner from Monday to Saturday 7pm until midnight. Avda. de la Constitución, corner C/ Andalucía, San Pedro de Alcántara. Tel: 952 782 293

Open every night for dinner. Urb. Doña Lola, Local 21-22, Calahonda, Mijas Costa. Tel: 952 934 667

Open Sunday to Friday for lunch and dinner and Saturday for dinner. C.C. Pinares de Elviria, s/n, Elviria, Marbella. Tel: 952 850 148

Lombardo’s

saleto

Da Bruno

Open daily from 7pm. Galerías Paniagua, Sotogrande, Cádiz. Tel: 956 795 924

Open Monday to Saturday for dinner. Avda. del Prado, Via 1, local 2, Aloha Golf, Nueva Andalucía. Tel: 952 818 112

Open every day for lunch and dinner from 7pm onwards. Muelle Benabola, Casa 5A, Puerto Banús.

Tel: 952 813 464

Aretusa

Open all day. Pasta Da Bruno: Avda. Ricardo Soriano, 27, Marbella. Tel: 952 860 348 – closed on Sunday.

Da Bruno Cabopino: CN-340 Km. 194,7. Tel: 952 831 918. Da Bruno a Casa: Marbella Mar, Local 1, Marbella.

Tel: 952 857 521 – closed on Sunday. Da Bruno A San Pedro: Avda. del Mar, local 1E,San Pedro. Tel: 952 786 860 – closed on Monday. Da Bruno Sul Mare: Edif.

Skol, Paseo Marítimo, Marbella. Tel: 952 903 318/19

gold restaurant

Luna Rossa Open daily for both lunch and dinner, closed on Sundays. Paseo Marítimo Benabola, local 12, Puerto Banús. Tel: 952 810 543

MADE IN SARDINIA Open every night for dinner. C.C. Cristamar, Avda.

Julio Iglesias, Puerto Banús. Tel: 952 906 608

Da Paolo

Marco dallis

Open everyday for lunch and dinner. Muelle Ribera, casa G-H, local 43, Puerto Banús. Tel: 952 816 453

Open daily for dinner. Avda. Fontanilla, Marbella. Tel: 952 776 776

Ristorante Roberto Rosmarino della Piazza

sol i luna Open Monday to Saturday for dinner and Sunday for brunch. C/Sierra Bermeja s/n, Urb. Ancón Sierra, Las Lomas de Marbella Club, Marbella. Tel: 952 866 627

terraza dual Open every day for lunch and dinner. C.C. Marbellamar s/n, Marbella. Tel: 952 925 250

Villa Tiberio Open Monday to Saturday for dinner. Ctra. de Cádiz,

Open every night for dinner except Sunday. C/Gloria II, 11, Casco Antiguo, Marbella. Tel: 952 863 125

::: Oriental :::

Djawa Open Tuesday to Sunday for lunch and dinner. Urb. Linda Vista Playa 8, San Pedro de Alcántara. Tel: 952 783 055

Dragón de Oro Open every day from 12.30-4pm and 7pm until midnight. Closed Monday lunchtime. Ctra. de Cádiz, km. 141, Urb. Hacienda Guadalupe, Manilva. Tel: 952 890 956

golden wok Open every day for lunch and dinner. Urb. Marbellamar, Marbella. Tel: 952 866 840

Kaede Open every day for lunch and dinner. At the Hotel Meliá La Quinta. Urb. La Quinta Golf, Marbella. Tel: 952 762 059

Kaiden Sushi Open daily for lunch and dinner. Centro Com. Guadalmina Alta, Guadalmina 4, local 2, lower floor,

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THEGUIDE Price guide ::::::: per head for a three-course meal with wine San Pedro de Alcántara. Tel: 952 896 508

Sushi Katsura

Kama Kura

Open for lunch from Monday to Friday and for dinner from Monday to Saturday. C/Ramón Gómez de la Serna, 5, Marbella. Tel: 952 863 193

Open Tuesday to Saturday from 8-11pm. The San Roque Club, Ctra. de Cádiz, km. 127, San Roque, Cádiz.

Tel: 956 613 030

meca Open every day for lunch and dinner. C.C. Pino Golf, Don Carlos, Local 1, Elviria, Marbella. Tel: 952 830 365 / 658 646 829

naruto tokyo

Tai Pan Open seven days a week for dinner. H. Puente Romano, Ctra. de Cádiz, km. 177, Marbella. Tel: 952 777 893

Thai Gallery

Open every day for lunch and dinner. C.C. Cristamar 24, Puerto Banús. Tel: 952 811 827

Open seven days a week for dinner from 8pm.

CN-340, km.175, Edif. Rimesa, Bajos, Nueva Andalucía.

Tel: 952 818 392

Osaka

tHapa thai

Open every day 13:30-16:00 & 19:30-24:00. CN-340, km. 166 (Benavista). C.C. Costa del Sol. Tel: 952 885 751

Open every day for lunch and dinner. Urb. Puerto Deportivo 13, Edif. Poniente, Estepona. Tel: 951 318 445

RestaurantE asiático Bangkok

Wok Away

Open daily for lunch and dinner. P. de las Orquideas, C/ Iris, 11B, Edif. Excelsior no. 1, Nueva Andalucía. Tel: 952 813 603

Sakura Open every day for lunch and dinner. Avda. Jardines del Puerto, L.5, Puerto Banús. Tel: 952 817 536

Sapporo Open daily for lunch and dinner. C.C. Costa del Sol, upper level. CN-340, km. 166 (Estepona). Tel: 952 888 710

Sukho Thai Open for dinner from Monday to Saturday. Centro Comercial Marbellamar. Tel: 952 770 550

Sushi des artistes Open every day for lunch and dinner. CN 340, km 178.5, Marbella. Easy parking. Tel: 952 857 403

Open every day for lunch and dinner. Avda. Julio Iglesias, Puerto Banús. Tel: 952 907 304

under €25

€25 – €40

Open Tuesday to Sunday from 7pm to 11pm. Closed Mondays. Avda. Antonio Belón, 26 (behind the lighthouse), Marbella. Tel: 952 776 323

::: SEAFOOD ::: cervecería ostrería santiago Open daily for lunch and dinner. Avda. del Marzo, Marbella. Tel: 952 770 078

Cipriano Open daily for both lunch and dinner. Playas del Duque, Puerto Banús. Tel: 952 811 077

El Barlovento Open from 11am-4pm and 7.30-11pm every day except Mondays. Puerto Deportivo de Sotogrande, Cádiz. Tel: 956 790 370

Restaurante La Marina

€40 – €60

€60 plus

Marítimo Rey de España, Fuengirola. Tel: 952 660 084

Santiago Open daily for lunch and dinner. Paseo Marítimo, 5, Marbella. Tel: 952 770 078

::: SPANISH ::: Buenaventura Open every day for lunch and dinner. Plaza de la Iglesia, 5, Old Town, Marbella. Tel: 952 858 069

Casa de la era Open every evening for dinner. Ctra. de Ojén, km 0.5, Marbella. Tel: 952 770 625

Casa Fernando Open from Monday to Saturday for lunch and dinner. Avda. del Mediterráneo s/n, San Pedro de Alcántara. Tel: 952 853 344

