Olive Press Newspaper - Issue 304

Stars from Anne Hathaway to Jodie Whittaker keep visiting Ronda, find out why in our travel supplement inside

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Vol. 13

Issue 304

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Andalucia’s city in the mountains is a hot ticket for world leaders and their wives despite Hemingway’s lukewarm words, writes Elisa Menendez

‘

NICE promenades, good wine, excellent food and nothing to do…’

Thus Ernest Hemingway wrote off the town where he spent numerous holidays drinking the local wine and carousing at corridas, no doubt disappointing many of Ronda’s proud residents with his puzzlingly lacklustre review.

Most of today’s travellers - including Britain’s last two prime ministers and an American First Lady - would certainly disagree with him. Ronda has been crowned Andalucia’s third most-visited town and it’s not hard to see why.

The so-called ‘City of Dreams’ is a true cewanderlust gem and somewhat of a lebrity hang-out.

HaThis year alone, Theresa May, Anne thaway, Ricky Gervais, Jodie Whittaker, Gordon Ramsay, Kristin Scott Thomas and Spain’s ex-premier Mariano Rajoy have all allegedly visited the stunning the mountain town... so say locals in know.

Obama

Picture by Jon Clarke

WIN, WIN!

Michelle Obama also made headlines the when she visited in 2010, touring old town and discovering the Moorish dynasty with her daughter Sasha.

Celebrity chef Jean Christophe Novelli went house hunting in the town after falling in love with it in 2009.

With its spectacular high sierra setting, leafy parks, cobbled lanes and atmospheric ventas it’s no wonder Ronda has stolen the hearts of so many travellers.

Over the centuries a slew of writers have waxed lyrical about its timeless character, stunning views and charming locals. the The German poet Rilke baptised it a ‘City of Dreams’, Orson Welles took shine to its bullfighting scene and

GRAND TOUR-ISTS: Painters tackle the gorge, while (inset) recent visitors Anne Hathaway, Gordon Ramsey, Jodie Whittaker and Ricky Gervais

Continues on Page 18

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Vol. 13 Issue 304 www.theolivepress.es November 7th - November 20th 2018

‘You’re killing us!’

ENVIRONMENTAL groups are taking legal action against the Junta for ‘failing to tackle toxic air’ in the Campo de Gibraltar.

Ecologistas en Accion has filed a complaint with the Health Ministry, claiming nothing has been done to protect citizens from a rise in air pollutants caused by the expansion of ‘toxic’ industries in the Bay of Algeciras.

According to the green group, more than 10,000 tonnes of dangerous pollutants were released into the atmosphere last year.

This includes potentially lethal cancer-causing chemical benzene, as well as other fine particles.

The writ comes as Cadiz province was officially declared to have the worst air quality in Spain.

And alarmingly, La Linea, which borders Gibraltar, ranks as the 30th most polluted place in the world in terms of air quality.

The shocking stats were revealed in a damning World Health Organisation report which lists the world’s ‘most contaminated’ towns and cities.

Continues page 11 Adding salt to the wound, Cadiz also came bottom in

MESSAGES: Left for teen

Tragic end “IT’S a dirty world that I don’t want to live in anymore.”

These were the intended last words of a British teen who had embarked on a suicide pact with her 16-yearold boyfriend in Marbella.

The privately-educated expat, 14, added: “I’m Sorry: To anyone who has ever loved/known or supported me, thank you, I love you and I will miss you.”

TOXIC: Oil refinery plumes black smoke into the Campo

NOLOTIL VICTORY

Bizarre

However, her heartfelt messages had a cruel, bizarre twist, when her British-Brazilian boyfriend Richard Fitzsimons managed to take his life off the top of the Corte Ingles department store, while she miraculously survived.

It came as a hero security guard somehow managed to grab the girl before she was able to plunge to her death after her lover.

In a tragically sad incident - that has shocked the coast and made headlines around the world - the teenager, who we are not naming for legal reasons, is now requiring serious

A LETHAL painkiller believed to be responsible for the deaths of dozens of expats is finally being regulated in Spain.

Nolotil, which the Olive Press has investigated for nearly two years, has been

Continues page 2

TM

banned for tourists in Spain.

In a breakthrough move, The Spanish Medicine Agency (AEMPS) has finally issued a directive to all healthcare bodies to stop giving the drug to British and

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Expats in Spain will now be administered Nolotil on a short term prescription only. Furthermore it can only be prescribed after a detailed analysis of the patient’s medical history and heritage.

It will also have to be much more closely monitored.

It comes after an Olive Press investigation into the mysterious deaths of expats from the drug was See page 43 launched in 2016, along with a 1,000-strong petition to have it regulated a year later.

Nolotil, also known as Metamizole, is banned in the UK, the US and most of Europe.

Despite this, the drug is still one of the most popular painkillers in Spain,

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Save our home!

Vol. 11 Issue 271

679702_DFS_SPANISH_BOX_AD_40x40_MIJAS_COSTA.in 23/02/2017 11:31 dd 1

EXCLUSIVE

By Laurence Dollimore

A BRITISH expat couple are fighting to save their Malaga home from demolition over a technicality.

Gill and Bob Ward, both 74, have been locked in a battle with their town hall, which claims their house in Almayate is illegal.

Just yesterday the retired couple from Cornwall were given

Doctors and dentists join Olive Press appeal for ban on dangerous painkiller Nolotil EXCLUSIVE

By Laurence Dollimore

one month to knock down their only property (pictured above).

In a court order seen by the Olive Press, the Wards are warned they will be held criminally responsible if they refuse.

“I don’t know what to do anymore, I’m at the end of my tether” Gill told the Olive Press, “I’m totally exhausted from the whole ordeal.”

The retired pair, who have now spent thousands of euros on legal costs, bought the old farmhouse ‘in ruins’ in 2004, and were given permission from Velez-Malaga town hall to rebuild it.

But when the original wall collapsed of its own accord during construction, the Wards’ architect told them it would be fine and that he would let the town hall know. Unfortunately for Continues on Page 8

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GET IN IT TO WIN IT!

THE Olive Press is giving away three pairs of tickets for two of the best concerts on the Costa del Sol this summer...

And all you have to do is answer two simple questions!

Michael Bolton takes to the stage for an emotive end of season night at Marbella’s Puente Romano on August 10, while pona is set for its biggest rock concert Estein years with mammoth

tribute bands Think Floyd, Deeper Purple Whole Lotta Led rocking out the greatest and hits of Pink Floyd, Deep Purple and Led at the Plaza del Toros on August 26. Zeppelin For a chance to win a pair of tickets to see Bolton, just answer the question; what year was Michael Bolton born in?

For the Pink Purple Zep Fest in Estepona, tell us; Where was Jimmy Page born? just Email answers to the newsdesk@theolivepress.e s.

WIN WIN WIN:

KILL THE DRUG

THE Olive Press is calling on Spain to ban a lethal painkiller that is killing countless of unsuspecting expats.

British dentists and doctors are supporting the ban after Briton Graham Ward, 75, complained to the Olive Press of how he was prescribed the deadly Nolotil drug by a dentist last week. It’s the very same drug that was blamed for killing his wife in 2006.

The Marbella-based expat was furious when he was told to take the painkiller by his Spanish dentist, after suffering from a difficult abscess.

His wife Mary, 59, had died after being prescribed the same drug following a double vasectomy at Costa del Sol Hospital.

“Within 24 hours she was in intensive care, her white blood cell count plummeted to zero within days,” explains Graham, a former computer HAPPIER TIMES: Graham with technician, from London. wife, and Billy Smyth She never regained conscious- again.

Metamizole, Nolotil ness and was on a life support “He said she would be alive if in the US, the UK, is banned machine for FOUR months, she hadn’t taken it, but I have most of Europe, Ireland and before spending three years heard from dozens but it is prefighting the impact of the and Irish who have of Brits scribed widely in Spain.

William drug, which led to organ fail- it,” added Graeme. been given Irishman ‘Billy’ Smyth was given a five-day ure.

It is the third victim “The chief surgeon at the hos- drug the Olive Press of the course of the drug in Februhas re- ary. pital promised me he would ported on in under But when the 66-year-old renever prescribe that drug Sometimes knowna year. also as turned to a different Spanish

Bolton and Pink Purple Zep Fest tickets

Need for more research

Dr Nina King, of Oasis Dental Care the campaign, telling the Olive Pressin Marbella, fully supports the drug is not something she prescribes.

“It’s not a drug I use, I stick to safe and standard medication,” she said, “And after seeing what damage it can do, it’s a drug I won’t be using in the future.”

Marbella-based private doctor Dra. Victoria María Chacón Almeda also agrees the drug is dangerous.

“I don’t prescribe the drug,” she told the Olive Press, tients and I am aware of what it is “I have lots of British pacapable of doing.

“There needs to be a lot more research on its impact.” doctor to get a renewal in April, tests showed the drug had caused a toxic poisoning in his bone marrow and his white blood cell was dangerously low.

Billy, a keen sportsman, developed sepsis and necrotising fasciitis as a result and required ‘radical surgery’ to remove the affected tissue in an attempt to save his life.

The dad-of-two later died from septic shock – believed to be linked to taking the Nolotil.

Another British expat Hugh Wilcox was prescribed the same medication for mild shoulder pain on the Costa del Sol. He developed severe head Continues on Page 2

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Mosquito despite various side effects, Screenswhich can cause a rapid drop in white blood cells, leaving patients unable to fight infections. Medical translator, Cristina Garcia del Campo, who has pulled together hundreds of case studies from victims for the AEMPS’ probe, said she was ‘very happy’ the authorities have finally reacted. Following the results of her KILL THE rigorous investigation she DRUG has now demanded that the drug must not be sold without a prescription and a detailed patient analysis.

“I am very happy that the problem has been dealt with,” she told the Olive Press. “I will be making sure that the AEMPS recommendations are carried out and if necessary make sure it’s banned completely.” The Olive Press began investigating after a trio of expat families told us how their relatives had died unnecessarCASHBACK ON ily in excruciating pain, after taking the drug in Andalucia.

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NEWS IN BRIEF

Dirty dribblers TWO have been arrested in Marbella for robbing a tourist using the ‘Ronaldinho’ method, where the victim was distracted with a football dribble before stealing a phone and other valuables.

Mystery bones HUMAN remains have been found in Ronda, with one confirmed as a suicide victim, while a genetic analysis will be carried out on the second to see if it is a young man missing since 2011.

United front SPAIN and Russia have agreed to establish a joint cybersecurity group to stop misinformation spreading, as it is thought Russian ‘fake news’ campaign has fuelled tensions in Catalunya.

November 7th - November 20th 2018

Donkey death ‘Heartbreaking’ death of donkey taxi infuriates Costa del Sol animal activists ANIMAL rights groups are up in arms after a donkey taxi ‘died alone’ in its pen in Mijas at the weekend.

Political group PACMA has said it is already putting together a legal complaint against the owner after the mule was left to die ‘despite several reports to Guardia Civil and the town hall’.

Dog walkers discovered the donkey lying on its side ‘braying in pain’, but their calls to the authorities were allegedly ignored.

“It’s very sad and could have been prevented,” said PACMA candidate Eva Ramos, “another animal victim of tourist exploitation.

“PACMA is the only political party that wants to end the

EXCLUSIVE

By Elisa Menendez & Laurence Dollimore

donkey-taxis of Mijas and other animal-based tourist attractions, including horse-drawn carriages.

"Mijas is a beautiful town, it has sun, the beach and good people. Your local government mistakenly believes that the donkey-taxi service is a tourist attraction; however, most of the video and photo-complaints that we receive are from tourists, many of them foreigners, horrified by this type of animal exploitation and the conditions in which burritos are kept.”

The animal is believed to have developed colic, a digestive

Pet owners beware!

SICK: Skewered ham

TWISTED animal killers have been placing screws and needles in food and leaving them dotted around parks for pets to eat.

The alarm was sounded by locals in Manilva who shared several pictures of pieces of jamon skewered by screws.

“Be careful if you go for a walk with your dog in the park next to Colegio Maicandil,” read the warning, “People have warned us of the existence of pieces of meat with screws in them.”

TRAGIC: Donkey in pain disease associated with horses and donkeys.

Horacio Stuchetti, Partido Popular animal welfare boss for Mijas, told the Olive Press he has placed two denuncias against the owner for the mistreatment of the animal and the poor condition of the stable.

“A local woman called me saying she had heard a donkey crying in pain. When she got close to the stable she saw what she saw…,” the official told the Olive Press, “There needs to be a really important change in the donkeys’ working and living conditions.”

He said the owner told him the donkey was being treated by a vet and would send the veterinary documents. Stuchetti is yet to receive them.

Letters page 11

4

From front

Suicide pact horror counselling.

It comes amid claims in the Spanish press that she asked security to take a photo for social media AFTER her boyfriend’s death last Friday at 11.42am.

Dozens of friends and family made their way to the spot, to leave messages and flowers for Richard, who had been attending Aloha college, with his girlfriend.

The funeral took place on Sunday, with expats describing it as ‘the most heartbreaking scene’ they had ever witnessed.

“There were so many boys just sobbing their hearts out,” said one expat on social media.

The school is believed to have arranged councillors for pupils and teachers.

It was Richard who had launched an urgent scramble on Friday morning, when he messaged friends saying the pair were on their way to El Corte Ingles to end their lives.

Despite his mother frantically calling the famous store, the pair somehow managed to find their way to the roof using the emergency stairwells.

Security guards were quickly on the roof and able to grab the girl on a tiny raised roof platform seconds after her boyfriend plunged to his death.

CCTV footage seen by police apparently shows him pushing his girlfriend away from the edge of the roof towards safety after she experienced a ‘

SCENE: Of tragic fall split- second’ of doubt, before he leapt.

A well-placed source told the Olive Press: “Several calls went into to the department store from people who said they had published social media messages warning what they were going to do.”

Fitzsimons is the son of a Brazilian mum and a British dad, who is understood to spend most of his time in the UK. He was said to be depressed and may have dabbled with drugs.

Friends and loved ones have left heartfelt messages at the site where he plunged to his death.

Candles, flowers and a teddy bear with handwritten messages attached can be seen propped up against the wall of El Corte Inglés.

“You will always be in our hearts, forever,” read one message, “We love you and we hope you have found peace now.” The girl was taken to a Malaga hospital following the incident and after suffering an anxiety attack.

www.theolivepress.es

Hot water

SOME 14 fire bosses have been arrested for allegedly embezzling €7 million in public funds.

The Policia Nacional found that the Consortium of Bomberos Cadiz took out mass early retirement insurance policies.

But when their employees retired early, chiefs siphoned off the money from the payouts.

Authorities also found discrepancies in the consortium’s training courses.

Large sums were paid to a company to provide training courses, but no evidence has been found that these courses took place.

Meanwhile, irregularities were also found in grants and subsidies, which cops believe were used to pay for private trips.

The irregularities date back to 2008 and cops believe at least €7 million has been stolen by those at the top.

Pipe ban FRUIT growers in the Axarquia are facing a 60% reduction in water use from the La Vinuela reservoir with no solution in sight.

The Junta has decided to limit its use as the reservoir is already at 22.7% capacity and could drop even lower if the dry weather keeps up.

Costa del Sol hotel has three months to fight decision before it is demolished A HOTEL is to be knocked down for not having enough class!

Benalmadena’s Hotel Vista de Rey must be demolished within three months, a court has ruled, Andalucia’s Superior Court of Justice ruled that the hotel falls short of its four-star requirement.

N

No eno sta

Probing

It began probing the three star hotel and apartment block in 2011 after it was denounced over planning rules which set aside the plot for a four star hotel only.

According to the PGOU town plan an apartment block was not permitted and it also breached rules by being over 700 square meters bigger

DOOMED: Costa h

SMUGGLER POLICE officers have formed a human wall along a beach in La Linea to ensure that the construction of a beach wall went ahead.

The wall, between the church of Nuestra Senora del Carmen and the perimeter wall of the fishing port of La Atunara, hopes to

deter as a d A com local fears and d

NEWS

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November 7th - November 20th 2018

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Boots are made for talking QUEEN Letizia showed that boots are made for talking, not just walking, as she stole the show in a pair of black leather thigh-highs at a high-level pollution meeting in Geneva.

The mother-of-two donned the sultry Adolfo Dominguez boots to attend the first World Health Organization (WHO) Conference on Air Pollution and Health, in Switzerland, where she met with the group’s Director General.

Spain’s monarch was in attendance at the conference, which the WHO said would feature a 'Call for Urgent Action' to end the seven million annual deaths linked to air pollution by 2030.

Royal first SPAIN’S next heir to the throne Princess Leonor has delivered her first royal speech at just 13 years old.

Daughter of King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia, the tiny princess gave her first public address last week, marking not only her birthday but also the 40th anniversary of the Spanish constitution.

She paid homage by reading the first 169 articles of the country’s Magna Carta, signed by Spanish Parliament in 1978.

Smiling

Dressed in a blue collared dress and black patent Mary Jane shoes, the blonde teen read confidently and clearly while smiling at the audience, as mother Letizia and 11-year-old sister Princess Sofia applauded from the front row.

It was a memorable day for King Felipe, who stood proudly next to his daughter, as he too gave his first public speech aged 13.

Princess Leonor has been declared next in line for the Spanish throne and her first public address is a major step preparing her for the role.

Nice try, Joaquin NO FOOL: James McAvoy

By Elisa Menendez

BRITISH Hollywood star James McAvoy has warned holidaymakers after nearly falling for an €11,000 hotel scam in Spain.

The Glaswegian X-Men actor was almost duped out of a whopping £10,000 when booking a family holiday at The Ritz Carlton Abama Hotel in Tenerife.

In a video shared on social media app, Instagram, the 39-year-old warns off tourists from making the same mistake.

Actor James McAvoy warns off tourists on social media after nearly being duped in a Spanish hotel scam “Just avoided being scammed through a cyber scheme. They are The Ritz Abama Tenerife.

Don’t use them, they nearly took 10 grand off me which is a tonne of money,” McAvoy says in the video.

The Atonement actor jokes that the website was so convincing it looked even better than the real Ritz Carlton’s site, as he scrolls through a luxury ‘5-star’ hotel webpage with a

Dadn’t do it

PLAYER: Julio Iglesias

JULIO Iglesias has refused to take a DNA test that would prove he is the father of his ‘illegitimate’ son Javier Sanchez-Santos.

The Latin legend has faced a paternity suit from Sanchez since 1992, when the 41-year-old love child first identified Iglesias, 75, as his father.

After a Valencia court deemed a 99.99% DNA match between the men inadmissible, due to Iglesias’ DNA being obtained illegally, the Spanish crooner was then given 10 days to complete a genetic test.

After the singer’s refusal Sanchez’s lawyer Fernando Osuna said he will ‘ask for the children and brothers’ of Iglesias to provide DNA, which may confirm the serial womaniser as the biological father.

Were Sanchez identified as the singer’s son, he could get access to Iglesias’ €850 million fortune, and would join the musician’s eight other confirmed children.

 

 

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  

blue serene cloud background.

He goes on to explain how he had exchanged a number of emails with a man named ‘Joaquin’ who asked the star for the payment via bank transfer.

“I just thought the deal seemed too good to be true,” he added, “I doubled checked it through a travel agent and it was a tenth of the price it should be.

“Stay away. If you’ve been scammed by them, hit me up.”

The father-of-one has captioned the post with comical hashtags, ‘Anne Robinson we need you’ and ‘Watchdog BBC material’.

He has since alerted the real Ritz Carlton to the scam.

McAvoy first rose to fame with his supporting role of faun Mr Tumnus in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, followed by an award-winning role in The Last King of Scotland.

The actor’s latest movie, Glass - the sequel to the harrowing Split - is set to be released January 18, starring Bruce Willis, Samuel L Jackson and Sarah Paulson.

Woah, Lipa!

WOMEN have stolen the show at this year’s MTV EMA awards held in Spain.

Bilbao was taken over by music’s biggest stars for the 25th ceremony on Sunday.

Londoner Dua Lipa took home Best Pop act and donned a short floral dress which showed off her legs.

Janet Jackson, Camila Cabello and female rappers Nicki Minaj and Cardi B, took home the other biggest accolades at the hotly-anticipated event, held at the Bilbao Exhibition Centre.

But it was Janet Jackson who had people talking, not only for her jaw-dropping performance and winning the Global Icon Award, but for her empowering speech honouring the ‘Me Too’ movement.

4

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November 7th - November 20th 2018

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Fireball!

THIS is the moment a comet fragment turned into a fireball over Andalucia at the weekend.

A piece of the Encke comet entered Earth’s atmosphere at more than 100,000km/hr.

According to the Astrohita Foundation, the fireball was visible from 400km away and was detected by observatories in Granada and Sevilla.

The fragment extinguished around 63 kilometers above the municipality of Pueblo Blanco in Almeria.

Astrohita said ‘the luminosity was so unusually high that nighttime in the southeast of Spain turned into day for an instant.’

Top of the hols A RECORD 30 million tourists will travel to Andalucia this year - despite a significant drop in British visitors.

According to Junta boss Susana Diaz, British hotel stays are expected to have dropped by 2.9% this year, while Spanish visitors increased by 1.5% and other nationalities by 0.4%.

Diaz stressed that the British market was still the most important while visiting the World Travel Market in London.

“We need to reinforce the appeal of Andalucia in the UK, especially taking into account that 24% of foreign tourism in the region is of British origin, which represents almost 10% of our total tourism.”

Brits have been turning to rival destinations like Turkey, Egypt and Greece, which have been able to offer more competitive prices.

SLIDING IN TO XMAS

READY: Sierra Nevada slopes

THE Sierra Nevada is gearing up for the ski season as sub-zero temperatures drop to MINUS six degrees in autumn.

More than 100 cannons are being used to set a thick layer of artificial snow across the beginner’s area in Borreguiles and on the El Rio slopes.

It comes as temperatures dropped to -1 in Pradollano and -6 in Borreguiles, with intermittent snowfall forecasted over the next few weeks.

The resort, which was founded in 1964, is one of Europe’s most popular ski resorts and frequented by the likes of King Felipe of Spain.

Community spirit Expat whose house was ‘ruined’ in floods says thank you for generous donations following an Olive Press appeal

KIND-HEARTED expats have rallied round an Irish lady, who lost everything after her home was destroyed in the Malaga flash floods.

Well-wishers have donated almost €2,000 so far to help Trish McGough following an Olive Press appeal to help her get her Ronda home back to normal.

Destitute

McGough, 60, was left destitute after it emerged she didn’t have insurance on the property by the Arabic Baths, in the heart of the historic old town.

She had been unsure where to turn when she was left with ‘only the clothes on her back’ after the Rio Guadalevin flooded her home ‘almost up to the roof’ a

EXCLUSIVE

By Elisa Menendez

fortnight ago.

Everything inside was ruined, after an ancient wall of the 14th century baths collapsed.

She was forced to throw out most of her furniture, with the Ronda town hall merely offering her a skip.

“Everybody has been amazing,” said the Dubliner, “there’s still good people in the world.

“Thank you so much to the Olive Press and everyone who has helped.”

Following the appeal, numerous expats got in touch to help Trish clear out her home and offered blankets and clothes.

One expat visited the retiree over the weekend to help tidy up the house and drove a number of salvaged belongings to Trish’s friend’s house, where the Dubliner is tempo-

T PA ES EX RO HE

LIT UP: Comet fragment

November 7th - November 20th 2018

Spain still tops BRITS are still dreaming of a new life in Spain despite the issues of Brexit.

Spain is the most popular destination for UK residents fantasising of a move overseas, with 13% of the respondents picking it as their number one choice.

Australia and New Zealand ranked joint second in the dream move table, with 12% each.

Other popular moves on the wish list included USA (10%), Canada (9%), Italy (7%) and France (6%).

The data released by AnyVan.com shows age is a major factor in determining the popularity of a dream move abroad.

Young adults prefer countries with more opportunities for lucrative career prospects and lavish lifestyles.

The US came out top choice for under 34s, with 16% listing this as their favourite, followed by Australia and then Spain.

Your country needs you!

TRISH: And wrecked home rarily staying.

Meanwhile an electrician friend has offered to help re-

Disaster zone declared SPAIN’S government has declared areas of Malaga, Sevilla and Cadiz as disaster zones following last month’s flash floods.

It comes as hundreds of residents are still struggling to get in and out of areas like Forest Hills in Estepona, after access roads were destroyed.

According to the Insurance Compensation Consortium, there is set to be more than 5,200 claims spread across Malaga alone, with more than €32 million in damages in-

5

flicted upon the province.

The declaration means there will be ‘targeted aid’ from Madrid for the areas affected by the floods, in particular in Teba, Campillos, Ronda and Estepona.

The payouts will be exempt from tax.

The Vice President of the Government, Carmen Calvo, voiced solidarity and underlined the support and the responsibility of the Government ‘in these circumstances.

wire the building.

The retiree had been struggling to clear the house after spraining her wrist having fallen during the floods.

“Now it needs plastering, painting and the floors all need doing again. There’s still a long way to go but I’m feeling more energised,” she added.

Trish still needs funds to restore the house and buy furniture and clothes.

The Olive Press Help Trish Ronda Go Fund Me page has been inundated with donations and has raised almost €1,700 so far.

THE UK government is drafting in British expats as recruitment numbers reach an all time low.

The Ministry of Defence has announced that foreign nationals will now be allowed to join the British army, even if they have never lived in the country.

Previously, prospective soldiers from the Commonwealth had to have lived in Britain for five years.

Under the policy, recruits will be considered for all forces including the Royal Navy and the RAF, with applications opening in early 2019.

