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OLIVE PRESS
The
Dinner date disaster
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OLIVE PRESS
The
Joy of six!
The Olive Press proudly launches its SIXTH edition
November 26th - December 9th 2020
EXCLUSIVE
COUNTDOWN TO BREXIT
MALLORCA
Don’t forget The new rules allowing you to drive in Spain until next summer 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
Your
By Eugene Costello
‘sensible’ approach, which has kept the economy running as best as possible.
Back to Blanca
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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
“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
voice in Spain
Blueprint
A bunch of crooks tried to sell my hotel for a song Page 16
Psycho killer Is Baqueira really Spain’s top skiing resort? Page 20
f o r
n e w
c u s t o m e r s
Oh la landing Brexit!
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952 147 834 v a l i d
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
NOW OUT: Valencia flag sits proudly on new edition THE WORD ON THE STREETS
* O f f e r
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.
Palace con
Vol. 4 Issue 95 www.theolivepress.es December 11th - December 24th 2020
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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.
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
Lifting the Val
BORIS Johnson’s vital dinner date with EU chief Ursula von der Leyen ended without a Brexit deal. Seemingly, the one thing the two sides can agree on is that things are not going well. Von der Leyen admitted the UK and the EU were still ‘far apart’, while Downing Street agreed ‘very large gaps remain’ in negotiations. Talks have now been extended until Sunday, despite EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier previously stating there would be no further discussion after Wednesday December 10. The politician is said to be ‘very downbeat’ and ‘very gloomy’, according to the Irish government. A No 10 spokesperson, has confirmed Johnson and von der Leyen ‘agreed that by Sunday a firm decision should be taken about the future of the talks’.
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LOCKDOWN LOCK-IN
BEST FOOT FORWARD: The Olive
SHOULD I STAY OR SHOULD I GO: Boris’s meal with Von der Leyen went badly
Your voice in Spain
VALENCI A / COSTA AZAHAR FREE Vol. 1 Issue 1 www.theolivepress.es
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o n l y .
S u b j e c t
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c o n d i t i o n s .
E n d s
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-
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21/6/19 13:30
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.”
Serial killer concern as police probe if ‘the Pirate’ could be behind another missing man in the Balearics
Tricky
It comes after Britain’s Prime Minister claimed that reaching a trade deal with the EU was looking ‘very very difficult’ earlier this week. “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,” Boris Johnson said. Talks with the EU have remained in deadlock for days thanks to disagreement over fishing quotas. While it comprises just 0.1% of the UK economy, the fishing disagreement could spell a hit of up to 3% for the economy and up to the same for Spain, the biggest predicted victim in Europe. As Johnson took to Twitter to celebrate the coronavirus vaccine roll out on Tuesday, Belgium’s president jibed that the jab had been ‘Made in Europe’. No News is Bad news on p15
MISSING: Antonio Ferrer Juan, Thomas Egner y Francisco López. A PENSIONER nicknamed ‘the Pirate’ has been arrested by police hunting a suspected serial killer in Mallorca. Police believe Juan Torres Serra, 57, could be behind the death of at least four men in the Balearics, including a German expat. They also think he may be behind dozens of armed robberies and violent burglaries of homes around Mallorca and Ibiza. He is also suspected of killing two dogs. Detectives picked up the pensioner, who had been staying in the grounds of a property owned by
By Isha Sesay
a 48-year-old man who went missing under strange circumstances on August 24. Police are now scouring the area for the body of the homeowner, who they believe Serra buried on the grounds of the farm in Binasselem. Serra told the police that the Spanish man, whose name was given as Antonio L.M, had left for Ibiza and had given him a signed document stating that the house now belonged to him.
However, no trace of the man has ever been found and his bank account has not been touched since the day he went missing. This sparked an investigation into Serra, which sensationally revealed that he had been previously questioned about the disappearance of three men over the last three decades. Known as ‘the Pirate’ as well as the nickname ‘Rotavella’ in Ibiza, he had long been suspected by police
the curfew that stole xmas IT looks like being a miserable run up to Christmas for bars and restaurants after the COVID-19 curfew was brought forward by two hours. The Balearic Islands government has enforced a new 10pm to 6am curfew from last night. This will stay in place until at least December 21. President Francina Armengol said the measure ‘serves to combat the growth in coronavirus cases’ as ‘the situation is getting worse in Mallorca’. At present, the COVID-19 incidence rate over 14 days stands at 260 cases per 100,000 inhabitants. Armengol said this figure is ‘worrying’ and ‘shows an upward trend in infections’ since the rate stood at 198 last week.
952 147 834
Under this new measure, bars and restaurants must close at 10pm and people are restricted to their homes during the curfew unless for a justified reason such as an emergency. Armengol also announced that bars and restaurants in Lloseta, Soller, Sa Pobla and Muro would be banned from serving indoors with outdoor service only permitted during the same period.
of many crimes. The missing men however, were the most suspicious as all had vanished in similar circumstances and have never been found. The first was 77-year-old lawyer Antonio Ferrer Juan who disappeared in Ibiza in 1997. Before disappearing, he told some of his close friends that Serra was threatening him to hand over money.
Suspicion
His car was found at the house where Serra lived after he disappeared. Then a year later in 1998, Serra’s German landlord, 41-year-old Thomas Egner, also went missing in Ibiza. When questioned at the time, Serra told police that the man had gone travelling to South America and left him in charge of the house. In 2007, 60-year-old Francisco Lopez Alvarez also went missing in Ibiza with Serra being the last person to see him. Serra is being held on suspicion of murder and will remain in police custody.
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