Costa Blanca Olive Press - Issue 6

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voice in Spain FREE

Vol. 1 Issue 6

www.theolivepress.es

June 6th - June 19th 2019

YOUR PROPERTY IS OUR PRIORITY. YOU ARE IN EXPERT HANDS

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SPOTTED PALS: Rival fans in Madrid

THE largest police operation in Spanish sporting history has ended successfully in Madrid.

A combination of restrained policing and good-natured fans turned a potential Champions League final nightmare into a game of cricket in the capital.

The statistics are nothing short of amazing.

As the huge clear up operation got underway on Monday morning, it emerged that only 11 arrests were made out of an estimated 100,000plus British fans who descended on the capital at the weekend.

The 4,700 cops tasked with the job of policing the all-British final generally behaved admirably, in comparison to their counterparts in Sevilla and Barcelona over recent years.

Hooliganism

ONE of Britain’s most-wanted criminals Kevin Parle is believed to have attended the Champions League Final in Madrid.

An eye-witness took pictures of the alleged double murderer at the Reina Sofia art museum on the morning of the match.

The staunch Liverpool fan - a towering 6ft 6ins giant - was wearing a red shirt and denim shorts and gave the witness 'the dirtiest look’ ever.

He had been walking briskly around the gallery, only stopping at one painting, by Salvador Dali.

"I'm sure it was him. After I took a picture he looked like he was about to punch me right there in the museum," the source, who asked to remain anonymous, said.

“He then walked off really fast and you could clearly see how tall he was,” he added.

The sighting comes after former Scotland Yard detective Peter Bleksley launched a fresh campaign to catch the alleged killer after 14 years on the run.

Their aim was to contain the big groups of rival fans from Liverpool and Tottenham, the vast majority who arrived without tickets and many without accomodation.

Far from the feared predictions of widespread ‘hooliganism’ in the Spanish press, the weekend, passed off almost entirely without incident.

“The fear of hooliganism has been just that; fear, as the British fans behaved with enthusiasm and cordiality,” reported El Confidencial.

With the exception of a few idiots, the mood was extremely friendly with fans mixing well and the police generally playing their part admirably.

There was only one report of brutality where, allegedly, 50 Spurs fans got ‘battered’ outside a bar near Puerto del Sol.

The TV detective told the Olive Press in April how Parle was a ‘huge Liverpool fan’ and very likely to be in the capital for the game.

"There's only one place for a Liverpool fan who can afford it on June 1, and that's Madrid," said Bleksley, who worked for the Met Police’s undercover SO10 unit in the 1980s.

Last night he told the paper: “That could well be him, but it’s impossible to say for certain. The pics need to be verified through a lab with face-recognition software.”

Merseyside Police meanwhile thanked the Olive Press for the lead and said the pictures would be sent off immediately to ‘intel’.

“If verified they will go straight to Interpol,” explained a spokesman.

The 38-year-old killer is Merseyside’s most-wanted man, allegedly involved in the murder of mum-of-

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Issue 30

June 2019

Page XX

BALE-ING IN Gareth Bale scores exclusive Marbella

pad

H

E might be getting nudged out of Real Madrid, but Gareth Bale is strengthening his ties to southern Spain.

The much-maligned Welsh wizard has spent a small fortune on a new property on the Costa del Sol, despite expectation of his return to the UK this summer.

The Olive Press can reveal the striker, who signed for Los Blancos for €100 million six years ago from Tottenham, has snapped up a stunning three-bedroom apartment in Marbella for just under €2 million.

The Welshman managed to knock around 10% off the price of the property, which was on the market for around €2.2 million.

According to sources closely linked to the deal, the modern pad is situated in the exclusive La Trinidad urbanisation

EXCLUSIVE along the famous Golden Mile, which features other celebrity homeowners, including ex-England midfielder Tim Sherwood.

The penthouse is just a 20-minute drive from Finca Cortesin, the luxury golf resort in Casares where Bale, 29, loves to tee up and has stayed at several times over the last few years.

He knows La Trinidad well as he has stayed at his agent Jonathan Barnett’s home in the urbanisation a number of times. The purchase comes after Bale threatened to ‘stay and play golf’ if the remainder of his Real contract is not paid. The father-of-three said: “I’ve got three years left on my contract. If they want me to go, they’ll need to pay me €17 million per season. If not, I’ll stay here. And if I have to play golf, I will.”

VICTORY LOOMS

AROUND 300,000 owners of illegal homes Andalucia need no longer fear the Junta’s in happened several times before. Meanwhile, a secbull- ond proposal aims to toughen dozers thanks to plans to speed up the legalisa- inspection once the royal decree sanctioning and tion process. is in place illegal homes are less likely to built in the so that While a royal decree addressing property future. ularities is still being drafted, these new irreg- The objective of the fast track scheme is to sures allow homeowners more stability. mea- continue ‘without as many obstacles as before’, according to Marifran Carazo, Andalucia’s The main aim is to grant more properties new - Minister of Public Works. many of them expat-owned - AFO status (asim- It comes after the President ilado fuera de ordenacion). of Spain’s most southerly region, Juanma Moreno, This gives houses ‘semi-legality’, saving outlined from being demolished by the Junta whichthem modifications to the Andalucia planning law has (LOUA), giving owners of illegal homes a ‘sec-

HELP: Graffiti for homeowners

ond chance’.

“We can’t have 300,000 illegal homes in Andalucia,” the PP leader said, adding that around of illegal properties would be regularised. 90% Maura Hillen, president of illegal homes group AUAN, also told the Olive Press action believed a ‘precedent’ had been set in thethat she case of a British couple.

Expat pensioners Noel and Christine emerged victorious after a 16-year legal Payne over their illegal home in Albox, which battle described as a ‘positive’ sign of the future.Hillen

Find out in our Property supplement inside

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May 9th - May 22nd 2019

TO CATCH A KILLER Wanted ‘killer’ could be living among expat community as detective calls in OP for backup

A FORMER Scotland Yard detective has joined forces with the Olive Press to track down one of the UK’s most wanted killers.

Peter Bleksley, who worked for the Met Police’s undercover SO10 unit in the 1980s, has asked for help in bringing alleged murderer Kevin Parle to justice.

The 38-year-old Liverpudlian fled to Alicante more than a decade ago after masked gunmen broke into the home of mum-of-three Lucy Hargreaves and shot her as she slept on her sofa in August 2005.

Parle, who is unmissable with towering height of 6ft 6 and a reda beard, is also wanted in connection with the shooting of 16-year-old Toxteth lad Liam Kelly, who was gunned down in Liverpool back in June 2004.

“He’s been on the run for 14 years and he could have completely reinvented himself,” Bleksley, who now writes books on unsolved crimes,

The local girl who zoomed into Lewis Hamilton’s racing line, see page 3

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APPEAL

Press readers who know or met Parle to come forward.

The detective-turned-author particularly wants to speak to British residents who referred to Parle as ‘gentle giant’ during an Olive Pressa probe back in 2009.

“I will speak to them under the radar and it’s my solemn undertaking to never disclose their identity,” vowed Bleksley, who is currently writing a book on Parle to help raise awareness.

Scandalous “If I get a text, call, email, message The investigator is planning on via social media I will go straight to heading to Madrid on June 1, believing Parle won’t pass up the the airport and jump on a plane.”

Previous Olive Press investigations chance to watch Liverpool FC in have linked Parle to Torrevieja and the Champions League final. the wider Alicante area, but other “Parle was a huge Liverpool fan, sightings have stretched as far as and there’s only one place for a Liverpool fan who can afford it on Perth, in Australia.

June 1, and that’s Madrid,” he said.

“He shot a 16 year old boy and 22-year-old mother of three, it’sa If you know, knew or ever met Parabsolutely scandalous,” added le, or have any relevant information, Bleksley, who is urging any Olive no matter how insignificant, please contact newsdesk@theolivepress.es.

EXCLUSIVE

By Joshua Parfitt & Laurence Dollimore

told the Olive Press this week.

“He could be living with an unsuspecting partner who knows nothing of his background. He could have a wife and kids, and be delivering washing machines - we simply don’t know.”

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ON THE LOOSE: Is this murderer Parle (left) while (right) our front page last month three Lucy Hargreaves, 22, who was to have shaved off. shot while she slept on a sofa in Au- Police believe he fled to the Cosgust 2005. ta Blanca after going on the run 14 He is also wanted in connection with years ago, and he has been spotted the shooting of 16-year-old Toxte- in both Javea and Torrevieja over th lad Liam Kelly, who was gunned recent years. down in Liverpool in June 2004.

Ex-detective Bleksley - who presents The Liverpudlian is unmissable with a Channel 4 TV show Hunted - para towering height of 6ft 6ins and ticularly wants to speak to British with a red beard, which he is likely residents who referred to Parle as a ‘gentle giant’ during an Olive Press probe back in 2009.

“I will speak to them under the radar and will never disclose their identity,” he told the paper.

After his appeal went national in the UK he revealed that a LinkedIn account under the name ‘Kevin Parle’ has since been taunting him online, saying ‘Keep up the good work Peter xx’.

The Olive Press has discovered that the account was set up in Murcia and listed him as a ‘mechanic’.

We were unable to find any British mechanics of the same name in the area, which suggests that it really could be the fugitive.

“Parle’s shot a 16-year-old boy and a 22-year-old mother of three, yet is still on the run, seemingly in Spain.

It’s absolutely scandalous,” added Bleksley.

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2

CRIME

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British pensioners fight back against hugger muggers TWO British pensioners have revealed how they fought back against ‘hugger muggers’ on the Costa Blanca.

Edward Broadbent, 79, threatened a woman ‘with a rock’ after she tried to rob his watch, while Steve Jones, 71, ‘broke the arm’ of another woman when she grabbed his gold necklace.

The news comes as a Romanian duo, aged 19 and 27, were arrested last week in connection with the robbery of a €100,000 watch owned by a Dutch pensioner in Calpe.

“I was riding my electric bike from Albir to EL Raco campsi-

Your reporters, here to help on the Costa Blanca

Strong arm of the law EXCLUSIVE

By Joshua Parfitt

te in Benidorm when a pretty young Romanian jumped out of the bushes,” Jones told the Olive Press.