It is hoped the changes will lead to an extra 1,350 people joining every year. The UK armed forces are short of 8,200 soldiers, sailors and air personnel, a report found earlier this year, the worse shortage since 2010.

If you have become a fully fledged citizen in Spain, however, you won’t be accepted.

6

FEATURE

www.theolivepress.es Voted top expat paper in Spain

A campaigning, community newspaper, the Olive Press represents the huge expatriate community in Spain with an estimated readership, including the websites, of more than 500,000 people a month.

OPINION Absolutely criminal OIL refineries and other industries are now leading to more deaths than ever, the latest evidence suggests.

The World Health Organisation report, which places La Linea alongside other pollution hotspots like Delhi, will make very scary reading for locals, who are at a higher risk of cancer than most.

It is wrong that towns like Puerto Real and San Fernando have cancer rates far higher than the national average in Spain.

We do not hold big business to account - even when public health is placed in jeopardy - but things need to change. With elections looming, La Linea will go to the polls with the pollution issue on their minds.

Andalucia leader Susana Diaz and Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez will need to demonstrate their socialist principles and show a real interest in divestment from fossil fuels.

About time AFTER countless families lost loved ones to painkiller Nolotil, finally Spain has regulated it.

Victims have had fingers amputated, been kept in glass-walled solitary confinement and suffered horrific illnesses after taking it.

Their voices have now been heard.

In an incredible act of community, Cristina Garcia del Campo and expats in Andalucia have rallied together to make the Spanish authorities listen.

The Olive Press would like to say a huge thank you to Cristina for all her hard work and the countless readers who bravely contacted us to tell their Nolotil stories, which helped us to raise awareness.

We are sure many lives have already been saved with the new regulation.

Let’s hope this will be the end of unnecessary suffering for tourists and expats.

Publisher/ Editor

Jon Clarke jon@theolivepress.es

SALES Newsdesk Sam Adams newsdesk@theolivepress.es (+34) 634 611 836 sam@theolivepress.es Tel: (+34) 665 798 618 Laurence Dollimore laurence@theolivepress.es Elisa Menendez elisa@theolivepress.es Charlie Smith charlie@theolivepress.es Pablo Balbontin pablo@theolivepress.es Gillian Keller gillian@theolivepress.es Designer Keith Franks

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November 7th - November 20th 2018

Not cool!

Not everyone in Madrid’s Lavapies appreciated the neighbourhood being labelled the ‘coolest in the world’, discovers Heather Galloway

T

HE urban bible Time Out may have felt it was doing the Madrid barrio of Lavapiés a favour last month when naming it the coolest hood in the world, but for the majority of its longterm residents, it was anything but.

“What’s happening is not at all cool,” says a member of cultural centre, Tabacalera’s Promoción del Arte team who prefers to remain anonymous.

“These kinds of labels do a lot of harm. Flagging it up as trendy means that rents go up and there’s an increased police presence as well as an increase in racism because social classes become polarized. It has pretty negative repercussions.”

Another from a recycling art collective at Tabacalera’s social space next door went further.

“This is exactly the kind of thing that is ruining the barrio. I don’t even know who voted. I mean, who said that? It just depersonalizes the barrio. It’s capitalism run riot.”

Since it first came into being in the 15th century, Lavapiés has been considered by those on the ‘right’ side of the city as a seedy, nogo area, with its steeply inclined streets, poverty and distinction as home to the city’s densest immigrant population – once from elsewhere in Spain and more recently from Senegal to Shanghai and everywhere in between.

In 2004, it made headlines as the center of operations for the 11/M bombers who met in La Alhambra restaurant and used phones to trigger the multiple explosions from Jamal Zougam’s phone shop on Calle Tribulete. It was, then, touted as a hotbed of Islamic terrorism, an image that has been conveniently relegated to history.

Curiously, there was a Muslim community here in medieval times. Situated just outside the city walls, it was a refuge for Jewish and Muslim converts and it is thought the area was called Lavapies – wash feet – on account of the cleansing rituals in the local fountain of people coming in and out of the neighborhood.

By the 18th century, Lavapies had become strongly working class with the Tabacalera cigarette factory providing around 6,000 women and 300 men with jobs while the corralas peculiar to the area provided much of the accommodation. Gradually, families migrating to the city from other parts of Spain laid the foundations for the multi-cultural buzz associated with the area. At the same time Lavapies became synonymous with the term castizo, used to describe the essence of hailing from Madrid. But neither of these attributes were considered at the time to be particularly desirable. According to Arturo Barea,the author of The Forging of A Rebel trilogy, who lived with his mother, a laundress, in the hood between 1905 and 1914, “At that time, Lavapiés was the frontier of Madrid. It was where the city and the world ended (…). People had christened the limits of the barrio, The Americas and The New World. It was, without doubt, another world.

Civilization and the city reached as far as that. And that was where they both ended.”

Barea talks of open sewers, smoke belching from factories and blackened putrid streets and the smell of mule dung rising from the central patios of the corralas, all of which earned it the moniker, Barrio de los Injurias, meaning the Neighborhood of Insults.

Recently, however, its castizo and ethnic credentials have elevated it to an altogether different realm. When Time Out not only confirmed that it was shedding it down-at-heel image but declared it the champion of cool, its residents, 56% of whom voted for Po-

NOT FOR SALE: (Left) Sign in Lavapies while (above) tourists and locals stroll along the barrio’s colourful streets demos-citizen platform Ahora Madrid, were and having recovered from the downturn incensed afresh. during the economic crisis, they have now It’s not hard to understand their stance. caught up with the Palacio area and MalaBeing elevated to the world’s coolest area saña. According to idealista, Lavapiés now according to Time Out’s criteria of ‘afford- has the fifth most expensive rents in the cenability’, ‘cool new venues opening’ and a ter, trumping areas such as Chamberi and multi-cultural buzz – ‘This is where people Moncloa. So will its new status as the very from near and far live side by side, cooking essence of urban cool accelerate its rise? up a bustling cultural life’ – inevitably kills According to Manolo, one way this could be the goose that lays the golden egg. Tourists averted is reintroducing five-year term rent flood in along with the well-heeled and the contracts – one of the proposals in the 2019 immigrant, artistic and activist communities budget signed this month by Pablo Iglesias responsible for the label find themselves and incumbent Prime Minister Pedro Sánsqueezed out. Those who originally lent it an chez. air of street credibility and authenticity are What comes to mind as I stroll up and forced south to barrios such as Carabanchel down streets where the mother of Barea, and Puente de Vallecas. According to Mano- once carried laundry from the other side lo Osuna from the Neighof the divide to the River bours’ Association La Corrala Manzanares, is the old adLatina-Rastro-Lavapiés who age about the sow’s ear has lived in the barrio for 50 and the silk purse. However If this goes on years, “I like the label and I much real estate investment don’t like it. On the one hand, companies such as EnfoKawe will be the it makes me proud because might want to turn Lavapiés for so long nobody wanted to victim of our own into the next Notting Hill, come here. It was considered there is some way to go besuccess dangerous and there were no fore they meet their goal. young people. It was thanks Despite the presence of the to the immigrant population Centro Dramático Nacional, that there was any life at all. the University Library in the On the other hand, I don’t like it, because ruins of the Iglesia de las Escuelas and it brings more tourists and turns it into a hip watering holes such as SalaEquis theme park. I once knew 90% of my neigh- mentioned in the Time Out report or La bours, now I barely know 10%. If this goes Playa de Lavapiés and La Libre on Calle on we will be the victim of our own success.” Argumosa,this is still a corner of Madrid Echoing Manolo’s words is HAPS, a mem- where drunks feel at home and dog ownber of Fisidici cooperative, which has a sign ers turn a blind eye when their pets do outside its bicycle repair shop that says ‘La- their business on the pavement. It is also vapiés no se vende’. Commenting on the an area where migrants sleep ten to a groups of perplexed tourists on guided walk- room in shifts and activism and Podemos abouts through the area, HAPS says, “We’re thrive. And while tourists might gravitate turning into a zoo! A recreational barrio, not to Airbnbs here, the city’s mayor Manuesomewhere that people work and live. The la Carmena hopes to curb this particular solution has to be both political and local. trend with El Plan Especial de Usos del Those of us who live here have to put up a Hospedaje that is set to wipe out around fight.”

95% of this kind of tourist accommodaSince 2010, the immigrant population has tion in the city center. dropped from 33 % to 22.6%. The exodus She does, however, have something of a was kicked started by the urban plan of battle on her hands. According to Housy, 1997 that subsidized an enforced refurbish- an agency which manages Airbnbs, more ment of old residential buildings – subsidies flats than ever are being refurbished in that according to Manolo were exploited by the area for tourist lets with little sign of investors. Prices doubled and doubled again, a slowdown in response to the measure.

It seems sad but almost inevitable that neighborhoods like Lavapiés, so long considered beyond the pale, are now subjected to a different kind of ‘Injuria’ – or insult. Raw and colourful, the barrio is cool precisely because the communities here don’t care about being ‘cool’ in the Time Out sense of the word. Ironically, as prices go up, these communities will leave and take their ‘coolness’ with them. Consequently, Lavapies will be reduced to just another overpriced shell and those seeking to capitalize on the elusive cool factor will be chasing the very people they priced ATTRACTION: Tourists get a tour of the baout of their homes south of the river. rrio– advertised on Trip Advisor for €43

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Ecovidrio is the nonprofit company responsible for recycling Spain's glass waste.

Palma joins cities, including Barcelona and Sevilla, which are raising awareness and funds with over 250 pink bins nationwide.

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Spain looks to protect industrial past, with its social and new laws guaranteeing the safety of key buildings...

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Vol. 13 Issue 303 www.theolivepress.es October 24th - November 6th 2018

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IN DEMAND

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pageXVIII See & XVI

HE Costa del Sol demand in Spanish and Barcelona are driving up Data from Spain’s property.

Instituto Nacional ca shows de Estadistithe Instituto Nacional grew 6.8% in the that, on an annualised basis, house de Estadistica (INE). second quarter of prices Analysts suggest price tags rising 5.7% 2018 with new-build is being driven by a good portion of the recovery in housing However some areas (see report page IV). foreigners buying Sol and in cities like are clearly picking homes on the Costa slack than others, del with Catalunya rising up more of the It comes And despite Brexit, Barcelona. by just 0.7%. as the country is 3.7% while Galicia buyers are British, the largest number of foreign continuing growth after being The data is the latest homefollowed by the French, among the worst impressive economic gians, Italians confirmation of Germans, Beldemand for Spanish hit countries by the and a trend of strong 2008 crisis. property.

The outlook for Swedes.

In 2017, the total Spain’s housing market remains upbeat, 14.6% to 464,423 number of home sales in Spain increased with house sales expected to units from the previous rise by year, according to to reach about 550,000 transactions between 10% and 15% TINSA, the country’s this year, according official valuation and to surveying body.

Spanish property is a hot commodity and that’s not changing anytime soon

STRANDED Highest rainfall figures in history leave hundreds homeless, one dead and streets destroyed

The mayor added: "The donkey taxi is one of our major tourist attractions and we have to combine with the welfare of our animals.” this However, campaigners warn that the laws, pulled together with local associations, could be simply ‘empty promises’, particularly with elections coming up next year.

Campaigner Mike Frizell, from Mijas Pueblo Animal Cruelty, warned that such new laws were meant to be introduced several times in the past years.

“We have seen the lies from the mayor over and over again,” Frizell told the Olive Press.

TRAPPED: A car driver desperately tries to escape the deluge that swept dozens of cars out to sea and left hundreds homeless

BURIED d boy and British Ten dead including a nine-year-ol for a century couple in worst flooding in Mallorca

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T least ten people have died in the worst flooding Mallorca has BASED century. seen in aUK A British couple, a Dutchman and a nine-year-old boy are confirmed as being among the dead, while another lad, 5, is also feared to have died. a The island has been fordeclared Spanish disaster zone by Prime Miniswhile three ter Pedro Sanchez,residents days of mourning have been

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HUNDREDS were rescued, while a fireman died, after tres Malaga was battered by the fall per metre square of rainin just 12 hours. biggest ‘weather bomb’ in Estepona and the towns near Spain’s history.

Antequera were particularly Dozens of towns were left hard hit, while the A-92 moafter hun- torway was shut and water fell in man was swept to his a firedeath in just 12 hours over Saturday Campillos. night and Sunday.

The damage is still being asIn Alpandeire, near Ronda, a sessed - expected to run into national record was broken the tens 2/8/18 17:01 after the village saw 399.4 li- surance of millions - with incompanies’ phones ringing off the hook.

CASHBACK ON As well as substantial damage to roads and buildings, a wall YOUR HOUSE of the historic Arabic baths in Ronda collapsed.

At least 400 vehicles were also destroyed.

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Hot water

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The top six most read stories on www.theolivepress. es in the past two weeks are:

SEE FULL STORY PAGE 3

HE Spanish weather term ‘Gota Fria’ *Offer ends 30/11/18. Not valid for renewals. Subject to conditions. will have been etched in the memories of many an expat following the devastating floods in Andalucia, Mallorca and Valencia last month.

But the ‘cold drop’, as its known in English, is all too familiar for seasoned locals.

Valencia, for example, suffered severe flooding in 1957, 81 citizens lost their lives, and after extensive works the Rio Turia was diverted around the city.

The river was not to blame for overflowing its banks, it had taken its natural course for millions of years but along came humans who decided to inhabit a location more suitable for a sea port.

In the 20th century other ample warnings about potential urban flooding were ignored, particularly in the likes of Campillos in inland Malaga.

In last month’s torrent, a relatively new housing urbanization was flooded there, as was the town centre. The urbanization is located on a known flood plain drained by a small ditch with a slight gradient for four kilometres - just one example of house and commercial construction choosing the wrong place.

‘It’s global warming that caused the Gota Fria’ has been heard too often the past week.

Perhaps, but there is no scientific evidence about the certainty of that link even if there is much evidence elsewhere on the planet.

There are research papers published indicating that the Mediterranean sea has been changing in temperature at various depths and salinity over decades, and the commonly-shared hypothesis is that the western region of the sea and the local land masses of Spain and north Africa might experience higher annual mean temperatures, and in the autumn suffer more frequent and intense storms.

But with rising temperatures, it’s likely that both seasons will experience more extreme outcomes.

Cursory study of meteorological and hydrological research in Andalucia suggests October is the most likely month for the retained warm moist air above the western Mediterranean to suddenly meet the cold air masses descending from the north - producing the Gota Fria.

The greatest tragedy of the recent cold drop in Andalucia was the death of Campillos fireman Jose Gil returning home in a fire truck which was hit by a flash flood.

Better drainage south of the town could not have spared his life but from now onwards many local mayors will be expecting Madrid to back up verbally-expressed condolences with financed improvements in drainage, sewage disposal and road maintenance.

The central government has had intentions to upgrade the railway between Bobadilla and Algeciras since 2008. Promises, promises, and the huge collapse of the track over an arroyo west of Bobadilla (see picture) serves testimony to the fragility of a railway constructed in the 19th century and little improved in sections until recently.

Luckily no passenger or freight train was passing when the embankment was washed away, a tragedy that would have become Ave de Gabriel Roca 4, Palma

Spain and Gibraltar’s best English daily news website

COLLAPSE: Only road between Estepona and Forest Hills caved in by Rio Padron bursting its banks

FLASHBACK: Deadly 902 123 282 floods in Mallorca and Andalucia TM

SOME 14 fire bosses have been arrested for allegedly embezzling €7 million in public funds.

The Policia Nacional found that the Consortium of Bomberos Cadiz took out mass early retirement insurance policies.

But when their employees retired early, chiefs siphoned off the money from the payouts.

Authorities also found discrepancies in the consortium’s training courses.

Large sums were paid to a company to provide training courses, but no evidence has been found that these courses took place.

Meanwhile, irregularities were also found in grants and subsidies, which cops believe were used to pay for private trips.

The irregularities date back to 2008 and cops believe at least €7 million has been stolen by those at the top.

2/8/18 17:01

Pipe ban

FRUIT growers in the Axarquia are facing a 60% reduction in water use from the La Vinuela reservoir with no solution in sight.

The Junta has decided to limit its use as the reservoir is already at 22.7% capacity and could drop even lower if the dry weather keeps up.

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olive press online

...While a series of architectural trendsexciting new are making waves Spanish interior design in

STYLISH: Hip new a new development wine shop wows visitors, while this in La Reserva is tempting spacious world’s wealthiest interior of investors

Welfare

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WITH RESERVATION

CAMPAIGNERS remain sceptical over new plans to improve the lives of Mijas’ famous donkeys.

It comes after the town issued proposals to bring in weight limits for riders, while ensuring the donkeys are free of injury and are wearing proper saddles.

Under the plan stables must also be up to humane standards and donkeys must not be overworked.the "We have to move with the times," said mayor Juan Carlos Maldonado.

"We are going to improve the quality of life of the donkeys which, in turn, contributes to the local economy"

No master of trickery

See Magical Masters on page 6Untitled-1.pdf 1 16/06/2017

INSIDE

Asses in gear

Sink it in the pink!

THE leader of the opposition will not be investigated over allegations his master’s degree was falsely obtained.

The Supreme Court will not probe PP boss Pablo Casado (below) after he admitted that Madrid’s Rey Juan Carlos university waived 18 out of 22 of his regional law assignments.

While he admitted it was ‘favourable treatment,’ he insisted it did not to amount criminal activity.

The court agreed.

The PP party has now, for PSOE called in turn, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez to resign over claims his doctoral thesis was part written by someone else.

Two ministers, Cristina Cifuentes and Health Minister Carmen Montón, have already resigned over degree scandals this year.

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October 2018

pageIX See III &

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Property

Costa del Sol hotel has three months to fight decision before it is demolished A HOTEL is to be knocked down for not having enough class!

Benalmadena’s Hotel Vista de Rey must be demolished within three months, a court has ruled, Andalucia’s Superior Court of Justice ruled that the hotel falls short of its four-star requirement.

NEWS

Not enough stars

Probing

It began probing the three star hotel and apartment block in 2011 after it was denounced over planning rules which set aside the plot for a four star hotel only.

According to the PGOU town plan an apartment block was not permitted and it also breached rules by being over 700 square meters bigger

DOOMED: Costa hotel

than permitted.

Although the town hall and developer maintain this excess was later corrected, the judge ruled that the rectification would have taken place after the granting of the licence, so does not count.

The building has 61 apartments and 46 parking spaces.

The original building was granted planning permission by then mayor Enrique Bolin in 2001.

SMUGGLERS’ WALL

POLICE officers have formed a human wall along a beach in La Linea to ensure construction of a beach wall went that the The wall, between the church ahead. of Nuestra Senora del Carmen and the perimeter wall of the fishing port of La Atunara, hopes to

deter drug smugglers from using the beach as a drop off zone.

A combined police presence of Guardia Civil, local and national officers were fears grew that drug smugglers present as would try and disrupt the work.

December 6th - December 19th

2017

‘He deserves it’ From Page 1

He even got himself a financial known radio station, through whichadvice slot on a well he snared unsuspecting victims.

However, a comprehensive Olive Press investigation exposed his scams that involved stamps, coins and gold.

We also revealed how he and his close pal Barry Nathan wined and dined up to a dozen criminals, anonymously, through the food column.

He eventually fled the country but we soon tracked him down to following our expose, changed his name by deed poll andthe UK, where he had was selling coins and antiques on eBay from a small Berkshire cottage.

He was quickly found guilty under English law of conning people and given a suspended prison sentence only due to health reasons.

“And because he promised to go back to his online cons,” one never of the British victim explained.

But this is apparently not the case two victims claiming he is still with using eBay to sell ‘dodgy’ coins and stamps from his unpaid flat in Brighton, using the names ‘gqtrading’ and ‘gqtrading2’.

“We are pretty sure he has broken his bail conditions and will have to finally go back to prison,” said one victim.

“The nerve of this man is unbelievable.”

His landlord last night insisted something was up from the start. he should have known “When we met to sign the contracts slippery, I went to pay for my coffee I thought he was a bit tell me he had left without paying only for the barista to his bill.”

He continued: “He paid for the first couple of months but then just stopped. He told us his account had been frozen due to a money laundering investigation, which is probably true. “He then told us to stop contacting him and accused us of harrassment.

“Now he is claiming he is seriously ill and can’t work to make payments.

“We’ll see him in court.”

1

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Opinion Page 6

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Drop of common sense

- Tornado smashes Menorca leaving 38,000 residents without power while two people missing in northern Spain (13,132)

3

LINE OF NO RETURN: Flooding set to happen more wines often

ARTWORK SETUP TO 25% OF ACTUAL ARTWORK SIZE.SETUP TO 25% OF ACTUAL SIZE.

- REVEALED: How 13 mafias from Brits to Russians are ruling Spain’s Costa del Sol (15,682)

24/11/2017 11:18

24/11/2017 11:18

Heavy rainfall is not a recent phenomenon, but the sea warming and building in the wrong places is adding to the recent flooding problems, writes Harry Ward

front-page news across Europe. It was a flooding. freak torrent of water understandably not Although financial budgets are limited, as foreseen in magnitude, and ADIF does its always, that’s little excuse in a region so best to maintain Spanish high-speed and heavily dependent on farming, tourism and conventional routes with technical know-how property ownership of those who pay council better than most equivalent rail network au- tax and spend money locally. thorities in the world, but government fund- In some defence of the authorities, they ing for ADIF seems peculiarly limited in some cannot be expected to shelter totally those regions. who built or purchased properties on natural It is possible to be cynical when viewing tele- flood plains and in steep narrow valleys, and vision programmes such as A Place in the they should not construct drainage chanSun and hearing prospective searchers of nels, which release upland waters and cause property on the costas and inland express increased flooding at lower levels.

‘Wow!’ at the sight of the sea or a mountain The Madrid government cannot anticipate landscape when they stand further large infrastructure on a sunlit terrace and a funding from the European swimming pool close.

Property buyers Commission. Without future Those involved, buyers and UK contributions to the Comare advised to presenters, are not expectmission budget something ed to research rainfall data, inspect the local will have to give and there will the size of catchment areas, be reduced giving to Spain the volume of water run-off terrain for signs and other member states. descending to natural floodPriorities concerning autonoplains and through gorges of soil saturation mous region funding will conand valleys but perhaps centrate minds wonderfully in now some effort should Madrid. be made. In the Ronda region, with a lo- Potential property buyers are advised to cal rainfall catchment area of over 280 inspect the local terrain and vegetation for square kilometres and a single river outlet signs of more than brief soil saturation. Vegpassing through villages such as Benaojan etation debris in rivers indicates previous and Cortes de la Frontera, the probability rapidly flowing water, and stones in clumps of high water levels occurring repeatedly near streams where they are not placed by is not rocket science. As a rough estimate the usual forces of nature. some 630 million cubic metres of water It’s pretty simple to Google the recent local passed down that valley in 24 hours during weather patterns recorded by the excellent the recent floods.

Spanish government and university research The human insistence that ‘something must institutes. be done’ is not only expressed in present We have been heavily showered upon and desperation but also with memories of past warned.

4

- Man slaughtered while he sipped beer and ate sushi on Spain’s Costa del Sol was Dutch narco and expert bombmaker (12,682)

- Teen who threw himself from Marbella El Corte Ingles had announced suicide pact plans on social media (7,734)

5

- WATCH: First snow of the year in Spain’s Malaga as temperature drop continues (7,013)

Unique visitors: 259,914 Page views: 374,334

MILLION MONTH BONANZA The Olive Press received close to one MILLION hits in October, making it one of our best months in the history of the paper.

More than 600,000 people came online to read the latest and breaking news from Andalucia and Spain, bringing more than 865,000 hits.

It is a sign of the times as our website continues to grow and leave our competitors in the dust.

See the month’s biggest stories below...

1

- Two BOMBS explode in Marbella and Benahavis as drug mafia wars reach new heights (27,803)

2

- RED ALERT: Highest warning issued for Spain’s Costa del Sol while third death announced in Mallorca (25,174)

3

- IN VIDEOS: British expats and tourists describe ‘terrifying’ floods on Spain’s Costa del Sol as areas continue to be battered by deluge (19,321)

4 5

- Spanish doctors eliminate HIV from patients in stem cell transplant trial (17,432) - REVEALED: How 13 mafias from Brits to Russians are ruling Spain’s Costa del Sol (15,254)

Unique visitors: 611,378 Page views: 868,288

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NEWS

November 7th - November 20th 2018

They looked the other way Andalucia bosses ‘helped cover up €1 billion slush fund’

By Laurence Dollimore

THE leaders of Andalucia helped to cover up a system of corruption for at least a decade.

A total of 21 senior Junta politicians, including two former leaders, established a hidden system of illegal grants and payments that could add up to over one billion euros.

The claims come in the state prosecutors summing up of the system of corruption at the heart of the so-called ERE scandal trial that has rocked Spain.

In a damning conclusión to the allegations levelled at the

UNDER FIRE: Ex-Junta bosses Chaves and Grinan leaders, including ex-presidents Manuel Chaves and José Antonio Grinan, the anti-corruption prosecutor described a decade-long 'opaque system' of bent trans-

actions to friends and family.

"They took the conscious decision to look away, to not see more," read a statement at the Sevilla Provincial Court.

It added that for 'ten years an

What a banker!

ARRON Banks has denied using Russian money to donate millions to the Leave campaign in the run up to the Brexit referendum.

It comes after the businessman, who has a large insurance firm in Gibraltar, was sent to face a criminal investigation for potentially breaking electoral law. He is also being fined £135,000 for ‘misuse of data’ after his Leave.EU and Eldon Insurance shared

mailing lists without consent.