El Portalón

Open every day for lunch and dinner. Urb. El Pilar, 22, Estepona. Tel: 952 887 092

Open every day from 1-4.30pm and 8pm until midnight. Paseo Marítimo s/n, La Atunara, La Linea de la Concepción, Campo de Gibraltar. Tel: 956 171 531

Wok Wang

La Torre

finca tabanko

Open every day for lunch and dinner. C/ Camilo José Cela, C.C. Plaza del Mar, planta 0, local 1, Marbella. Tel: 952 925 478

Open daily for lunch and dinner. Muelle de Honor, Club de Mar, Puerto Banús. Tel: 952 811 561

Open daily for lunch and dinner. Ctra. FuengirolaMijas, km. 4.2, mijas. Tel: 952 590 727

Marisquería La Pesquera

Hacienda

Yuan

Open daily for lunch and dinner. Plaza de la Victoria, Old Town, Marbella. Tel: 952 765 170

Open from 1-4.30pm and 7.30 -11pm. Closed on Sunday afternoons and Mondays. Urb. La Alcaidesa, La Linea de la Concepción. Tel: 956 582 700

Wok Buffet

Open every night for dinner. Hotel Torrequebrada, Benalmádena Costa. Tel: 952 441 414.

RestaurantE Eddy & Marisa’s

::: SCANDINAVIAN :::

Urb. Coral Beach, The Golden Mile, Marbella. Tel: 952 824 534

Skandies

Open every day for lunch and dinner. Paseo

Restaurante El bote

Open Monday to Saturday for lunch 1-4pm and dinner from 8pm-midnight. Ctra de Cádiz, km 178, Marbella. Tel: 952 827 880

La Meridiana del alabardero Open for lunch and dinner from Tuesday to Sunday.

Closed Mondays. Camino de la Cruz, Marbella. Tel: 952 776 190

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THEGUIDE

SCHOOLS

GYMS

GOLF

CINEMAS

RESTAURANTS

Price guide ::::::: per head for a three-course meal with wine

€25 – €40

€40 – €60

la moraga

La Cañada. Marbella. Tel: 902 333 231

Alhaurín Golf

18 holes, Par 72. Tel: 952 442 742

Open every day for breakfast, lunch and dinner. C/ Ramón Areces s/n, Puerto Banús. Tel: 952 817 448.

Also open in C.C. Parque Miramar, Fuengirola. Tel: 952 593 405

cines gran marbella

Guadalmina Golf

Puerto Banús. Tel: 952 810 077

18 holes, Par 72. Tel: 952 595 970. www.alhauringolf.com

cinesur

Almenara Golf

La Cala Golf Resort

C.C. Miramar, Fuengirola. Tel: 952 198 605

La Taberna del Alabardero

MULTICINES ALFIL

27 holes, Par 72. Tel: 956 582 027. www.sotogrande.com

54 holes, Pars 71, 72 and 73.

Tel: 952 669 033. www.lacala.com

Aloha Golf Club

La Dama de Noche 9 holes, Par 70. Tel: 952 818 150

MULTICINES MEDITERRÁNEO

18 holes. Tel: 952 907 085. www.clubdegolfaloha.com

Mijas. Tel: 952 663 738

Atalaya Golf

18 holes, Par 72. Tel: 952 890 425

PALACIO DE LA PAZ

La Quinta Golf

Open everyday for lunch and dinner except Monday.

San Pedro Playa, Urb. Castiglone. Tel: 952 785 138.

Also at Ctra. de Ronda, km. 167, San Pedro. Tel: 952 786 265

Avda. Camilo José Cela, s/n. Fuengirola.

Tel: 952 800 056

€60 plus

36 holes, Par 72. Tel: 952 883 375

La Duquesa Golf & Country Club

Mesón el adobe

Recinto Ferial. Fuengirola. Tel: 952 589 349

18 holes, Par 72. Tel: 952 882 812. www.master-hotels.com

Open daily for lunch and dinner except Tuesdays.

Avda. La Fontanilla, Edif. Balmoral, Bajo 3, Marbella.

Tel. 600 003 144

TEATRO ALAMEDA

Cabopino Golf

27 holes, Par 72.Tel: 952 762 390 www.laquintagolf.com

Calle Córdoba 9, Málaga. Tel: 952 213 412

18 holes, Par 70. Tel: 952 850 282

La Reserva Sotogrande

TEATRO CERVANTES

Cerrado del águila

18 holes. Tel: 956 695 209

Tragabuches

Ramos Marín, 199, Málaga. Tel: 952 224 109

18 holes, Par 71. Tel: 951 703 355

La Zagaleta Golf & Country Club

Open from Tuesday to Sunday for both lunch and dinner. C/José Aparacio,1, Ronda (pedestrian street between bullring and Parador). Tel: 952 190 291

TEATRO CIUDAD DE MARBELLA

Club de Golf La Cañada

18 holes. Members only. Tel: 952 695 209

Plaza Ramón Martínez, Marbella. Tel: 952 903 159

18 holes, Par 71. Tel: 956 794 100

Lauro Golf 18 holes

TEATRO SALON VARIETES

El Paraiso Club de Golf

Alhaurín de la Torre. Tel: 952 412 767

Emancipación 30. Fuengirola.

Tel: 952 474 542

18 holes, Par 71. Tel: 952 883 835

Los Arqueros Golf & Country Club

Estepona Golf

18 holes, Par 71. Tel: 952 784 600

VERACRUZ CINES

Los Naranjos Golf Club

Veracruz. Estepona. Tel: 952 800 056

18 holes, Par 72. Tel: 952 937 605. www.esteponagolf.com

AUDITORIO MUNICIPAL MIJAS

YELMO CINEPLEX

Finca cortesín golf club

Marbella Club Golf Resort

Plaza de la Libertad 2. Mijas. Tel: 952 590 380

Plaza Mayor. Tel: 902 220 922

18 holes, Par 73. Tel: 952 113 239

AUDITORIO MUNICIPAL TORREMOLINOS

18 holes, Par 72, Tel: 952 937 883. www.golfcortesin.es

Plaza de España, Recinto Ferial. Tel: 952 379 521

GOLF GUIDE

Flamingos Golf Club

18 holes. Tel: 952 830 500

18 holes, Par. Tel: 952 889 157. www.flamingos-golf.com

Mijas Golf

CENTRO CULTURAL EL INGENIO

Alcaidesa Links

Golf Río Real

Miraflores Golf

Garcia Morato, s/n. San Pedro. Tel: 952 786 968

18 holes, Par 71. Tel: 956 791 0400. www.alcaidesa.com

18 holes, Par 72. Tel: 952 756 733

18 holes, Par 71. Tel: 952 931 960

Golf Torrequebrada

Monte Mayor Golf & Country Club

CINEMAS & THEATRES

AUDITORIO PARQUE DE LA CONSTITUCIÓN Marbella. Tel: 952 825 035

TENNIS

under €25

CINESA LA CAÑADA

18 holes, Par 72. Tel: 952 815 206

Marbella Golf & Country Club 36 holes, Par 70. Tel: 952 476 843

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THEGUIDE

18 holes. Tel: 952 113 088

Parador Málaga del Golf

Urb. Parcelas del Golf, Aloha Gardens, N. Andalucía. Tel: 952 818 357

18 holes. Tel: 952 381 255

qi sport

Laude San pedro international college

Real Club de Golf Las Brisas

Urb. La Alzambra, Marbella. Tel: 952 907 090

Ages 2–18. San Pedro. Tel: 952 799 900

18 holes, Par 72. Tel: 952 810 875

SATURNIA REGNA

Mayfair Academy

Real Club de Golf Sotogrande 18 holes, Par 72. Tel: 956 785 014

Marbella Tel: 952 761 475, Elviria.