“She was crying out in pain and put her arm around me to support herself.

“I knew exactly what she doing, so I twisted her arm back until I heard it crack.”

Jones said the 19-year-old suddenly dropped the gold necklace she had stolen from him as

Judged correctly?

Introducing News Editor Laurence Dollimore and Reporter Joshua Parfitt Contact them with any stories or news on 951 273 575 or email newsdesk@theolivepress.es (Personal contacts on page 6)

June 6th - June 19th 2019

A JUDGE has let a convicted UK criminal come to Spain on holiday before he is sentenced over possession of a stun gun and class A drugs.

Colin Watson, 51, was spared an immediate prison sentence so he could enjoy a pre-booked holiday to the Canary Islands.

Judge Jenkins agreed to postpone the crook’s sentencing as ‘an act of mercy’ but campaigners have said it is risky and sends mixed messages to crime victims.

Watson, from Pontypool, has pleaded guilty to possessing an offensive weapon and drugs and faces a ten-year jail sentence.

Judge Jenkins told Watson: “You have pleaded guilty to a number of very serious matters. I am trusting you. Don't let me down.”

ROBBED: Edward Broadbent fought off thief a male accomplice sped to the never saw them again, until scene. they appeared handcuffed in an “I kicked her into the car and article in the Olive Press,” said Jones, from his Hereford home.

Expat Broadbent meanwhile said an attack last month was the ‘fifth robbery’ he’s suffered outside his home, in A BRITISH man has been arrested carrying Javea.

10,000 date rape drugs in his luggage at Ali“A well-dressed Romanian girl cante airport. jumped out at me when I was The hypno-sedative drug Zopiclone, used walking my little dog,” Broadto treat insomnia, tranquilises the nervous bent told the Olive Press. system and is only available on prescription “Luckily I closed the electric gate in the UK. According to guidelines from the to my house, but she was banUnited Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, ging on it shouting ‘I want you’.

Zopiclone facilitates crimes of ‘sexual abuse’ “I threatened her with a rock, by stripping a victim of their will. and she screamed ‘I’m with The man, 47, who lives in Torrevieja, was baby!’ to which I said ‘I’m with caught boarding a flight to England. rock, and I’ll smash your head It comes after an Irish woman, 62, was in’. arrested in January with 5,640 zopiclone “Luckily my neighbour caught pills in her luggage. them on CCTV, which made it The woman, also based in Torrevieja, was very easy for police,” said Broadattempting to fly from Alicante to Ireland. bent, who had his €10,000 RoGuardia Civil said there was no ‘apparent’ lex stolen in a separate brutal relation between the two. assault 18 months ago.

Tasting your medicine

Left to die A WOMAN has been arrested after her dog starved to death trapped on a balcony.

The Spanish woman, 45, said the dog was her ex-partner’s and ‘no one wanted it’ after their relationship broke down.

She claimed the mixed-breed dog, aged two, had also been ‘refusing to eat’ for two months.

But when animal associations rescued the dog from the El Campello urbanisation, it was clearly desperate to drink and eat before dying of ‘multiple organ failure’.

The president of Dignidad Animal said: “I approached him to caress him and tried to raise his head, but he couldn’t.”

The woman’s neighbour made a denuncia after spotting the ‘skin-and-bones’ pet on her balcony.

The owner has been arrested by the Guardia Civil on animal abuse charges.

Gone in 60 seconds AN Alicante expat has been arrested over a series of violent carjackings by criminals dressed as police.

The Ukrainian gangster, based in Elche, was part of a fake police gang blamed for a series of high end car thefts.

They have also been accused of the attempted murder of a Marbella businessman, who was rammed off his motorbike that was then stolen.

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CHAMPIONS LEAGUE SPECIAL

www.theolivepress.es From front page

The only recorded offences were for drug possession, assault, flying a drone and public indecency. And one British woman was arrested for selling fake tickets.

The 32-year-old apparently told two fans she could get them into the game at the Wanda Metropolitano sta-

Brits threw pints - not punches - in Champions League party worth €60 million to Madrid dium for €8,400, before the pair notified police.

Another Liverpool fan, who had been reported ‘missing’ by his family, is now known to have been arrested in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Macauley Negus, 23, from Plymouth was found by police lying ‘semi-naked on Calle de Goya at around 2am, before he attacked them and was arrested.

A trio of British fans were also

The British consul in Andalucia Charmaine Arbouin praised the good behaviour of the fans and organisers.

She told the Olive Press: “All in all it went incredibly well and was almost trouble free.

A real credit to the fans and the organisational abilities of the authorities.”

Arbouin, who was on duty until 3am at Madrid airport on Sunday morning, helped to ensure that a record 60 charter flights left in a three-hour window without incident.

“The Spanish were a bit worried and there were lots of lost passports,” she added.

“I felt sorry for the Spurs fans… all of that money to see their team lose and then having to fork out for an emergency passport on top of it.”

ty beer cans - and the odd hour of lost sleep, which they are famous for anyway - Madrilenos will be feeling the Champions League benefits for some time to come.

Over the weekend an incre-

TOP SPURS: Steve Nash, Clive Owen and Alan Sugar

Dozens of celebrities and famous ex-players made the trip to Madrid for the weekend

A

TROUPE of famous faces were spotted partying in Madrid on Champions League final weekend.

Aside from the usual round of politicians, including Spain’s prime minister Pedro Sanchez, there were union bosses like Len McCluskey and British ambassador Simon Manley, who ended up offering former Liverpool star Steven Gerrard a space on his sofa.

Spurs’ most famous supporter, Lord Alan Sugar bagged himself a ticket for the game, while fellow fan NBA legend Steve Nash was also in attendance.

Famous Tottenham supporting actors including Jude Law, Clive Owen and Kenneth Branagh are also thought to have been in town.

Meanwhile actors Daniel Craig and Damian Lewis, both Reds fans, plus Scouse comic John Bishop, saw their side lift the trophy at the Wanda Metropolitano stadium.

Players’ WAGs joined the post-match party too, including Little Mix singer Perrie Edwards, the girlfriend of

Hoodie to the Reddie!

SPOTTED

BY THE OLIVE PRESS

nabbed by plain-clothes officers on Saturday after they stole another fan’s ticket and attempted to rob a TV camera from Spanish channel La Sexta.

Aside from mountains of emp-

Stardust 11

SEEING RED: John Bishop, Daniel Craig and Damien Lewis

Consul - Real credit to the fans

June 6th - June 19th 2019

ONE of the most unusual sightings of Saturday night, was Liverpool defender Trent Alexander-Arnold, 20, wandering around the centre of Madrid well after midnight.

Wearing a beige tracksuit he was seen by the Olive Press team walking towards Puerto del Sol with a pal.

When we pointed him out and said hello, he smiled back and wondered off fast, after putting up a hood.

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Liverpool’s Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

Spurs ace Dele Alli used the final to send a message to ex-squeeze Ruby Mae, who he flew out on a private jet, calling her his ‘lucky charm’.

The Tottenham midfielder split with the stunning swimwear model in January after two-and-a-half years together.

Liverpool hero John Barnes was also in attendance, treating the Liverpool fan zone to a rendition of his Anfield Rap, before rapping the Sugarhill Gang's hit Rapper's Delight.

The ex-Celtic boss slept rough on the floor of Barcelona train station for three hours after a ‘journey from hell’ to Madrid.

Former Spurs legends Ossie Ardiles joined ex-England defender Ledley King during interviews at the fan zone.

Rafael Benitez - the last manager to win Liverpool the Champions League - was himself spotted in Plaza Mayor, along with Brazilian footie legends Cafu and Roberto Carlos.

Politics were also present at the party, as Madrid’s Plaza Margaret Thatcher was renamed with signs reading, ‘Jeremy Corbyn Square’.

In a bizarre twist, the rather dull match was livened up by a female streaker, US model, Kinsey Wolanski, 22 (left), who invaded the pitch in a PR stunt thought to be worth €3 million.

The blonde ran on in a black swimsuit printed with ‘Vitaly Uncensored’, the name of her boyfriend’s X-rated porn and pranks website.

3

By Olive Press reporting team in Madrid (Charlie Smith, Tim McNulty, Joshua Parfitt & Jon Clarke)

dible €60 million was said to have landed on the city, with the average supporter spending €150 a day on top of travel, accomodation and tickets.

And it’s easy to see why, with some bars charging €15 a pint and hotel prices increasing their prices by 200% more than the average rises at previous finals.

Around 95% of the city centre’s hotels were occupied on Friday and Saturday night, according to the Hotel Business Association of Madrid (AEHM).

The average price of a city centre room soared to €5,000, while the cheapest hostel bunk beds rose to €500. As the Olive Press reported last issue, a luxury two-night stay at the Santo Mauro Hotel, where David Beckham once lived, was €26,000. Food outlets surrounding the respective fan zones of Plaza de Colon and Felipe II also cashed in, with the city’s catering sector netting a total of €18 million.

24-hour

Local entrepreneurs also cashed in bringing in trolley-loads of cold beers at just €4 a throw.

UK flights to Spain spiralled out of control too, as both teams reached the final in dramatic late semi final wins.

Almost all trains out of the city were full, including those to the Portuguese cities of Lisbon and Porto, where many fans flew to.

One female fan had to take a combination of three flights and two trains to reach Madrid, while many drove 24 hours straight from the UK. One Tottenham fan told the Olive Press about his 24-hour journey from Australia to Madrid, costing him €10,000.

Darren Ashley, 48, whose dad lives in Manilva, near Malaga, flew from Sydney to Melbourne, then Abu Dhabi and on to Madrid, and also bagged himself a match ticket for €5,000.

The father-of-one, who travelled with his girlfriend Emma, said: “It was a blur, 90 minutes went by in 15 seconds. The Spanish stewards were amazing and our end was a sea of a thousand white flags, kids, dads all together.

“To be there gave me memories of my dad Alan taking me to White Hart Lane as a kid.”

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NEWS

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June 6th - June Stockists of 19th 2019

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NEWS

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Must do better!

SPAIN is one of Europe’s worst culprits when it comes to greenhouse gas emissions, figures have revealed.

The country has seen the biggest increase in emissions on the continent, with a 51.7 million tonne rise between 1990 and 2017.