Meanwhile, the UK Electoral Commission has asked the National Crime Agency to investigate whether Banks’ Rock Holdings Limited, registered on the Isle of Man, was the illegal source of up to £8 million given to the Leave.EU campaign.

opaque system of grants was created' that served the Junta and not the local population.

In total, hundreds of millions of euros from Madrid and Brussels were syphoned into a so-called 'reptile fund' which was used to bribe and reward local leaders, businessmen and locals in return for votes and support for the PSOE. Between 2000 and 2009 alone, some 680 million was fraudulently issued in Andalucia, it is claimed.

The money was syphoned off via various quangos including the IFA and IDEA and was illegally paid in three different ways.

For up to 20 years, hundreds of dummy companies were set up with grants of up to 450,000 euros each to often do almost nothing.

The money was also used for parachute payments - the so called ERE levies - to workers laid off from firms that they never worked for.

In one extreme example the former employment minister set up two bogus companies with his chauffeur, and allegedly used the money to pay for cocaine and prostitutes.

The trial continues.

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November 7th - November 20th 2018

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End of an era SPAIN will close most of its coal mines by the end of the year under a €250 million deal with the unions.

The money will be invested in the 10 affected mining communities over the next decade to help them recover from the shut down.

The agreement also allows miners over 48 years old to seek early retirement and includes re-skilling schemes for those working in new ‘green’ industries.

But over 1,000 miners and subcontractors will be made redundant by the new year closures. , “With this agreement, we have solved the first urgent task we had on the table when we came to government,” said Teresa Ribera, minister for ecological transition.

“Our aim has been to leave no one behind.”

A bumper month for wind power in Spain this October proves a blast for the consumer SPAIN’S wind power is officially back after breaking all records in October.

Rajoy’s PP administration may have shunted wind power into the doldrums, but this squeaky clean source of energy is back on the map with the amount of electricity generated by turbines in October breaking all records for that month.

It contributed to a 5.3% saving for the consumer, the Business Windpower Association told the Olive Press.

Adding to this gale of good news, wind went from covering 12.2 % of total demand on the Iberian Penin-

Winds of change

By Heather Galloway

sula in September to 20.6% in October, contributing to a 8.7% drop in the price of the so-called ‘pool’ – the wholesale price of energy.

This surge has also meant that the monthly CO2 emissions from electricity on the Peninsula dropped to the lowest for the month of October since 2010.

“Wind is once again the main source of energy during various quarters,” said Spain’s Windpower Monthly correspondent,

Green gold for Andalucia ANDALUCIA will be one of the beneficiaries of a €64.7million cash injection from the European Commision for green initiatives in Spain.

The money is destined for 32 projects in Spain earmarked under the LIFE Programme, covering environment protection, energy sustainability and low CO2 emissions.

Among the projects earmarked for funding is the recycling of olive oil waste, a problem which particularly affects Andalucia.

November 7th - November 20th 2018

Other initiatives include the preservation of wetlands in Murcia, the eradication of the invasive plant species cortadera in Cantabria, reduction of the environmental impact of fish farms and various projects focused on climate change.

“These programmes shows the added value of European cooperation,” commented Miguel Arias Cañete, European Commissioner for Energy and Climate Action.

ON THE UP: Windpower is the future in Spain Michael McGovern, who adds that Spain was the only country in the world to have wind as its main source of power in 2013, just before Rajoy’s moratorium took effect.

Meanwhile, new wind infrastructure in the Canary Islands has boosted production to record-breaking levels since it was installed in 2017. But, according to the Business Windpower Association, structural measures need to be implemented across Spain if the wind market is to help keep electricity prices down.

“We need to plan beyond 2020,” Piluca Núnez, director of communications told the Olive Press. “We need to establish an auction schedule that will mean the installation each year of a significant amount of new megawatts (MW) which will bring us closer to the 2013 and 2015 renewable energy goals and the reduction of CO2 emissions.

We also need to establish a fiscal framework which will allow for investment in the decarbonisation of the energy sector beyond electricity.”

11

From front

Totally toxic

tion report which lists the world’s ‘most contaminated’ towns and cities.

Adding salt to the wound, Cadiz also came bottom in the list of Spain’s ‘most sustainable cities’, produced by the Observatory of Sustainability (OMS).

Ecologistas en Accion insists the Junta is failing to fulfill its duty to ‘adopt whatever measures are necessary to achieve a high level of protection for people and the environment'.

It adds that the Sevilla-based body is failing to ‘adopt plans to improve air quality and adopt control and inspection measures.’ “It needs to develop a quality control system that ensures consistent and transparent measurements or estimates of pollutants by law,” said a spokesman. The group says oil refineries and other industries are posing a real threat to public health.

A recent study by the Carlos III Health Institute, funded by the Ministry of Health, revealed Cadiz, Sevilla and Huelva to have the highest number of cancer deaths in Spain. San Roque, meanwhile, has one of the highest percentages of lung and bladder cancers in the country, directly linked to air pollution and in particular benzene. The surrounding towns, including Puerto Real and San Fernando, also have far higher than average cancer rates than national averages.

TM

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November 7th - November 20th 2018

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October 2018

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The Brit architects taking Madrid by storm

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6th 2018

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October 2018

Preserving the old...

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Sea weed

Gibxit: Almost set as Spain and

POLICE in Gibraltar have seized £1.35 million worth of cannabis, following a dangerous high-speed chase at night.

Four drug traffickers led the Royal Gibraltar Police (RGP), HM Customs and Gibraltar Defence Police (GDP) on a wild goose chase off Europa Point.

The men sped around the Rock’s southernmost tip in their inflatable boat, powered by three Yamaha 350 HP outboard engines.

Eventually they dumped a total of nine bales of cannabis resin, with a street value of £1.35 million, into the sea.

Delighted

SPAIN will not block any final Brexit tar’s future, Prime Minister Pedro deal over GibralSanchez has confirmed.

It means that Gibraltar will be able in March next year alongside the UK,to leave the EU with no drastic changes.

“Gibraltar will no longer be a problem Brexit deal,” said Spanish leader Pedroin arriving at a Sanchez at an EU leaders summit last week.

“If we reach an agreement (soon), doesn’t matter because we’ve got timegreat. If not, it he added, after discussions with UK to reach one,” leader Theresa

metro workshops in

Madrid, while this

famous photo by Capa

(right) could save this

SEE PAGE X

Spain looks to protect industrial past, with its social and new laws guaranteeing the safety of key buildings...

key cultural building

...While a series of architectural trendsexciting new are making waves Spanish interior design in

STYLISH: Hip new a new development wine shop wows visitors, while this in La Reserva is tempting spacious world’s wealthiest interior of investors

...Celebrating the new

IN DEMAND

T

HE Costa del Sol demand in Spanish and Barcelona are driving up Data from Spain’s property.

Instituto Nacional ca shows de Estadistigrew 6.8% in the that, on an annualised basis, house second quarter of prices price tags rising 5.7% 2018 with new-build However some areas (see report page IV). are clearly picking slack than others, with Catalunya rising up more of the It comes by just 0.7%. as the country is 3.7% while Galicia continuing growth after being The data is the latest among the worst impressive economic confirmation of a demand for Spanish hit countries by the trend of strong 2008 crisis. property.

In 2017, the total 14.6% to 464,423 number of home sales in Spain increased units from the previous year, according to

Spanish property is a hot commodity and that’s not changing anytime soon

es II pagXVI See & XVI

the Instituto Nacional de Estadistica (INE).

Analysts suggest is being driven by a good portion of the recovery in housing foreigners buying Sol and in cities like homes on the Costa del And despite Brexit, Barcelona. buyers are British, the largest number of foreign gians, Italians and followed by the French, Germans,homeBelThe outlook for Swedes.

Spain’s housing market with house sales expected remains upbeat, to rise by between to reach about 550,000 10% and 15% TINSA, the country’s transactions this year, according official valuation and to surveying body.

UK ‘reach deal’

May. While Chief Minister Fabian Picardo cautious he said he was ‘optimistic’ was a bit more reached, he confirmed there was still a deal would be some fine tuning.

After flying to London to discuss key tobacco trade and citizens’ rights, he issues like the agreed until everything is agreed.” said: “Nothing is He spent a few days in London for celebration of business and political Gibraltar Day - a links with the UK. He also appeared in front of The House Committee to give evidence over the of Lords EU final details of Brexit.

He answered questions on his cooperation with Andalucia’s government and the Campo de Gibraltar region in order to serve the interests of cross-border workers and the communities on either side.

In the UK’s overall Brexit negotiations hard border in Ireland is thought to with the EU, a be the principal remaining sticking point.

Theresa May confirmed this week that the Brexit withdrawal deal was ‘95% done’.

It comes despite a protest of more than 500,000 people in London demanding a second referendum, attended by many expats from Spain.

DISGRACE

“I am delighted that local Taxi company leaves disabled law enforcement agencies working in close collabora- pensioner in a rainstorm outside tion were able to frustrate a restaurant for two hours drug trafficking operation of some magnitude,” said RGP A GIBRALTAR taxi company Commissioner Ian McGrail. left a 93-year-old disabled est rain in Gibraltar’s history He added: “We will conwoman screaming in agony saw 250 litres per square metinue to work tirelessly to for two hours while thunder- tres fall in just a few hours. make life difficult for those Mariola, who was awarded storms raged on Sunday. who engage in illicit activity Mariola Summerfield MBE, the MBE by Queen Elizabeth in surrounding waters and who has no legs and needs II, shivered under a blanket send a clear message to drug to take tranquilizers, was left in the street, having just celtraffickers that we will be freezing in her wheelchair by ebrated a birthday lunch for out there in numbers policthe driver who refused three her grandson in the De Juan ing the area to thwart their fish restaurant. times to pick up her up. criminal undertakings.”

It came as some of the heavi- “It was horrible to see her like that,” Mariola’s granddaugh-

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Property

October 2018

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Property

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Reacting to Melanoma on the march in Spain says top dermatologist, as half of 65-year-olds suffer cancer (online)

October 24th - November 6th 2018

October 2018

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Preserving the old...

My husband had nodular melanoma. It was removed and 33 lymph nodes. It was only in one of the lymph nodes. His skin was checked every three months including a check for any swelling of lymph node areas. However what isn't offered is a body scan. My husband appeared fit and well, walking miles and playing golf, right up to the end of June. With a niggling back problem and a slight memory problem I insisted on an x-ray. By July 4th he was diagnosed with cancer of the brain, liver, lungs and spine.

The decline was brutal and rapid.

He died on 17th of September.

13

SEE PAGE X

Spain looks to protect its social and industrial past, with new laws guaranteeing the safety of key buildings...

See III pag & es IX

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IN DEMAND

T

HE Costa del Sol and Barcelona are driving up demand in Spanish property.

Data from Spain’s Instituto Nacional de Estadistica shows that, on an annualised basis, house prices grew 6.8% in the second quarter of 2018 with new-build price tags rising 5.7% (see report page IV).

However some areas are clearly picking up more of the slack than others, with Catalunya rising 3.7% while Galicia by just 0.7%.

The data is the latest confirmation of a trend of strong demand for Spanish property.

Spanish property is a hot commodity and that’s not changing anytime soon

It comes as the country is continuing impressive economic growth after being among the worst hit countries by the 2008 crisis.

In 2017, the total number of home sales in Spain increased 14.6% to 464,423 units from the previous year, according to

the Instituto Nacional de Estadistica (INE).

Analysts suggest a good portion of the recovery in housing is being driven by foreigners buying homes on the Costa del Sol and in cities like Barcelona.

And despite Brexit, the largest number of foreign homebuyers are British, followed by the French, Germans, Belgians, Italians and Swedes.

The outlook for Spain’s housing market remains upbeat, with house sales expected to rise by between 10% and 15% to reach about 550,000 transactions this year, according to TINSA, the country’s official valuation and surveying body.

2018

Walk this way

of plants are set OVER 2,000 trees and tens of thousands seaside promenade. to revolutionise the look of Palma’s a far leafier, more The €20 million project will create city from 2020. pedestrian-friendly arrival in the

by Ibiza architect However, the Paseo project, designed motorists, who are set Elias Torres, is likely to anger as well as 124 parking to lose a lane in both directions, Auditorium. spaces, the majority by the Palma by the Port Authority The winning project, announcedwidened between Porto (APB) this week, will see paths Pi and Avenida Argentina. every 100 meThere will be a zebra crossing introduced quicker to help offtres and traffic lights will also change set the reduction in lanes.

of planned upgrade GREEN FUTURE: Sketches more human space “It will make the paseo a greener, insisted Palma mayor and one of the best in Europe,”

Antoni Noguera. motorway to a new “It will convert it from a six-lane space for citizens.” set to be planted early The first of the 2,150 trees are of fine tuning. next year, after a five month period

Too late!

By Laurence Dollimore

Untitled-1.pdf

TRAGIC: Arthur Robinson

was one of the victims

1

week

R.I.P.

In Mallorca Issue 40 It’s the property supplement that has got the island talking...find out why in the latest issue of our popular Property magazine FREE inside

of the

AEMET slammed after issuing red warnings ‘far too late’ during deadly Mallorca floods

SPAIN’S weather agency AEMET has been slammed for issuing weather warn- It has now emerged that the A high-level meeting with ings ‘far too late’ during the warnings came many hours Spain’s Environment minister is now on the books deadly Mallorca floods. after firemen were already Finance minister Catalina out on a series of rescue mis- to ‘undertake the necessary changes’ at AEMET. Cladera demanded answers sions. over the issuing of a red It was also three hours af- It comes a few days after warning at 10.26pm, AFTER ter Mallorca’s Emergencies the father of a young boy Mum Joana the first of 13 deaths had al- chief, Pere Perello, decided killed in the Mallorca floods DROWNED: thanked a cyclist for saving man cyclist Daniel Thielk ready been confirmed. to send troops to the Llevant his daughter.

“They didn’t make any pre- district, at 7:33pm. then picked up Ursula from supposed they’re as Brit David Robinson, was the gushing current and kept dictions, “The lack of prior warning to do,” she said. “AEMET in- from AEMET made it im- almost left without a family her safe in a nearby cabin for 40, and warnings as a stead issued greater after his wife Joana, Arthur, several hours.

15:36 with act to 16/06/2017 possible his two children, reaction to what was already foresight,” added Cladera.

Tragically, Arthur was found five, and Ursula, seven, were dead more than a week later happening.” swept away in their car in by a volunteer helping with Sant Llorenc. the clean up.

Joana Lliteras, a 40-yearold pharmacist, drowned Dramatic after somehow plucking her daughter from their car, His tiny body was buried which rapidly filled with wa- in metres of mud that had ter, saving her life. washed down from mounIn a remarkable story, Ger- tains in the heaviest rainfall the island has ever seen a fortnight ago.

He was found close to where his Spanish mum performed a dramatic rescue of his older sister.

The family of Arthur and Joana penned an open letter to SEE MORE IN the media to thank them for THE RESTAURANT their efforts in finding little

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Answers on page 46

Delighted

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Across 7 Set free (8) 8 Horse's gait (4) 9 Difficult question (7) 10 Among (4) 11 Flowing water (6) 12 Composer of "The Messiah" (6) 14 Hedge plant (6) 16 Have no obligation to (6) 18 Increases (4) 20 Nightclub (7) 21 Midge (4) 22 Compulsive slimmer (8) Down 1 Duce (8) 2 Lower (6) 3 One skilled in algebra, for example (13) 4 Directory of contact numbers (9,4) 5 Achieve (6) 6 Central Chinese desert (4) 13 Physicist (8) 15 Calls on (6) 17 Weirder (6) 19 Ridge of sand (4)

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The Brit architects taking Madrid by storm

October 24th - November

6th 2018

1

13

www.theolivepress.es

October 2018

Preserving the old...

SEE PAGE X

Spain looks to protect industrial past, with its social and new laws guaranteeing the safety of key buildings...

famous photo by Capa

(right) could save this

key cultural building

...While a series of architectural trendsexciting new are making waves Spanish interior design in

...Celebrating the new

IN DEMAND

T

es I pagXVII See & XVI

HE Costa del Sol demand in Spanish and Barcelona are driving up Data from Spain’s property.

Instituto Nacional ca shows de Estadistithe Instituto Nacional grew 6.8% in the that, on an annualised basis, house de Estadistica (INE). second quarter of prices Analysts suggest price tags rising 5.7% 2018 with new-build is being driven by a good portion of the recovery in housing However some areas (see report page IV). foreigners buying Sol and in cities like are clearly picking homes on the Costa slack than others, del with Catalunya rising up more of the It comes And despite Brexit, Barcelona. by just 0.7%. as the country is 3.7% while Galicia buyers are British, the largest number of foreign continuing growth after being The data is the latest homefollowed by the French, among the worst impressive economic gians, Italians confirmation of Germans, Beldemand for Spanish hit countries by the and a trend of strong 2008 crisis. property.

The outlook for Swedes.

In 2017, the total Spain’s housing market remains upbeat, 14.6% to 464,423 number of home sales in Spain increased with house sales expected to units from the previous rise by year, according to to reach about 550,000 transactions between 10% and 15% TINSA, the country’s this year, according official valuation and to surveying body.

Spanish property is a hot commodity and that’s not changing anytime soon

UK ‘reach deal’

He answered questions on his cooperation with Andalucia’s government and the Campo de Gibraltar region in order to serve the interests of cross-border workers and the communities on either side.

In the UK’s overall Brexit negotiations hard border in Ireland is thought to with the EU, a be the principal remaining sticking point.

Theresa May confirmed this week that the Brexit withdrawal deal was ‘95% done’.

It comes despite a protest of more than 500,000 people in London demanding a second referendum, attended by many expats from Spain.

EXCLUSIVE

By Charlie Smith

ter Gail, 45, told the Olive Press.

“We had used the service before,” said Gail, who called the Gibraltar Taxi Association, specifically requesting wheelchair access 15 minutes prior to leaving the restaurant.

Gail explained that the first time the ‘rude’ driver pulled up, he told her grandmother: ‘I’m not here for you’.

After a second and third time being refused by the driver, the Summerfields were angry ON FILM: Taxi and (right) Mariola Summerfield and Gail’s father, John, 65, without passengers. screaming in pain towards began shouting abuse at the “It was driver, running after the car, Gail. “Youdisgraceful,” said the end of the experience”. which sped off into the rain unjustifiable,can’t justify the As a co-founder of the Houseshe was literally wives Association, Mariola is a hero for Gibraltarians due to her work defending the sovereignty of the British overseas territory, which saw her present a petition to the Queen in 1966 at Buckingham Palace.

Mariola, who was also Gibraltar’s first female juror, chronicled her heroic life in Reliable private hire transfer her book, A woman’s place, services for any occasion published in 2007.

• Luxury vehicles The Gibraltar Taxi Associa• Door to door service tion - who describe their driv• Airport collections ers as ‘extremely professional • Weddings transport and courteous in their ap• Sightseeing day trips proach’ - have asked Mariola • Restaurant shuttles and family to their office ‘to Find out more at: work something out’, but Gail www.simply-shuttles.com maintains they ‘did it on purtel: 951 279 117 pose’. www.eliteglasscurtains.com info@simply-shuttles.com The firm officially declined to comment.

Truth be told

UK: +44 772 213 6148 SPAIN: +34 634 682 048

Comment on ‘Disgrace’ - taxi splash - Gibraltar Olive Press Vol. 4 Issue 82 It seems like the Gibraltar Olive Press are one of the rare papers that report the truth!

Adept Transport Ltd

adepttransport 1

Steven King, Gibraltar

Back the ballot Comment on ´MIJAS MATTERS: Get out to vote!´ (online) Well said. We do indeed participate and belong to our chosen community. We make it stronger and of course more cosmopolitan with our presence. We should be on the padrón (as it brings more permits, licences and funding to our municipality) and we should be on the voters’ register, to see that our community is wisely lead. In some towns, the foreigners are encouraged to assimilate.

There are foreigners departments, bilingual clerks in the town hall, foreign participative ‘fairs’ and so on. We may be ‘slightly second division’, but, in some towns, it’s only slightly so – and a good command of Spanish will blur the limits still further.

Then of course, and at the other extreme, there’s the town I live in, up in Almería…

This idea has been denied by the current mayor and his entourage several times in the past, including an agreement which was then later rescinded. I genuinely hope it’s a step in the right direction - you’d never guess a local election in Mijas is looming would you?

Gordon Hulme, York

Get the message

I visited Mijas Pueblo many times and although I would never participate in the taxi service I did think that they were reasonably well looked after. They had a big shaded area and were washed down and given food and water and were rotated for their work. This was eight years ago though so things may well have got worse? I am pleased to hear this news.

Madrid, while this

DISGRACE

www.adepttransportltd.com

To win votes?

This is awesome news. Unfortunately on my last trip to Mijas I witnessed and challenged a donkey owner who punched the donkey hard on the nose while it was tightly tethered to a post and could not get away. It ended up in a shouting match between me and him. I think he got the message even though my Spanish failed me in the moment and he got it all in English!

metro workshops in

STYLISH: Hip new a new development wine shop wows visitors, while this in La Reserva is tempting spacious world’s wealthiest interior of investors

May. While Chief Minister Fabian Picardo cautious he said he was ‘optimistic’ was a bit more reached, he confirmed there was still a deal would be some fine tuning.

After flying to London to discuss key tobacco trade and citizens’ rights, he issues like the agreed until everything is agreed.” said: “Nothing is He spent a few days in London for celebration of business and political Gibraltar Day - a links with the UK. He also appeared in front of The House Committee to give evidence over the of Lords EU final details of Brexit.

European trips leaving weekly Transport and removal services

Chris Jopp, Malaga

May have got worse

Olive Press Crossword

Gibxit: Almost set as Spain and

SPAIN will not block any final Brexit tar’s future, Prime Minister Pedro deal over GibralSanchez has confirmed.

It means that Gibraltar will be able in March next year alongside the UK,to leave the EU with no drastic changes.

“Gibraltar will no longer be a problem Brexit deal,” said Spanish leader Pedroin arriving at a Sanchez at an EU leaders summit last week.

“If we reach an agreement (soon), doesn’t matter because we’ve got timegreat. If not, it he added, after discussions with UK to reach one,” leader Theresa

“I am delighted that local Taxi company leaves disabled law enforcement agencies working in close collabora- pensioner in a rainstorm outside tion were able to frustrate a restaurant for two hours drug trafficking operation of some magnitude,” said RGP A GIBRALTAR taxi company Commissioner Ian McGrail. left a 93-year-old disabled est rain in Gibraltar’s history He added: “We will conwoman screaming in agony saw 250 litres per square metinue to work tirelessly to for two hours while thunder- tres fall in just a few hours. make life difficult for those Mariola, who was awarded storms raged on Sunday. who engage in illicit activity the MBE by Queen Elizabeth Mariola Summerfield MBE, in surrounding waters and who has no legs and needs II, shivered under a blanket send a clear message to drug to take tranquilizers, was left in the street, having just celtraffickers that we will be ebrated a birthday lunch for freezing in her wheelchair by out there in numbers policthe driver who refused three her grandson in the De Juan ing the area to thwart their fish restaurant. times to pick up her up. criminal undertakings.”

It came as some of the heavi- “It was horrible to see her like that,” Mariola’s granddaugh-

Well I never! There are elections next year and he [Mijas mayor Juan Carlos Maldonado] finally decides to start protecting the donkeys when he has already broken promises to various other individuals and groups who have offered help. I’ll believe it when I see it.

Sandra Kelly, Malaga

Turn to page 4

Vol. 4 Issue 82 www.gibraltarolivepr ess.com October 24th - November 6th 2018

Sea weed POLICE in Gibraltar have seized £1.35 million worth of cannabis, following a dangerous high-speed chase at night.

Four drug traffickers led the Royal Gibraltar Police (RGP), HM Customs and Gibraltar Defence Police (GDP) on a wild goose chase off Europa Point.

The men sped around the Rock’s southernmost tip in their inflatable boat, powered by three Yamaha 350 HP outboard engines.

Eventually they dumped a total of nine bales of cannabis resin, with a street value of £1.35 million, into the sea.

Proof in the pudding

EXCLUSIVE

By Charlie Smith

The Rock’s ONLY free local paper

FREE

46 Irish Town, Gibraltar Tel: +350 200 75188 Email: bia@gibraltar.gi Facebook: GibraltarBIA

Maihri McConnachie, Benalmádena

ter Gail, 45, told the Olive Press.

“We had used the service before,” said Gail, who called the Gibraltar Taxi Association, specifically requesting wheelchair access 15 minutes prior to leaving the restaurant.

Gail explained that the first time the ‘rude’ driver pulled up, he told her grandmother: ‘I’m not here for you’.

After a second and third time being refused by the driver, the Summerfields were angry ON FILM: Taxi and (right) Mariola Summerfield and Gail’s father, John, 65, without passengers. screaming in pain towards began shouting abuse at the “It was driver, running after the car, Gail. “Youdisgraceful,” said the end of the experience”. which sped off into the rain unjustifiable,can’t justify the As a co-founder of the Houseshe was literally wives Association, Mariola is a hero for Gibraltarians due to her work defending the sovereignty of the British overseas territory, which saw her present a petition to the Queen in 1966 at Buckingham Palace.

Mariola, who was also Gibraltar’s first female juror, chronicled her heroic life in Reliable private hire transfer her book, A woman’s place, services for any occasion published in 2007.

• Luxury vehicles The Gibraltar Taxi Associa• Door to door service tion - who describe their driv• Airport collections ers as ‘extremely professional • Weddings transport and courteous in their ap• Sightseeing day trips proach’ - have asked Mariola • Restaurant shuttles and family to their office ‘to Find out more at: work something out’, but Gail www.simply-shuttles.com maintains they ‘did it on purtel: 951 279 117 pose’. www.eliteglasscurtains.com info@simply-shuttles.com The firm officially declined to comment.