Tel: 952 834 835

Ages 4-18. Atalaya Park, Estepona.

Tel: 952 784 923

San Roque Club

SEVEN STARS SCHOOL

Monseñor Rodrigo Bocanegra

18 holes, Par 72. Tel: 956 613 030

Ages 3-16. Marbella. Tel: 952 770 077

Santa Clara Golf

Tai Chi & yoga. Pasaje Estrecho, Estepona.

Tel: 952 923 055

18 holes. Tel: 952 850 111

SPORTCLUB ROUTE 66

Ages 3-18. Marbella. Tel: 952 906 865

Santa Maria Golf & Country Club

Ctra. Mijas, 1.5km. Fuengirola.

Tel: 952 461 648

Peter Pan School

18 holes, Par 72. Tel: 952 831 036

Sotogrande Club de Golf

Tel: 952 884 789

Performing Arts Academy Ages 0-3. Bilingual nursery. San Pedro. Tel: 952 782 051 Benalmádena. Tel: 952 562 103

18 holes. Tel: 956 785 012

SPORTING CLUB ATALAYA PARK HOTEL

Valderrama

CN340, Km 168,5. Estepona. Tel: 952 888 212

Ages 2-8. San Pedro. Tel: 952 786 606

18 holes, Par 72. Tel: 956 791 200 www.valderrama.com

TICKET-TO-RIDE Cristamar, Pto. Banús. Tel: 952 905 082

Sotogrande International School

Vitality studio

Ages 2–18. Sotogrande. Tel: 956 795 902

C.C. Le Village, Marbella. Tel: 952 902 362

St. Javier’s International School

GYMS & SPORTS CLUBS

Saint George’s School

Ages 1-7. Marbella. Tel: 952 823 457

sChools

Stagecoach Theatre Arts School

C.C. Alhamar, CN-340 km 197. Tel: 952 934 684

Aloha College

Ages 2–18. Torremolinos. Tel: 952 383 164

ATENAS

Ages 3-18. Nueva Andalucía. Tel: 952 814 133

Barquilla 1. Marbella. Tel: 952 776 240

Angela’s School

Swans international school el capricho

AZTEC COUNTRY CLUB

Ages 6-14. Marbella. Tel: 952 823 042

Ages 3–10. Marbella. Tel: 952 773 248

Urb. Riviera del Sol, Mijas-Costa.

Tel: 952 934 477

british school of marbella

Swans international school Sierra blanca

CENTRO DEPORTIVO EL FUERTE

Calahonda International College

Ages 11–18. Marbella. Tel: 952 902 755

Av. El Fuerte s/n. Marbella. Tel: 952 861 624

CENTRO DE YOGA Y SALUD INTEGRAL

Ages 3-18. Tel: 952 930 080

Ages 13-18. Calahonda. Tel: 952 933 249

Ramón y Cajal 21. Marbella. Tel: 952 773 804

Calpe School

wendy kindergarten

CENTRO PLAZA GYM

Ages 2 1/2–11. San Pedro. Tel: 952 786 029

Nueva Andalucía. Tel: 952 817 074

Ages 4 months - 5 years. Marbella.

Tel: 952 772 910

Cerrado del águila

Childrens placE Bilingual nursery

Mijas Costa, Málaga. Tel: 951 773 523

Atalaya, Estepona. Tel: 952 928 444

ALHAMAR GYM

Ages 18 months-6. Marbella. Tel: 952 779 264

Ages 4-16. Tel: 952 900 453

Sunny View School

TLC Tutorial College

TENNIS CLUBS

CLUB DEl SOL

Colegio Alborán

Tennis /paddle classes. Calahonda.

Tel: 952 939 595

Ages 3-18. Ricmar.Tel: 952 839 645

Colegio Alemán

Aztec Country Club

Dynamic training centre

Ages 3-18. Elviria. Tel: 952 831 417

C.C. Le Village, Marbella. Tel: 952 775 021

Colegio Las Chapas

Urb. Riviera del Sol, Mijas-Costa.

Tel: 952 934 477

FITNESS CENTRE NEW STYLE

Ages 5–18, girls school. Elviria. Tel: 952 831 616

Club deL Sol

Amapolas, s/n Nueva Andalucía.

Tel: 952 817 916

Colegio San José Guadalmina Tel: 952 883 858 Estepona. Tel: 952 800 148

Tennis/paddle classes. Calahonda.

Tel: 952 939 595

Fuerte Gym

Dolphin Nursery

Club de tenis don carlos

Avda. El Fuerte, Marbella. Tel: 952 861 624

Ages 6 months-5 years. San Pedro.

Tel: 952 799 563

Hotel Don Carlos, CN340, km 192.

Tel: 952 831 739

Ecos College

Club Internacional de Tennis Ctra. Cádiz, km 173. Marbella. Tel: 952 813 341

HAPPY DIVER’S CLUB

Ages 1–18. Elviria.

Tel: 952 831 027

Atalaya Park Hotel, Marbella. Tel: 609 571 920

English InteRnational College

Benahavís. Tel: 617 647 223

HOTEL PUENTE ROMANO

Ages 3–20. Elviria. Tel: 952 831 058/9

Club Nueva Alcántara

CN340, Km77,5. Marbella. Tel: 952 820 900

Fiona Jones School of Dance

San Pedro Alcántara. Tel: 952 788 315

MANOLO SANTANA RACQUETS CLUB

Hofsaess tennis academy

Ctra. de Istán, Km2. Marbella. Tel: 952 778 580

Ages 9–14. Manolo Santana Racquets Club.

Fuengirola. Tel: 610 764 439

MARBELLA GUN & COUNTRY CLUB

Hijas de María Auxiliadora

Monte Elviria (next to German School).

Tel: 952 835 812

Monda. Tel: 952 112 161

Ages 3-12. Marbella. Tel: 952 771 396

Lew Hoads Tennis Club

MARBELLA SPORT

III language schools

Ctra. de Mijas, Km 3,5. Mijas. Tel: 952 474 858

Km171.5. San Pedro Alcántara. Tel: 952 788 315

San Pedro. Tel: 952 778 492 Marbella. Tel: 952 822 191 Nueva Andalucía. Tel: 952 908 558 Estepona. Tel: 952 794 059

Manolo Santana Racquets Club

GIMNASIO ESTADIO Trav. Huerta de los Cristales, Marbella.

Tel: 952 828 217

MULTI SPORT Avda. Picasso 27. San Pedro. Tel: 952 782 801

New Concept Training

Club Madroñal

Ctra. de Istán, Km 2. Marbella. Tel: 952 778 580

Miraflores Tennis Club

Monte Paraíso Country Club, Camino de Camoján s/n, Marbella. Tel: 952 866 843

Inlingua Language School

Urb. Miraflores, Km 199. Calahonda.