Emissions grew by 17.9% during that time, while the EU collectively REDUCED its emissions by 23.5% during the same period.

Austria, Cyprus, Ireland, Malta and Portugal also failed to reduce emissions effectively.

Climate leaders however, are optimistic as Pedro Sanchez’s PSOE government plans to boost renewable energy production.

Not only will clean energy become cheaper, but there will also be more electric vehicles on the road.

Diving disaster

June 6th - June 19th 2019

Abandon ship EXCLUSIVE

By Josh Parfitt

ANOTHER two families have fled an urbanisation that descended into ‘hell’ after squatters began a ‘violent coup d’etat’ five years ago.

A retired German couple and a Spanish family have had enough of living in the Mirador Monte Pedrera estate, in Denia, which has become a ‘hellhole’ for legal residents.

As reported in our last issue, only 11 of 64 apartments were sold in 2007 when Spain sunk into recession.

The rest remained empty and just four of the legally-owned apartments are now inhabited all year-round, after the Germans and Spanish also moved out.

According to a British couple, who still live there, one of the Germans, from Munich, had to be ‘hospitalised’ after suffering a ‘breakdown’ from stress.

“The squatters want us out,

AN investigation has been launched after the body of a British diver was found 170 ft underwater off the coast of Murcia.

Phillip Evans, 69, got separated from his diving group in the Islas Hormigas marine reserve.

‘Hellhole’ urbanisation sees two more families leave due to problems with squatters

2

CRIME

www.theolivepress.es

NEWS IN BRIEF King and country KING Juan Carlos has retired from public duty, exactly five years after he abdicated in favour of his son, King Felipe VI. Juan Carlos, 81, will retain his royal title as King, however.

Please help us!

EXCLUSIVE

By Joshua Parfitt

Your reporters, here to help on the Costa Blanca Introducing News Editor Laurence Dollimore and Reporter Joshua Parfitt Contact them with any stories or news on 951 273 575 or email newsdesk@theo livepress.es

A GROUP of British pensioners are pleading for help after their block of flats descended into ‘hell’ due to squatters.

The expats - who have lived in the Denia urbanisation for a decade - are desperate after a mob

May 23rd - June 5th 2019

Expat pensioners assaulted as apartment block is ‘mobbed’ bytheir once luxury squatters

of ‘gypsies and squatters’ began breaking in five years ago.

They insist neither the police or local authorities have helped to tackle the illegal occupants, who have taken over 25 of the 64 apartments in the Mirador

Sculpture attack

Message from the angels

A FOUNTAIN in Alicante’s most iconic square has been attacked by a man with a hammer.

The legs of the horses in the sculpture in Plaza de los Luceros were shattered by the 38-year-old assailant. An arm of an angel was also badly cracked in the attack.

The Spanish man has been arrested on a charge of crimes against cultural heritage.

(Personal contacts on page 6)

hell on earth,” she told the Olive Press.

“My partner got punched in the gut and the eye by one for simply asking to turn down a karaoke system blaring out during siesta hours,” she continued.

They are due to attend court this week over the assault, but are not expecting anything to be done.

Other residents, who include Germans and Spaniards, have also come under attack.

A PARTYGOER in Benidorm has “A handyman tried to ter setting off a fire extinguisher been arrested af- men breaking into an stop three in a karaoke bar. apartment The man, a Brit, yanked the extinguisher from the and was thrashed by baseball wall and covered the floor, tables, drinks and sand- bats just five weeks ago,” the wiches in thick white dust. pensioner said.

“They broke his arm in two places.”

The problems began when the recession curtailed sales in the A BRITISH man who block in 2007 and only 11 of the raped two teenage 64 apartments were sold. girls 40 years ago has Many of the vacant homes were been jailed following later seized by the squatters, a extradition from the number of them even being suCosta Blanca. blet for money, it is claimed.

Jeffrey Waite, 66, caCollectively the 11 owners are harried out the attacks ving to cover all the communal in the late 1970s and bills for the urbanisation, which early 1980s in the UK. includes a ‘€20,000 debt’ incuHowever, he managed Waite was rred by squatters stealing electrifound guilto skip a court hearing ty of raping city and water in 2016 and fled to To- gers, one the teenaIn addition, they claim the derrevieja, before a Eu- derage, of them unveloper owes €200,000 to the in Hartlepool. ropean arrest warrant They likened community. led to his capture in a ‘madman’ him to Police told the Olive Press they and an March last year. were unable to enter the proper‘animal’. ties as they are on ‘private land’.

Monte Pedrera complex.

“They have turned what was once a lovely community into a no-go area,” said the 72-yearold, who is too frightened to give her name out of fear of retaliation.

A SERIES of Whatsapp messages to a girlfriend have spared a teenager from a prison sentence for armed robbery.

The 19-year-old Spanish student from La Nucia was arrested in 2018 on suspicion of holding up a casino and robbing €11,500 at gunpoint.

But a Benidorm court heard how WhatsApp messages backed his alibi that he was texting his girlfriend when the assault took place.

After an expert’s report confirmed they could not have been manipulated and also placing him at home, he was found not guilty.

The grandmother continued that the squatters had punched a number of pensioners and even broke a handyman’s arm with baseball bats.

“We came here for a peaceful retirement and what we’ve got is

FIREBUG IN TROUBLE

Justice for rapist

No way

NO NEED TO PAINT!

plain and simple,” British expat Linda, who has owned a penthouse apartment with her partner Arnene since 2007, told the Olive Press.

“They want all the owners out so they can completely rule the kingdom.”

The latest departures come just days after Linda, 61, was in court after she was punched in the gut and the eye by a female squatter.

It came after she had asked the neighbour to turn down a ‘blaring karaoke system’.

She and Arnene, 72, sleep with the ‘burglar alarm on’ and have barricaded themselves in on their fourth-floor apartment as they live with daily death A BRITISH holidaymaker has died threats and abuse. after falling from the 15th floor of The pressure was too his apartment block in Benidorm. much however, for a Colin McGarry, 48, from Belfast, young Spaniard, who died at around 1.45 am on Suntold the Olive Press day morning after plunging from they were leaving the balcony of Torre Gerona. A after his wife, who is post-mortem is due to take place. eight-months preg-

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WORRIED: Legal neighbours and (inset) squatter www.noneedtopai nant, was hospitalised due to steal from nt.com us, threaten us stress-related complications. and abuse us, and the law is “I wanted to raise my family not on our side until one of in this beautiful place, but I us gets hurt,” Linda said. can’t risk my wife’s life,” he “But they won’t get us out, explained. because the Brits never The nightmare began five give up. Not when we’ve years ago when a 62-year- sunk every penny into our old ‘gypsy’ patriarch broke €270,000 apartment and in with his 11 children and have nowhere else to go.” grandchildren.

A legal representative for His wider family have now Jepsa, who maintain the urtaken over 24 apartments banisation, told the Olive which they sublet out to Press: “The law forbids the ‘drug addicts’. illegal squatting of properThe apartments are illegally ties and use of water and connected to water and elec- electricity, but nothing is betricity, yet police have only ing done. intervened on one occasion “We have a beautiful counwhen a man threatened to try, which is loved by people kill Linda with a hammer in around the world, but the front of an officer last year. law does not function as it “It’s horrendous. They can should.”

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6

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 Ecstasy, agony and relief From Olive Press editor Jon Clarke in Madrid IT was with some apprehension that I headed up by train to Madrid on Friday afternoon.

I didn’t know what to expect in the capital for the Champions League final.

I just knew tens of thousands of English fans were set to descend for the biggest game of the year, watched globally by an estimated 400 million viewers.

A Spurs fan since the age of six I had never been more excited, GOOD MIX: Jon (left) with Liverpool fan although I knew that getting a ticket was going to be extremely unlikely.

My contacts in Fleet Street and the establishment, including consul Charmaine Arbouin, came to nothing and with prices soaring up to €9,000 each and reports of fakes, I decided to save my shekels, to coin a north London phrase.

What I hadn’t expected to find was so many fans, with an estimated 100,000 in Madrid, at least 10,000 of those expatriates, I would wager.

What was clear was how much fun and revelry was part of the deal.

I met Spurs fans from as far away as Australia and Mexico, as well as German and Norwegian fans, who arrived from Oslo and Frankfurt.

And, best of all, there was almost zero trouble.

Late on both Friday and Saturday night, thousands of rival fans full of booze showed that English hooliganism is hopefully a thing of the past.

Sure, the result wasn’t ideal, nor the suspect penalty at the start.

But just being part of this great stream of humanity will be something I’ll never forget.

Maybe I am, after all, just like them.

FEATURE

Repainting history Satanism, male lovers and family abandonment? Heather Galloway delves into the lesser known side of Spanish maestro Francisco Goya

T

HE last of the Old Masters and the first of the new, Goya may be one of the most celebrated artists in the world with a hallowed place in Madrid’s Prado Museum.

But when British actor Jeremy Irons spoke of his eagerness to portray the painter in a biopic at the Barcelona Film Festival last month, he mentioned aspects of his life you (mostly) don’t read about in the history books.

The Dead Ringers star suggested that Goya’s interest in ‘satanism’ and an apparent dabbling in ‘homosexual relationships’ along with the abandonment of his family - could go a long way to explaining his famous Black Paintings.

Painted between 1819 and 1823 as murals at the Quinta del Sordo villa, which he shared towards the end of his life with his housekeeper/companion Leocadia Weiss in Carabanchel, Madrid, they are among the most impactful artworks ever created.

So who knew about this previously unknown side of one of Spain’s most famous painters?

Not many people, as it turns out, though

Charlie Smith charlie@theolivepress.es

Joshua Parfitt joshua@theolivepress.es

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Manuela Mena, who recently retired from her position as head of conservation for Goya at the Prado, came forward with a theory that he was gay last year.

She suggested the idea after spending five years of research based on the artist’s 1775-1799 correspondence with his childhood friend, Martín Zapater, which she maintains was unusually intimate.

Goya was not keen on the pen in general,

she argued, so these 147 letters provide a unique insight into his life, though the content is largely considered mundane.

Mostly staying on the subject of hunting, music and food, they are however, far from cast iron evidence that he was gay, insists British historian and Goya expert Stephen Drake-Jones.