October 24th - November 6th 2018

SAVED: An iconic

Cookshop, Household Goods, General Hardware, Beach Accessories & more

This means the donkeys’ lives still won’t be their own, will still be robbed of their freedom, still used for human entertainment and still subjected to slavery, so long as people can earn a living. I don’t think that modifying this matter is the answer. Eradicating the existence of this, is applying the animals’ rights.

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Est. 1946

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It’s the property magazine that has got the coast talking...find out why with issue 2 of our popular Property magazine FREE inside

Est. 1946

Readers respond to proposals made by Mijas town hall which promised to bring new donkey protections

es pag IX See III &

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Property

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October 2018

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More to do

It’s the property magazine that has got the coast talking...find out why with issue 2 of our popular Property magazine FREE inside

’s ty laga per e Ma t pro azin bes mag

Property

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Work to do

In Gibraltar Issue 82 www.gibraltarolivepress.com

November 7th - November P Property 20th 2018

es pag IX See III &

LETTERS

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Lenox Napier, Mojácar 46

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BUSINESS

October 24th - November 6th 2018

GIBRALTAR DEAL MAY STILL TUMBLE

There is many a slip between cup and lip when it comes to deals like the complex Brexit one, writes Michael Doherty

T

HE news that the expats Spanish and UK gov- wider are the British ernments have struck family who are a Brexit deal over Gi- feeling particubraltar will ease the fears of larly vulnerthe many British expats who able. have made their home in Their the area and the thousands cern, first conof Spaniards who travel to standably,underis the territory to work. for their own I don’t want to cause any personal afsleepless nights, but I would fairs: their penjust remind them of the old sions, health BOSS: Michael Doherty is CEO of the caution that there’s many a care, transfer Woodbrook Group slip between cup and lip. of Some points of the agree- Butcapital. ment are still to be finalised somethey also need to give Loss of British tourism, thought to how the which contributes 1.2% of and they are pretty funda- economy mental since they include country will fare in the Andalucia’s GDP, is an obviwhere they live. And ous concern, but tobacco tax, free movement not just the country, but the ally expects that nobody reof labour and control of the region. decline to be huge or long-lasting. airport.

New Prime Minister Pedro San- that research has shown Andalucia’s response to the the impact of Brex- survey highlighted chez has said that, so far as it other, - particularly an more serious, fears Spain is concerned, the Gi- unplanned and - about foreign inbraltar issue is ‘solved’ and messy Brexit vestment, ‘will no longer be a prob- will agvary hugericulture and lem”’. ly, Fabian Picardo, Gibraltar’s fromnot just trade. country chief minister, was a little to Officials said more hesitant. A ‘fairly final’ but country a particular protocol had been agreed, region from concern was to rehe said. the potential gion within He is right to be cautious be- the loss of subsibigger cause Gibraltar is just one countries. dies from the small piece in the complex Nobody EU Common doubts Agricultural Poljigsaw of the Brexit nego- that icy when London tiations. These negotiations sufferthe UK will most from an no longer contribhave been conducted on the unplanned utes to the budget, basis that nothing is agreed However, Brexit.

Ireland, because ing that the cut here arguuntil everything is agreed. of could its extensive and deep be as high as €190 And for the moment, al- economic million links to the UK, is a year. though many also very vul- Andalucía has called for issues have a nerable.

European fund to mitigate been sorted And a survey the harmful effects of BrexAndalucia has out, a final by the EU’s it. But what about the indiagreement called for a C o m m i t t e e vidual problems of the many still looks a European fund to of the Re- expats? long way off. gions shows The wider economy is in the A no-deal even lap of the gods - and, more Brexit remains mitigate Brexit’s that, in countries worryingly, the politicians a grim possieffects that look well- but when it comes to theirbility and that positioned to personal economic circumcould bring shrug off Brex- stances, I would urge all exthe Gibraltar protocol tum- it, some districts may suffer pats to take advice. bling down, along with the quite A good financial adviser many other agreements that The badly. committee sent a ques- will help you have been reached. tionnaire on Brexit to offi- getting and set a plan for We should not be surprised. cials keeping your finances in shape. WoodDivorce proceedings are The in every EU region. never amicable and rarely from biggest concern was brook Group are experts in Spain, and Andalu- the field and can help guide go smoothly. Families often cia suffer and, in this case, the mostwas the region with the you through the very stormy worry waters of Brexit.

*For more information, contact our team at the Woodbrook Group Office in Marbella: Av. Ricardo Soriano, 72 Edificio Golden Portal B, 1ª Planta 29601 Marbella, Málaga, Spain.

Telephone: +34 952768471 • Email: officemarbella@woodbrookgroup.co Woodbrook Group is regulated by m • CySEC.

Teresa Tracy Ramsey, Almería

Brexit still won’t happen

Disgusting It’s all well and good but isn’t it time the whole ‘torturing animals for entertainment’ thing was abolished? It’s disgusting that in this day and age these things are still allowed. Bullfighting, adults riding donkeys for ‘fun’, horses being driven with carriages round and round for hours and left in the hot sun till they pass out of heat exhaustion... Something needs to be done.

Emily Johnson, Stalybridge

Has anything piqued your interest in this week’s Olive Press? Have your say on the matter by emailing letters@theolivepress.es or alternatively message us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ OlivePressNewspaper or Twitter @olivepress

Comment on ‘Gibraltar deal may still tumble’ by Michael Doherty pg 46, Vol. 13, Issue 303 Brexit won’t happen, trust me.

There is too much in-fighting within the Conservatives and they just won’t get a deal. If and I do mean if - they do get a deal, it will still have to be voted on in the Commons before we leave the E.U. Hopefully they will vote against leaving with a bad deal but if May continues with it and insists on leaving, they will just get rid of her and have another referendum on it.

Richard Upton, Manchester

LA CULTURA www.theolivepress.es

DEFACED: Tomb of Franco in Madrid

Playing for change A COSTA del Sol town has turned into the Playmobil toy capital of Spain.

Troops of miniature historic toy figures have invaded Antequera and will be here to stay until January 6, as part of a Christmas campaign taking over the town.

The large-scale models promise to transport visitors back in time with a series of exhibitions celebrating the town’s history.

There will be 10 different miniature areas to visit, with three large exhibitions displayed in churches as part of Playmobil contest, Ciudad de Antequera.

Unique dolls have been created depicting important Malaga characters such as freed slave Acilia Plecusa from the Roman era, writer Cristobalina Fernandez and the hero of the Peninsular War, El Capitan Moreno.

All proceeds will go towards local 5,000-strong NGO, Aventura Solidaria, which helps people in need in Antequera.

Entry tickets are €4 and can be bought at various points across the town.

Singing high HENRY Purcell was the first British composer to ever write an opera.

Dido and Aeneas was his first creation wich would go on to revolutionise the English music scene.

Now the opera is set to be brought to life across Andalucia in a series of five performances in November.

Musica en las Montanas, organised by accomplished Brit cellist Cat Jary, is an international group of 50 professional and amateur dancers, singers, musicians and actors.

The opera, based on Greek mythology, sees the hero Aeneas hot from the Trojan wars, stop off on his way back home and falls in love with Dido, the Queen of Carthage - a story of love and deception.

The first performance will take place November 21-22 in Motril, November 23 in Nerja, November 24 in Orgiva, with the final performance in the hilltop village of Canar in the Alpujarras. Visit www.musicaenlasmontanas.net.

NEWS

Do you have a what’s on?

November 7th - November 20th 2018

Send your informa newsdesk@theolive tion to press.es

Painting the tomb red AN artist has defaced General Franco’s grave with a dove in blood red paint at the Valley of the Fallen near Madrid.

A video of the protest shows the artist Enrique Terneiro daubing the grave of Spain’s former dictator in red paint.

The Guardia Civil arrested the Galician artist and are investigating him for criminal damage.

As the 49-year-old artist from Coruña was being dragged away by security he was heard shouting ‘For the reconciliation of all the Spaniards!’

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November 7th - November 20th 2018

Terneiro’s act was filmed by fellow activist Pedro Armestre, who claimed the paint was supposed to represent a ‘dove of peace’ on the grave of Francisco Franco.

Armestre said: “I do not intend to harm the family or their followers, what I want is a space of freedom.”

The protest was sparked by growing tension surrounding the planned exhumation of the remains of General Franco from the Valley of the Fallen by Pedro Sanchez’s Socialist (PSOE) government.

what’s on

R

abbit’s foot

RABBIT paella is among the dishes on offer at Parauta’s annual rabbit festival, on November 10, which celebrates the animal’s rich meat, which you can eat to live Flamenco.

R

un ragged

THE Jarapalos Mountain Marathon on November 10 has been run across the Mijas and Alhaurín mountains for a decade and the family-friendly event offers unparalleled views stretching to Africa.

Humble pie R

oyal affair

LA Ternura is a dramatic stage depiction of the life of Queen Esmeralda and her two princess daughters, who are forced to marry English nobleman, which shows on November 16 at Teatro Ciudad de Marbella, with tickets for €15 and €18.

Spain is the most humble country in Europe with just one in five Spaniards regarding their culture as better than others DESPITE Picasso, Dali and Cervantes all hailing from Spain, locals don’t think their culture is superior to others, a new poll has found.

In fact Spaniards have the lowest ‘cultural arrogance’ rate in Europe, with only one in five regarding their traditions and artistic exports as superior to others.

Carried out by the Pew Research Centre between 2015 and 2017, the study found just 20% of Spaniards supported the statement: “Our people are not perfect, but our culture is superior to others.”

With restaurants annually featuring in the world’s best restaurants list, the works of Picasso hanging in prestigious museums worldwide and deep-rooted arts such as flamenco offering a colourful culture, many non-Spaniards may be left scratching their heads at the results.

In fact, travellers, critics

MAP: Of cultural ‘arrogance’

and expats alike consider it to have one of the most rich cultures in the world.

While the poll of some 56,000 people in 34 European countries saw Spain come out as the most humble country in Europe, Greece came out as the least with a whopping 89% of respondents supporting the statement.

Unsurprisingly for Brexiteers, 46% of UK respondents had higher ‘patriotic chauvinism’, while neighbouring Portugal’s rate was 47%.

Spain was also found to be one of the most tolerant countries towards Muslims - perhaps due to the country’s Moorish roots - with three quarters of Spaniards willing to accept them into the family.

The country also has one of the most positive stances on gay marriage in the continent, with 77% of Spaniards saying they favour or strongly favour it.

The country was the fourth in the world to legalise same-sex marriage in 2005.

S

TRIPLE TALENT: Dali, Picasso and Cervantes

kates on

MALAGA’s Palacio de los Deportes José María Martín Carpena hosts Javier Fernández’s Revolution On Ice, which as at once a blistering display of ice dancing and music, yet also a touching fight against children’s cancer, and tickets are €15.75.

LA CULTURA Remembering the defeated 14 14

GREEN

www.theolivepress.es

November 7th - November 20th 2018

As the Olive Press launches an Autumn serialisation of a fascinating new book on the Spanish Civil War and its aftermath, History to the Defeated, here writer Jonathan Whitehead (right) explains its genesis

O

VER the 30 years I have lived in Spain, I became increasingly aware of how little people in the UK actually knew about the events surrounding the Spanish Civil War and the subsequent dictatorship which lasted until General Francisco Franco’s death in 1975.

On one occasion, a very knowledgeable person patiently corrected me and explained that Franco had in fact lost the war!

For many years, I also found it extremely difficult to discover people in Spain who were willing to discuss their own experiences. I met people who had spent years in prison and in labour camps, others who had spent half a lifetime in exile.

They all shared a reluctance to describe the events that had shaped their lives. Some because in 35 years of dictatorship they had been taught the value of discretion, others because in return for a peaceful transition to democracy, they were prepared to forego their claims to justice and recompense.

As we entered the 21st century, though, a new generation of Spaniards - the children and grandchildren of Republicans who had suffered Franco’s despotism - began to challenge the pact of silence or denial that had shrouded the recent history of Spain.

Attempts to investigate the crimes committed by the dictatorship were, however, resisted by Franco sympathisers.

Many had apparently embraced the new democratic system but were nevertheless determined to preserve the image of Franco as the man who had saved Spain from communism and anarchism, defended the Catholic Church, restored social order and paved the way for a new prosperity.

They argued that old wounds should not be reopened and refused to accept the obvious, that the wounds had in fact never been closed.

The debate has recently been brought to the forefront again, with the plans of the current government to exhume the remains of the dictator and to remove them from the Valle de los Caídos, the mausoleum built in Franco’s honour with the forced labour of Republican prisoners.

History to the Defeated sets out to explore some of the key episodes in the history of Spain between 1936 and 1975; and to describe events that reveal some of the darkest moments of the Civil War and the dictatorship.

It also explores the relations between Franco and his allies Hitler and Mussolini, and the attitude of the Allies in the post-war period towards a re-

gime that had been installed largely through the intervention of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy.

Finally, it describes the role some leading British figures played in the internal and external affairs of Spain; from Kim Philby to Winston Churchill and from journalists George Speer to George Orwell.

The book is an attempt to expose the myth that Franco was a relatively benign dictator who provided the paternal authority and discipline required to rule over the Spanish.

Above all, it seeks to highlight the bravery, suffering and sacrifice of so many Republicans who fought for the cause of freedom, and lost.

November 7th - November 20th 2018

Dragons in the Sky

B

y the early summer of 1936, the days of the Spanish Second Republic were numbered. While escalating political unrest and violence undermined the authority of the new Popular Front government and the viability of the Republic, a cocktail of Monarchists, Fascists, and disaffected military leaders, supported by the Catholic Church, plotted the overthrow of the Republican order.

The Second Republic had been proclaimed on 14 April 1931 when King Alfonso XIII acknowledged the monarchy’s unpopularity and abandoned the country. The electoral coalition of left-wing and Republican parties, known as the Frente Popular won a narrow victory in the general election of February 1936 and formed a moderate centre-left government. Given the threat to the privileges of landowners, industrialists, the Church, and the armed forces, various members of the military hierarchy engaged in a conspiracy to overthrow the government and the Republic. The movement was led by General Mola, the Military Governor of Pamplona, and General Sanjurjo, in exile in Portugal (having been released from prison after an unsuccessful coup in 1932).

The success of the coup d’état nevertheless depended largely on the intervention of General Francisco Franco, kicking his heels in ‘internal exile’ in the Canary Islands. Franco was both cautious and ambitious and was unwilling to commit until he was sure of success. Rather than take an active role in

How a pair of English teens, a Country Life editor and a British pilot helped Franco win the Spanish Civil War

the conspiracy he devoted his spare time to playing golf and apparently studying English.

As plans for military insurgency continued, those behind the conspiracy were aware that if the General were to cease prevaricating, they needed to address the logistical question of how to transport him to Tetuan and thus allow him to take command of Spain’s African Army in Spanish Morocco.

At the beginning of July, Luis Bolín, London correspondent of the monarchist daily newspaper ABC, was asked by the newspaper’s owner to hire an aircraft in Britain. The money was to be provided by the financier Juan March, through the Fenchurch Street branch of Kleinwort’s Bank.

Over lunch at Simpson’s-in-theStrand, Bolín consulted Douglas Jerrold, an extreme right-wing journalist. They subsequently a p p ro a c h e d the Olley Air Service, operating from its base at Croydon Airport, and rented a seven-seater de Havilland Dragon Rapide. They also contacted Jerrold’s friend Hugh Pollard and asked him to put together a small group of passengers who would travel to the Canaries and provide cover for the mission. The Major was ‘sporting editor of Country Life,… a fervent, Fascist-sympathising ON SCREEN: Dragon Rapide film poster Catholic with

a colourful past, including time as a “‘police adviser”’ in Dublin Castle during the Anglo-Irish War of 1919-–21’.’

He agreed and recruited the support of his daughter Diana who later reported: ‘I remember that summer’s day fairly distinctly. My father came out and he was rather excited. He said would we be willing to act as cover, pretend to be rich tourists, just about a week as company with whoever was there and dump a plane in North Africa and then come back by boat.

So, you know, you are eighteen and you don’t have any particular wish for adventure, but it would seem a stupid thing to say No.’ The plotters needed a second girl and Diana suggested her close friend, Dorothy Watson, who looked after the family’s chickens.

In the words of Jerrold: ‘Then began the most arduous search of all. Pollard’s daughter was to be one of the party, but the other girl was out – no telephone inquiries could locate her. All that was known was that she was delivering chickens somewhere and that she hadn’t got a passport. And so the last crusade began on a hot July afternoon with four men searching frantically up and down Sussex lanes for a girl delivering chickens and who had not got a passport. In despair we turned into the pub, and there, the heavens being kind and the bar being open, we found her. ‘‘Dorothy, come here. You’re going to Africa to-morrow,” Hugh shouted cheerfully’.

The three passengers, officially planning a hunting trip, subsequently joined Bolín when the aircraft took off from Croydon on 11 July. The pilot was Captain Cecil Bebb, ex-RAF, who was accompanied by a flight engineer and a mysterious radio-operator who proved to be either incompetent or a drunk, or both.

According to his logbook, Bebb made a first stop at Bordeaux before setting off on the crucial stage to Portugal. He was under the strictest instructions not to land in Spain. Bad weather caused him to turn back and later the same day he tried again, this time from Biarritz, and finally managed to reach Espin-

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November 7th - November 20th 2018

BRITISH CONNECTION: Pilot Cecil Bebb while (right) Douglas Jerrold

ho near Oporto. Running short radio operator home, and on on fuel, he was forced to make the 15th, the party flew to Las an unauthorised landing at a Palmas where they landed at military aerodrome. According the military Gando Aerodrome. to Bolin’s version of the flight, Franco was still unsure of his it seemed he might be refused own role in events and decidpermission to take off again. ed not to order the Dragon The passengers were invited to Rapide to Tenerife, but rather take part in a fiesta at a nearby to keep Bebb on standby-by in village until the local authorities Las Palmas. On 16 July, General agreed to allow the aircraft to Balmes, the Military Commandcontinue its journey. er of the Canary Islands, was On 12 July, right-wing thugs killed in a fortuitous accident murdered Lieutenant Jose Cas- during target practice at an tillo as he walked to work in the Army shooting range. Not only centre of Madrid. Castillo be- did this providential incident longed to a group of anti-Fascist provide Franco with the perfect military officers and had been excuse to travel to Las Palmas, warned by colleagues that his it also seems to have removed life was in danger. Meanwhile, any lingering doubts in his mind. the party aboard the Dragon Bebb was placed on alert.

Rapide flew first to Alverca, near The next day, while Bebb enLisbon and then to Casablanca joyed a breakfast of bacon and on the African mainland. eggs provided by the British At three o’clock the following Consul, Franco arrived in Gran morning, a leftCanarias on an wing hit squad overnight ferry abducted José to attend the Franco came Calvo Sotelo funeral and was to school after from his home informed of a and executed military uprisSotelo’s murder him. Calvo Soing in Mellila. telo was a right- and looked like he On the 18th, wing member Franco boarded of Parliament, had aged 10 years a tug and was and his murder transferred to was in direct rethe aerodrome taliation for the where Bebb and death of Castillo. The high polit- the Dragon Rapide awaited him. ical profile of the victim meant He boarded the aircraft and that optimum conditions now changed into civilian clothes. existed for a military uprising. Bebb refuelled at Agadir and However, Mola waited in vain eventually landed in Casablanfor a signal from Franco. Still ca, where an anxious Luís Bolín reluctant to commit himself and awaited. The next morning, they aware that the success of the flew on to Tetuan, and Franco insurgency was ultimately con- was able at last to take comtingent on the intervention of mand of the Spanish troops in the Army of Africa, Franco was North Africa. determined to use this leverage The coup had meanwhile failed in pursuit of his own ambitions. and Mola and Franco’s fear His English teacher, Dora Len- that if they failed to overthrow nard, claims that when Franco the Republic immediately, Civil appeared for his first class after War would ensue, proved corthe murder of Calvo Sotelo he rect. In the early skirmishes, looked as if he had aged ten the military insurgents took years overnight.

Seville, Pamplona, Zaragoza Captain Bebb was now confi- while the cities of Madrid, Bardent enough to send the erratic celona, Valencia and Bilbao

DICTATOR: General Franco in official snap

remained in the hands of the Republic. Victory for the rebels now depended on the swift intervention of the troops under Franco’s command. Crucially, the Navy remained loyal to the legitimate government and, unable to transfer his troops to mainland Spain by sea, Franco dispatched agents to Italy and Germany to beg for aircraft to deliver the Army across the Straits of Gibraltar to mainland Spain. Both Mussolini and Hitler were forthcoming in their support. The Führer was at the Wagner festival in Bayreuth and was, it would appear, inspired by the example of Siegfried.

The Junkers 52 and the Savoia-Marchetti S81 successfully executed the first major airlift of troops in history, and Franco was soon able to embark on a triumphant march on Madrid and to consolidate his own position as leader of the insurrection.

Given the participation of British nationals in the drama of the Dragon Rapide, there has been speculation on the involvement of the British secret services; indeed, Pollard was an experienced agent and it seems likely that he would have informed military intelligence. The British authorities certainly took no measures to abort the mission. Captain Bebb made his way safely back to Britain and Franco later awarded him the Order of Merit.

The British historian Sir Arthur Bryant was invited to provide a foreword to Luis Bolin’s history of the flight of the Dragon Rapide. In a sentence designed to describe what the Civil War was not, he succinctly summarised precisely what it was: ‘a heroic struggle for liberty by an oppressed people against a treasonable clique of military adventurers, reactionary aristocrats and corrupt priests sustained only

by Moorish mercenaries and Italian and German Fascists’.

November 7th - November 20th 2018

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GREEN

Nov 7th - Nov 20th 2018

November 7th - November 20th 2018

A leader in her field Expat snapper spends five years documenting her back yard

AN expat photographer has spent five years taking photos of her favourite field.

The Dutch artist Lies Wajer, 54 (above with husband), has taken literally thousands of pictures of the land behind her house, near Arriate.

From misty autumn to luscious spring, Lies’s breathtaking seasonal snaps have just taken pride and place at an exhibition where the artist sold 23 of her carefully crafted works.

“I love this field,” she says, “I am mesmerized by the beauty of it, it’s always different, it’s something that you never want to stop taking pictures of.”

Now she is set to launch a new exhibition taking a lighter look at the recent floods

which ravaged Ronda and mud caked everything in sight.

With a handful of other resi-

dents, this ‘mud’ photography can be seen at Toro Tapas, in Ronda, from Thursday until December

Check out Lies’ other images and latest adventures at www.lieswajerimages.com

Something for everyBODY

In this week’s book review section, Alicia Duggan discovers a new masterpiece by Murakami and a fun new children’s book Killing Commendatore by Haruki Murakami I will start by admitting that I am a huge Murakami fan and this novel did not disappoint. Written in his inimitable style it is beautifully mundane and tantalisingly surreal in equal measure. The story begins with a successful portrait artist whose wife has recently left him. Feeling a change is in order he secludes himself in a house in the mountains, which had previously belonged to a famous Japanese artist, to try and rediscover his artistic style. While there he discovers a hidden painting entitled Killing Commendatore. This discovery changes the course of his life. An incredibly well written novel, you are completely immersed in the story, savouring every page until reaching the satisfying conclusion. €25.90, Available from The Bookshop San Pedro - www. thebookshop.es

A Piddle of Puppies by Andréa Prior Marbella based children’s author Andréa Prior’s latest book is a fun, beautifully illustrated picture book explaining the collective nouns for groups of animals. With hilarious rhymes, fun facts and lively illustrations, A Piddle of Puppies will delight and captivate readers from 5-9 years.

Andréa will be signing copies of A Puddle of Piddles at The Bookshop San Pedro on Thursday 15th November from 4.30 – 6.30pm. €11.90, Available from The Bookshop San Pedro - www.thebookshop. es

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Picture perfect Andalucia’s city in the mountains is a hot ticket for world leaders and their wives despite Hemingway’s lukewarm words, writes Elisa Menendez

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NICE promenades, good wine, excellent food and nothing to do…’

Thus Ernest Hemingway wrote off the town where he spent numerous holidays drinking the local wine and carousing at corridas, no doubt disappointing many of Ronda’s proud residents with his puzzlingly lacklustre review.

Most of today’s travellers - including Britain’s last two prime ministers and an American First Lady - would certainly disagree with him. Ronda has been crowned Andalucia’s third most-visited town and it’s not hard to see why.

The so-called ‘City of Dreams’ is a true wanderlust gem and somewhat of a celebrity hang-out.

This year alone, Theresa May, Anne Hathaway, Ricky Gervais, Jodie Whittaker, Gordon Ramsay, Kristin Scott Thomas and Spain’s ex-premier Mariano Rajoy have all allegedly visited the stunning mountain town... so say locals in the know.

Picture by Jon Clarke

Obama

Michelle Obama also made headlines when she visited in 2010, touring the old town and discovering the Moorish dynasty with her daughter Sasha.

Celebrity chef Jean Christophe Novelli went house hunting in the town after falling in love with it in 2009.

With its spectacular high sierra setting, leafy parks, cobbled lanes and atmospheric ventas it’s no wonder Ronda has stolen the hearts of so many travellers.

Over the centuries a slew of writers have waxed lyrical about its timeless character, stunning views and charming locals.