Tel: 952 932 006

All ages. Marbella. T: 952 774 942

Puente Romano TEnnis club

02 CENTRO WELLNESS

Marbella. Tel: 952 820 900

Plaza del Mar. Marbella. Tel: 952 900 420

the InteRnational SCHOOL of ESTEPONA

P-E SPORTS CLUB

Ages 2-12. Estepona.

El Rosario. Marbella. Tel: 952 837 651

Tenis El Casco

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THEGUIDE FAMILY

FEATURED FAMILY FUN OF THE MONTH

XOÇACOLI ATE FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY!

HEALTHY CHO

Parents often feel guilty for giving in to their kids’ sweet tooth and most of us wish there was a healthier alternative available.

The good news is that there is now a chocolate that is so pure, it offers a host of benefits for the whole family. There are many varieties of Xoçai to select from. We recently tried the Xoçai™ Nuggets, which boast a high cocoa content (70 per cent) and which combine the exotic flavours of dark Belgian chocolate, açai and blueberries. Xoçai is suitable for vegetarians and vegans, and contains no artificial colours, flavours, preservatives or sucrose. g For further information, Tel: 637 547 419. www.healthchocolate.eu

ANCRAA Giant Donkeys Cuddle

a donkey or become a volunteer to help save this humble but threatened animal. CN 340, km 164, Finca los Pajaritos, Estepona. Tel: 952 790 511 Bioparc Fuengirola Go to mysterious Madagascar, Africa and the Far East. Open 10am-6pm. C/ Camilo José Cela, 6. Tel: 952 666 301 Black Box Teatro Dramatic Arts School for all ages. C/ Notraio Luis Oliver 6, Marbella. Tel: 952 779 172. www.blackboxteatro.com Born to be Wild Jeep and dolphin eco-tours for the whole family. Open 9am-8pm. Blue Dolphin Beach Club, Estepona Beach. Tel: 639 720 246 Cable Ski Marbella Water ski cable system and pool. Open 11am-9pm (closed Mondays). Urb. Las Medranas, San Pedro. Tel: 952 785 579

Camelot This fun park in La

Cañada allows parents to shop while kids enjoy a wealth of games and activities with qualified child minders. There are a host of special events lined up, including baby and toddler mornings and a baby grow clinic, for mums to be and newborns.

Ctra. De Ojén s/n, Marbella. Tel: 952 764 766 Galaxia Children of all ages can have the time of their lives in this fun play centre, which has areas for each age group as well as a mini planetarium. C.C. Guadalmina, San Pedro de Alcántara. Tel: 952 885 530 Crocodile Park Pose with the offspring of the half-tonne adult crocodiles. Open 10am-6pm. C/ Cuba, 14, Torremolinos. Tel: 952 051 782 El Refugio del Burrito Visit this donkey sanctuary just 40 minutes

north of Málaga. Open 11am-7pm.

Fuente de Piedra, Málaga. Tel: 952 735 513 Danzzas Kids can learn ballet, modern dance, jazz, tap, theatre craft and hip-hop. Classes are taught at the Manolo Santana Racquets Club and at Plaza Gym. For a timetable please contact Fiona on Tel: 663 646 040. www.danzzas.com Flamenco Classes Children aged 5 to 8 can learn to dance flamenco from Isabel Gil, a professional dancer. Classes are held on Monday and Wednesday at the Nueva Alcántara Tennis Club. Tel: 952 788 315 Funny Beach Kids paradise with go-karts, trampolines, minimotorbikes, mechanical bull. Open daily. East side of Marbella. Tel: 952 823 359

Ice Skating Rink and Indoor Swimming Pool New sports centre with public ice skating, indoor pool, children’s pool. Avda.

García Lorca, Arroyo de la Miel, Benalmádena. Tel: 952 577 050

Inter Marbella Football Academy Football Academy for

boys and girls of all ages, just opposite La Cañada in Marbella.

Training is on Mondays and Wednesdays. Call Craig on Tel: 609 310 409. www.intermarbellacf.com Karting Club Málaga Go-kart circuit for kids and adults who feel a need for speed. Open 10am-midnight.

Ctra. De Coin, Mijas Costa. Tel: 952 581 704 Kids Multi-Sports Club This club ofers a plethora of sports for children of all ages and abilities, from tennis right through to football, cycling and even skateboarding, as well as parties with games, activities and bouncy castles. Urb. Parcelas del Golf, Avda. del Prado, Nueva Andalucía. Tel: 656 618 712 Kidz Kingdom Fun play centre and birthday party area for kids, with a mini disco. Urb. Bel-Air, CN 340, km 166.2, Estepona. Tel: 952 925 936

Kidz Kingdom 2 – Space City This ‘out of this world’ play centre offers fun activities and toddler mornings, with visits from friendly characters like Barney and Sponge Bob. Urb. El Rosario, CN 340, km 188.5, Marbella. Tel: 952 839 275 Little Fishes Swimming classes

for newborns to 3-year-olds in Marbella, Estepona and Riviera. Tel: 686 498 561/ 607 875 949. www. littlefishes-spain.com

Little Gem Swimmers

Swimming courses for babies and toddlers in Benalmádena. Contact Emma on Tel: 628 567 129. www. littlegemswimmers.com Marbella Stage School Kids can take accredited courses in dance, drama, musical theatre and singing after school on weekdays and all day on Saturdays. Tel: 952 906 865. www.marbellastageschool.com Megabowl & Sports Bar This bowling centre boasts 14 stateof-the-art tenpin bowling lanes as well as great food, drinks and entertainment. C.C. La Cañada, Ctra.

Ojén, Marbella. Tel: 902 232 999. www.megabowlmarbella.com Musical Babes Babies and toddlers aged 6 months to 3 years enjoy singing, playing simple instruments and playing games. Tel: 952 853 027. Los Jazmines 11, Bajo B, Nueva Alcántara, San Pedro de Alcántara. www.brainwaves-spain. com

NMA The Nelson Music Academy Kids aged 4 to 12 are

introduced to music in its funnest aspects. Classes are held on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 5pm to 7pm and on Saturdays from 11am to 1pm. Edif. Jupiter 44, Local 3, C/ Jesús Cautivo, Los Boliches, Fuengirola. Tel: 952 478 416. www. nelsonmusicacademy.com Original Dolphin Safari Watch, touch and swim with dolphins. Open 10am-5pm. Marina Bay, Gibraltar.

Tel: +350 200 71914 Parque La Batería Kids will have fun in this park, built in the civil war era and featuring four replica cannons, underground bunkers and passageways. Urb. Montemar Alto (near the train station), Torremolinos.

Plaza Mayor Family entertainment with multi-screen cinema, bars, restaurants, bowling alley and kids play area. Málaga. Tel: 952 247 580 Scouting Kids will have fun being a boy or girl scout. The programme followed is the same as that in the UK. Tel: 680 870 270 Sealife Centre See 2 metre long sharks. Touch pools and walk-though glass tunnel. Open daily 10am-6pm.