“I think the claims are absurd,” says the President of Madrid’s Wellington Society,

After 100,000 footie fans descended upon Madrid, Laurence Dollimore counts the ways

W

E’VE all read the headlines… ‘drunk Brits kicked off plane’… ‘Britons arrested for drug dealing’... ‘Brits start brawl outside Marbella club’.

You’d be forgiven for thinking we’re a bunch of knuckle-dragging morons who spend all of our time drinking, laying about and starting trouble. While we do we have many a moron - as does every country - Spain knows that we, too, have something to offer - just look how well we behaved at the weekend in Madrid.

On top of that, there are tonnes of cultural, business and personal ties between our two countries and the Brits have contributed to Spain more than you may know.

Below we have rounded up a few things the Brits have done for Spain.

Football

Laurence Dollimore laurence@theolivepress.es

Admin Beatriz Sanllehí (+34) 951 273 575 admin@ theolivepress.es

LOVERS?: Portrait of Goya (left) and (right) his childhood and ‘intimate’ friend Zapater

What have the Brits done fo

Publisher / Editor Jon Clarke jon@theolivepress.es

June 6th - June 19th 2019

Did you know the great game was brought to Spain by some the UK’s earliest group of expats?

If you ask where and when the first recorded football game took place on the Iberian Peninsula, the answer is right here in Andalucia.

In 1873, amidst the instability and financial bankruptcy of the Spanish state, the Rio Tinto mines near Huelva were purchased by British entrepreneurs.

Over the next few years an influx of British miners, garrison soldiers and railroad workers arrived.

In 1887, on the feast day of San Roque (the patron saint of the sick and disabled) locals and Brits gathered to celebrate.

This two-day fiesta had a reputation as a drunken melee which included (when the men were sober enough to stand upright) climbing a greasy pole, donkey races, a tug-of-war, etc.

The Brits celebrated by forming two teams that were picked exclusively from among non-Spaniards in the first recorded ‘foot-ball’ match on the Iberian Peninsula.

Local business

The 296,000 Britons officially living in Spain (the real figure is believed to be MUCH higher) are thought to be the largest single group of UK citizens living in other European countries followed

by France and Ireland.

Some town populations, particularly in Andalucia and on the Costa Blanca, are up to 50% British.

It means these areas rely largely on UK locals to fill the municipal coffers and create and maintain viable businesses.

In expat hotspots like Sabinillas, where the Olive Press is headquartered, local cafes like Nenit depend heavily on Brits spending their money.

Around 50 or more visit the cafe every single day and are more likely than other nationalities to buy food and several rounds of drinks, providing a vital stream of income.

Comedy

Tourism

Known around the world for our self-deprecating comedy and dark sense of humour, several British shows have proven a hit in Spain.

Mr Bean is huge in the country and is watched by millions.

Back in 2010, Spain’s then prime minister Mariano Rajoy was briefly ousted from the country’s official website after hackers replaced his likeness with that of bumbling slapstick character not unlike Rowan Atkinson’s alter ego. Little Britain, meanwhile, is also a hugely popular show, especially among those wanting to learn English.

The truth is that the Brits have been the biggest supporters of Spain’s tourism industry for decades.

Last year the sector grew by 2.4% and contributed a whopping €178 billion to the economy – or 14.6% of the country’s GDP. The Brits were by far the biggest foreign group with 18.5 million visiting the holiday hotspot, contributing more than any other nation to the €89.9 billion spent by tourists.

And this year they are set to remain the biggest group, despite the ongoing Brexit saga.

In fact they helped the Costa del Sol break its all-time winter record for 2018-2019, accounting for up to 60% of the 3.2 million tourists during that period.

Property market The Brits have consistently been the largest foreign purchasers of property in Spain for eons now.

There is such a love for Spain that this hasn’t changed for the past 12 years, despite the 2008 meltdown and the more recent Brexit uncertainty.

In fact in 2018, Brits beat pre-Brexit refe-

Animal shelters rendum records in terms of property purchases.

Sales to buyers from the UK rose 12% yearon-year in 2018 to 10,178 – beating the 2016 record of 10,156.It means the UK’s share of the foreign market has been steadily increasing from a low of 14% in the first quarter of 2017 to 17% at the end of 2018.

While Brits might get a bad rep sometimes, there’s no denying that many expats have dedicated their lives to saving hundreds of thousands of abandoned dogs, cats and more after moving to Spain.

From the ADANA shelter in Estepona, to the Last Chance Animal Rescue in Cartama, Malaga, there are dozens of British residents giving their time to neutering and rehoming abandoned animals.

www.theolivepress.es

FEATURE

7

June 6th - June 19th 2019

olive press online

that’s the

Spain and Gibraltar’s best English daily news website

Million march on THE Olive Press website has done it again.

After pulling in a million hits in April, we were hoping to break the barrier once more, and boy did we do it, and then some!

It was indeed a merry month of May as we smashed our record, raking in more than 1.3 million views.

We also, for the first time, surpassed the 1 million sessions mark.

Readers poured in to read our original election coverage and scores of exclusive stories and original features.

See the most read stories below, and here’s hoping we continue our reign in June.

BIG FAN: Jeremy Irons peruses over Goya at Prado while (right) Saturn Devouring His Son, one of the maestro’s most famous works who lectured on Goya at the University of Syracuse, Madrid, for six years and has just published Letters Home from the Basque Country.

“In all the years I have studied Goya, it has never once been mentioned,” he told the Olive Press this week.

Born into a lower-middle class family in the small Aragonese town of Fuendetodos, Francesco de Goya y Lucientes moved with

or Spain?

Sherry First shipped to England in 1340, sherry has been a British favourite for hundreds of years.

As it began to soar in popularity at the beginning of the 16th century, the Spanish spotted an opportunity to make sherry the leading wine import in the UK. The Spanish abolished export tax for wine in Sanlúcar and gave English merchants preferential treatment.

But when the Eighty Years’ War began in the same century, exports were cut off.

Brits were so thirsty for the tipple that when Sir Francis Drake attacked the port of Cadiz in 1587 he seized 2,900 butts of sherry and took them back to the UK, reigniting the love affair with the fortified wine.

Sherry was soon being made to satisfy the English who, in the following centuries, were the only people drinking the stuff in any volume.

The Brits’ love for a sweeter sherry continued into the 20th century as brands such as Croft Original and Harveys Bristol Cream came to prominence in the 60s and 70s.

Following a dip at the end of the 20th century, the wine - which must now only be made in the ‘sherry triangle’ between Jerez de la Frontera and Cadiz - has made a great comeback.

Large supermarkets like Marks & Spencer doubled their sherry varieties while London is drowning in a wave of pop-up sherry bars.

his aspiring parents and three older siblings to Zapater are certainly more ambiguous. In to Zaragoza at the age of three, where he November, 1790, one missive is emblazowould subsequently hang out on the dusty ned with a heart laced with engorged artestreets with the other children and forge a ries instead of the mandatory cross which lifelong friendship with Zapater. the Inquisition demanded.

At the age of 14, his artistic abilities were In the same month, another is adorned with spotted by a priest from a picture he had a sketch of a penis. And in December that done of a pig on a wall. same year, he writes, “Yes, yes, you bring my But though the boys’ lives would then take senses to life with your discreet and frienddifferent directions, with Goya studying art ly productions, with your portrait in front of in the city under Baroque painter Jose Lu- me it seems I have the sweetness of being zan, they remained close. with you, oh, how could my soul believe that Goya had a chequered start to his career as friendship could reach these heights.” an artist. While he worked under Luzan, he While Goya’s exact closeness with Zapater was allegedly also the ring leader of a local (and he painted two portraits of his friend) gang and when he returned to Luzan’s stu- may still be shrouded in mystery it was widio with a knife in his back, he was urged by thout a doubt a close relationship. his mentor to leave Zaragoza and apply to But Goya also painted his wife twice, as well the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, in Madrid. as the Duchess of Alba, whom he was ruHis application was not successful though, moured to have seduced, though another and he went to Italy for several years ins- biographer Robert Hughes believes their tead. relationship only ever amounted to a close But he finally found favour with Charles III in friendship. the Spanish capital, thanks A woman of her age and lito fellow artist and mentor neage would not have fallen Francisco Bayeu, and becafor the charms of a man 20 When he returned years her senior who was far me chief painter at court.

“My Martín,” he wrote to his from her social equal, Huto the studio friend. “I’m now the King’s ghes maintains.

Painter on 15 reales a year!”

He added that his celebrated with a knife in Goya had by then married painting ‘Maja Desnuda’, on his back he was which much of the speculaBayeu’s sister Josefa. He was 27 when they tied the knot tion is based, is not the Duurged to leave and, though there are few chess at all. details of the relationship, Whether or not Goya had howe do know that numerous mosexual feelings towards pregnancies led to only one of their children Zapater is open to interpretation as is alsurviving past infancy, which must have most everything about Goya, and the Prado been heartbreaking.

Museum remains non-committal on the isBut, according to historian Drake-Jones, sue. “This ‘perception’ is personal to MaGoya in no sense abandoned his wife or his nuel Mena,” a spokeswoman told the Olive son, as actor Irons has claimed. In fact, her Press. death in 1812 could have contributed to his With regard to Goya dabbling in Satanism, descent into depression.

Drake-Jones is unequivocal.

But 17 years after his wedding, his letters His paintings may have at times been ghoulish and disturbing with themes of insanity (Yard with Lunatics), nakedness, witchcraft (Witches’ Sabbath) and religion running through them, but he maintains: “It would have been too dangerous for Goya to be involved in devil worship.”

He continues: “He was a court painter.

Everybody knew him and he could have lost his job or his life. He could have been garrotted – a form of strangulation, though at least you’re sitting down!

“You were allowed to paint mythology and in his black period you have Saturn Devouring His Son, but that was the norm.”

According to Drake Jones, there is no mystery about Goya’s black period either.

“He had gone stone deaf,” he says, referring to the illness that left Goya with a constant ringing in his ears at the age of 47.

“The absolutist king Ferdinand VII comes back to the throne and plunges Spain into darkness and persecutes him. And he shuts himself away.”

As Jeremy Irons says in his documentary tour, Painters and Kings of the Prado, ‘Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life’, allowing us the freedom perhaps to interpret it as we choose.