The German poet Rilke baptised it the ‘City of Dreams’, Orson Welles took a shine to its bullfighting scene and

GRAND TOUR-ISTS: Painters tackle the gorge, while (inset) recent visitors Anne Hathaway, Gordon Ramsey, Jodie Whittaker and Ricky Gervais

Continues on Page 18

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From front page

Hemingway himself capitalised on its culture of bullfighting for two of his own works.

Ronda’s legendary torero Pedro Romero who slew more than 5,600 bulls was the muse for his noble matador in The Sun Also Rises; while the fierce rivalry between Luis Miguel Dominguin and Antonio Ordonez, the city’s other most famous bullfighter, is chronicled in The Dangerous Summer.

But it seems the good people of Ronda overlooked the Nobel Prize-winning author’s slight on their hood. Instead, they paid homage to him with the Paseo de Ernest Hemingway, a pathway that teeters along the top of Ronda’s crown jewel – El Tajo gorge – which offers up gorge-ous views across the Sierra de las Nieves Natural Park.

This 120-metre-deep chasm slicing the city in two is bridged by Ronda’s most photographed structure.

The magnificent Puente Nuevo is anything but new, having been completed in 1793. As you cross the cloud-touching bridge, it’s like stepping into a medieval fairytale. The backdrop of soaring mountains crowned with traditional Andalucian white villages is equally dramatic.

Taller than London’s Centre Point tower, the structure took a staggering 40 years to complete, claiming the lives of some 50 builders who died bridging the gap. They left behind an awe-inspiring fusion of nature and architecture connecting the new town of Mercadillo with the old quarter, La Ciudad.

Picture by Geoff Scott Simpson

City of dreams

Trailblazers Irish novelist and poet James Joyce (1882-1941) “Ronda with the old windows of the houses, the eyes which spy out hidden behind the latticework so that their lover might kiss the iron bars.”

The word on the street from some of Ronda’s famous visitors…

Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986) “It is here, in Ronda, in the delicate penumbra of blindness, a concave silence of patios, leisure of the jasmine and the light sound of water, which summoned up memories of deserts.”

A chamber above the bridge’s central arch was used as a prison during the Spanish Civil War. Legend has it that

Syrian prince Abu’l-Fida (1273-1331) American author Orson Welles “Elegant and lofty city in which the (1915-1985) clouds serve as a turban and its towers “A man is not from where he is as a sword belt” born, but where he chooses to die.”

German poet Rainer Maria Rilke (18751926) “The spectacle of this city, sitting on the bulk of two rocks rent asunder by a pickaxe and separated by the narrow, deep gorge of the river, corresponds very well to the image of that city revealed in dreams.”

REGULAR VISITOR: Orson Welles

Republican and Nationalist prisoners were tortured and thrown from the windows to the deadly rocks below. Later

it housed a bar, today it’s a museum dedicated to the history of the bridge and its skyscraper jail.

For a picture-perfect view of the bridge, hike down to the bottom of El Tajo. You can access the scenic walking routes

Reliable, good-value Ronda construction company Established in 2013 – Good references

tel: 675 51 02 38

aricontratas@gmail.com

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Get carried away!

HE is currently on a world tour, having starred at the London Guitar Festival.

So it is no surprise that Paco Seco’s Ronda Guitar House is fast becoming one of the most prestigious cultural venues in Andalucia.

He and his team offer an exceptional and emotive concert in a very intimate setting.

Recognized by Lonely Planet, Rick Steves and Le Routard, this is one evening’s entertainment not to be missed on a visit to Ronda.

Run by his English wife Lucy, the team offer a fabulous cultural journey with local Ronda wines served up alongside some of the best strains of Spanish guitar.

The concerts take place at 19:00 each evening, and cost just 15€.

CAPTION

BIBLICAL: Shepherd pats his sheepdog under the walls, while (right) Mandragon Palace and Almocobar gate from either side of the bridge. Take the of its tourist-magnets today. The banos veyor belt to pass up containers of waold town side for a more challenging Arabes is one, originally built in the ter from the river Guadalevin. hike or the new town side for the easier 13th century and operated by a water The heart of the new town is the busroute. wheel, bringing water up from the River tling main shopping street, Calle EspiRonda’s bullring, poised between new Guadalevin below. nel - known as ‘La Bola’ by locals. It’s town and old, also gets huge amounts A stroll around the immaculate cham- bursting with handicraft shops, local of attention for being the oldest and bers, arches and columns - assuming produce and infinite places to stop off most beautiful in Spain. There’s a mu- it is open again following the recent for churros and chocolate or Ronda seum inside and you can take a tour. floods - conjures up images of the cheeses and Despite bullfighting’s alleged wan- lavish lifestyle enjoyed by travellers in wine. ing popularity, this famous arena is what was then the Kingdom of Grana- Another way to mobbed in September for the annual da. A fantastic reconstruction film explore Ronda Goyesca bullfights, a homage to Ron- brings it all to life. is via its exquida’s two most famous matadors and Another Moorish highlight is the Casa site wine tours. de the Spanish artist Goya. del Rey Moro, the palace where Mi- Since PhoeniRonda is a tale of two cities. Its old and chelle Obama surprised onlookers in cian and annew towns each have their own distinc- 2010 when she descended the 300 cient Grecian ONLINE tive styles with Roman and Moorish perilous steps down to La Mina - the times, wine has influences. water mine – an experience many tour- been produced Built in 9 BC, it’s one of Spain’s most ists choose to pass on. here and probhistoric settlements and was a key mili- Built in the 18th century during the ably transporttary bastion in the Roman Empire.

Moorish occupation, it was on these ed to the great It was completely transformed by the vertiginous steps that chain gangs of cities of the RoMoors, who were responsible for many Christian slaves formed a human con- man Empire.

Take a visit to any of the 20 or more bodegas and you’ll be filled in well.

If you’re spending more than a couple of days in Ronda, the cave art at the Cueva de la Pileta is another must-see.

Nestled in the village of Benaojan some 20 kilometres southwest of the city, the belly of the cave reveals Stone Age paintings of horses, goats and fish which can be marvelled at by torchlight with a guide.

A trip to Ronda, whether it be for a day, a Jamoneria Granadina Selections from a week or even a vinos, ibericos, gourmet & quesos month has the huge range of bodegas uncanny ability Professional ham cutter for all events to transport any visitor to another time and era.

If you’re reading Tel: 605 31 58 68 / 952 87 10 13 this up there, email: info@tintosderonda.com Mr Hemingway, we think you Calle Setenil 20, 29400 Ronda (Málaga) should eat your VISTA: Across to the famous bridge words.

VINOS RONDA

Outstanding wines from Ronda and Spain

NEW ‘VINOS DE RONDA’ website with 180 different wines

Picture by Jon Clarke

www.vinosderondaonline.com

20 Hostalwww.theolivepress.es El Anón, a charming oasis in the centre of historic Jimena

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Author and guide Guy Hunter-Watts reflects on 30 years of living and walking in the Ronda mountains

W Come and try our varied ‘small plates’, mojitos and Moroccan tea!

Plus a wide range of international dishes served outside on our terraces or in the romantic, firelit dining rooms.

Calle Consuelo 34-40, Jimena de la Frontera 956 640 113 reservas@elanon.net www.hostalanon.com

HEN I first came to Andalucía in the ‘80s Alastair Boyd’s travelogues The Road from Ronda and In The Sierrania of the South were essential reading for any expat with a desire to get beneath the skin of life in La Sierra.

Like Alastair, who later became a friend, I’d set out in search of my own vision of Shangri-La after deciding to set up a language school in Ronda.

I eventually set up home in one of the least known of the pueblos blancos - Montecorto, at the edge of Grazalema Natural Park.

At that time there was just one phone in the village, the women still washed in the acequía which runs down through it, and the only wine on sale in shops and bars was vino de Montilla, a type of sherry, dispensed from a five litre flagon.

In those days wine bottled with a cork was for the señoritos.

This part of Spain has been on the traveller’s map since the time when it became an offshoot of The Grand Tour. Ronda and

its sierras were a perfect staging post between the Moorish delights of Sevilla and the narcotic charms of Granada.

The rugged mountains that surround the town dovetailed perfectly with the Romantic movement’s idyll of beauty: a landscape of plunging gorges and hilltop villages and castles, of Carmen-like andaluzas and one in which even highway brigands - known as bandoleros - were given a heroic role by the likes of Mérimée and David Roberts.

Driving the long and winding road to Ronda up from San Pedro, then heading west past towering cliffs through forests of holm and cork oak, it’s easy to see why so many writers and artists have been attracted to the area. And why, more recently, a large expat community should have put down roots. Nearly every small village within 20 kilometres of Ronda has at least a dozen expat families search-

ing out their own vision of The Good Life.

Many of my foreign neighbours and friends have integrated into their host communities by setting up businesses which have helped rural tourism to push down deeper roots. It might be by running a bar or hotel, becoming forerunners within our local organic food movement, writing a restaurant guide, setting up a paragliding school or cycling business or by being amongst the pioneers - such as German Federico Schalt - who have helped bring great wines back to our local sierras.

All these activities have helped bring prosperity and jobs to an area that was, in large part, a rural backwater just 40 years ago.

I had the rare luck, as a writer of hiking guides, that my arrival in Andalucía coincided with the advent of walking-for-pleasure in the mountains. When I first brought hiking groups to Grazalema – the trailhead for several amazing on-foot ad-

Gateway to history It’s been a key Andalucian nerve centre since the time of the Romans and back in the days of Al Andaluz, Ronda was a key stopping off place for travellers. It´s no wonder then that you feel like you have stepped back in time in the cobbled streets of Ronda old town. Around every corner you will find historic palaces and townhouses, each with their very own original entrances. Many hide grand townhouses inside (left), while others lead to emblematic squares.

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Battle stations Picture by Jon Clarke

It’s the moment Napoleon’s unpopular army is finally sent into retreat by a legion of local townsfolk. Pitchforks, muskets and all... And Ronda Romantica, when the whole town dresses up in 19th century garb, in spring is a must-visit event

ventures – there was just one basic fonda in the village and a couple of simple tapas bars.

Grazalema since that time has mirrored what’s been happening in many more pueblos blancos: there are now four hotels, several casas rurales, half a dozen new bars and restaurants, waymarked trails and, along with all of this, a new awareness that you don’t need sand and sea to attract foreign visitors to your village.

I was able to ride a part of this new wave by running a B&B for walkers that ran almost full for 10 years. When I closed the business down – I wanted more time to write and travel - it felt like killing that goose that laid the golden egg.

But the joys of walking our local network of mountain paths would never have been enough to keep me in the Ronda mountains were it not for that other essential life ingre-

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Concerts - Artisan Guitars Music Shop - Classes Guitar Accessories Calle Padre Mariano Soubiron 4 Ronda, Málaga +34 951 916 843

www.rondaguitarhouse.com

dient: good neighbours.

Life here would make little sense without experiencing the extraordinary bonhomie and natural gregariousness of our Andalucían hosts.

The southern Spanish are team players – think Feria, Semana Santa or any fiesta hosted by a village – and are nearly always delighted to welcome a new member to the club, including a foreign one.

Whether it’s reenacting the events of the Guerra de la Independencia, rehearsing satirical songs for Carnival, playing in the village brass band or organising the annual 101km race around Ronda, people are happy to

work together in order to make things happen. And they are easy and generous with their invitations following that old sierra adage ‘donde come uno, comen dos’.

At a time in Europe when populist, inward-looking movements are threatening to break up one of the most successful community adventures in modern history, I rejoice in any initiative or process that looks to unite and integrate rather than divide. I feel a sense of privilege to have lived half of my sixty years in this exquisitely beautiful corner of Europe and am happy that, in the 1980s, I took that magic Road to Ronda. Even if I’ll never become an andaluz de pura cepa I’ll remain a happily ensconced European.

Guy Hunter-Watts lives in Montecorto, 20km west of Ronda and is the author of Cicerone’s ‘Walking in Andalucía’, ‘Coastal Walks in Andalucía’, ‘The Mountains of Ronda & Grazalema’ and ‘The Andalucían Coast to Coast Walk’.

His B&B is now let on a self-catering basis from April through to October. www.guyhunterwatts. com&www.rondatejar.com

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Roman Ronda A 15-minute drive from Ronda takes you to the ancient city of Acinipo, where the Romans built another ancient settlement. The highest hill for miles around, it still has much evidence of their skills with a large part of its amphitheatre intact and a lot more to look at, not to mention the views. The visitor centre is only open for the morning, but one can always climb up to the amphitheatre out of hours.

Secret Serrania

Preaching the blues While it’s about as stunning as any of the pretty villages around Ronda, there is one big difference with Juzcar… it’s blue. This is thanks to the Smurf movie that in 2011 decided to use the tiny village as the mythical base of the tiny creatures. It has been used a handful of times since and voted to stay blue some years back. But apart from the many attractions for kids, based around the movie, it is also the perfect place for a walk and to see Griffon vultures and crag martins.

REPUBLIC OF FUN Friendly Arriate sits just five minutes outside Ronda, but is a completely different world. This charming village of nearly 5000 souls is a bustling place and fiercely independent of big sister Ronda, from whom it officially broke free some 400 years ago. It has a warm, homely feel about it and a great mix of local shops, restaurants and places to stay. Pick of the bunch to eat is El Muelle, a converted train station, while you must spend the weekend at either Hotel Arriadh or finca Alcantarilla. Its Fiesta en el Aire festival in early Autumn is now legendary and attracts nearly 20,000 punters over a long weekend.

From bandit hideouts to Roman wine cellars, there is so much to see and do close to Ronda, writes Jon Clarke

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ONDA is surrounded by two natural parks, the Sierra de las Nieves and the Sierra de Grazalema, not to mention its very own breathtaking Serrania.

These surrounding hills are creaking with

wonderful walks and pretty towns and villages to visit, all easy to reach in the car and most with their own excellent places to stay and eat. Here are a few top picks for a trip out of Ronda.

Bandit territory The Serrania was once a major stronghold for bandoleros (bandits) and the tiny towns of Benaojan and Montejaque were famously where many holed up. But there is much more, such as the Cueva de la Pileta, near Montejaque (left), which has the oldest cave paintings in Spain, while Benaojan is the centre of the ham and sausage industry. There is also a fabulous walk from Benaojan Estacion down the river to Jimera de Libar, from where you can get the train back. At each end is a great lunch spot, with hotel Molino del Santo, when open in season, the obvious pick.

Cavemen colony

Prehistory kept alive For anyone wanting an idea of what life was like in Ronda 5,000 years ago, head to Algaba, a short drive out of Ronda. This wonderful estate has recreated a prehistoric village showing clearly how the area’s forefathers lived, how they ground their bread, decorated their homes and what they did with their dead. There are also lots of rare breeds of cows and goats and you can even stay in the nearby finca if you fancy it. Visit www.algabaronda.com

The historic Roman town of Setenil de las Bodegas is a real eye opener and amazing for photography. Nestled in the rolling landscape, 20 minutes out of Ronda, it was built around a series of caves, which served to keep the wines of the Romans cool in summer, hence its name. It is best to leave your car outside the town, wander up to the old fortress before heading down to the famous overhanging cave for a fine tapas lunch.

OUTDOOR VIBES: Visitors to Fiesta en el Aire festival

Fanning its fortune An hour walk from Ronda will take you to one of the most stunning natural sites, the Cueva de Abanico (the Fan Cave). Near here celebrated flamenco star Estrella Morente, and husband bullfighter Javier Conde were planning to build a hotel and it is no surprise why. This is one of the most beautiful walks imaginable, with bits of Roman road to discover, ruined towers and then the amazing cave and river at the end, perfect for a picnic.

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WHERE TO STAY

You’re bound to sleep well in Ronda...

City of dreaming

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HERE is an incredible choice of places to lay down your head in the 'City of Dreams', as Dutch poet Rilke once described Ronda.

One of the best is the Reina Victoria (cataloniahotels.com), which was built over 100 years ago by British builders when the train line first arrived here from the coast.

Standing in an enviable spot overlooking the gorge this upmarket hotel is a place to lie back and luxuriate, relax and enjoy the best views in Christendom.

Those looking for a more budget offering should try the central Hotel Morales (www.hotelmorales.es), which sits in the heart of the town, perfect for the shops, and the main transport links.

However, it is out in the Serrania countryside itself that you will be really spoilt for choice.

Check Hotel Arriadh (www.arriadhhotel.com), which counts on some of the best views anywhere in Spain.

Often described RURAL DREAM: Breakfast by Alcantarilla’s as ‘zen-like’ the swimming pool

clean lines and maximising of light and views is all thanks to the talents of Dutch couple John and Wilbert.

Excellent value, it has an amazingly peaceful garden and a splendid infinity pool.

For complete authenticity and to sample a taste of the idyllic mountain life, consider spending a few days at Finca Alcantarilla (www.alcantarilla.co.uk) a wonderful B&B, just ten minutes out of Ronda.

Recently described by Bryony Gordon in the Telegraph as one of the ‘most beautiful places’ she has ever stayed, and Sathnam Sanghera in the Times, as the ‘perfect villa holiday’, you will be amazed at the well-appointed grounds and historic features of the home.

Another fabulous place to stay at the western end of the Serrania in Jimena is Hostal Anon (www. hostalanon.com).

IDYLLIC: Arriadh and El Anon It’s been a classic stopover for travelers for nearly four decades and the rooms have a Spanish rustic feel, while the outside intertwining terraces have a Moorish décor.

Owner Suzanne has lived in Andalucia for over 40 years and the place often comes alive on weekend nights with a very liberal fun feel.

Another amazing spot is Hotel Banu Rabbah (www.hbenarraba.com) in Benarraba, one of the most charming, sleepy authentic villages of Andalucia province.

In the heart of the stunning Genal Valley, this is an ancient Arabic village, built by the Son of Rabbah, whose family must have been prominent in the village’s early days.

A large castle stood in the area and can be found nearby at Monte Poron, where a legend seems to cloud its history. The hotel itself is comfortable and very good value.

On top of the World!

Arriadh Hotel is situated in the beautiful ‘Serranía de Ronda’, just a 10 minute drive from Ronda’s city centre. The village Arriate, undiscovered by mass tourism, is within walking distance and offers a wide variety of restaurants and tapas bars.

Arriadh Hotel is the perfect ‘home away from home’ to rediscover Ronda and the area.

Or just to relax and take in the breath taking views and sunsets from one of the terraces, the garden, the swimming pool or your own balcony. If you want to stay in, don’t worry. Your hosts John and Wilbert always have a variety of tapas available and on request they will prepare a lovely dinner.

Tel.: +34 952 11 43 70

Arriadh Hotel, Los Cañalillos, Ronda, Andalucia.

www.arriadhhotel.com

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DREAM RIDE: Ronda circuit takes in the stunning Arriate valley on route to Setenil and Roman Acinipo

HOW TIMES HAVEN’T CHANGED

YOU can almost imagine a donkey or horse walking out the old Almocobar gate into Ronda old town, as they used to do back in the 19th century (right).

It is the same up at Ronda’s stunning cathedral (left), once a mosque, and still with its minaret, which sits in a square, hardly changed in centuries.

And as for one of Spain’s most famous views - that of the Tajo from below - it has been a magnet for tourists since the 18th century, when the first Romantic travellers first arrived from northern Europe - and recently appearing in the cartoon movie Ferdinand

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Menu W Lau Com nch in Soon g !

Special Midday Menu 15€ inlcluding 1 drink (weekdays) Open for Christmas Day and New Years Eve with special menu and entertainment Available for Events Fridays Live Music Bar Open Weekends till 01:00

Picture by Geoff Scott Simpson

tel: 952 89 50 35 info@restaurantesarmiento.com Wednesday-Monday: 13:00 to 16.00 Wednesday-Sunday: 19:00 to 22:30 Crta. de Casares Km 12’5

www.restaurantesarmiento.com authenticity, spontaneity and enjoyment when being around a table

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High table WHERE TO EAT

Traditional dishes of Ronda

Ronda has mountains of top restaurants packed with great ingredients and talented chefs, writes Dining Secrets of Andalucia editor Jon Clarke

FEW places in Andalucia have it all when it comes to food.

The Serrania de Ronda is the exception, whether you are after tasty tapas, simple local ingredients or Michelin-starred mastery.

There are hundreds of exciting places to choose from, now including the excellent Michelin-starred Bardel, where Benito Gomez goes from strength to strength.

Other long-standing winners include historic Pedro Romero, soulful Almocabar, and the rural delights of Molino del Santo and El Muelle, while exciting new arrivals include El Almacen and Sarmiento, in Casares.

Up in the heart of Ronda authentic Porton – an institution run by Javier for the last 40 years - has wonderful old photos on the wall and a guaranteed feel good fac-

FRIENDLY: Siempre Igual and (right) Azahar tor. Here, you will find my favourite Ronda tapa, the wonderful quails egg with ham on toast.

Just around the corner, the town’s grandest restaurant Pedro Romero sits slap bang opposite the bullring, with wonderful bullfighting photos and posters, as you might expect.

Run by brothers Carlos and Tomas, a top sommelier, you should try the fantastic rabo de toro (oxtail) and let him select the wine.

A total contrast is El Almacen, run by talented Javier Pimentel, a local Ronda lad, who went around the world and back before opening his restaurant last year.

It’s a stylish spot, with a great selection of music, including a huge pile of records... but you are here for the food and Javier doesn’t

disappoint, having trained for a year at San Sebastian’s three-Michelin star cathedral of cuisine Akelarre, before a stint in Ireland and two years in London.

For wine lovers check out Entre Vinos, which has over 100 wines from Ronda, and always has a dozen wines available by the glass. There are some excellent tapas and it is a charming place to while away a few hours.

Just up the hill a little is Siempre Igual, which is exactly that ‘Always the same’, and a bloody excellent place to enjoy tapas and some excellent wine with friends.

Run by a friendly family team, they always have some experimental new dishes, worth a try and you are in a great location, just up from the bullring.

Across the bridge in the heart of the old town look out for Meson El Sacristan run HIP: Restaurante Sarmiento in Casares by friendly Antonio.

It has Roman ruins in the basement and easily the best steaks in the town.

It also has a fantastic dining terrace where in good weather you can truly watch the world go by in one of Ronda’s loveliest squares.

Few places have the splendour of Restaurante Azahar in the historic hotel Reina Victoria.

Its dining terrace offers up the best views in Ronda, even Andalucia, across the celebrated Ronda tajo and miles beyond.

And luckily the food matches up to it, being both creative and with well sourced ingredients.

Inspired by its location, it doffs its hat to local dishes, such as roast suckling pig and kid.

But plaudits go to the creative starters, such as secreto iberico carpaccio with foie, redcurrants and parmesan ice cream, as well as the scallops on yolks of pickled asparagus with sea urchin caviar.

Yet in Ronda, there is even more with the long time most respected restaurant Almocabar going from strength to strength as Manolo continues to improve his offering and experiment with the best local ingredients, such as mushrooms, foie and asparagus.

Traditional & Mediterranian food We specialise in Andalusian Wines

Tlf: 687 153 867 / 609 925 554 C/ San José n° 2 Esquina Calle Jerez. Ronda ( Málaga)

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RONDA ALL STARS: Javier at El Almacen, Benito at Bandal, Javier at Porton and Tomas and Carlos at Pedro Romero

This place is as authentic as it gets and you always get treated well. Venturing out of Ronda there are so many amazing country escapes for lunch or supper.

The two best are easily Molino del Santo, in charming Benaojan, now shut for the winter, as well as El Muelle, in Arriate, which boasts hundreds of regulars who drive all the way from the coast - and even Sevilla - for lunch.

It’s no surprise, this old railway

storeroom being atmospheric to the n’th degree and boasting excellent local authentic fare to boot.

Run by friendly Dutchman Frank Rottgering, alongside talented local chef Isa, there are plenty of new dishes each month and the menu is full of their colourful creations.

The wine list is simple but inspired and the food is always amazing fresh and beautifully served…

Even better are the prices.

It’s a midday lunchtime in Ronda and things feel like the 1970s, none more so than at Jamoneria Granadino where owner Juan serves up local farmers and expats huge vats of Montilla sherry

TALENTS: Manolo at Almocabar cooks mushrooms while (right) El Muelle Another amazing new country before leasing it out to another addition is Sarmiento at the ex- local family. treme western end of the Serra- The pair have both worked in nia de Ronda in Casares. many restaurants abroad and This is the creation of three more recently landed plum jobs well-travelled, creative friends, working at the Hotel Don Pepe in who have all lived and worked Marbella and at Sotogrande SA. abroad during the heart of Their head chef is Victor CarraceSpain’s worst ever recession. do, who has also worked around Coming back to Casares full cir- the world for leading chains, incle are Miguel and Juan Sarmien- cluding Ritz-Carlton and Hilton, to, whose father set up this very and is currently head chef at Marrestaurant in the classic Anda- bella’s five-star Don Pepe hotel. lucian town three decades ago, Their new restaurant is ‘based on the essential pillars of the Andalucian lifestyle: authenticity, spontaneity and the enjoyment of friends and family’.

And up at this wonderful space, with the best views in Christendom, it is hard to disagree.

It would be unfair not to mention chef Ian Love at La Cascada, at hotel Molino del Puente.

He and his wife have been pleasing the punters with their tasty creations for well over a decade now and its amazing riverside terrace cannot be beaten in good weather.