Benálmadena Port. Tel: 952 560 150 Selwo Adventure Park Over 2,000 animals, 4x4 tours, plus adventure activities. Open 10am9pm. CN340 Km 162.5, Estepona.

Tel: 902 190 482 Selwo Marina Dolphins Exotic birds, penguins and virtual reality shows. Open 10am-6pm. Parque de la Paloma, Benalmádena. Tel: 902 190 482 Stagecoach Your kids will love being part of a renowned performing arts school, where they can hone their singing, dancing and acting skills. The academy is open to four to 16-year-olds. Tel: 952 900 453/666 838 213. www.stagecoach.es Steam Train Ride Enjoy a steam train ride crossing the Andalusian mountains with a scenic trip from San Roque to Ronda. Tel: 952 931 186 Swim Bebé Swim Swimming classes for under 4’s and AquaNatal classes for mums-to-be. Tel: 617 520 588 Teleférico Benalmádena Cable car to top of Calamorro mountain, falconry, trekking and horseriding.

Arroyo de la Miel. Open 10am-6pm.

Tel: 902 190 482 Tennis Camp Tennis lessons for kids from 4 years on, with professional coaches. Open 10am1pm. Club del Sol, Calahonda. Tel: 952 939 595 The Music House Kids learn, grow and have fun making music.

Open to children from 2 years on.

Edif. San Pedro del Mar, Blq 7, local 12, San Pedro de Alcántara. Tel: 952 785 515. www.themusichouse.es Tivoli World Biggest amusement park on the Costa del Sol. Open daily from 1pm. Avda. de Tivoli, Benalmádena. Tel: 952 577 016 Trenecito de Marbella Take a relaxing train ride to view the main sights of Marbella. Daily 10am-1pm.

Paseo Maritimo. Tel: 639 765 981 Yaina’s Park A fantastic indoor play centre where the staff speak Scandinavian, English and Spanish.

Open seven days a week from 10am to 9pm. Children’s parties can be organised and there is a parent’s coffee shop with pool tables, a television and food. Avda.

Gamonal 4, Edif. Hercules, Arroyo de la Miel, Benalmádena.

Tel: 622 005 068

L Let us know your thoughts! If you have suggestions for this section, contact us on news@essentialmagazine.com 158 / ESSENTIAL MAGAZINE MAY 2011

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THEGUIDE PETS 2. Azawakh 1. Serengeti

Wild cats have always been a fascination for humans, and the Serengeti cat is a case in point. The breed, founded recently by Karen Sausman in California, is a domestic cat that nevertheless has a wild look to it. Unlike the Serval, which has wild blood, the Serengeti is the result of a cross between the Oriental short hair and the Bengal, making it primarily domestic. This cat is heavy bodied, with ears closer to the top of the head than normal, and has beautiful, round eyes. Ideal for those who wish to be reminded of the beauty of untamed felines.

1

This is a tall, elegant breed with fine, tight skin and short hair. It was bred as a hunting dog as well as for companionship and protection and is intelligent, alert and generally shy with strangers, although very loving with family members. The Azawakh originated in the Sahel region of South Africa, where it has been bred by the nomadic tribes of the Sahara. It can often be seen snoozing on the low roofs of the homes of its Mali ‘masters’.

Puli

7

2

RARE AND BEAUTIFUL

5

DOG AND CAT BREEDS 4

3. Cane Corso Italianio

This medium sized dog boasts beautiful, powerful muscles and a unique looking body which is particularly long. It is very intelligent, trainable and family oriented, and is famed for its stability and gentle nature. It is stubborn, however, and needs obedience and socialisation training with other dogs to avoid fights. It requires a great deal of exercise and is ideal for those who like to take Fido along for a jog.

4. Tibetan Mastiff

How we love this gentle giant, originally bred as a guardian of herds, villages, monasteries and ancient palaces. It is intelligent but highly stubborn and needs full obedience training, as well as socialisation. Because its guardian instincts are so strong, it can be aloof with strangers and very reserved. It fits in well in a family but only if the pack leader is prepared to assert his/her supremacy.

Otherwise, this dog will always try to be ‘boss’.

5. Kurilian Bobtail

This cat is relatively unknown in the west but is one of the most popular cats in Russia. It is large and strong, yet very gentle and loving in nature.

It has a bobbed tail ranging from three to eight centimetres, loves water (it feeds on fish in the wild) and comes in a variety of splendid colours, including chocolate, cinnamon and lilac.

8 6. Thai Ridgeback

This ancient breed is one of only three that possesses a ridge of hair across its back which runs in the opposite direction to the rest of its coat. It is muscular, with triangle-shaped ears and a short, smooth coat. It is full of energy, sprinting sporadically various times during the day. It is very protective of its home and pack leaders, though highly independent, and should ideally live with a trainer or someone who knows a fair bit about dogs.

It loves to jump and can roam far away, so make sure it is safe and secure in your

home.

7. Californian Spangled

This cat breed is also ideal for those seeking a wild look but a gentle, familyoriented character. It loves to play with adults and kids, chasing and hunting down toys and even taking kindly to leash training. It enjoys climbing up to high places so, if you opt for this breed, make sure to invest in a good, tall cat tree! Its coat, which boasts spots similar to those of a leopard, comes in a variety of colours including silver, bronze, gold, charcoal and black.

This breed has one of the most unique appearances, with its dreadlock style hair so abundant that grooming is always a challenge for its owner! The Puli was used thousands of years ago in Hungary for herding flocks, while today it is still prized for its outstanding abilities as a watchdog and competitor in agility competitions. It is happy and cheerful and loves being in the home but is not ideal for families with small children, who tend to pull on its dreadlocks. It is easy to train but needs to be active, so a nice big yard is ideal for Puli owners.

3 8. Hungarian Pumi

The Pumi is an energetic sheep-dog, guarddog and hunter that is an ideal family pet as it is happy and cheerful and highly intelligent. However it is also extremely wilful so would suit owners willing to put a bit of time into training and exercise. It is not ideal for a small apartment, since it needs to walk and run in the open air, and is best living on a farm. It loves outdoor

6 In line with this month’s theme on beauty, Marisa Cutillas brings you some exotic and wonderful dog and cat breeds, set to challenge your notions of what is beautiful.

sports like Frisbee-catching, fetching and agility.

9. Bramble

The Bramble is a large, fearless cat that is famed for acting more like a dog! Its wiry coat (which does not shed) makes it ideal for those who like their cats indoors, and it can be leash trained like a canine.

It plays in a manner similar to that of wild cats, stalking imaginary prey in the house with the fervour of a true hunter. It is also extremely confident, often walking up to even large dogs and growling. Yet it is non-aggressive in its nature, and is a true ‘people’s cat’. Like dogs, it picks one member of the family to be its pack leader and is friendly and loving, both with adults and children.

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WHAT’S ON IN MAY

THEGUIDE WHAT’S ON Marbella Instituto Río Verde, 8pm and 10.15pm, entry €3. Further information, Tel: 952 774 638.

Every Thursday CINE CLUB – ESTEPONA Top films shown

weekly in Spanish or original soundtrack, Padre Manuel Cultural Centre, 9pm. Entry €3.

