The
OLIVE PRESS
Joy of six! The FREE
expat
November 26th - December 9th 2020
LOCKDOWN LOCK-IN EXCLUSIVE
COUNTDOWN TO BREXIT
Don’t forget The new rules allowing you to drive in Spain until next summer
The Olive Press proudly launches its SIXTH edition in Valencia See page 7
OLIVE PRESS
Your voice in Spain
VALENCIA / COSTA AZAHAR FREE Vol. 1 Issue 1 www.theolivepress.es
Page 6
UNABLE to have his regular Friday night down the boozer during lockdown, expat Conor Wilde hit on novel idea for this one - to build a his own pub! The Irish expat, 46, got his mates over and converted his garden shed into what he claims is Spain’s smallFORGET THE DRAUGHT: Conor est watering hole. and pals at makeshift local Measuring 2.4m by 2.5m, it counts
on a cornucopia of Emerald Isle collectibles… and it even has Guinness on draught. “After being cooped up like a man in solitary in March I came up with a plan,” the Valencia-based real estate consultant told the Olive Press. “I had an old shed in the garden. got the lads over – Tuejar, El Gal-I lego & Champ – and we set about
Valencia is open!
VALENCIA remains open for visitors, with COVID restrictions more relaxed than most other regions, insists tourist chiefs. The city has been praised by businessmen and tourists alike for its
By Eugene Costello
‘sensible’ approach, which has kept the economy running as best as possible.
Back to Blanca
“Life goes on and we must move forward,” insisted Antonio Bernabé, director of the Turismo Valencia Foundation, to the Olive Press, this week. “We have struck a good balance be-
How Amy’s guitar-maker from Valencia won over the world Page 15
COSTA BLANCA
tween keeping life normal and keeping it safe.” While tourism is down 80% on last year, the tourist boss says all activities, including cinemas and museums, are open. Best of all, unlike much of Spain, locals and tourists must only stay in between midnight and 6am. “It’s a great time to discover the city as there are no queues,” adds Bernabe. “We take the pandemic seriously, but we also believe in the right to have a full life.” Currently few places in the Comunidad face tough restrictions due to high infection rates. The city meanwhile, has developed an activity card called Valencia an app anyone can download, On, not just aimed at tourists.
Blueprint
Palace con
A bunch of crooks tried to sell my hotel for a song Page 16
Your
expat
Lifting the Val Is Baqueira really Spain’s top skiing resort? Page 20
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Oh la landing Brexit!
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c o n d i t i o n s .
E n d s
Run by Visit Valencia it offers a huge range of discounts for museums, events, restaurants, transport and even hotels. You can find it at www. valenciaon.com, and it is completely free. Roland Wareham, 55, a company director from Andalucia, was impressed by how well the city was handling the pandemic. On a business trip from his native Mijas this week, he said: “I was struck by how normal life seemed. In Ruzafa, all the bars and restaurants were open, and the terraces were crowded with families and friends enjoying the al fresco lifestyle. “In Andalucia, meanwhile, bars and restaurants must close by 6pm, and my town is like a ghost town at night. “Valencia should serve as a blueprint for the rest of Spain.” Opinion, page 6
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Press Valencia team getting the message
A TRADE deal between the EU and is on the verge of being finalised, Britain EU looked set to cave in on fishingafter the An MEP broke ranks to say that itrights. likely the French would have to looked compromise with Boris Johnson’s demands over UK waters. Christophe Hansen said the EU have to meet the UK’s demands to would clinch an agreement. "There will be compromises to be made on fisheries. The status quo, that is somewhere we're not going to land,” he told an event. French fishermen are understood to have backed the compromise despite losing on access to certain fishing grounds. out It came after the EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier demanded the need to com-
out around the city this week By Dilip Kunar
promise in order to get an agreement. France had previously been refusing to back down on any fishing deal, demanding near-parity to the UK’s coastal waters. It comes as the governor of the Bank gland warned that a no-deal Brexit of Enbe more economically damaging would than COVID to the UK. Andrew Bailey said failure to get a deal signed would create a massive cross-border trade blockage and damage goodwill tween Brussels and the UK for years. beMeanwhile, Ireland leader Micheal said on Monday he was hopeful that Martin a Brexit deal would be completed this week.
Taoiseach Martin said ‘by the end week we could see the outlines of a of this He said it would come down to deal’. will, both in the United Kingdom ‘political clear the political will is there fromand I’m the European Union’. EU ambassadors were told over the end that a trade deal with Britain weekis on the verge of being finalised. They were told the majority of the 11 main negotiation issues have ‘joint legal texts with fewer and fewer outstanding points’. The European commission president, sula von der Leyen, struck a positive Ursaying: “After difficult weeks with very,note, very slow progress now we have seen in the last days better progress, more movement on important files. This is good.”