Come and try Ronda’s amazing wines with a tapa tel: 658 58 29 76 Calle Pozo 2, 29400 Ronda ronda360.com/empresas/entrevinos

restaurant | lunch and dinner restaurant | lunch and dinner

www.diningsecretsofandalucia.com

951 48 98 18 hola@tabernaelalmacen.com www.tabernaelalmacen.com Cl Los Remedios, 7. 29400 Ronda, Málaga

WWW.ELMUELLE-ARRIATE.COM WWW.ELMUELLE-ARRIATE.COM ESTACIÓONDE DE ARRIATE ARRIATE ||ARRIATE (MA(MA 7400, KM 4)KM 4) ESTACIÓON ARRIATE 7400, 0034 637784 784 416 416 | 166166 370370 0034 637 | 0034 0034952 952 CLOSEDON ONMONDAYS MONDAYS CLOSED

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errania de Ronda

On your bike!

Joe Duggan takes a ride into the mountains to meet a Tour de France legend

PEDAL TO THE METAL: Joe on way to Parauta, and (below) Tour de France hero Jesus Rosado with pic of himself on the tour

We also stock a big collection of gaming consoles, lots of second hand computers and screens all with a 2 year guarantee Calle Sevilla, 58, 29400 Ronda, Málaga 952 87 24 63 info@clinicapc.es @CLINICAPCINFORMATICA

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THIRD weetabix is a must if you’re planning to cycle to Ronda from base camp San Pedro de Alcantara.

The 48 km ascent to this mountain eyrie is a tour de force on a Tour de France scale but ‘vale

Bicicletas jesús Rosado S.L. Plaza del Ahorro, 1 Telf: 952 87 02 21 29400 RONDA (Málaga) Email: jrosado@ronda.net

We sell – and rent all kinds of electric bikes

ALQUILER DE BICICLETAS TALLER / BICYCLE RENT

la pena’, as they say here in Spain.

And with my cyclist’s antennae twitching over tales of Roman amphitheatres, gorge dwellings and underground cave systems hidden around Ronda, I wasn’t going to sit and spin the wheels on my 18-gear Rocinante.

Those embarking on the climb are offered spectacular views.

Pedal past Los Arqueros Golf Club’s gilded gates and Zagaleta, home to the rich and famous. To your right, La Concha’s awe-inspiring peak points the way.

The A374 twists past thick green canopies of fir trees carpeting the landscape.

A ‘Welcome to the Serrania de Ronda’ sign greets me 22km up, as do warning signs for snow. I push on through and take a detour to Parauta, one of Andalucia’s famed white villages, guarding the gateway to the majestic Sierra de las Nieves.

A thin ribbon of road leads to this tiny village in the valley, built around the 16th century Iglesia de la Inmaculada Concepcion, cobbled streets and steaming chestnut braziers adding to its charms.

It’s a sharp climb back to the main road, but this is the home straight. The fading sunlight deepens the landscape’s burnt ochres and vivid emeralds as I power on to Ronda, serenaded by the gentle toll of cow bells.

Ronda’s old town bustles with Friday evening revellers, but I can’t linger for too long over El Tajo’s swooping splendour. I’m meeting a man who knows a thing or two about cycling.

Jesus Rosado is a born-andbred Ronda cycling legend who battled his way to Paris in the 1990 Tour de France after honing his skills in his hilly homeland. He opened his bike shop

on Plaza del Ahorro 22 years ago but he loves to recall the glory days.

“It was like a dream. I was 23 years old; a year before I was cycling in competitions, and suddenly I was cycling in the Tour de France with my idols; Miguel Indurain, Greg LeMond.

It was an incredible experience,” he says.

“This region’s unique climate certainly helped me become a good cyclist.”

Not even the angels are stirring as I leave heavenly Ronda next day at first light. I cycle towards Arriate, the countryside’s gold and green parading its Saturday morning best.

Meanders

Arriate’s emigrant monument recalls leaner times, but the town, which has grown in recent years to 4,000 residents, is now home to quality shops.

Its train station, built on one of Europe’s steepest track gradients, is part of Mr Henderson’s Railway, the 1890 brainchild of British engineer John Morrison and financier Sir Alexander Henderson.

It’s a punchy climb from here to Setenil de las Bodegas, burrowed into a gorge carved out by the River Trejo, its houses embedded into the rock like Hobbit homes.

After refuelling with café con leche and a thick slab of pan con tomate on Calle de las Cuevas, the sinuous climb out of Setenil gives way to a flat road lined with olive trees leading to the Roman ruins of Acinipo.

The 2,000-capacity Roman amphitheatre, completed circa 200 AD, crowns the escarpment, offering stunning views.

From here, black asphalt, untroubled by the rumble of cars, cuts through golden sunflower fields as craggy mountain

peaks serrate the horizon. It’s a stunning section of the ride.

Disaster strikes as my lower gears malfunction. But help is close to hand and the three bells of the Iglesia de la Virgen del Carmen ring me into Montecorto, where the 450 inhabitants are also gearing up for their first Independence Day celebrations.

Bougainvillea climbs whitewashed walls and a fresh mountain spring meanders through the village. A khaki-fatigued hunter, rifle slung over shoulder, strides past.

Also here to greet me is Claire Higgins, who has run Andalucian Cycling Experience with her husband Ashley for 10 years. The company organises cycling holidays and accommodation around Ronda. Not only has Ashley mapped my route but Claire attends to my bike’s gear issues (finding a mechanic is like divining water in a desert to the stranded cyclist).

“We fell in love with Ronda,” says Claire. “It’s got good mountain-biking, there are flat rides for families and some really big climbs for those who want to test themselves.”

As I say goodbye, the clouds burst (October and November are Ronda’s wettest months).

I seek sanctuary in a nearby restaurant before braving the elements and the steep climb towards southern Europe’s oldest subterranean cave system, the spectacular Cueva del Gato. Its waterfall and natural pool make a refreshing stop for the summer cyclist.

And it’s not all downhill from here. If you’re feeling a little saddle sore, head to Benaojan-Montejaque station where a train will speed you and your bike back to Ronda for a well-earned beer.

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November 7th - November 20th 2018

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November - November 20th 2018 November 8th -7th November 21st 2017

Take the back route into the Serrania de Ronda and visit the many castles of its western edge

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GORGEOUS vista unfolded as we drove past Casares and looped around the valley towards Gaucin, known as the ‘balcony of the Serrania de Ronda’ because of its wonderful views.

This is the back way into the Serrania and one of Europe’s loveliest drives, particularly now they have finally finished the A-377 inland.

This is the perfect alternative route to Ronda, taking in the celebrated town of Gaucin, the stunning Genal Valley and the charming market town of Jimena de la Frontera, which sits at the extreme western edge of the Serrania alongside the amazing Alcornocales natural park.

Gaucin can be seen for miles around, like a white ribbon on the peak of a hill.

It’s a charming spot, popular with upmarket tourists and walkers and has a fabulous castle, the Castillo del Águila, which sits at 688 metres above sea level and offers a classic eagle’s perch of the surrounding area.

Another half an hour on and you come to Jimena de la Frontera, a whitewashed town officially declared of Historical and Artistic Importance in 1983.

A wonderful weekend getaway, it has been inhabited by Iberians and Phoenicians, as well as the Romans, while its 13th century Moorish castle has looked out over many a bloody battle.

Today things are rather more tranquil and you will see plenty of children running around, as well as men on horseback and remarkably few tourists.

It may be a mostly quiet town but that doesn’t mean that the locals don’t know how to party and on many saturday nights it comes alive, even at the historic 38-year open

FORTIFICATIONS: The western end of the Serrania de Ronda includes Jimena de la Frontera and Gaucin (right)

The castle tour

Hostal Anon, with live music and a decent young crowd.

In the daytime though it’s all about putting your walking shoes on and heading around the steep cobbled streets… and, in particular to the castle that rises above it.

The eighth century castle became a National Monument in 1931 and has recently been renovated, but it was once part of a Moorish defence system that stretched from Olvera to Tarifa and protected the western edge of the Kingdom of Granada.

It remains as a constant reminder of Jimena’s intriguing past as a ‘frontera’ - or frontier - when it guarded the western flanks of the Arabic Al Andalus with Christian Spain.

The castle witnessed many battles as Christian armies laid frequent siege to the fortifications protecting the important Moorish

tel: (+34) 674 130 449

stronghold of Algeciras.

The view of the surrounding countryside below is amazing, in particular the sprawling forests and undulating hills of Los Alcornocales natural park behind.

One of Europe’s largest protected spaces, it is the ideal spot for putting on your walking boots and exploring.

When the Hozgarganta River swells there are dreamy waterfalls and pools to be found but, as ever, ask the locals to point you to the best spots.

The park is also home to the prehistoric paintings at Laja Alta which incredibly date back as far as the Bronze Age. After a day spent exploring the wild and stunning terrain, Jimena offers a range of enticing dining options with a mix of Spanish and Moorish cuisine.

marybeker@gmail.com www.marybeker.com

The area is known for mushroom picking and game hunting, but the one thing you can’t leave without trying is the sweet ‘piñonate’ cake.

For history lovers another great castle worth visiting is at nearby Castellar de la Frontera.

The drive up to the village passes through forests of cork trees and past the beautiful turquoise reservoir formed by the Guadarranque River.

When you get there, the small village within the old castle walls has a traditional Hispanic feel but is sprinkled with quirky shops selling a mix of Moroccan jewellery and trinkets.

When you finally head home after a weekend of castle-hopping, rejoice in the knowledge that hidden just behind the Costa del Sol’s shining bright lights lie some of Spain’s most precious mountain gems.

CONTACT US NOW

952 87 77 44 692 05 80 47

www.gaucinhouses.com www.countrypropertiesandalucia.com www.marybeker.com

Extrodinary Chalet & Villa, Ronda, Andalucia – €398,000 Bedrooms: 4 Bathrooms: 3 Ref: 27390

Country House & Cortijo Ronda, Andalucia – €500,000 Bedrooms: 5 Bathrooms: 2 Ref: 27663

Country House & Cortijo Ronda, Andalucia – €299,000 Bedrooms: 4 Bathrooms: 2 Ref: 0014-024488

Chalet & Villa, Ronda, Andalucia – €250,000 Bedrooms: 3 Bathrooms: 2 Ref: 0014-024613

Stunning Finca with Vineyard near Ronda, Inland Andalucia – €3.200.000 Ref: MB8279 A great opportunity to buy a working vineyard in the wine growing area near Ronda, inland Andalucia, set in 28 hectares of land, with 800 square meter house and 200 square meter terrace at the back.

The house is all on one level, disposed around a central courtyard and surrounded by beautiful landscaped gardens. The stunning views are to the back of the property and lead down the valley towards the old roman ruins of Acinipo. It is finished to the highest standard and with gorgeous details, such as the old marble sinks in the bathrooms and old roman gravestones set into the dry stone walls that surround the property.

www.unicasaronda.com

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errania de Ronda

November 7th - November 20th 2018

On the up again

But there are still some amazing deals around Ronda, according to Olvera Properties

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HE Serrania de Ronda property market is finally starting to go up again.

After years of flatlining prices and a shortage of clients, the number of buyers is rising, alongside the average price of properties.

“Thing’s have really picked up in the last couple of years,” explains local agent Zoe Males, of Olvera Properties.

“Last year was really healthy and the first half of 2018 was great, apart from the summer, which has been a bit quiet.

“But the prices are going up well and clients who had budgets of €40,000 to €50,000 two years ago are now looking from €70,000 to €80,000, and we’re definitely seeing a lot more interest.

Surprise

“There are also a lot more country property buyers in the €250,000 bracket these days,” she adds.

And this is no surprise given how stunning the countryside is around the area, with the landscape and views not dissimilar to the Highlands of Scotland or Snowdonia, but with sunshine.

The Welsh mother-of-four certain-

GOD’S OWN COUNTRY: Views of Zahara lake and Algodonales and (top right) Zoe and Anne Marie ly knows better than most having worked in the area since moving there in 2004.

Today, she and her business partner Anne Marie handle just over 300 properties, stretching from Ronda to Zahara de la Sierra and from Olvera to Campillos.

“It’s a big area, but we know every listing inside out and are good at matching buyers with homes,” explains Zoe. “Most of our buyers are British and

thankfully while Brexit paused a lot of people it didn’t put them off buying in the long term and many of them are now back looking again.

“While they may have been petrified at first of the consequences, they are certainly not now.”

The company, based out of the market town of Olvera, some 30 minutes north of Ronda, finds its buyers from comprehensive marketing online and from attending shows like Place in the Sun in the UK.

“We also did a show recently in Belgium and have picked up at least one client so far,” Zoe adds.

She adds that there are some incredible good deals to be had there, particularly in the sleepy towns of Algodonales and Zahara.

It has definitely been a rollercoaster ten years for Zoe Males, who first moved to Mojacar in Almeria in 2003.

While today she is getting at least half a dozen enquiries from clients

a week, this went down to less than that a month in the depth of the recession.

“We had been run off our feet in 2005 and 2006, with so many buyers, sometimes four to five a day to look after,” she explains. “In one week we actually sold six properties.

“But by 2008 the crash started to happen and by 2009 we were happy if we sold one property a month.

“In 2010 we even had six months when we didn’t have a sale. It was a very tough time.”

Thankfully the good times are finally starting to roll again and things are looking rosy.

“It’s good to see things coming back and I always knew they would,” she adds.

Visit www.andaluciaolveraproperties.com and contact Zoe at olveraproperties@hotmail.com or (0034) 628 402 957 or (0044) 7969 450 206 in the UK

Phone: +34 686 131 908 / +34 628 402 957 / UK +44 7969 450 206 email: olveraproperties@hotmail.com Calle Llana Bajo 2, 11690 Olvera, Cadiz, Spain

Olvera Properties A N D A L U C I A

R E A L

E S T A T E

www.andaluciaolveraproperties.com Find the steps to the church and castle and you’ll find us!

We specialise in helping you buy property in Olvera, a medieval town in the North of Cádiz province, 1 hour from Jerez & Sevilla airports, inland from the Costa de la Luz, where prices are still reasonable.

SIERRA VISTA 62,000€ ref: AM254

FINCA MAGNA 320,000€ ref: Z479

RUSTIC ECO PROPERTY 195,000€ ref: Z481

FINCA DE LA LUCI, 980,000€ ref: AM263

GARDEN VIEWS 66,000€ ref: Z482

2 bed 2 bath Build: 67m2

3 bed 2 bath Build: 140m2

3 bed 1 bath Build: 140m2

6 bed 4 bath Build: 358m2

2 bed 1 bath Build: 91m2

We have known this house from its very beginnings as a romantic craggy ruin set high up at the top of the town, through to total demolition and its loving reincarnation to what is presented today.

A stunning country finca set in a beautiful part of the Andalusian Hinterland with wonderful views of Zahara de la Sierra. Just a 5 minute drive from Algodonales, an hour to Jerez and Sevilla and about 35 minutes to Ronda.

We love discovering a treasure, and this property sure is one!

Set just 45 mins from Seville in the most gorgeous of locations this finca really is stunning.

Here we have a beautifully presented and perfectly wonderful country home that would and has worked as business accommodating larger groups of holiday makers on guided tours.

We love this one, on one of our favourite streets (with my favourite neighbours) with easy walking to the old town, close to the main street in Olvera.

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November 7th - November 20th 2018

Established in 2006 we specialise in inland property with an extensive portfolio of white village and country homes.

Ronda Properties Estate Agent Inland Andalusia, c/San José, 1 29400, Ronda, Malaga, Spain

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Tel: (+34) 952 187 313 Mob: (+34) 608 765 990 Email: info@rondaproperties.com www.rondaproperties.com

Cortijo, Ronda

Cortijo, Ronda

Country House, Arriate

Splendid Cortijo in a traditional courtyard setting with stable block, barn and guest accommodation, conveniently located close to the historic town of Ronda. It comprises a main house plus 2 self-contained guest houses, positioned around a beautiful courtyard.

Magnificent historic Cortijo dating from 16th Century, partially renovated and located in a privileged valley close to Ronda. Enter into a large interior patio and landscaped courtyard with pool and palm trees, the tower with the original bell was used as a lookout.

Lovely country house 164m2 with pool, set in a plot of 506m2, and close to the village for all amenities, views. Comprises 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, entrance hallway leading to spacious sitting-room with dining area, office, 2 double bedrooms and family bathroom.

Bedrooms: 6 Bathrooms: 4

Build: 828m2 Plot: 38889m2

Bedrooms: 7 Bathrooms: 3

Bedrooms: 2 Bathrooms: 2

Build: 164m2 Plot: 506m2

Ref: 89119

€1,150,000

Ref: 81253

Ref: 83663

€250,000

Build: 850m2 Plot: 460000m2

€1,600,000

Inmobiliaria - Real Estate

La Serranía Services

tel: (+34) 952 187 313 movil: (+34) 608 765 990 www.laserraniaservices.com

Welcome to Serrania Services, Ronda Estate Agents, we are inland property specialists in the Serrania de Ronda, Andalusia. We have properties for sale and to rent in Ronda and the famous White Villages, Pueblos Blancos of the Serrania de Ronda.

Historic Quarter, Ronda

Country House, Genal

Cortijo, Setenil

The apartment has wonderful, far reaching views from the balcony and comprises sitting-room diner, kitchen and 3 large double bedrooms. Ideal investment or permanent home.

A few minutes on foot from the centre and all amenities. Coast 45 km, Malaga airport 100 km.

Country house with pool, beautifully presented and located in the lovely Genal Valley amidst stunning countryside. The property is on two floors and comprises 2 double bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, elegant sitting-room with dining area, including a large feature chimney.

Superb old Cortijo for renovation with a traditional cobbled patio 80m2. Located a 5 minute drive from Setenil de Las Bodegas and only 20 km from Ronda. The property is situated on a slight incline amidst magnificent rolling countryside enjoying amazing views.

Bedrooms: 3 Bathrooms: 2

Bedrooms: 2 Bathrooms: 2

Bedrooms: 4 Bathrooms: 1

Ref: 101268

Build: 87m2

€95,000

Ref: 101278

Build: 110m2 Plot: 36200m2

€275,000

Ref: 101279

Build: 350m2 Plot: 44,000m2

€225,000

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R E A L E S TAT E A GE N T F O R T H E F I N E S T C O U N T RY P RO P E R TI ES IN A N DA LUS IA , S PA IN

UNIQUE COUNTRY ESTATE WITH STUNNING MANSION, RONDA

A dream country estate only available for a privileged few. This estate has everything you could wish for; natural beauty, a vineyard, livestock, hunting.

It will soon have an olive grove and it counts with over 1300 m2 constructed area, including a four-bedroom mansion, a three-bedroom guest house and a two-bedroom staff house. The current owner of the finca loves it so much that he is constantly investing in improvements for the property!

186-00660P

9 bedrooms

6 bathrooms

1.968 m2

2,510.000 m2

private garden

private pool

P.O.A €

MAGNIFICENT ESTATE, RONDA

Magnificent country estate in the hills of Ronda overlooking the old Roman amphitheatre and the rolling fields of Ronda la Vieja. The property is set in its own private valley.

AUTHENTIC CORTIJO, RONDA

Impressive Andalusian Cortijo property has panoramic views towards the Arriate valley and the Ronda mountains. Currently in use as a luxury rural getaway, inc one-bedroom staff house.

CORTIJO WITH COURTYARD, RONDA

6 bedrooms | 6 bathrooms | 800m² build | 268.700m² plot Ref: 186-2773P

8 bedrooms | 8 bathrooms | 809m² build | 15.300m² plot Ref: 186-00756P

6 bedrooms | 4 bathrooms | 810m² build | 35.000m² plot Ref: 186-00744P

3.300.000 €

1.495.000 €

1.150.000 €

Contact Us Villas & Fincas Country Properties S.L. Barriada de los Ponis 8B 29690 Casares, Málaga, Spain

Beautiful Cortijo with courtyard, stables, independent guest houses, a garage and a bodega. This country property is completely fenced and comprises 35.000 m2 of fertile land.

Follow Us On Phone: +34 952 895 139 Mobile: +34 608 577 696 Email: info@villasfincas.com

BUSINESS The Cadiz connection vette warships, assembled by shipbuilders, Navantia, are crucial for providing 6,000 jobs in the unemployment-stricken Cadiz area.

Sanchez said: “We are talking about valid contracts, which comply with the rules in our country, and which do not contradict Resolution 2216 of the UN Security Council.”

May seals deal THERESA May has struck a crucial Brexit agreement with Brussels that ensures UK financial services access to European markets.

The deal will guarantee the firms market access as long as British financial regulations remain in line with the EU’s arrangements.

November 7th - November 20th 2018

November 7th - November 20th 2018

PM doubles down on controversial Saudi warship

PEDRO Sanchez has defended a €1.8 billion deal which will see Spain sell five warships built in the Bay of Cadiz to Saudi Arabia.

The Prime Minister claimed the controversial deal is in ‘the interests of all Spaniards’, following the outcry over the Saudi role in the brutal Yemen war.

He said the sale of five cor-

AGONY ANT

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This chunk of the negotiations is not set in stone, but the markets reacted strongly at the news with the pound jumping in value by 1.7% over two days.

According to The Times the deal was sealed as May encouraged business leaders to lobby MPs to back her Brexit plans.

He continues to back the agreement despite rising controversy over Saudi involvement in the Yemeni Civil War, which has seen 50,000 people killed.

Saudi Arabia is the fifth largest global recipient of Spanish arms, importing €270 million worth of weaponry prior to the warships deal.

Spain’s total global arms exports amount to €4.3 billion and in 2017 they agreed future sales of €21 billion.

Sanchez’s controversial comments in parliament came after Madrid went ahead with the sale of 400 guided missiles to Saudi, despite Defense Minister Margarita Robles trying to halt the deal. Following a warning from Riyadh, that Saudi would cancel the €1.8 billion warships deal, Sanchez proceeded with the missiles sale.

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YOUR LEGAL PROBLEMS ADDRESSED BY ANTONIO FLORES

Mortgage U-turn

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Spanish Supreme Court appeals its own ruling on mortgage loan taxes, writes Lawbird’s Antonio Flores

N an unprecedented decision, the Supreme Court has ‘frozen’ a judgement passed by themselves, just 48 hours before.

This unusual situation originated in a ruling on October 16 that determined the bank is the only party with an interest in getting the loan certified by a notary, a prerogative that will allow them - as lenders - to initiate foreclosure proceedings if the borrower defaults on payments.

The members of the Third Chamber of the Administrative Section of the Supreme Court added that because the lender is awarded this privilege, they should be paying all associated costs. It makes all the sense in the world, if you think about it. Or not, when the decision directly refers to who will pay approximately €8 billion in mortgage taxes, or an average of €3,000 per loan.

The complication with this is that the same court - the Civil Law Section of the Supreme Court - had confirmed earlier in February that taxes on loans were to be paid by the borrower and to reach such a decision, they quoted the ‘consistent and constant’ Administrative Section jurisprudence on the subject matter in dispute.

Jurisprudence, or case law, we know evolves with society and cultural advances, adjusting to usages, traditions and customs. It can take decades to change.

The tax on mortgages has done a U-turn in seven months, which is inexplicable unless

we accept that most senior judges are backing the banks whilst a minority stand by the consumers, or perhaps the other way around.

Be what it may, the Court’s Press Office issued a statement confirming that decision will be reached by 31 senior judges of the Administrative Division of the Supreme Court, on November 5 (see story in news section).

In the ruling they will decide who is to pay the taxes and if the banks, whether clients should claim the refund from the lender or from their regional tax agency, which could then in turn claim it from the lender.

Email Antonio at aflores@lawbird.com

The popular lifestyle event returns to the Coast with all its regular features.. plus many new attractions Costa del Sol

Hotel IPV Palace & Spa, Fuengirola - Sat 17th & Sun 18th November, 2018 Open: 2pm to 7pm each day

The Hotel is located on the A7 at Km 207 next to Fuengirola (Sohall) Castle

ADMISSION

FREECosta del Sol

YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE OVER 50 – EVERYONE WELCOME!

Twice-daily performances by acapella singing group Reflections

Tom Keane (Cash in the Attic, Antiques Road Trip) will be advising on jewellery, watches, rings & other small collectibles

Colin Guesdon Modern dance classes

New! Mapuchi-Moda fashion FREE antique valuations with shows at 3pm both days Eric Knowles from Antiques Roadshow

Art tuition from well-known Coast artist Roger Cummiskey, President of the International Andalucian Artists Group.

Beginners welcome!

Cooking demos!

Free blood glucose & blood Wealth management, pensions and Leading expert Mike Kelly will value pressure testing from Diabetic coins, stamps and medals insurance advice from experts Support Group

For more info email info@slp.ie or ring 003531 4969028 • seniortimes.ie Plus: Art exhibition, crafts, jewellery, fashions, consumer, legal & financial advice, property... and much more!

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November 7th - November 20th 2018

Malaga law firm M1 Legal continue their battle against timeshare companies FOLLOWING on from our Time’s Up La Costa ad in the last issue of the Olive Press (see right), we are pleased to announce that actions in the Spanish courts which were subject to appeals by Club La Costa and Anfi Resorts have now been overruled in favour of our clients. Here is the story to date:

Club La Costa After an initial court decision that the case did not fall under Spanish jurisdiction, M1 Legal appealed the decision which was reversed by the Malaga Court of Appeal.

The defence argued that the case should not be heard in Spain, claiming that the contract fell under English law.

However, the appeal judge ruled that the Club La Costa (UK) PLC Sucursal en España is a Spanish entity and the case should therefore be heard in Spain.

It means the case is now being re-submitted to the court of first instance.

Coincidentally, a similar decision against Club La Costa the contractual party being Continental Resort Services S.L. These decisions enable us to re-present many cases to the court of first instance which were originally rejected on the grounds of jurisdiction.

Anfi Resorts The court of first instance issued a judgement whereby Anfi Resorts had to refund the sum of £19,607

BUSINESS

Quashed!

Advertorial

plus interest and also declared that the contract be deemed null and void.