Further information, Tel: 952 802 002/ www. estepona.es Sylvie Fleury

Events continued from April

chilled music, fine food and a groovy crowd at Marbella’s cool Ocean Club. Further information, www.oceanclub.es

Until May 10 EXHIBITION – MARBELLA Artworks

Every first Sunday of the month OPEN DAY – MIJAS PAD animal shelter,

by local German photographer, sculptor and painter Scarlet Stenger Neubeck, Kasser Rassu Gallery, Blvd. Príncipe Alfonso de Hohenlohe (in front of Marbella Club Hotel). Further information, kasserrassu.com

Until May 29 EXHIBITION – MÁLAGA Kippenberger

Meets Picasso, one of the most important exhibitions devoted to this late German artist’s work, showing selections from his Untitled series, influenced by Picasso and Kippenberger’s time in Spain during the 1980s, Museo Picasso Málaga. Further information, www.museopicassomalaga.org

Until June 12 EXHIBITION – MÁLAGA Swiss

contemporary pop artist Sylvie Fleury, specialist in sculpture and mixed media, CAC Málaga, www.cacmalaga.org

Cerros del Aguila, welcomes visitors from 123pm. Further information, Tel: 952 486 084/ info@padcatsanddogs.org

Monday May 2-July 6 EXHIBITION – MARBELLA Joan Miró:

Serie Mallorca, exhibition of works by the celebrated Spanish artist at the Engravings Museum, Marbella Old Town. Further information, www.museodegrabado.com

Every Monday and Wednesday LANGUAGE WORKSHOPS – MIJAS PUEBLO Spanish/English and English/

Spanish conversation with fellow native speakers, 10am-11.30am. Inscription/further information, Mijas Town Hall Foreigner’s Department, Tel: 952 589 010/ frd@mijas.es

Tuesday May 3 & 17 HEALING CIRCLE – MARBELLA Marbella

New and regular events

Healing Circle hosts readings, meditations and demos for those interested in or working in the areas of spiritual growth, personal empowerment and holistic lifestyle, fortnightly on Tuesdays, 7.15-8.45pm, Sonrisa Studios, 49 Ricardo Soriano, €8 to cover room cost and admin. Confirm attendance at marbellahealingcircle@gmail.com Further information, www.marbellahealingcircle.com

Monthly on different days AMERICAN CLUB – MARBELLA The

Every first Wednesday of the month CULTURE & COCKTAIL – MARBELLA

Until July 1 EXHIBITION – ALHAURÍN EL GRANDE Drawings, paintings and sculptures by José María Córdoba, Alhaurín El Grande library.

Further information, www.jmcordoba.com

American Club Costa del Sol Chapter meets monthly for excursions, sports and social events. Further information from am.club. member@live.com/ Tel. 952 772 789/ www. americanclubcostadelsol.com

AMIGOS DE LA CULTURA – COSTA DEL SOL Meets at different times/places for

lunches, lectures and tickets to concerts, ballet, theatre, opera, etc. Further information, Tel: 669 445 809/ smartkidsmarbella@gmail. com

Sunday May 1st and 29th CHAMPAGNE PARTY – OCEAN CLUB Bubbly fun by the pool and beach with

The Asociación de Arte y Cultura Marbella monthly cocktail party at Magna Café, Magna Marbella Golf. Further information, www.culturamarbella.org/ lorraine@ culturamarbella.org

Every Wednesday TOASTMASTERS CLUB – MARBELLA

Weekly meeting of this public speaking organisation, 7.30pm at Aloha Gardens, Nueva Andalucía. Further information, http:// theachievers.freetoasthost.org

Every Wednesday & Thursday CINE CLUB – MARBELLA Cine Club

Buñuel shows films in their original language,

Friday May 6 GOLF EVENT – ESTEPONA

The annual British Chamber of Commerce Golf competition in association with Blacktower Financial Management and Da Bruno Ristorante at El Paraiso Golf Club with dinner at Da Bruno Sul Mare. Further information, Tel: 952 834 642. www.golfthecosta.com

CONCERT – FUENGIROLA Pianist Antonio Manzano Moreno, Casa de la Cultura, 9pm.

Further information, www.fuengirola.org

Friday May 6-8 ANTIQUES FAIR – MARBELLA Investment items to beautify your home with a chance to bid at an auction on the Saturday, Palacio de Congresos, open 5-9.30pm Friday, 11am-9.30pm Saturday and Sunday. Further information, el: 952 828 244/www.marbella. es/congresos

NATURE FAIR – MÁLAGA Natura Málaga,

the 3rd fair devoted to healthy lifestyle and sustainable development, returns to the Palacio de Congresos, showcasing the latest eco, bio and naturopathic health products, with info on everything from organic farming and e-commerce to practical demonstrations of natural therapies. There’s also a Children’s Zone. Further information, www.naturamalaga.com

Friday May 6-10 THEATRE – FUENGIROLA Little Women,

the stage adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s famous novel, 8pm Saturday, 7pm Sunday. Box office, Tel: 952 474 542, open Monday-Friday from 10.30am-1.30pm and 7-8pm. Further information, www.salonvarietestheatre.com

Friday May 6-29 EXHIBITION – FUENGIROLA XV Spring

Exhibition organised by the Asociación Española de Pintores y Escultores,Tenencia de Alcaldía, Los Boliches. Inauguration on 6th at 8.30pm.

Saturday May 7 BEAUTY CONTEST – ESTEPONA Contest to elect Miss Estepona Feria 2011, Congress Hall. Further information, www.estepona.es

Every first Saturday of the month ORIGINAL ROCK & ROLL DANCE CLUB – NUEVA ANDALUCÍA Rock & roll music from

DJ Tall Mike, with visiting acts and stalls selling memorabilia, 10pm-3am at La Flor de Los Naranjos Restaurant. Entry free. Further information, www.activesoundproductions.com

ECOLOGICAL MARKET – MARBELLA

Market stalls promoting healthy, ecological and home-grown produce, Parque de la Alameda, 10am-2pm. Further information, Tel: 952 483 868/ www.marbella.es

OUDOOR FAIR – MARBELLA Siente

Marbella! A monthly feast of music, art and food celebrating Marbella from 11am-5pm, including art exhibitions at Plaza de la Iglesia Santo Cristo and Plaza de los Naranjos, food tastings in the Old Town and live music from 12 noon-3.30 at Plaza de la Victoria (flamenco fusion) Plaza Puente Ronda (jazz/blues) and Plaza Altamirano (jazz). Further information from the Delegation of Tourism, Tel: 952 771 442/ www.marbella.es

Every Saturday and Sunday KIDS’ CAMP – MARBELLA Aloha Gardens Multi-Sports Club weekend camp for 4-14 year-olds, 10.30am-1pm. Activities include tennis, football, cricket, basketball, hockey, handball, paddle tennis. Further information, Tel: 952 814 086.

Sunday May 8 CHARITY DOG SHOW – ESTEPONA

Animal rescue charity, Adana, holds its 21st annual dog show at the Congress Hall, 125pm. Further information, www.adana.es

CONCERT – FUENGIROLA Piano concert

by Paula Coronas, 8.30pm, Casa de la Cultura.