A new exhibition of Goya’s sketches opens at the Prado on November 19.

THE BLACK DUCHESS: Goya’s wife

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Postie problem ANGERED residents who stopped receiving post at their urbanisation last year are now reeling after a communal box has been installed a mile away.

Denia post office announced it was going to stop delivering to out-of-town neighbourhoods in June 2018, leaving residents no choice but to purchase a slot at various communal boxes.

But after around 900 Montgo dwellers paid a fee of €108.90, for 12 years’ rental, the mailboxes were installed a mile from the nearest resident.

Refused

Veïns del Montgó housing association chairman Jaime Fermin Ribes said the boxes were ‘far too far away’.

As homeowners need to drive to pick up any post, Ribes said they might as well go straight to the post office.

Packages and letters sent by ordinary post stay at the post office for 15 days, or seven days for registered mail, meaning residents could have also saved themselves the fee for renting a mailbox.

Ribes added Montgo is not the only area suffering this problem, as new communal mailboxes were installed in 16 urbanisations refused doorto-door delivery.

Outrage as millions of protected birds are killed and secretly served up in restaurants in Spain

By Deirdre Tynan

A SHOCKING two-and-a-half million birds are killed in Andalucia every year during the olive harvest.

Millions more songbirds get vacuumed into machinery during intensive night-time harvesting across Spain and Portugal.

Birds including goldfinches, greenfinches and wagtails are among the worst affected during the harvest season between October and January.

At least 17 species are affected by the practice, which was brought to light by an Ecologistas en Accion study in January 2018.

The green group estimated that 100 birds were being killed per hectare of farmed land, leading to around 2.6 million dead birds per season, just in Andalucia.

The shocking statistics confirmed by the Guardia Civil’s environmental arm Seprona, are now being probed by the Junta.

The Sevilla-based body is now under pressure to outlaw the practice of night harvesting, since publishing a report on the problem in October.

Worse still, tens of thousands

June 6th - June 19th 2019

Wasn’t pushed EXCLUSIVE

By Josh Parfitt

CRUSHED: (Left) Greenfinches and (right) Wagtails are being slaughtered by intensive olive harvesting

A song of sorrow

of the birds are being sold to restaurants as a dish, long popular in inland Spain.

The dish - known as pajarito frito - has been outlawed for many years, especially when the birds in question are endangered species.

“This practice is illegal and highly condemned due to a lack of sufficient health guarantees for public health,” said a Junta spokesman this week.

No charges have yet been

brought against any farmers or hotels, however the Junta confirmed it was looking at banning ‘super-intensive’ harvesting at night.

“It will prevent migratory birds from being caught by the machine’s spotlights,” he added.

“It is a real problem, with pressing and serious environmental repercussions.

Pressure has grown on Spain, after a number of British supermarkets confirmed they are also probing the practice with an eye on banning olives or olive oil produced in this way.

Tesco confirmed it was investigating how olives are collected for its oils after many buyers expressed concerns, following the publication of the report in journal Nature last week.

“We’re currently looking into how we pick these olives so, by the time it comes to harvest

them, all the necessary changes will have been made,” said a spokesman.

Numerous olive oil firms in Spain - the world’s biggest producer of what is termed ‘liquid gold’ - harvest at night as the cooler temperatures better preserve the aroma of the olives.

The issue is the bright lights of the tractors, which dazzle the sleeping birds leading to many being sucked into the machinery and crushed.

The issue is not a problem during the day.

Global olive oil brand Filippo Berio, which offers oil from Spain and Italy among many other countries, confirmed it would be checking its produce.

“We will keep consumers updated as and when we have more information.”

A BRITISH holidaymaker has been accused of lying after claiming police pushed him out of a hotel window.

Wesley Levis posted pictures of a broken leg in hospital, saying he was ‘backed into a corner by a police officer’ in his third-storey room at Sol Pelicanos Ocas hotel, in Benidorm.

But a member of staff told the Olive Press Levis allegedly jumped after police intervened following a domestic violence incident.

“He then went begging for sympathy online,” added Dave McQueen, of Benidorm Holidays Ltd. “Levis actually punched his girlfriend five times in the face in their room, took her wallet and passport and fled the hotel around 4am,”

Demanding

McQueen, who works closely with Sol Pelicanos, said Levis returned at 9am to find the police demanding his girlfriend’s belongings and preparing to take her to safety.

“He started screaming ‘if you leave me I’ll jump’. And that’s exactly what he did,” McQueen added. Levis allegedly lied on social media, saying he was ‘woken up’ by Guardia Civil and pushed out the window. He claimed he would not walk for ‘24 months’ as messages of support rained in.

“In the picture (below) you can see the police searching him while he’s on the ground - that doesn’t normally happen unless you’ve done something very wrong,” McQueen said.

Fight the drunks SPAIN’S most maligned resort is set to ban boozy Brits as authorities begin a crackdown on drunken behaviour.

Benidorm is joining Magaluf and Marbella in attempting to reign in bad behaviour this summer.

A blacklist will be handed out to bars, restaurants and hotels to help identify hooligans.

The list will show the name, nationality and passport number of known troublemakers.

"It's a good idea,” said local

entertainer Gary Beddow Brown. “Some tourists leave their brains at home and think they can get away with anything while abroad.

“Why should local businesses be out of pocket for damage caused by people with no regard for others?”

The Costa Blanca resort is notorious for drunken behaviour and just last weekend a group of lads were spotted guzzling Heineken through a beer bong onboard a Ryanair flight to Alicante.

See Beer we go, back page

By Charlie Smith

A BRITISH conman on the run for 15 years has been cuffed on the Costa del Sol. Christopher Woodhead (pictured right), 66, from Huddersfield, preyed on the vulnerable and elderly in construction scams totalling €1.6 million.

After being detained by police in San Pedro de Alcantara, Marbella, the Yorkshireman now faces a sixyear prison sentence for the Leeds-based crimes.

The judge in the case labelled him an ‘amoral fraudster’ as he was found guilty of swindling a dozen clients by taking on building jobs, which he didn’t carry out.

Woodhead was thought

RAID: Police search Wesley Levis who lies on ground with broken leg

Nabbed CAUGHT: Woodhead to have moved to Canada or Spain, after first disappearing in 2004 with the money he had extracted from firms.

A Policia Nacional spokesperson said: “He was officially made a wanted man in 2008

and is said to have committed a dozen crimes of fraud in the UK while he was in charge of several firms which sold products to other construction companies.

“The fraud consisted of charging for labour and not carrying out jobs.

“He also diverted cash to another company through the fictitious supply of materials and creation of fraudulent invoices.

“He used the income he obtained for his own benefit, on holidays and maintenance payments to his ex-wife.”

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WINNER: Banderas

Cannes you believe it?!

SPAIN has triumphed at Cannes as Antonio Banderas was crowned best actor for his role in a new Pedro Almodovar film.

The 58-year-old Malagueño plays a film director in Dolor y Gloria, a role loosely based on the film’s own director and godfather of Spanish cinema.

An emotional Banderas recognised his friend and mentor in his acceptance speech at the 72nd edition of the festival.

He said: “I respect Pedro, I admire him, I love him. He is my mentor. And he has given me so much in life that I have no choice but to dedicate this prize to him.”

Time will tell A SPANISH singer has created one of the top 10 songs of the year.

In its list of best songs of 2019 so far, TIME magazine has highlighted Rosalia for her tune Con Altura recorded with J Balvin.

The track by the genre-defying Catalan artist, 25, was described as a mashup of ‘dembow, hip-hop and flamenco’.

Fresh off the back of her Coachella 2019 performance in California, the Flamenco-inspired musician is celebrated for her ‘chameleonic’ and ‘global’ appeal.

Other artists included by TIME include, Mark Ronson with his song Late Night Feelings feat.

Lykke Li, and the Jonas Brothers with Succker.

THE Spanish film company behind Game of Thrones has revealed how it dealt with spoilers and its future projects with HBO. Fresco Films owner Peter Welter Soler said his firm brought the whole cast, including Kit Harington and Emilia Clark, for filming in Sevilla.

The German-born producer added that this included those ‘whose characters were already dead or missing, to mislead people and avoid so-called ‘spoilers’.

“I’ve been biting my tongue for a year,” Soler said, after it emerged that he was one of

the only people who knew the controversial ending to the hit series.

A record 19.3 million viewers tuned in for the final episode of the show, which contained the only scene of this series filmed in Spain, where Bran Stark is made king.

He also revealed that his production company, based in Malaga, is working on new projects with AMC, Netflix and HBO, the broadcaster behind Game of Thrones. Fresco Films is currently producing Netflix series Warrior Nun, which shoots exclusively in Malaga, and recently shut down a whole church in

GOT IT: Peter Soler while (right) scene shot in southern Spain Antequera for filming.

Although keeping quiet about the TV projects, Soler has confirmed that Fresco Films worked on new films Spider-Man: Far From Home and Terminator 6, which stars Arnold Schwarzene-

gger.

Drawing a close on Game of Thrones, Soler said he had a sense of ‘melancholy’, and that the ‘work would not have been possible without the team’.

To be Franc

As Spain gears up for final episode of Franco documentary Supreme Court judges block his reburrial THE Spanish Supreme Court has halted the reburial of former dictator General Franco with just days to go.

Spain’s controversial Fascist leader was due to be dug up on June 10 from his grave at Madrid’s Valley of the Fallen monument.

Five top judges ruled in favour of Franco’s family, freezing the move to transfer his remains to the El Pardo cemetery, where his wife is also buried.

This latest twist in the Franco saga comes after 12 months

9

June 6th - June 19th 2019

THE world’s most visited multimedia exhibition will arrive in Valencia in July.

Van Gogh Alive, which has broken visitor records in over 50 cities across four continents, will turn the third floor of the Ateneo Mercantil into a giant 800 m³ walk-through canvas.

The massively successful exhibition has already passed through Malaga, Sevilla, Alicante and Madrid will be in Valencia from July 27 to October 20.

Using technology from SENSORY4™, the exhibit allows fans of the Dutch painter to immerse themselves in paintings, such as The Starry Night.

Six-metre high screens allow a scenic exploration of the impressionists’ iconic work, as if walking through the landscape itself.