Anfi Resorts appealed against the judgement and we are pleased to report that the court of appeal in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria has confirmed the original sentence.

Time’s UP La Costa A BRITISH couple are celebrating one of the biggest legal victories against a timeshare company in Spain, thanks to a local law firm.

Mr & Mrs Sewell-Rutter, from Southampton won 365,000 euros against La Pinta Beach Club in Tenerife after having to remortgage their home in the UK and losing most of their life savings through dodgy contracts.

These are just a few of the issues that M1 Legal are pushing forward and fighting on behalf of hundreds of clients who were mis-sold Spanish timeshares.

The historic victory came after the judge ruled that the contracts should be deemed null and void due to perpetuity. Under Spanish Timeshare Law, weeks sold after January 5 1999 cannot be in perpetuity and not for more than 50 years.

FACT! NOT FICTION, NOT FAKE! Some resorts are claiming that our news reports are fake!

SETTING A PRECEDENT subWe have 375 cases in the Spanish courts, 180 are being prepared for ion mission, and now, cases where the judge has overruled on jurisdict can be fast-tracked through the lower courts.

PROOF not We have the court sentence for every case PLUS newspapers willpubpublish such articles without seeing the proof! All victories are lished on our website at www.m1legal.com

Mr Sewell-Rutter said: “We have had timeshare weeks with La Pinta for over 10 years and every year we went there, we were approached by the resales department, pressuring us to buy additional timeshares which they promised to sell at a profit.

call For any enquiries please email: sharon@m1legal.com or 209.

562 951 0034

Sharon Johnson, of Malaga-based M1 Legal ECC, acting for the Sewell-Rutters, told the Olive Press: “As far as we are aware, this is the largest timeshare victory ever achieved.

“M1 made this possible due to the continuous dedication and commitment supporting this case.”

M1 Legal provides legal services to support European Consumer Claims who have been subject to mis-selling and subsequent breach of statutory duties by the resort in relation to holiday ownership products and services sold transnationally. These include floating week timeshares, points-based timeshare products, holiday clubs and fractional ownerships.

For any other timeshare enquiries contact Sharon Johnson at sharon@m1legal.com

PROOF’S IN THE MAKING • 350 cases in the Spanish courts • A further 177 being prepared for submission

Real People Real Results!

Club La Costa Double Victory £37,483 AWARDED Leisure Dimensions Ltd (Infiniti Club) £21,101 Awarded

Another Club La Costa Victory £19,674 AWARDED

Anfi Beach Club Victory - £20,583 AWARDED

Call us: 951 562 550 (local) 0800 6101512 (UK)

Visit us: www.ecc-eu.com

As seen on SKY TV in issue 303 FLASHBACK: Our advert from the Property Magazine

On your hike!

The popular lifestyle event returns to the Coast with all its regular features.. plus many new attractions Costa del Sol

Hotel IPV Palace wage & Spa, Fuengirola - Sat 17th & Sun 18th November, 2018 Minimum hikes will cost Open: 2pm to 7pmjobs, each day claims The Hotel is locatedbank on the A7 at Km 207 next to Fuengirola (Sohall) Castle 150,000 boss

150,000 less jobs.

A total of 0.8% of Spain’s labour force could be at risk of redundancy, warned the governor.

ADMISSION He claimed the evidence available shows that miniCosta del Sol mum wage increases always Hernández Tom KeaneUNHAPPY: (Cash in the Attic, Antiques YOU DON’T HAVE have a ‘negative effect’. Road Trip) will be advising on jewellery, Colin Guesdon TO BE OVER 50 – He said: “The increase fect, but wecollectibles have few expewatches, rings & other small Modern dance classes EVERYONE in the minimum wage in riences of high rises, none WELCOME! FREE antique valuations with small amounts has little ef- of 22%.” shows at 3pm both days Eric Knowles from Antiques Roadshow When Sanchez unveiled his 2019 budget proposals last month along with Pablo Iglesias, the Podemos leader, who supports his minority administration, the miniSPAIN’S economy is outshining the rest of Europe as its steady growth continues throughout 2018. mum wage increases were Art tuition from well-known The economy has expanded at a rate of 0.6% this quarter, the most striking change.

Coast artist Roger Cummiskey,

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“As a result, we lost most of our savings, having to remortgage our house and take out a bank loan.

In the end we had lost a considerable amount of money.”

“They put so much pressure on us each time to make us part with our money that we felt quite exhausted and gave in.

FACT March Since the Spanish Supreme Court Ruling was implemented in s. On meeting weekly our at topic routine a g becomin are victories 2015, Letop of the latest appeal victories, in the month of October alone, M1 gal has secured judgements awarding payouts of £100,000.

What is FACT and what is FAKE – You Decide!

We are also pleased to announce in the New Year, that we will be launching a consumer awareness campaign in the UK media.

Putting on a show!

T HE hugely popular 50 Plus Show is back on the Costa del Sol. Returning favourite Eric Knowles, known to millions for his appearances on BBC's Antiques Roadshow, will once again be on hand to offer free valuations of small items and larger items from photographs.

Tom Keane who has appeared on Cash in the Attic and The Antiques Road Trip, will be offering free valuations of watches, jewellery and oth-

November 7th - November 20th 2018

THE governor of the Bank of Spain has blasted government proposals to dramatically increase the minimum wage - saying it will trigger major job losses.

Pablo Hernández de Cos claimed the 22% increase in minimum wage put forward by Pedro Sanchez’s minority Socialist (PSOE) New! Mapuchi-Moda fashion government would result in

er items.

Meanwhile, internationally acclaimed expert Mike Kelly will be offering free valuations of coins, medals stamps and banknotes. At the last event Mike discovered coins worth €50,000 Euro! which is triple the rest of the euro-zone.

Free blood glucose & blood Acapella singing President of the International Domestic demand is reportedWealth to bemanagement, the reason behind Cooking pensions and the Leading expert Mike Kelly will value pressure testing from Diabetic Twice-daily performances by acapella Andalucian Artists Group. group Reflections Inequality continual boomdemos! of Spain’s economy, while exports insurance advice from experts were coins, stamps and medals Support Group singing group Reflections Beginners welcome! will also be appearSanchez’s government seen to prove a hindrance to growth. ing twice daily. proposed an increase It comes amid significantly halted crafts, growth for other EuroPlus: Art exhibition, jewellery, fashions, consumer, legal & financial advice, property... andof much more! email will info@slp.ie or ring 003531 4969028 • seniortimes.ie Well-known costa For of more theinfo show be fashion pean states, including Italy and Germany. €164.1, boosting the Spanartist Roger Cum- shows featuring designs from The Bank of Spain has however warned that economic ish monthly minimum miskey will be giving Sara Haley’s highly acclaimed growth is set to slow, due to risks including protectionism. wage from €735.9 to €900. art tuition as well Mapuchi Moda range which The government predicts the rate of expansion in 2018 will The proposals, which Heras hosting an exhi- is increasingly becoming the drop to 2.6%. nandez de Cos alleges bition by the Anda- label of choice for the Coast’s Pedro Sanchez’s minority government could also affect would create ‘job loss and lucian International discerning fashionistas. the country’s economic growth, as his administration has increased inequality’, conArtists group.

Colin Jordan will once again struggled to pass bills on cutting the deficit and has also stitute the highest miniA new attraction at be giving free modern and faced some pushback from Brussels over a tax plan in mum wage increase since 3pm on both days Latin dance lessons REFLECTIONS: Appearing twice daily Spain for 2019.

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35 35 November 7th - November 20th 2018

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November 7th - November 20th 2018

Cowboy builders Gaudi’s unfinished masterpiece the Sagrada Familia never had a building license and faces millions in construction fees ANTONI Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia in Barcelona has been saddled with a €36 million bill after a license to start construction was never obtained.

A repayment deal was reached between the city council and the UNESCO World Heritage Site-listed church, which will see the holy building fork out €22 million on improvements to Barcelona’s transport network.

Church trustees agreed the deal, as they secured the permit to continue work on Gaudi’s unfinished masterpiece, due to be finished by 2026, the centenary anniversary of his death.

The Catalan artist devoted his life to the church, which is still only 70% complete after construction began 136 years ago.

Barcelona’s mayor Ada Colau hailed the 10-year deal, saying ‘The Sagrada Familia is an icon and the most visited monument in our city.’

Improving

She said: “After two years of dialogue we have made an agreement that will guarantee the payment of the licence, secure access to the monument and facilitate local life with improvements to public transport and redevelopment of the nearby streets.”

As part of the deal, €7 million will be spent improving accessibility on the metro system while €3 million will go on keeping streets clean and safe.

The Sagrada Familia Foundation says it is ‘working on building the six central towers’ of the church, which was born to the world in 1882.

Despite never being finished, Gaudi’s basilica sees four million visitors through its doors each year and in 2017 was the first tourist attraction to receive over 100,000 reviews on TripAdvisor, where it is also ranked as the world’s most popular tourist destination.

On the money INVESTMENT in Spain could reach a 10-year high this year, forecasters have predicted.

According to CB Richard Ellis, the figures rose to €13.385 billion at the end of September, compared to €12.75 billion at the same point last year.

Billion

Total corporate property investment this year is expected to exceed €16 billion, which would be the highest for 10 years.

The largest investment (28.1% of the total) was in the office segment, followed by the hotel segment (23.7%) and the retail segment (22.9%).

Brexit bonus

THE Brits and Irish have been the main drive behind a surge in foreign investment in Spanish property.

According to the latest report from the Association of Spanish Land Registrars, foreign demand increased by 11% to 17,338 sales in the second quarter of this year compared to last.

And despite Brexit, the British were still the biggest group of foreign buyers, making up 15% of the foreign market.

It is still almost double the size of the next biggest group - the French.

The Brits are also growing faster than the next two biggest markets, with the French demand taking an 8% dip.

And it it is the Irish who have returned with a vengeance, with demand from the Emerald Isle booming by 47%.

FINALLY: Iconic building to be finished

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your refund.

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The Grapevine

by Laura Wood + 60 Learning Spanish: How to get your60 confidence back in 3 easy steps

November 7th - November 20th 2018

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1. Try to see it from the

other person’s point of view The most common way my confidence gets knocked is when I am speaking Spanish and the person I’m speaking to doesn’t understand what I’m saying, no matter how hard I am trying to get my point across.

It’s frustrating and when the other person has a puzzled look on their face it just makes you feel worse. Trust me, we

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have all been there. I have found that the quizzical look of not understanding is not an insult - they really want to listen and talk to you and the look is merely them trying to figure out what you are saying and respond in way in which you’ll understand.

2. Find out where you went wrong and correct it There are two ways of going about this. If you can pluck up

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It’s tricky mastering a language but don’t give up, writes Grapevine’s Laura Wood

ET’S get one thing out of the way, learning a language is hard.

When your confidence gets knocked, it’s difficult to pluck up the courage and try again.

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There are three simple steps to getting your confidence back and learning something new along the way!

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Visit your agent, call 342 25 49 or go to www.libertyexpatriates.es the courage at the time, ask To continue their loyalty to existing customers, for every valid from 26th September 2018 to 20th December 2018. Policies must be paid by direct debit. Not for renewals or replacements. Applies only to new comprehensive the personOffer you are chatting new willcar or inhome taken out, they will receive €60 car and home policies. Conditions and minimum premiums be applied all cases. Visitpolicy our website or ask your broker/agent for full details. to correct you. You can use Cashback, so as much as €120 for just two new policies. phrases such as “¿Es correcThere is also no limit on the number of policies taken out, The(“Is Olive – 250 7 November to decir ...?” it Press correct tox 200mm so (Junior if you Page) own say two or three cars and more than one say ...?”) or “¿Cuál es mejor? home, customers can get €60 Cashback for every new ¿... o ...?” (“Which is better? ... policy contracted.Moreover, existing customers will benefit or ...?”). from an additional customers’ discount.

If you think you know where New clients are not forgotten either. They will get €30 you went wrong, tools such as Cashback on the first policy they take out for either car or Word Reference or Spanish home insurance and for all subsequent new policies €60 Checker are great for seareach. This could mount up to €90 Cashback for just two ching for answers online. policies and even more if they have more cars or homes.

Incredibly, there is no limit on Cash back whether you’re an 3. Get back on the horse existing or new customer, so it’s the perfect time to switch your insurances to Liberty Seguros and save money and The most difficult of the three put more towards your Christmas presents! steps is undoubtedly the last one. You’ve got to get out theConvenience re into the big wide world and try again. With any language, The main condition that is applicable is that premiums are perseverance is key and you paid by direct debit and your refund is credited to that same are only going to improve by bank account. For convenience, payments can be set up making mistakes, learning both in Spain or in your home country bank account, as long from them and trying again. as it is within the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) zone.

It’s a circle, but not a vicious Customers must be aware that these offers are not for reone. I heard somewhere that newals or replacements and apply to new comprehensive you have to say a phrase cocar and home. In some cases, minimum premiums will aprrectly in practise to someone ply to be eligible for the Cashback. Some other conditions three times before it sticks. may apply.

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Liberty Seguros continues its commitment to reward loyTry not to take yourself too alty to their valued existing customers doing its utmost to seriously. It doesn’t matter in offer the best service and price possible. the long run if you trip a little Over 175,000 expat clients already chose Liberty as their inalong the way. surance provider and this figure grows almost everyday beLearning a language is a macause of the excellent service and quality of cover clients get. rathon and not a sprint (and In order to achieve this and to assist those that prefer a yes, I decided to carry on more personalised service and a face to face chat, Liberknowingly with the same ‘runty Seguros has an extensive network of 300 brokers and ning’ metaphor, so shoot me). agents that are dedicated to providing unbiased, friendly, expert advice. Speaking your own language, these brokers Remember, it is always beand agents will be pleased to advise you. tter to try and make a misWith insurance, not only for car and home, but also life, take than to not try at all. pet, business, commercial, leisure, public liability, personal Good luck! injury insurance and funeral plans, today Liberty Seguros is considered the expat’s number one choice in Spain.

Visit us at Calle El Burgo, 5, Guaro or contact us at tel. 952 457 761 / enquiries@grapevine-properties.com

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37 37 November 7th - November 20th 2018

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Tapas heavyweights

THREE Andalucians will battle it out this week in a bid to be crowned world tapas champion and bag a cool €6,000 in prize money.

The World Tapas Championship sees 48 chefs from Spain’s top bars and restaurants go head to head.

Antonio Rodriguez Bort from the Se-

Festive lift WINTER is coming on the Costa del Sol, but La Sala Banus will be keeping things toasty with their allnew pop up Ski Lodge.

Ready in time for Christmas, Puerto Banus’s famous restaurant will be tempting punters with spiced mulled wine, hot chocolate and a sumptuous spread of festive food.

La Sala promises ‘dazzling snow, twinkling lights and plenty of festive cheer, bringing you the ultimate alpine ski experience.’

Christmas parties and sports teams are among those welcomed to La Sala’s version of Sierra Nevada, and the eatery, frequented by the rich and famous, is already taking bookings.

Party

It is offering a two-course Christmas Party Menu for just €19.95, which can be upgraded to include a welcome glass of Cava and half bottle of house wine for just €29.95 per person.

Available every Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and starting at 8pm in the Live Lounge with live entertainment and exclusive Sala Ski Lodge access, this is one winter wonderland you won’t want to miss.

Email reservations@ LaSalaBanus.com or call 952 814 145 to find out more.

villa’s Ispal restaurant and Juan Antonio Martín Vilches of Bar Casa Malojo lead the line for the Andalucian capital.

The pair are joined at the competition by fellow Andalucian Jesús Sánchez González from the Meson Los Madroños in Huelva.

Against the current

Spanish chefs unite to end electric pulse fishing which ‘damages ocean’ and ‘breaks backs of fish’

HAD ENOUGH: Head chefs Dacosta, Bort and (far right) Arzak

A COTERIE of Spain’s top chefs have joined a lobby against the use of electric pulse fishing in European waters.

The industrial fishing method electrocutes fish on the seabed to make them swim into nets, but environmental campaigners say it causes extensive damage.

Chefs Quique Dacosta, Blanca and Samuel Moreno, Veronica Garcia, Luisa Lorenzo, Maria Malvar, Mar Suau, Angel Miguelez, Mario Sandoval, Juan Mari and Elena Arzak and Xavier Rocas have signed a manifesto against the practise.

"We refuse to work with seafood products that condemn our future and that of the ocean.”

The campaign is organised

by BLOOM, a French environmental organisation

and backed by influential Michelin star winners such as Christopher Coutanceau, and chefs' associations including the Relais & Chateaux network and Euro-Toques, which has 800 members in Spain and 300 members in France.

Proponents of the fishing method say only a weak electric current is used but BLOOM warns: "Electric currents have no mercy on marine life: the whole marine life is electrocuted. Data is lacking with regards to the impacts of electrocution on marine life, especially on electro-sensitive species, like sharks and rays, but also on eggs, plankton and water chemistry. There is one notable study by Dutch group IMARES, which showed that 50% to 70% of large cod caught by pulse trawls had

Upping the arti THE small village of Vega Baja in Alicante will be the artichoke capital of the world in 2019.

The celebration marks the 10th International Sympo-

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sium on Artichoke, which will take place in March 12 to 15 next year in the picturesque city of Orihuela.

The event, held every three years, is devoted to artichokes and it brings scientists and businesses together.

It will be co-organized by the Miguel Hernandez University (MHU) together with the associations Artichoke of the Vega Baja and Artichoke of Spain.

Food Technology professor at MHU, Pedro Zapata, said the symposium will include sessions on biodiversity marketing and the nutritional properties of artichokes.

their spine broken after an electric shock."

The practice was banned in 1998, but in 2006 an ex-

emption allowed the Netherlands to license 84 boats and the UK to license 12 boats for electric pulse fishing in the North Sea.

Oil’s not as it seems HALF of Spain's bestselling 'extra virgin' olive oil brands are falsely labelled, according to a new study by Spain's Consumers and Users Organisation (OCU).

The consumer group found that out of 41 brands of olive oil tested, only 21 qualify for the premium 'extra virgin' classification, the rest belonging to the lesser 'virgin' category.

Among the 20 charlatan drizzles named and shamed by OCU were Lidl's Olisone at €4.92 a litre and Aldi's Olearia De Olivar at €3.99 a litre, which were both deemed 'poor quality'.

Oleoestepa's D.O.P.-certified oil came top in the study at €5.34 a litre, while Carrefour's own extra virgin was rated second-best at a much more modest €3.63 a litre.

Taste, quality and care of the fruit, and acidity, were among the oil qualities that were tested by OCU in their independent laboratories.

"No physicochemical problems have been detected, the only problem was in the taste test, which is an unreliable method," said Primitivo Fernández, the director of the National Association of Edible Oils Bottlers and Refiners (Anierac).

St Georges European have been relocating families and businesses across Europe for over 10 years. As one of the UK’s only dedicated European movers, we operate our own fleet of purpose built vehicles manned by our own experienced trained crews.

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38 38

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FOOD,DRINK & TRAVEL

November 7th - November 20th 2018

tale of two porks In the second part of our serialisation of an exciting new food book, Fiona Dunlop looks at two popular local dishes inspired by two different restaurants

Arrieros, Sierra de Aracena

C

hef Luismi López and his wife, Adela Ortiz, are seated at their local café carved out of a former bull-ring. Above towers the village church and downhill stretches a web of cobbled streets and whitewashed houses. “Linares only has about 300 inhabitants” Luismi points out, “So our clients come from nearby towns like Aracena and Alájar. They dress up smartly to come for dinner it’s an occasion.”

Arrieros is a rustic-chic restaurant that flows onto a flowery terrace. Outside, neighbours’ chit-chat and church bells vie with a cacophony of hundreds of birds nurtured by the surrounding nature reserve. The verdant woodlands are also famously home to Iberian pigs which end up as superlative solomillo or jamón ibérico so it is no surprise that Luismi loves cooking with pork.

“Things have changed in the village since I grew up here” he continues. “As a child we ate lamb, kid goat, brains and liver - now I want to revive goat and offal, it’s something we have lost.” Adela, elegant and energetic, tells me how,

twenty years ago, they tossed a coin to see who would be chef and who would be front of house. Luismi got the cooking job, leading to two years of catering school and work at a Michelin-star restaurant. That experience shows in his attention to detail and passion for local food. It also means that some people consider Arrieros to be the best restaurant in the province of Huelva.

TWO recipes from opposite ends of Andalucia and opposite ends of the culinary spectrum show different approaches to pork, the region’s favourite meat. In the days of Al-Andalus, as it was forbidden by both Judaism and Islam, only Christians ate it. With the

Reconquista and expulsion of Jews and Muslims, eating pork became a sign of identity and proof of belief, in some cases to keep the Inquisition at bay. The habit has lasted – and tender Iberian pork is one of Andalucia’s greatest products.

MUST READ: Andaluz – a Food Journey through Southern Spain, now available for pre-order on Amazon

Marinated Iberian pork with raisin Ibérica en escabeche con cuscus couscous/ Presa de pasas

This is a real muscle-building dish as you need to work energetically to keep the semolina moving while it is cook ing. It was originally a poor man ’s from stale breadcrumbs or balls of flour and water dough. That vers dish made ion surv elsewhere, but the superior semolina migas are a local passion round here ives served in Almería’s bars as a sma , often ll tapa.

Serves 4 sprigs of coriander for garnish 600g pork loin Couscous 1 head of garlic, broken into clov es 2 carrots, peeled and sliced Extra virgin olive oil 1 leek, roughly chopped 2 cloves garlic, finely sliced 90 ml aged sherry vinegar 1 small onion, finely chopped 100ml fino or white wine 250g couscous grains 3 – 4 cloves 250ml vegetable stock 1 tsp cumin seeds 1 red pepper, hulled and finely 1 tbsp fresh oregano chopped bay leaf 4 thin aspa ragus spears, woody end twist of black pepper broken off then cut in half extra virgin olive oil 50g seedless raisins salt 1 tsp ground cumin Bring the pork to room temperatu re and hour or so before cooking.

Heat some olive oil in a frying-pa n over high heat and quickly brow n the pork on both sides. Remove the heat and cook a further minute and set aside. Lower on each side. Transfer the pork to a Toss in the garlic, carrots and leek . Sauté until tender then add the wine plate, leaving the oil in the pan. minutes. Remove from the heat and , vinegar and spices, season then simmer for 15 – 20 submerge the pork loin in this esca About 20 minutes before serving, beche (marinade) for 4 hours. make the couscous.

In a large saucepan, heat some olive oil over a low heat and saut é the cumin and asparagus and continue to cook until the vegetables are tend garlic, onion and pepper for 5 minutes. Add the In a separate saucepan, heat the vegetable stock. Once it starts to boil, er. Stir in the raisins, season with salt, then set aside. the grains to absorb the stock for 3 minutes. Return the pan to a low tip in the couscous and remove from the heat. Allow heat grains with a fork to separate them . Tip the couscous into the saucepan , stir in 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil and fluff up the Arrange the couscous on a serving of vegetables and stir to combine. dish, lay the pork loin on top and garnish with a sprig or two of coria nder.

w Ne lla rbe t a M o tsp ho www.cascadamarbella.com | +34 951567849 Urb Montua, 39, 29602 Marbella

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November 7th - November 20th 2018

November 7th - November 20th 2018

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Restaurante El Parque, Cabo de Gata

E

l Parque feels like the last outpost of civilisation in south-east Spain. It sits at the base of a serpentine road up to the Cabo de Gata lighthouse commanding a headland known to Greek and Phoenician sailors thousands of years ago. From here the coast swings north to demarcate Spain’s largest volcanic area, wild, semi-deserted and a protected parque natural.

The restaurant itself belongs to Manuel Barbero, 78, who gravitates between Madrid and the fishing-hamlet of La Almadraba de Monteleva, right beside the salt-pans of Las Salinas. Despite this remoteness, it is barely half an hour’s drive from Almería.

“Es mi tierra!” (it’s my land!) he exclaims when I ask him how he found the spot back in 1990. In those early days it was a typical chiringuito (beach bar) with walls of cane and a floor of sand. Now upgraded into a large wooden cabin with views of the sierra and the sea, it magnetizes locals who pile in for perfectly cooked, ultra-fresh seafood and succulent arroces. These rice dishes are skilfully prepared by the tireless cook, María Martinez, although the recipes are Manuel’s. Front of house another María keeps this popular institution buzzing all year round. May those Valencian inventors of paella up the coast eat their hearts out!

Migas Almerienses / Almerian ‘migas’ or crumbs This is a real muscle-building dish as you need to work energetically moving while it is cooking. It was originally a poor man’s dish made to keep the semolina or balls of flour and water dough. That version survives elsewhere, from stale breadcrumbs but the superior semolina migas are a local passion round here, often served in Almería’s bars as a small tapa.

Serves 4 150g chorizo for frying, sliced 100g morcilla or blood sausage, sliced 2 heads of garlic, peeled 150g bacon, cut into large pieces 2 green peppers, seeded and cut into 500 ml water strips 500g semolina 150ml olive oil Salt to taste salt to taste 100g olives, stoned and split In a paella pan or a deep frying-pan, heat the olive oil. Fry the garlic split into two until golden, transfer to a plate leaving the oil in the pan.

Sauté the strips of pepper in the same pan until lightly browned and tender then remove to the plate. In the same pan fry the blood sausage and chorizo slices for 5 minutes or so, turning them, then the bacon and continue to fry for 5 minutes or so until crispy. Transfer to the plate.

Using the same oil add the water, then stir in the semolina with a pinch of salt. Use a metal spatula to turn the semolina as its cooks over a medium heat, pushing, scraping and turning constant is ready when it has turned a golden colour, has a toasty smell, tastes ly, adding more water if it thickens too much. It of bread and has become quite elastic. This takes about 30 – 40 minutes.