Further information, www.fuengirola.org

Monday May 9 NADFAS LECTURE – FUENGIROLA

Calatrava – Dancing in Valencia by Clyde Binfield, 4.30pm, Salon Variétes Theatre.

For information on other social events and membership, contact Pauline, Tel: 952 382 713/ www.nadfascostadelsol.org

Every second Tuesday of the month JAZZ – ESTEPONA The coast’s Jazz

Appreciation Society meets at Benavista Country Club, 8pm. Classic videos followed by a live jazz performance plus dinner. To book, Tel: 952 888 106. Further information from Brian Parker, Tel: 669 504 942.

Wednesday May 11 MUSICAL DOCUMENTARY – ESTEPONA El Sistema, by Paul Smaczny and María Stodtmeier, traces how music has changed the lives of Venezuela’s ghetto children, in Spanish O.V. with English subtitles, Casa de la Juventud, Plaza de las Flores, 8pm, entry €5. Further information, www.musicaconencanto.org

the late 1940s to early 60s spun by resident

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Saturday, Sunday, May 21-22 REGATTA – MARBELLA lV Grand Prix

Costa del Sol yacht races start 12 noon on Saturday, 11.30am on Sunday from Marbella Port, organised by the Club Marítimo de Marbella. Further information, www. gpcostasol.es

Wednesday, Thursday, May 11, 12 The Chanela Theatre Group presents La Estufita y Nochebuena, Casa de la Cultura, 8.30pm. Further information, www.fuengirola.org

Wednesday May 11-15 FERIA – ESTEPONA All the fun of

the fair as Estepona commemorates its Patron Saint, San Isidro Labrador, including a street procession on 15th at 6pm. Programme of events from the town hall or www.estepona.es

Thursday May 12 CHILDREN’S THEATRE – MARBELLA

Mundo Mágico and Más Alla del Terror, presented by students from the Conservatory, Teatro Ciudad de Marbella, 8pm. Further information, Tel: 952 766 458.

Friday May 13 CONCERT – FUENGIROLA

The Javier Denis Andalusí Cuarteto, Casa de la Cultura, 9pm. Further information, www.fuengirola.org

Friday May 13-15 BONSAI EXHIBITION – FUENGIROLA Show organised by the Municipal Bonsai Workshop, Casa de la Cultura, inauguration on 13th at 8.30pm. Further information, www.fuengirola.org

Saturday May 14 CONCERT – MARBELLA Los Años Treinta, music by Cole Porter, George Gershwin and more, with the Alla Janowski Trío and Kike Navarro, Vasari Centre, Urb. La Alzambra, Nueva Andalucía, 8.30pm. Tickets, €20, from FNAC La Cañada. Further information, www.musicaconencanto.org

Sunday May 15 CONCERT – MARBELLA Concert by the

Ribadeo Choir, 8pm, Teatro Ciudad Marbella.

Tickets €10 from the theatre box office or El Corte Inglés. Further information, www. marbella.es

Every third Tuesday of the month FLORAL ART CLUB – ESTEPONA Meets 3-5pm monthly with NAFAS demonstrators, El Campanario Golf & Country Club. Further information from Marilyn Pemberton, Tel: 952 928 197.

Wednesday May 18 MUSICAL DOCUMENTARY – SAN PEDRO Mahler según Claudio Abbado

by Michael Haefliger, in Spanish O.V. with English subtitles, San Pedro Cultural Centre, Plaza de la Libertad, 8pm, entry €5. Further information, www.musicaconencanto.org

Thursday May 19-22 VOLVO WORLD MATCH PLAY CHAMPIONSHIP – CASARES COSTA

See the world’s top pro golfers battle it out at Finca Cortesín in a tournament televised all over the world. Further information, www. volvoworldmatchplay.com

Friday May 20-25 MUSICAL THEATRE – FUENGIROLA

That’s Entertainment, a celebration of all the legendary musicals, 8pm Saturday, 7pm Sunday. Box office, Tel: 952 474 542, open Monday-Friday from 10.30am-1.30pm and 7-8pm. Further information, www. salonvarietestheatre.com

Saturday May 21 THEATRE – FUENGIROLA Distribución

Nearco Producciones presents La Cena de los Idiotas, Palacio de la Paz, 9pm. Further information, www.fuengirola.org

Tuesday May 24 CONCERT – MÁLAGA The Picasso

Museum’s MPM Auditorium continues its cycle of chamber music concerts with the Trío Kurtág, performing works by Mozart, Reinecke and Bruch, 9pm. Further information, www.museopicassomalaga.org Tickets from www.generaltickets.es

Every last Friday of the month COFFEE MORNING – ESTEPONA

ADANA animal rescue charity coffee morning at Plaza Manilva (outside Longman’s Bookshop) 11am-2pm. Kennels open 10am-5pm Monday-Friday and 10am-2pm Saturday, Sunday and fiestas. Further information, Tel: 952 797 405/ 606 274 206/ administracion@adana-estepona.com

BUSINESS LUNCH – MARBELLA

Marbella Business Institute invitation-only lunch club for local and visiting business people, active and retired. To apply, see www.marbellabusinst.com

Saturday May 28 FLAMENCO – MARBELLA Silencio

Danza presents an evening of flamenco, Black Box Theatre, 9pm. Tickets, €12, from the theatre, Tel: 952 779 172/ www. blackboxteatro.com

Monday May 30 SPEED NETWORKING – MARBELLA

‘Full On’ Speed Networking, 6-8pm, hosted

by Costa Business Club at Restaurante Amapola, C/Ortega y Gasset. Registration at 6pm for a prompt 6.15pm start. Free parking (just show your ticket to Heidi at the restaurant). Price: €25 (€15 for members) or €40 (€30) with dinner. For collection of tickets, email info@costabusinessclub.com or call Sandra, Tel: 634 364 131. Further information, www.costabusinessclub.com

CONCERT – ESTEPONA Concert with the Pequeña Orquesta Mediterránea, directed

by Alison Harling, Padre Manuel Cultural Centre children’s library, 5.30pm. Further information, www.estepona.es

Thursday May 26 THEATRE – FUENGIROLA Diké Teatro

presents Nube de Palomas de Ana Sanz, Casa de la Cultura, 9pm. Further information, www.fuengirola.org

Friday May 27 PADEL CHAMPIONSHIP – ESTEPONA 5th Padel Championship at the Municipal Sports Centre. Further information, www. estepona.es

ADVANCE NOTICES

Friday June 3-5 FITNESS CONFERENCE – MARBELLA

1st Swefit Conference for fitness professionals, Palacio de Congresos, 9am-9pm, with demos by the world’s top international fitness presenters, seminars, indoor cycling/spinning demos, dance master classes, a body-mind zone and the latest in sportswear and fitness products.

Complementary activities for delegates include a Latin fiesta on the Friday and an Andalusian fiesta on Saturday. Further information and ticket prices, Tel: 651 470 023/ www.marbella.es/congresos

Jorge Drexler

CERVANTES THEATRE HIGHLIGHTS – MÁLAGA

Friday, Saturday, May 6, 7: Málaga Philharmonic Orchestra and flautist Jorge Francés present music from John Williams’ score for the film, E.T., the Pied Piper Fantasy by Corigliano and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 in C Minor, Friday 8.30pm, Saturday 8pm.