3 1 / 1 2 / 1 9 .
Vol. 2 Issue 45 www.theolivepress.es December 10th - December 23rd 2020
LIKE buses, Alicante has bagged two world records in one fell swoop. The city has been handed the Guinness World Record award after building the tallest and largest nativity scene in history. The display features a record-breaking 18-metre high statue of Joseph alongside a smaller Virgin Mary and baby Jesus. Created by Jose Manuel Garcia its giant statue easily beats the old 1991 height record set in Mexico.
turning it into Spain’s smallest pub. And if I say so myself, we’ve done a grand job.” Called El Irlandes, after his favourite Martin Scorsese film, it happily fits his closest pals in for the usual Friday night Blarney. Wilde, from Skerries, near Dublin, has run the Found Valencia agency for two decades.
21/6/19 13:30
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Nativity Double By Alex Trelinski
The display is also now the world’s largest-ever static nativity scene occupying an area of 56 square metres. Some local political parties have criticised the cost of the enter-
prise, including €123,000 for the sculptures. There is also the bill of €14,000 payable to Guinness World Records for certification. Councillor Manuel Jimenez justified the expense saying: “The visitor numbers justify it and we are seeing business being stimulated by the display.”
Dinner with destiny
SHOULD I STAY OR SHOULD I GO: Boris was set for crucial meeting with Von der Leyen last night BRITAIN’S Prime Minister had a date with destiny last night in Brussels. Boris Johnson was having dinner with European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen to see if there was any chance of salvaging a so-called soft Brexit trade
SALES & RENTALS SPECIALISTS Moriara•Calpe•Jalon•Javea•Denia•Altea
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deal with Europe. It came after Johnson insisted a deal with the EU was looking ‘very very difficult’ on Tuesday. The frustrating news came after weeks of claims that a deal was close to being finalised. “We’ll do our level best, but I would just like to say to everybody - be in good cheer, there are great options ahead for our country,” Johnson insisted. Talks with the EU have remained in deadlock for days because of disagreement over fishing quotas. While it comprises just 0.1% of the UK economy, the fishing row could spell a hit of up to 3% for the economy and up to the same for Spain, the biggest predicted victim in Europe. See Cash Crash on p19 and No news is Bad news, p22
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Environmental groups unite after hunters kill two protected brown bears on ‘dark day’ for Spain SLAIN: Female brown bear Sarousse was shot by a hunter who claimed it was an act of ‘self defence’
CAN’T BEAR IT AN investigation has been launched after a pair of brown bears were gunned down in a ‘dark day’ for efforts to protect the endangered species. The adult females were shot dead by different hunters, with one claiming to have fired at the bear in self defence. In what has infuriated environmentalists, both animals were killed in conservation zones, in the week a law banning hunting in Spain’s National Parks came into force. The first bear was shot in the Palencia mountains, in Castilla y Leon, by a hunter who claimed he thought the creature was a wild boar. A second bear, named Sarousse, was killed during a hunt in the Aragon Pyrenees. The 21-year-old animal was shot dead in the Bardaji valley. The hunter, who claimed he was acting in self-defence,
By Kirsty McKenzie
gunned her down at pointblank range when she acted in an ‘aggressive manner’ after being disturbed by his dogs. Sarousse, who had originally been captured in Slovenia before being released in 2006, is the third bear to be killed in the Pyrenees this year. Spain’s environment minister Teresa Ribera slammed the deaths and said efforts were underway to determine what led to the killings on November 29. It comes after six green groups, including Ecologistas en Accion, SEO Birdlife and Friends of the Earth, united to demand immediate action. The Guardia Civil’s wildlife unit Seprona confirmed this week that an investigation has
now been launched. The deaths came just 10 days after police in Catalunya arrested a local environmental official over the death of a third bear, a six-year-old male called Cachou, who was killed in the Val d’Aran area in April. The Spanish Brown Bear Foundation described the killings as a ‘dark day for conservation’.
Heritage
The group warned that deliberate hunting carried penalties of up to three years in prison. “This is enough. These bears were everyone’s heritage,” said spokesman Garcia Paloma, who insisted the laws needed to be strengthened. Bears, once critically endangered in Spain, are now considered ‘high priority’ by the
World Wildlife Fund (WWF). Brown bears became a protected species in 1973 as part of an attempt to grow numbers in the Pyrenees between France and Spain. The deaths came as sport and commercial hunting became illegal in Spain’s National Parks on December 5. The law was actually passed in 2014, but the then-ruling party, the PP, granted a six year extension, which came to an end last week. Hunters described the ban as ‘ecological disaster’ that will lead to job losses and overpopulation of the species. Environmental groups called for Aragon’s regional council to suspend all wild boar hunts in the areas where the presence of bears is known. Opinion Page 6