Once done, remove from the heat and share between individual dishes with all the fried ingredients on top. Serve with a plate of olives on the or arrange on one large serving plate, garnishing side.

Published by Interlink Books, USA www.interlinkbooks.com Keep up to date with Fiona’s latest work at www.fionadunlop.com, Facebook: fionadunlopfoodandtravel and Instagram: @ffdunlop

The perfect Autumn escape.

•

Plaza de España, 16. Vejer de la Frontera • Tel. 34 956 447 730 www.califavejer.com

Open Tuesday to Sunday. until 22.00 Closed 12.00 until mid February

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FOOD,DRINK & TRAVEL

November 7th - November 20th 2018

Not Roughing it!

November 7th - November 20th 2018

To celebrate the launch of the new Rough Guide to Andalucia, author Geoff Garvey tells the Olive Press about some new chestnuts, including a rooftop pool

T

HERE’S always something new under the sun in Andalucia. So, if you were thinking by the time we’d reached the ninth edition of the Rough Guide to Andalucía we’d have nothing new to say, you’d be quite wrong.

A maxim in the gardening world has it that the best gardeners never stop learning and the same seems to apply to writing about a region as richly diverse as Andalucia.

Of course, the world-class star attractions are always there waiting to be revisited – the mighty Alhambra, Córdoba’s Mezquita and the fabulous Alcázar in Sevilla – and repeated visits bring deeper appreciation and understanding.

But a new edition is also about finding that off-the-beaten-track place that you’d somehow never come across before.

And even in my own home province of Cádiz (I live up near Grazalema), I was recently astonished to discover

PLACES TO SEE: One of the many coastal restaurants and (right) the Caminito del Rey in Malaga province an amazing Visigothic church in the woods above Barbate.

This 1,300-year old edifice still has its magnificent cupola intact and although vandals have daubed graffiti on it, it’s set to soon be protected by the authorities.

Nearby, in the grounds of a charming country hotel you can also find the astonishing Palomar de la Breña, a dovecote dating from the eighteenth century and capable of holding over

8,000 birds.

The dovecote once produced carrier pigeons for the Spanish Indies fleet who used them to communicate with Spain while out in the Atlantic and is one of the largest in the world.

When you get weary of tramping around archeological sites or marble museum floors, it’s time for a bit of weight-off-your-feet indulgence. And we’ve refreshed our previous eating tips with some interesting arrivals.

Eating fish in sight of the sea is a special treat in Andalucía and one of the most charming places to do it is at the aptly named La Ola (the wave) in La Isleta del Moro (Almería province).

All the fish is caught with their own boat and the house special here is a mouthwatering arroz con bogavante (lobster rice).

At the opposite end of the region, in the verdant Sierra de Aracena (Huelva province), there’s another wonderful

little restaurant called Mesón Arrieros.

When autumnal setas (mushrooms) are in season this is the place to be and they also serve up a mean solomillo de cerdo ibérico, succulent black pig fed on acorns.

New on the tapas scene meanwhile in the city of Cádiz is La Candela, an endearingly slovenly barrio bar serving outstanding low-cost tapas – the ravioli de pato (duck ravioli) is a dream on a plate.

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with DINING SECRETS of ANDALUCIA.com www.theolivepress.es

November 7th - November 20th 2018

THEY CERTAINLY KNOW THEIR STUFF THE Rough Guide doesn’t just report the best walks, dining experiences or hotels, but it lists the best media outlets too.

And it seems their expert team have hit the nail on the head when it comes to advising which are the best newspapers to read in Andalucia.

“The best of the bunch is the Olive Press, a fortnightly paper which frequently campaigns on local and regional issues.”

Many thanks to the Rough Guide team for recognising our hard work!

PRAISE: From the latest Rough Guide book

CULTURE HOTSPOT: Andalucia offers dozens of artsy offerings And interestingly, Córdoba has become something of a dining out Mecca with the chefs at Noor and El Choco both gaining a coveted Michelin star, while a arrival on Malaga’s culinary scene is Oleo on the banks of the Guadalmedina and close to the contemporary art museum. As well as a top-class restaurant there’s also a sushi menu and their tuna with truffle cream is a big hit.

Ramblers are in their element in Andalucía and few places are more alluring than the northeastern corner where you find the rugged mountainous Parque Natural de Cazorla, the largest protected area in Spain and the second largest in Europe.

We recommend the Río Borrosa hike in the heart of the park which follows the river upstream to reach the Salto de los Organos, one of the park’s most spectacular waterfalls.

En route you’ll have the chance to spot some of the park’s spectacular wildlife which includes the long-horned cabra hispanica (wild mountain goat), deer, wild boar and a host of

birds and butterflies. Among the former is the spectacular Lammergeier, or bearded vulture, recently reintroduced to the park after hunters had killed the last breeding pair in the 1980s.

When it comes to nightlife, for sheer musical drama it’s hard to beat a genuine flamenco tablao (show).

Some of the established venues such as Sevilla Los Gallos and the Peña Platería in Granada are fine places to experience flamenco puro (true flamenco).

We’ve added some new venues this time, including the Puro Arte flamenco theatre in Jerez where professional dancers and singers will bring you close to the essence of this irresistible folk art.

Cádiz town’s Peña La Perla – named after one of the city’s flamenco greats – is another wonderfully atmospheric old peña (club) overlooking the sea where earthy flamen-

co often happens spontaneously during the week with a regular show on Friday nights.

At the end of a long and busy day it’s always a relief to come back to a hotel that feels like home from home. In addition to the guide's tried and trusted old faithfuls we’ve added some new discoveries.

These include La Patria Chica, an impressive renovated 19 t h - c e n t u r y mansion in the charming town of Priego de Córdoba – itself an unsung gem stuffed with a host of fine Baroque churches.

Then there is the Balcón de Córdoba in Córdoba city is a former seventeenth-centur y convent now transformed into a luxurious boutique hotel oozing tranquility and charm with patios filled with tinkling fountains and ancient stones.

While in Granada a piece of hotel history has made a welcome reappearance after being closed for 30 years. The Hotel Washington Irving, sited on the Alhambra’s doorstep, opened its doors in 1820 and following a complete makeover is now filled with four-star opulence.

Whether this would appeal to former guests such as hispan-

DON’T ROUGH IT - WIN IT!

ICONIC: Arab structures are dotted around the region

Now you can win a copy of the brand new ninth edition of the Rough Guide by answering the following questions: What is Geoff’s favourite walking region?

His favourite new place to go out for a show?

Send your answers to newsdesk@ theolivepress.es Three lucky winners will get copies of the guide…

ist Richard Ford, Ernest Hemingway or Washington Irving himself – who all knew how to rough it – is debatable but there’s little doubt that Federico García Lorca (known to use the hotel lobby’s piano) would have revelled in the new and delightful rooftop pool.

November 7th - November 20th 2018

41

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November 7th - November 20th 2018

HEALTH

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November 7th - November 20th 2018

Keeping an eye on diabetes

How you can look out for telltale signs of eyesight damage

due to diabetes, writes Specsavers Opticas in Marbella

D

IABETES is the leading cause of vision impairment and blindness among working age adults. There are currently 415 million suffers worldwide and it

is predicted to increase to 640 million by 2040.

To mark World Diabetes Day on November 14, Nerea Galdos from Specsavers Opticas in Marbella is answering your questions on eye disease diabetic retinopathy.

What is diabetic retinopathy?

Diabetic retinopathy, a condition which affects vision, occurs when the blood vessels in the retina are damaged by the changes in blood sugar levels. This leads to blurry vision which can often come and go throughout the day.

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they are detected early.

Once vision is lost, it cannot be restored.

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It is important that blood sugar, blood pressure and cholesterol levels are controlled. In many cases this can be achieved through good nutrition and healthy eating rather than medication, so with the right information you can take back control of diabetes and lead a full life.

Specsavers Opticas have stores in Marbella and Fuengirola on the Costa del Sol. They offer advanced eye tests using a digital retinal camera, allowing the optician to take a detailed picture of the back of the eye. These comprehensive eye tests are able to detect the signs of diabetic retinopathy. If these signs are identified during an eye test, patients are referred to a doctor for further tests and treatment.

How can I check if my sight has been affected?

Not all diabetes causes sight loss, but it is important to have regular screenings and eye tests so that any problems or changes can be monitored.

Most complications can be treated, however it is vital that

Don’t shun the sheath!

SEXUALLY Transmitted Diseases (STD) are making an unwelcome comeback in Spain as condoms go out of

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MELANOMA is on the march in Spain, according to a top dermatologist.

Half of all 65-year-olds will have suffered skin cancer in some form with 25% developing tumors. Melanoma, the least common but most aggressive variant is responsible for 90% of skin cancer deaths and in recent years cases have increased.

However according to Susana Puig, head of dermatology at Barcelona’s Hospital Clinic, survival rates are improving ‘spectacularly’ - from just two per cent to 50%, thanks to early detection and new research on immunity and genetics.

Another key factor is prevention, since 90% of skin cancers result from sunburn and over-exposure to UV radiation via sunbeds.

While most cancers appear on visible body parts like the neck or head, they can also attack feet and nails, which makes early detection more difficult.

The Dermatoscopy is one non-intrusive technique which uses a lens to detect skin abnormalities.

raising their ugly heads due to sexual health myths, warned Maria Jesús Alonso, vice-president of the Sociedad Andaluza de Contracepcion.

A staggering 10,000 unwanted pregnancies among young Spanish women under 19 is another side effect of shunning the sheath.

Sexual

Alonso warned that while girls usually have their first sexual encounter at 16, prophylactics are unpopular due to the myth that they will ‘destroy the romanticism or decrease the pleasure’.

Methods like the morning after pill don’t prevent pregnancy but merely block the ovule from the womb and do not have the abortive effect claimed, he said, adding: “The best way to prevent any accident is double protection: any hormonal method plus a condom”.

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Stroke alert ONE in six Spaniards will suffer a stroke, now the second cause of death in the country.

Every year between 120,000 and 130,000 new cases are diagnosed, many leading to severe disability, according to the Spain’s Neurological Society (SEN).

Although strokes are most common in people aged 60 to 65 years, more cases are cropping up among younger adults due to negative lifestyle choices. High cholesterol, hypertension and obesity are other risk factors.

Healthy

The SEN recommends adopting a healthy lifestyle early on and undergoing periodic medical examinations.

Since a stroke can strike without warning, the sooner the patient is taken to hospital the higher the chances of survival.

Symptoms of having suffered a stroke include severe speech difficulties and comprehension, paralysis of one side of the body, loss of sight and a painful headache.

Spain on the Brain Spanish lab slows down Alzheimer’s with groundbreaking plasma extraction procedure A SPANISH laboratory could hold the secret to halting Alzheimer’s disease, which affects 800,000 people in Spain.

Pharmaceutical giant Grifols, based in Barcelona, claim their treatment reduces the speed of Alzheimer’s progression by 61%, in moderate-stage sufferers who need daily supervision.

What is crucial about this scientific breakthrough is that it is not a drug, but a ‘plasma extraction procedure’ to remove the neurodegenerative proteins thought to cause the disease.

"It is the first time in 15 years that positive results have been obtained from a multicenter clinical trial in the slowdown

of Alzheimer's disease,” said Spanish Society of Neurology spokesman Guillermo García Ribas.

Grifols’ treatment works by removing the beta-amyloid protein from the brains of dementia patients, which are then replaced by the more positive albumin protein.

Unclear

In the plasma exchange of the proteins - also called plasmapheresis - the albumin contributes antioxidants and anti-inflammatory properties.

As of yet however, it is unclear how the new treatment will be included in medical use. Óscar López, director of the

43 43 November 7th - November 20th 2018

November 7th - November 20th 2018

Transplant tragedy TWO kidney transplant patients have died in Andalucia after their new organs infected them with the herpes simplex virus (HSV).

The Virgen del Rocio University Hospital in Sevilla said it regretted the deaths ‘deeply’ and said it had

launched an investigation.

The National Transplant Organisation said in the matter of transplants, the herpes virus can often go undetected.

It added that given 70% of people under 50 have the virus, it very rarely fatal for transplant receivers.

Alzheimer's Disease Research Center at the University of Pittsburgh said: “The effect of the treatment is very remarkable.

“These findings open new avenues for the investigation of neurodegenerative disorders in adults and can offer Alzheimer's patients a new treatment modality.”

Plasmapheresis is a widely-used technique already, so Grifols are unable to patent their new treatment, but they are expected to continue releasing the results of the initial study next year.

Despite this, the announcement saw Grifols’ stock prices skyrocket, with several investment banks reportedly being interested.

By 2030 the World Health Organization (WHO) estimate that Alzheimer’s disease could affect 75 million people worldwide.

S

ONTEC is a well established independent Hearing Practice covering the Costa del Sol and Gibraltar and is stocked with the latest products from around the world.

Dedicated to providing the highest standard of care possible, it offers hearing solutions as well as ear protection.

It is now offering the ReSound LiNX Quattro, the world’s first Premium-Plus hearing aid which offers a brilliant sound experience with streaming capabilities, applicable IVA will be valid for the product at the time of purchase.unrivalled The value of 2 times a unique cloud-based feature VA is deducted against the offical retail price of SONTEC hearing aids.

Offer only applies that allows remote deagainst SONTEC hearing aids. Promotion valid until 30/11/2018. vice fine-tuning and the world’s most advanced rechargeable battery.

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November 7th - November 20th 2018

COLUMNISTS

November 7th - November 20th 2018

Breakfast with Berkoff

I

T was the Marbella International Film Festival last month and the shy, retiring soul that I am, I found myself once again acting as Master of Ceremonies at the Gala Awards Dinner on the final night.

The running joke amongst my friends at the moment is that I’m so addicted to the limelight that when I open the fridge door and the light comes on, I do a five-minute intro…

As well as announcing awards at the gala, I also had the opportunity to interview the actor, writer and director, Steven Berkoff.

To say that I am a massive Berkoff fan is somewhat of an understatement. As Uncle Monty would say, ‘as a callow youth I too crept the boards’ and during my year in London trying to get into drama school – 12 months that mainly saw me in full ‘Withnail’ mode,

LEGEND: Giles meets Berkoff for brekkie (credit: Marbella Diaries)

shivering in a bedsit on the Fortis Green Road – I performed a three minute modern audition speech from Berkoff’s play ‘West’.

Needless to say, theatre’s loss was (questionably) journalism’s gain, as after a year’s worth of rejection – including the director at the Drama Studio in Chalk Farm telling me that I should consider a career in sales – I gave up on being the Burton of my generation, although I occasionally dabbled in amateur dramatics, appearing at the Seven Dials Club in Covent Garden. Later I dabbled in a bit of work as an extra on Eastenders, when they filmed in Marbella, and most bizarrely, appearing as a Genie in a Romanian chocolate bar TV advert where I was sprayed dark brown, wore a pair of oversized Spock ears and had a massive ponytail stapled to my head. Thankfully it isn’t on YouTube…

It can always be a little disconcerting to meet your heroes, however. Some, like Rik Mayall, are

Giles Brown meets his theatre hero and comes over all starstruck

brilliant, while others like the 80s I need not have worried. Berkoff singer who I was a big fan of, can was frank, fascinating and had be a total let down. opinions on everything from EdEven worse, you can end up cogar Allen Poe, to processed food, ming out with the most inane to package holidaymakers and comments such as, ‘I really like several points in between. He your music’, when meeting Ja- posed for a photo with me and miroquai’s Jay Kay, or my female then I dug out my battered copy journo friend who of his plays, inwent completely cluding my audito pieces when tion speech from Berkoff was interviewing West. The great Ewan McGregor frank, fascinating man signed it and was horrified for me and then and had an when she played flicked through to the interview his one-man play opinion on back to hear her Harry’s Christown school girl mas. everything giggling.

“Goodness”, he So I was more commented, than a little “How did I reapprehensive at interviewing Bermember all those lines?”. With koff, who is not known to suffer a one-man play about the fall of fools and famously dismissed Harvey Weinstein scheduled for some of his Hollywood roles in next year, something tells me films such as Rambo and Beverly that the brilliant Berkoff - who Hills Cop, as being the means to won Best Actor at the Festival raise money for his more serious will be more than able to rememprojects. ber his lines.

Privatise Mijas?

No way Jose!

MIJAS MATTERS

By Bill Anderson

As rumours circulate about the privatisation drive in Mijas, Bill Anderson takes a look at prior attempts to sell off its services

I

OF PORTRAYING MARBELLA’S BEST

® essential marbella magazine W W W. E S S E N T I A L M A G A Z I N E . C O M

about 2 million more than it currently costs.

Again, the private company needs its profit margin.

I remember the late 70’s and 80’s when Margaret Thatcher set out to sell off public companies and privatise services in public bodies. Right or wrong, this was about getting services for less money than the public organisations could provide them for. As I recall there was strong opposition from the Labour Party and all of those to the left of the Socialists, in part because of their fear of job losses.

This is what makes Spain different. It is precisely the Socialists, the Communists, and Ciudadanos (no one quite knows what they are yet), who are pushing these privatisations through, with the conservative PP opposing them!

So why are they doing it? For the same reason as I got someone in to fix my roof; they are incompetent and don’t know how to run these services efficiently and effectively, so they are buying it in at our expense.

Wouldn’t it just be cheaper to change the bungling government team, put in councillors who do know, and save ourselves millions?

Roll on May 26th, 2019!

Across: 7 Liberate, 8 Trot, 9 Toughie, 10 Amid, 11 Stream, 12 Handel, 14 Privet, 16 Needn’t, 18 Adds, 20 Cabaret, 21 Gnat, 22 Anorexic.

17 YEARS

HAD a leaky roof recently with the heavy rain.

I don’t know how to fix a leaky roof, so I paid someone who did know to come and fix it for me.

Hang onto that thought for a moment.

There have been a lot of documents circulating over recent days, mainly proceeding from the Podemos ‘communist’ party, about the privatisation of services in Mijas. Of course, they are fiercely against any such moves.

So, what is the history of privatisation in Mijas?

It started off with a plan to outsource the collection of local taxes to the provincial government (Diputación de Malaga), the idea being that they collect the taxes and we pay them to do it. Hence, even if they were more efficient than Mijas Council at gathering in the taxes, there would be no guarantee that we would end up with more money in the bank, as it would have cost us about €5 million to have them do it. On this occasion, Maldonado lost the vote, with the Podemos councillor and the independent voting against the motion with the PP. Then, Mayor Maldonado and Co had the idea of privatising the sports services provided by the council. For the first time in the 20 years that I know of, there were demonstrations in the street with workers and service users protesting against the proposal.

This time it was approved with the support of the communist councillor. This is now costing Mijas about 2 million more than a council-run service, as the private company managing it needs its profit margin.

Third came the proposed privatising of the parks and gardens service. This has gone out to tender but does not include the parks and green areas in the urbanisations. The contract is believed to be worth around 4 million euros,

Down: 1 Dictator, 2 Reduce, 3 Mathematician, 4 Telephone book, 5 Attain, 6 Gobi, 13 Einstein, 15 Visits, 17 Eerier, 19 Dune.

SPORT

www.theolivepress.es

FA boss in cuffs

THE vice president of Spain’s football association (RFEF), Andreu Subies, has been arrested as part of Operation Soule, a Spanish corruption probe.

Spanish football’s number two joined the governing body in May after Luis Rubiales was appointed president and previously held the post of president of the Catalan Football Federation (FCF).

Siphoned

A police investigation into corruption in the Spanish game also saw former president Angel Maria Villar resign as he faced allegations, as authorities claim money had been siphoned off from the FCF. The Spanish FA said: “The RFEF expresses the utmost respect for the legal actions, following the events that took place this morning.

"We want to highlight the necessary respect for the presumption of innocence."

CUFFED: Subies

If you have a sports story, newsdesk@theolivepress.es or call 0034 951 273 575

Breaking point Dogged by injuries, Rafael Nadal is forced to hang up his racket for the season just days after losing his world number one title to rival Djokovic NADAL has suffered a double blow after an ankle surgery ended his season just days after he lost his world number one ranking to Novak Djokovic.

The Spaniard withdrew from the Paris Masters due to abdominal injuries moments before going on court. On November 5 he announced his early end to the season on social media.

The 17-time grand slam-winner said: “I am writing these words to you as the end of the season.

“It was a difficult year, very good at the tennis level when I was able to play and at the same time very bad in terms of injuries.”

As well as the tennis star’s ongoing right knee injury and his abdominal troubles, Spain’s number one revealed he would also undergo an ankle operation.

The surgery now means Nadal will miss the ATP Finals in

London, which he admitted he ‘really wanted to play’.

Nadal’s latest injury woes come after Serbian, Novak Djokovic stole his number one ranking after the Spaniard pulled out of the Paris Masters.

Knocked

The Serb, who has 14 grand slam titles, was knocked out of the competition by Karen Khachanov 7-5, 6-4, despite claiming Nadal’s top tennis crown.

Paul Quétin, fitness trainer for the French Tennis Federation spoke about about Nadal’s injuries and claimed if he played ‘he would have possibly made his injury worse’.

Despite Nadal’s news, he can reflect on a fantastic season overall, achieving a record of 45-4 and winning his record 13th French Open title.

47 47 November 7th - November 20th 2018

November 7th - November 20th 2018

Par-fect

OUT OF ACTION: Nadal

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Hocked to pieces SPAIN’S men lost the Four Nations hockey tournament to the Netherlands at the weekend after they thrashed England 3-0 in the semi-finals.

The hotly-anticipated final hockey clash in Valencia came after four countries, including Ireland battled it out for the prestigious Four Nations title.

England finished last overall, following a 2-2 penalty shoot-out loss to Ireland on Sunday, although Englishmen Luke Taylor, Harry Martin, Zach Wallace and Adam Dixon all got on the scoresheet.

Spain can look ahead and England will have to gather themselves for the 2018 Men's Hockey World Cup which begins at the end of November in Bhubaneswar, India.

MURCIA’S La Manga golf club has been named the Best Golf Venue in Europe for the second year in a row.

The golf resort in Costa Calida was honoured with the prestigious title at the World Golf Awards which are known as the ‘Oscars of Golf’.

The stunning resort boasts three 18-hole courses, sporting facilities and the five-star Hotel Príncipe Felipe.

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Nearly there

FINAL WORDS

ESTEPONA’S new stadium complex is now 60% complete according to the city council, with the access road, car park and supply pipes among the sections completed.

advice

Pigs on the march

Voted

Slow down A ROYAL Decree will reduce the speed limit from 100 km per hour to 90 from the new year, aiming to reduce road accident deaths, as 1,013 people were killed in 2017.

Rest in peace HUNDREDS of El Borge residents have gathered to pay respects to the Malaga town’s socialist mayor Salvador Fernández Marín, who died from asphyxiation on his family farm.

FREE

Vol. 13 Issue 304 www.theolivepress.es November 7th - November 20th 2018

hot to trot

British expat achieves dream after medalling at gruelling endurance horse race A BRITISH expat has seen her ‘dreams come true’ after placing third in a gruelling long distance horse race in Badajoz.

Caroline Grahm, f r o m L a n cashire, made the podium at the weekend while representing Andalucia, despite being one of the oldest competitors at 47 years old.

Grahm, who has lived in Estepona for 20 years, battled

By Charlie Smith

it out against dozens of other experienced riders in the 60km endurance test.

The mother-of-four, who raced with her Anglo-Arab horse, nicknamed Champagne War Horse, only took up endurance racing four years ago after being introduced by a friend.

"I have ridden since I was four years old but had never heard of endurance racing, it wasn't big in Lancashire," Caroline told the Olive Press.

"It's a sport that's predominantly for younger people and not that many women compete. I was doing it for fun but got addicted.”

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FARMERS and hunters have called for backup after wild boars decimated mandarin harvests for much of this year.

The wild pigs are said to be ‘out of control’ and have ‘destroyed everything in their path’ at several orchards in the Benicassim and Castellon areas.

Mandarin grower Vicente Gimeno said: “It’s just getting worse… they have eaten around 4,000 kilos of my mandarins.

Invade

RIDING HIGH: Caroline with Champagne War Horse The boss of Ranch Siesta Los requires incredible mental Rubios riding stables plans and physical stamina, and to continue her success in Caroline trains in Estepona endurance riding, which was where she lives. first born as a sport in the US “We have hundreds of kilometres of steep mountain in 1955.

She added: "The whole event, trails on our doorstep in the atmosphere, professionalism, Sierra Bermeja natural park set up, awards and evening behind Estepona. It's beauwere an incredible experi- tiful, challenging and superb ence, one I hope to repeat fitness training for us both!” again and win more medals for Andalucia."

The six-hour endurance race

"They are now starting to invade some of the roads, and the N-340 highway is nearby.

“I have filed a complaint with the Benicàssim municipality, but they didn't even listen to me.”

Hunters have joined agriculture bosses in requesting to extend the hunting season and to erect new electric fences to keep population numbers at bay.

Hard to looky at A BRITISH expat has come under fire after ‘blacking up’ her toddler for Halloween in Spain.

Claire Flynn, 26, posted a picture of her three-year-old daughter Sienna dressed as a so-called ‘looky looky’ man on Facebook.

The tot, based in Benidorm, was daubed in black paint and snapped holding a selection of glasses which were ‘for sale’ for €20.

The mum was blasted online and labelled as ‘racist’ and ‘totally insensitive’.

But Claire, from Motherwell, said people need to ‘get a grip’.

She added: “If people want to be all PC about it they need to take a look at themselves. It's really not an issue.”

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