The Ateneo Mercantil will be open from 9am until 10pm Monday to Sunday, without interruption.

Moros y Cristianos

of work by Pedro Sanchez’s PSOE administration to exhume his body.

The National Francisco Franco Foundation and the former dictator’s relatives have, along with hundreds of protestors, tried to stop the plans.

Franco’s family had chosen the La Almudena cathedral, located in a popular tourist area of the Spanish capital.

However, the Government told them it would not be possible due to ‘clear risks for citizen safety and mobility’.

DUG UP: Franco’s remains to be finally relocated The arguments of his family Sanchez’s Deputy Prime Miagainst removing him from nister Carmen Calvo on Monthe Valley of the Fallen rested day. on the ‘irreparable’ damage it A Government statement would cause. said: “This precautionary “Achieving the final objective suspension means that the is more important than the government will postpone the route we have to take,” said exhumation until a decision is reached in the coming months regarding the merits of the case.

A TREASURE trove “The government is convinced of 19 Roman jugs fithat the Supreme Court will lled with coins has throw out this appeal, just like been valued in Anda- pieces were found it has done so far with all the lucia. after being stumbled appeals lodged by the Franco The impressive find across by olive grove family.” was found to be worth workers at the city’s It comes as Franco was set to €468,230 following a El Zaudin park. be exhumed just a day before technical study in Se- The archeological the final episode airs of a new villa. find is the largest in colour documentary about The discovery of the modern times in Sehis rise to power and Spain’s bronze coins which villa, and is thought return to democracy. Epiaccording to experts to date back to AD sode four of Spain after the have ‘incalculable’ va- 293, when the Rowar: the Francoism in color, lue was made in 2016. man Empire began to will be broadcast on Spanish A total of 53,208 recover. channel DMAX on June 11 at 22:30.

Minted

A MUSIC festival will kick off the Moors and Christians fiesta week on the Costa Blanca this weekend.

Moraira Music Festival will first be held from 6pm on Sunday at the Castillo on the beachfront.

The Moors and Christians festival is one of the biggest cultural events on the Costa Blanca summer calendar, and will take place in Moraira the following weekend on June 15-16.

The music festival will set the stage for a week of festivities, including the firing on blunderbusses and the arrival of the Moors who capture Moraira’s castle on June 14.

The line up features an Abba tribute band, British cover band Gatecrash and soul/funk group SOULSPLOSION. The highlights of the festivities will be on Saturday June 15 when the Christians recapture the Castillo de Moraira, followed by a parade on Sunday June 16.

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LETTERS

LE T T E R S

www.theolivepress.es

June 6th - June 19th 2019

Andalucia

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Gareth Bale scores

Vol. 13 Issue 319 www.theolivepress.es June 5th - June 18th 2019

Outrage as millions of protected birds are killed and secretly served up in restaurants across Andalucia PALS: Fans in Madrid

By Deirdre Tynan

Walk in the park

SEE PULLOUT

exclusive Marbella

June 2019

H

E might be getting nudged out of Real Madrid, but EXCLUSIVE Bale is strengthening Gareth his ties to along the famous southern Spain.

Golden The much-maligned features other celebrity Mile, which Welsh wizard has spent a small including ex-England homeowners, fortune on a new midfielder Tim property on the Costa Sherwood. del Sol, despite expectation of his The penthouse is just return to the UK this summer. from Finca Cortesin, a 20-minute drive The Olive Press can sort in Casares wherethe luxury golf rewho signed for Los reveal the striker, tee up and has stayedBale, 29, loves to million six years agoBlancos for €100 over the last few years. at several times has snapped up a from Tottenham, He knows La Trinidad well as he has droom apartment stunning three-bestayed at his agent in Marbella for just Jonathan Barnett’s under €2 million. home in the urbanisation a number of The Welshman managed times. The purchase to knock around 10% off the threatened to ‘stay comes after Bale price of the properand play golf’ if the ty, which was on the remainder of his market for around Real €2.2 million. paid. The father-of-threecontract is not said: “I’ve got According to sources three years left on my the deal, the modern closely linked to want me to go, they’ll contract. If they pad is situated in need to pay me the exclusive La Trinidad €17 million per season. urbanisation If not, I’ll stay here. And if I have to play golf, I will.”

952 81 40 40 | KSsir.com | info@KSsir.com

VICTORY LOOMS

AROUND 300,000 Andalucia need no owners of illegal homes in happened longer fear the Junta’s several times before. dozers thanks to plans Meanwhile, bull- ond proposal to speed up the legalisaaims to toughen sanctioninga section process. inspection once the royal and decree is in place so that While a royal decree illegal homes ularities is still beingaddressing property irreg- The objectiveare less likely to built in the future. drafted, these new of the fast track scheme sures allow homeowners mea- continue ‘without is to more stability. as The main aim is to according to Marifranmany obstacles as before’, grant more properties Carazo, Andalucia’s many of them expat-owned new - AFO status (asim- Minister of Public Works. ilado fuera de ordenacion).

It comes after the This gives houses southerly region, President of Spain’s most ‘semi-legality’, saving Juanma Moreno, from being demolished them modifications outlined by the Junta which has (LOUA), givingto the Andalucia planning law owners of illegal homes a ‘sec- HELP: Graffiti for homeowners

ond chance’.

“We can’t have 300,000 cia,” the PP leader said, illegal homes in Andaluof illegal properties adding that around 90% would be regularised.

Maura Hillen, president of illegal homes action group AUAN, also believed a ‘precedent’told the Olive Press that she had been set in the case a British couple. of Expat pensioners emerged victorious Noel and Christine Payne after a 16-year legal over their illegal home battle described as a ‘positive’ in Albox, which Hillen sign of the future.

SONG OF SORROW

A SHOCKING two-and-a-half million birds are killed in Andalucia every year during the olive harvest.

Millions more songbirds get vacuumed THE largest police operation in Spani- sive into machinery during intensh sporting history has ended success- Spainnight-time harvesting across and Portugal. fully in Madrid.

Birds including goldfinches, greA combination of restrained policing enfinches and wagtails are among and good-natured fans turned a poten- the tial Champions League final nightmare vest worst affected during the harseason between October and into a game of cricket in the capital.

January.

The statistics are nothing short of ama- At least 17 species are affected by the zing. practice, which was brought to light As the huge clear up operation got un- by an Ecologistas en Accion study in derway on Monday morning, it emerJanuary 2018. ged that only 11 arrests were made out The green group estimated that 100 of an estimated 100,000-plus British birds were being killed per hectare CRUSHED: (Left) Greenfinches fans who descended on the capital and (far right) Wagtails are at of farmed land, leading to around being slaughtered by olive farming the weekend.

2.6 million dead birds per season, The shocking statistics confirmed by The 4,700 cops tasked with the job the Guardia Civil’s environmental by the Junta. of just in Andalucia.

"It is a real problem, with pressing policing the all-British final generally arm Seprona, are now being probed The Sevilla-based body is now un- and serious environmental behaved admirably, in comparison der pressure to outlaw the practice reperto their counterparts in Sevilla and Barof night harvesting, since publishing cussions, which transcend the national and geographical limits celona over recent years. a report on the problem in October. of Andalucia.”

Worse still, tens of thousands of birds are being sold to restaurantsthe Pressure has grown on Spain, after IT will go down as the greatest reunion as a number of British supermarkets Hooliganism a dish, long popular in inland AndaRobbie Williams is set to rejoin Takeof the year. confirmed they are also probing Their aim was to contain the lucia. headline show in Gibraltar this summer,That at a practice with an eye on banning the the Olive groups of rival fans from Liverpool big The dish - known as pajarito frito oliPress can reveal. and Tottenham, the vast majority who arrihas been outlawed for many years,- ves or olive oil produced in this way.

He will be reunited with his former bandmates ved without tickets and many without especially when the birds in ques- Tesco confirmed it was investigating at Gibraltar Calling Festival in September. how olives are collected for its accomodation. tion are endangered species. oils Organiser Richard Coram revealed Far from the feared predictions of “This practice is illegal and highly after many buyers expressed concerPress this week that ‘Robbie Williamsto the Olive wiis definitely despread ‘hooliganism’ in the Spanish condemned due to a lack of suffi- ns, following the publication of the involved’. report in journal Nature last week. press, the weekend, passed off almost cient health guarantees for public He added: “I can give you the heads up that he entirely without incident. health,” said a Junta spokesman this "We're currently looking into how will be involved in one way or another.” we pick these olives so, by the time “The fear of hooliganism has been week.

The former frontman left the band in just that; fear, as the British fans behaved 2016, No charges have yet been brought it comes to harvest them, all the so it would be a timely return. necessary changes will have been with enthusiasm and cordiality,” against any farmers or hotels, howereHalf of the tickets to the festival have ported El Confidencial. ver the Junta confirmed it was loo- made," said a spokesman. already been sold, with many more With the exception of a few idiots, king at banning ‘super-intensive’ Numerous olive oil firms in Spain the acts to be added to the bill, that the world’s biggest producer of what harvesting at night. already includes Liam Gallagher “It will prevent migratory birds from is termed ‘liquid gold’ - harvest at Continues on Page 3 and Mel C. being caught by the machine’s spot- night as the cooler temperatures better preserve the aroma of the olives. lights,” he added.

The issue is the bright lights of the tractors, which dazzle the sleeping birds leading to many being sucked into the machinery and crushed.

The issue is not a problem during the day.

UK BASED Global olive oil brand Filippo Berio, which offers oil from Spain and Italy among many other countries, confirmed it Reliable private hire transfer would be checking its produservices for any occasion ce. for Spanish • Luxury vehicles “We will keep consumers upwww.mosquitonick.ws • Door to door service dated as and when we have residents nick@mosquitonick.ws • Airport collections more information."

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Issue 30

June 2019

Page XX

Gareth Bale scores

PLOT: 4,000 m2

exclusive Marbella

pad

PLOT: 1,760 m2

E might be getting nudged out of Real Madrid, but EXCLUSIVE Bale is strengthening Gareth his ties to along the famous southern Spain.