Sunday May 8: Hispano-American musician Jorge Drexler, 7pm.

Monday May 9: Los Tres Tenores present their new touring show, 8pm.

Thursday, Friday, May 12, 13: Rafael Azcona’s black comedy drama, El Pisito, 9pm.

Saturday May 14: Eduardo Paniagua and Klezmer Sefardí present Jewish wedding and party music, 11pm.

Sunday May 15: Teatro Lírico Andaluz presents the zarzuela La Revoltosa, 5.30pm and 8.30pm.

Friday, Saturday, 20, 21 May: Málaga Philharmonic Orchestra and pianist Gulsin Onay present Nielsen’s Aladdin, Saygun’s Concerto No. 1 for Piano and Orchestra and selections from Scheherazade by RimskyKorsakov, Friday 8.30pm, Saturday 8pm.

TEATRO ECHEGARAY HIGHLIGHTS Thursday May 5: Spain’s top drag queen, Miss Shangay Lilly, presents the new one-man/ woman show, Masculine Singular, 9pm.

Friday, Saturday, May 6, 7: Cadíz artist Javier Ruibal, Friday 9pm, Saturday 8pm.

Friday May 13: Blues artist Richard Ray Farrell and The Spanish Band, 9pm.

Thursday May 19: Jazz quintet The Sons of Antonio Sanchez, 9pm.

Thursday May 26: Málaga cult rock band, L’Avalanche, 9pm.

Friday May 27: Israeli pianist Ishay Shaer presents La música en tiempo de Picasso, with works from Ravel, Bartók, Joplin, Albéniz and Prokofiev, 9pm.

Saturday May 28: Renowned drummer Ignacio Berroa and his quartet present Afro-Cuban and jazz sounds from his album, Codes, 8pm.

i

Ticket sales for both theatres from the box office/ Tel: 902 360 295/ www. generaltickets.com and other outlets.

Further general information, Tel: 952 224 109/ www.teatrocervantes.com

MAY 2011 ESSENTIAL MAGAZINE / 161

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THEGUIDE STARS

Annie Heese is the founder of astrology website, www.cafeastrology.com, a site featuring articles, love sign compatibility reports, predictions, the gen on famous people and their star signs, and general information for astrology buffs.

ARIES [21 MAR - 20 APR]

LEO [23 JUL - 22 AUG]

SAGITTARIUS [22 NOV - 21 DEC]

You are entering a brilliant period for increasing your earning power and in May, money-making opportunities are likely to present themselves. Whether it’s a promotion or an all-new position, this is a good time for pursuing your dreams and asking for what you want on both personal and professional levels. Your life stabilises this month, and romantic matters are quiet but strong. Achieving a sense of security becomes a priority.

You are entering a long-term cycle in which your social status increases and others begin to recognise your professional efforts with more favour. May brings a hint of these things to come, with doors opening for promotions, improved working conditions, or a new position. Your ambition is stimulated, but do take care not to bulldoze your way towards your goals. Family members and domestic matters will require special attention mid-month.

Creative and physical activities thrive, especially in the first half of the month.

Romantic inclinations are strong, and you find it easy and natural to attract positive attention from others. As May progresses, work matters become a stronger priority, as do any self-care and health programmes. It’s an excellent time not only for finding work, but also for work relationships.

TAURUS [21 APR - 20 MAY]

VIRGO [23 AUG - 22 SEP]

CAPRICORN [22 DEC - 19 JAN]

May has your name written all over it. You’ve been on the fence about several matters in your life, but May brings clearer vision and easier decision making. The only real caution now is to avoid pushing yourself and others too hard. It’s an excellent period for increased energy and motivation, so that new endeavours, whether they are business or health-related, or personal, fare especially well.

While you’ve been rather introspective recently and you continue to be withdrawn in the first week of May, you begin to come out of your shell this month. Educational or travel opportunities are opening up in your life, and will continue to do so throughout 2011. Take advantage of this time to brush up on skills or to learn an entirely new subject. This will better prepare you for career success down the road.

You’ve been paying a lot of attention to family and career matters recently and this may have been stressful. Fortunately, you’re entering a much more easygoing and self-expressive period. By mid-May, your creative juices stir, and you find more opportunities to enjoy yourself. Romance is highly favoured. Artists can find much success now and in the months ahead, and dabblers can pick up new interests.

GEMINI [21 MAY - 21 JUN]

LIBRA [23 SEP - 23 OCT]

AQUARIUS [20 JAN - 19 FEB]

May begins with plenty of activity and socialising, but quiets down as the month progresses. It can be difficult to meet important deadlines at that time, simply because energy and motivation levels can be low, so you might want to work on projects in advance. In fact, take advantage of the first two weeks of May to push forward with your personal and group-related endeavours.

May is a strong month for taking charge of finances, and in particular, debts, and loans. It is a good time for borrowing or settling debts, if necessary. Relationships have been making headlines in your life recently, and this month, the more intimate aspects of sharing with a special someone become your primary concern. The urge for self-transformation can also be strong, and it’s a fine time for kicking a bad habit and eliminating wasteful activities.

The pace of your life continues to be hectic in the first half of May. The first week of the month is excellent for learning and communication. You are getting your message across with charm and grace. By mid-month, you enter an extended period in which home and family life come into strong focus and are set to improve. Your increased attention to domestic matters certainly helps you to find more peace with family, and you are especially motivated to improve your living conditions.

CANCER [22 JUN - 22 JUL]

SCORPIO [24 OCT - 21 NOV]

PISCES [20 FEB - 20 MAR]

You can make great strides in your career in the first week of May. Those in authority look upon you very favourably, and professional projects tend to move forward without resistance. You are likely to get recognition for the work you do or for your responsibility now. Don’t hide yourself away! As the month progresses, social activities become a stronger focus. Not only will you enjoy the company of friends, your networking efforts can actually inspire new ideas and can lead to success down the road.

The first half of May is excellent for work matters. It’s a strong period for personal influence on the job. Some of you might even meet a special someone through your work or health activities. Close partnerships become a major focus as the month progresses. In fact, throughout the remainder of 2011, relationship opportunities are likely to abound. You are especially willing to put your own needs aside in order to make others happy, and your powers of negotiation skyrocket. A personal revelation can occur around the Full Moon on the 17th.

The first week of May is brilliant for increasing your earning power and for attracting favours, gifts, and bonuses.

While there’s a wonderful feeling of abundance now, a more hectic pace is likely as the month progresses. You are bound to take up new interests and many of you could be focusing a lot of attention on learning and communication. Increased contact with relatives, neighbours, and acquaintances is likely now.

162 / ESSENTIAL MAGAZINE MAY 2011

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Mellior Vasari La Alzambra Local 3-1 Puerto Banús - Marbella - 29660 Spain +34 951 319 728 UK +44 0800 112 3027 info@quaypropertygroup.com

www.quaypropertygroup.com

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LUXURY HOME BUILDER “Formed in 2007 by experienced property developer John May, Quay Property Group is a luxury building contractor for clients in Marbella and London.”

21/02/2011 15:26:33

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22/03/2011 16:14:04