Golden The much-maligned features other celebrity Mile, which Welsh wizard has spent a small including ex-England homeowners, fortune on a new midfielder Tim property on the Costa Sherwood. del Sol, despite expectation of his The penthouse is just return to the UK this summer. from Finca Cortesin, a 20-minute drive The Olive Press can sort in Casares wherethe luxury golf rewho signed for Los reveal the striker, tee up and has stayedBale, 29, loves to million six years agoBlancos for €100 over the last few years. at several times has snapped up a from Tottenham, He knows La Trinidad well as he has droom apartment stunning three-bestayed at his agent in Marbella for just Jonathan Barnett’s under €2 million. home in the urbanisation a number of The Welshman managed times. The purchase to knock around 10% off the threatened to ‘stay comes after Bale price of the properand play golf’ if the ty, which was on the remainder of his market for around Real €2.2 million. paid. The father-of-threecontract is not said: “I’ve got three years left on my want me to go, they’ll contract. If they need to pay me €17 million per season.

If not, I’ll stay here. And if I have to play golf, I will.”

According to sources the deal, the modern closely linked to pad is situated in the exclusive La Trinidad urbanisation

FREE

Vol. 4 Issue 98 www.theolivepress.es June 5th - June 18th 2019

SEE PULLOUT

VICTORY LOOMS

AROUND 300,000 Andalucia need no owners of illegal homes in happened longer fear the Junta’s several times before. dozers thanks to plans Meanwhile, bull- ond proposal to speed up the legalisaaims to toughen sanctioninga section process. inspection once the royal and decree is in place so that While a royal decree illegal homes ularities is still beingaddressing property irreg- The objectiveare less likely to built in the future. drafted, these new of the fast track scheme sures allow homeowners mea- continue ‘without is to more stability. as The main aim is to according to Marifranmany obstacles as before’, grant more properties Carazo, Andalucia’s many of them expat-owned new - AFO status (asim- Minister of Public Works. ilado fuera de ordenacion).

It comes after the This gives houses southerly region, President of Spain’s most ‘semi-legality’, saving Juanma Moreno, from being demolished them modifications outlined by the Junta which has (LOUA), givingto the Andalucia planning law owners of illegal homes a ‘sec- HELP: Graffiti for homeowners

ond chance’.

“We can’t have 300,000 cia,” the PP leader said, illegal homes in Andaluof illegal properties adding that around 90% would be regularised.

Maura Hillen, president of illegal homes action group AUAN, also believed a ‘precedent’told the Olive Press that she had been set in the case a British couple. of Expat pensioners Noel

SONG OF SORROW

Outrage as millions of

PALS: Fans in Madrid

and Christine emerged victorious after a 16-year legal Payne over their illegal home battle described as a ‘positive’ in Albox, which Hillen sign of the future.

THE largest police operation in Spanish sporting history has ended protected birds are successfully in Madrid.

A combination of restrained polic- killed and secretly ing and good-natured fans turned served up in a potential Champions League final nightmare into a game of cricket in restaurants across the capital.

Andalucia The statistics are nothing short of amazing.

As the huge clear up operation got

By Deirdre Tynan underway on Monday morning, it emerged that only 11 arrests were made out of an estimated 100,000- A SHOCKING two-and-a-half milplus British fans who descended on lion birds are killed in Andalucia the capital at the weekend. every The 4,700 cops tasked with the job of vest. year during the olive harpolicing the all-British final generally Millions behaved admirably, in comparison uumed more songbirds get vacto their counterparts in Sevilla and intensiveinto machinery during night-time harvesting Barcelona over recent years. across Spain and Portugal.

Birds including goldfinches, Hooliganism greenfinches and wagtails are Their aim was to contain the big among the worst affected during groups of rival fans from Liverpool the harvest season between Octoand Tottenham, the vast major- ber and January. ity who arrived without tickets and At least 17 species are affected by the practice, which was brought to many without accomodation.

Far from the feared predictions of light by an Ecologistas en Accion CRUSHED: (Left) Greenfinches widespread ‘hooliganism’ in the study in January 2018. and (far right) Wagtails are being slaughtered by olive farming Spanish press, the weekend, passed The green group estimated that around 2.6 million dead birds per by 100 birds were being killed per off almost entirely without incident. the Guardia Civil’s environseason, just in Andalucia.

“It will prevent migratory birds mental arm “The fear of hooliganism has been hectare of farmed land, leading to The shocking statistics confirmed ing probed Seprona, are now be- from being caught by the majust that; fear, as the British fans beby the Junta.

The Sevilla-based body is now un- chine’s spotlights,” he added. haved with enthusiasm and cordialder pressure to outlaw the practice "It is a real problem, with pressing ity,” reported El Confidencial. of night harvesting, since publish- and serious environmental reperWith the exception of a few idiots, IT will go down as the greatest reunion ing a report on the problem in Oc- cussions, which transcend the nathe mood was extremely friendly of the tional and geographical limits of year. tober. with fans mixing well and the police Robbie Williams is set to rejoin Take Worse still, tens of thousands of Andalucia.” generally playing their part admiraThat at a headline show in Gibraltar this summer, the birds are being sold to restau- Pressure has grown on Spain, after bly. the Olive Press can reveal. rants as a dish, long popular in in- a number of British supermarkets There was only one report of brutaliconfirmed they are also probing He will be reunited with his former land Andalucia. ty where, allegedly, 50 Spurs fans got bandmates at Gibraltar Calling Festival in September.

The dish - known as pajarito fri- the practice with an eye on ban‘battered’ outside a bar near Puerto Organiser Richard Coram revealed to - has been outlawed for many ning olives or olive oil produced in del Sol. to the Olive Press this week that ‘Robbie Williams years, especially when the birds in this way.

The only recorded offences were is definitely involved’.

Tesco confirmed it was investigatquestion are endangered species. for drug possession, assault, flying He added: “I can give you the heads ing how olives are collected for its up that “This a drone and public indecency. And he practice is illegal and highly will be involved in one way or another.” condemned due to a lack of suffi- oils after many buyers expressed one British woman was arrested for The former frontman left the band in 2016, cient health guarantees for public concerns, following the publicaselling fake tickets. so it would be a timely return. health,” said a Junta spokesman tion of the report in journal NaThe 32-year-old apparently told Half of the tickets to the festival have ture last week. this week. two fans she could get them into the already been sold, with many more No charges have yet been brought "We're currently looking into how acts to be added to the bill, that against any farmers or hotels, we pick these olives so, by the time already includes Liam Gallaghit comes to harvest them, all Continues on Page 3 however the Junta confirmed er and Mel C. it necessary changes will have the was looking at banning ‘super-inbeen made," said a spokesman. tensive’ harvesting at night.

Numerous olive oil firms in Spain - the world’s biggest producer of what is termed ‘liquid gold’ - harvest at night as the cooler temperatures better preserve the aroma of the olives.

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Mallorca Issue 55 Your

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voice in Spain May 24nd - June 6th 2019 Vol. 3 Issue 55 www.theolivepress.es

WE’VE GOT THE POWER! see our ad inside

DOZENS of expats are joining gypsies and Down syndrome candidates in in the most diverse local elections Spanish history.

Across the Balearics and peninsular, Brits, Scandinavians and other northern Europeans have thrown their hats in the ring in the hope of representing the important international community at a local level. inHundreds of foreigners have been cluded on the various political party lists in a bid to become councillors.

In a country - where up to 50% of many coastal towns and the islands comprise

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Britain 27 years ago, while Candida Wright is running for the PP in Denia and two British women, Dawn Watkins and Linda Gimeno, are running with Ciudadanos, in Moraira. inOther expats running this year past four years. clude Elizabeth Morrison and Paul Sedella, The PSOE councillor said this week: to Knight for Izquierda Unida in in “Remember how important it is Chris Cluderay for Ciudadanos in make the effort to go and vote on SunAlcaucin and Darren Sands, day, 26th May. Marbella.

“The future of our municiIn what is believed to be pality for the next four the most diverse elections years depends on it!” in Spanish history, four Olive Press columnist Bill young adults with Down Anderson, who is runsyndrome are standing ning for the PP party, in in Valencia, ExtremaduMijas, in Malaga, agreed. ra, Sevilla and Murcia.

“Foreigners can actually “I want my city to be a make a difference in this pioneer in working with disabilities election,” he insisted this people with week. and for us to truly have a “You mustn’t waste your voice and a vote,” Sevilla role.” candidate Lopez-Saez de The former UK governRiba explained. ment advisor is running The employee at the Barin a campaign to restore celó Renacimiento Hotel cleanliness to the town’s says ‘people like him’ can streets, as well as encouroffer ‘so much more than age transparency. people think, including a Running against him is fresh outlook and a differBrit Anne Hernandez, a ent point of view’. well known figure through It comes after four gypsies her group Brexpats in were elected to congress Spain, who will stand for in April’s general electhe Movimiento Vecinal tions in a Spain first.

Mijeño party.

The PP, PSOE, Cs and In Manilva, where nearly Podemos each brought 50% of the population is one gypsy to the country’s foreign, it is no surprise to house of representatives find a Belgian Kaat Buelens from Sevilla, Madrid and Tarbattling against British expat ragona.

Dean Tyler Shelton. vowed to chip away at all have They discrimIn Alicante meanwhile, Brit Terence in the xenophobia and systemic Spain.

Curran, who is standing for the PP ination affecting gypsies across in Javea, said: “If we leave the EU, this Many other gypsies are standing election will be our last chance to have the local elections around the country. a say in our futures.” is Opinion, pg 6 Running against him with Podemos Vote for change Andrew Shaw, who moved over from

vital local elections - in which Expats fill up the ballot lists for FINALLY foreigners count! the the Foreigner´s Department for expats - local elections are vital. the The poll this Sunday (May 26) is ONLY vote, apart from the European can elections, in which expat residents take part.

The expat vote has proved key in prein vious Balearic elections, especially Calvia, where expat voters are well into their thousands.

In total, 56,000 foreigners are registered to vote in Mallorca this weekend

with key areas for expats including Deia, Santanyi and Pollenca. the Some 14,700 British voters can hit ballot box, joined by 18,000 German voters, which is a shocking drop from 33,200 registered in the last election.

Italians make up the biggest number to of expat voters, rising from 14,100 18,000 in just four years.

Expat candidate Dolina Reynolds, from Glasgow, has successfully run

M D TH ISS ON IS IN ’T IS SID SU E E

PLUS...

WHY ARE BEES BUZZING OFF? Find out on page 16

After a rare Velazquez was discovered in New York, the Olive Press explores Spain’s most pricey paintings

page by numbers, See Painting 15:36 16/06/2017 1

Untitled-1.pdf WHAT’S SPAIN’S RITZIEST RESORT? Holiday special, page 18

10

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UK BASED

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MY

CY

I’d like to wish you well done.

Your newspaper is a breath of intelligent fresh air amongst the current batch of English-speaking expat papers.

Your ‘competitors’ mostly ignore anything happening in Spain that does not have a direct effect on the British expats.

They have more than their fair share of letters from people complaining about the Spanish people, systems, local town halls etc.

How refreshing to read an article on the value of Spanish artists (Painting by numbers, Issue 6, pg 14).

Your election coverage was excellent (We’ve got the power, Issue 319, pg 1), it was great to see how many expats are prepared to enter into the Spanish political system, albeit on a local level. I found the elections very interesting overall.

Your newspaper is a vast improvement on the other tabloid expat trash.

Please keep up the good work.

Peter Sauer, Palma

Paul Irwin, Malaga

Crazy crooks People must be crazy to elect the PP. It is like electing corrupt crooks over and over again.

Powers of persuasion

HANK MARVIN

Double standards

OOD day fellow ‘Cos- yone’s favourite shouty-man, ta Blancans’.

Jeremy Kyle.

Well, I have not really Now, I have very rarely wathad oodles of time ched his programme, mainly to do much pondering lately, because five minutes of it mainly due to being packed made my ears bleed and my off to the land of tea, fish eyes glaze over in total disand chips, Yorkshire puds belief, but I am pretty sure and...dare I mention it, Bre- that the recent TV disaster xit! made Señora Despite my oriMay sigh with ginal promise relief, as the Take attention when I wrote tabloids, TV, my debut coaway from radio and the lumn a few whole world the most weeks ago, asand his wife suring my reaembarrassing went hell for der and his cat leather on that I would balls-up in history the rights and not mention wrongs of Jethe B-word, I rry’s entertainfeel I have to just throw out ment and took the heat away there, my recent conspiracy from her for a while. theory regarding the relative So anyway, another Jeremy lack of Brexit crap of late. bites the dust it seems, foIt would seem to me that the llowing in Clarkson’s footslatest ploy to take our atten- teps (although, sorry, I have MADNESS: Queues at Alicante airport tion away from the most ex- to admit having a soft spot Digressing again it seems, as as I love living in Spain, I do pensive and embarrassing for that particular bad boy as my point was to tell the tale have to have a regular dose balls-up in the history of the he does make me chuckle). of my of her infectious giggles from jolly old Untied (no that isn’t Now only Corbyn to go and I havetrip to Essex last week. a beautiful daughter time to time. a typo) Kingdom, was ever- we have a winning treble. who lives there and as much When the plane touches down on that green and pleasant land, I do think about what I actually miss about England, but I have to admit that, apart from a few special people, there is not that much to lure me back.

This particular trip did not start so well because I had totally forgotten that Ryanair changes its baggage rules more often than I have replaced the empty loo roll.

So, having packed everything into one cabin bag and made sure that my jacket pockets were big enough to store a laptop and half of Boots’ cosmetic counter, my daughter and I set off for Alicante airport, where, upon arrival, we were informed by the flashing board that our plane had been delayed.

Oh well, it was only 55 minutes, so we could browse the Toblerone and smell the latest designer aromas at leisure in Duty Free.

Having stuffed my smell-u-like €9,00 Mercadona spray and three bars of MasyMas fruit and nut choc into the aforesaid case, I resisted

Brian Forgie, London

Seeing is believing I walked past the PSOE barrio headquarters while going to vote yesterday. Right up front against the window there was an elderly 'lady' sprawled out on her chair with her feet on the table in front of her. Had I wanted to vote for them I would have changed my mind immediately. Talk about image.

Genni Bertini, Alicante

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

Gordon Sandilands, Benidorm 4

I hope they saved each and every one (No wonder you’ve got hives, dear!, Issue 5, pg 5).

Bees are so important for us all to survive.

Linda Radmore, Malaga

I love Spain, but...

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Heil hall

A TOWN hall has finally removed a statue dedicated to a nazi after pressure from residents and expats.

Workers in Ojen dismantled the monument which bore the name of Juan Hoffman, a German consul in Malaga, who was later revealed to have been a member of Adolf Hitler’s SS and Gestapo.

Start any plan and pay abso-flippin-lutely not

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Arab summer MARBELLA is preparing to host a string of Arab royal families this summer, it has been revealed.

According to the town hall, several consulates have reached out to inform the hotspot that high profile members of different monarchies will be dropping in after Ramadan ends on June 4.

Y D

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20

HOMEOWNERS in Granada were shocked to discover that a buzzing sound that was keeEXCLUSIVE ping them up at night had been

By Charlie Smith caused by 80,000 bees in their bedroom wall.

The pair from Granada had A LEADING airline has been bothered by the low hum- agreed to dump any towns ming sound for two years. that allow raw sewage into Eventually a local beekeeper the sea. worked out what the problem British holiday firm Jet2 has was and stepped in to help. confirmed to the Olive “It was an unbearable noise and that this will start with Press Nerja, I don’t know how they managed which previously listed the to put up with it at all,” explai- town’s Burriana beach as a ned beekeeper Sergio Guerrero. great place to visit.

The professional has been ge- It comes after fecal tting more callouts this year was found at both bacteria Burriana than ever before and believes and nearby Torrecilla beach, Andalucia's bee population is in which the travel giant had better health than a decade ago. listed on its website as among It comes as conservationists its ‘things to do’ in Nerja. around the globe mark World “We will not be promoting’ Bee Day amid a decline in the the beaches until the problem global population. is resolved,” said a spokesSee the buzz on bees, page 40

Annelie Ash, Sandhurst

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Leading UK airline stops promoting polluted beaches after Olive Press probe

I couldn't have put it better myself. (Raging Ricky, Issue 5, pg 3). I did in fact cry myself when I saw what happened. I loveMobile Spain, service, tailorbut that is one part of its culture I can never accept or learn to like.

OP QUICK Crossword 3

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No wonder you’ve got hives, dear!

96 626 5000 +44 (0) 1353 699082

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the urge to part with a few The chips were worth the hundred Euros for some Dior wait though. and three bars of chocolate By now, I assume you realise with two thirds of it missing! that all was not well at AliWe toddled along and chec- cante airport and our flight ked the flashy box again, had been put back yet again. whereupon we established Do we know what is causing that another hour had been this? added to the delay.

No of course not, but hey-ho, Oh well, hungry anyway, so the gate number had come we went and played with the up, and naturally it was the Burger King one-armed-ban- one furthest away from whedit, managing re we usually to order some board, but at fast food, but least we could without the 50 I had to return to walk off those c e n t s - w o r t h the naughty step chips. of dressing I Within just 30 and wait for Mr minutes, wanted as I do we not hold a de- Ryanair to relieve had arrived gree in Sauce at the front us Communicaof the queue, tions, so had showing off to give it up how well we and accept that I must do had packed our tiny cases battle with the free, impos- with everything a woman sible-to-open-without-the-co- needs for five days, when rrect-tools plastic pouch of we were told that we should ketchup. have booked priority and The fast food order, via the that I now had to pay and speedy ordering system, arri- return to the naughty step at ved 45 minutes later. the back of the queue and By this time the airport was wait for Mr Ryanair and his running amok with disgrunt- trusty card machine to come led, delayed passengers and relieve us of €40, the cafrom all parts of the world ses, and our dignity it seems. and by the time we found a It was my intention to tell table, I had learned to swear more about our adventures in eight different languages. in England but it seems that I have had my usual attack of verbal diarrhoea and I have already exceeded my Olive Quota for this week.

Although, I cannot sign off without revealing the cause of airport mayhem, which continued for yet another 90 minutes, sitting on the plane while we waited for ‘Monsieur Le Misery’ to allow us to fly over their airspace.

Our journey home, five days later, you will not be surprised to hear, was equally as stressful and I didn’t even get to Burger King that time.

But that story is for another day.

In the meantime, it was worth all the hassle just to have that bowl of jellied eels!

Let’s hope they stop boozy everybodies (Benidorm set to BAN boozy Brits in crackdown on drunken behaviour, online May 28). Benidorm has been ruined by drunks. Remember Blackpool in the 70’s and 80’s? It was a great place - until the stags and hens arrived. Now it’s ruined as a family resort. The same is happening to Benidorm.

Bee careful

It's unfortunate that EU expats living in the UK were not given the same opportunity in the European elections, as many were turned away.

1

By Loraine Gostling

Blackpool with sun

Ketil Næss, Oslo

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XX 1, Santa pagePonca Jaime on Rey more Avenida Find out 0034 871 510 277

GETTING CONNECTED

This is an amusingly written piece (Hank Marvin, Issue 5, pg 30). However it is yet another story of people failing to read the airlines rules. They email the life out of you before you fly and probably did try and tell you. Maybe you chose to ignore them, shouting that the rules had changed. Although the fact that the priority queue is longer than the non-priority is an amazing feat of persuasion by Ryanair.

Barry Fox, Nerja

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COLUMNISTS

June 6th - June 19th 2019

Readers react to Spain’s municipal elections and the scores of expats on the ballot papers (Issue 5, pg 1)

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Bale’s new purchase, Ronda’s hottest new hotel and Spain’s prettiest streets

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Political fall-out

Check out our issues online at www.theolivepress.es

Issue 319

May 23rd - June 5th 2019

Across: 1 Stoned, 5 Azalea, 8 Egg, 9 Snivel, 10 Aspire, 11 Tsars, 13 Sneaker, 14 Aches, Down: 2 Tunisia, 3 Never, 4 Dell, 5 Against, 6 Applaud, 7 Eerie, 17 Tidal, 20 Blurred, 22 Usage, 25 Italic, 26 Adults, 27 Had, 28 Prepay, 12 See, 29 Edging.

15 Harelip, 16 Sketchy, 18 I O U, 19 Lighten, 21 Later, 23 Swung, 24 Bade.

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Alicante Airport pandamonium was just about worth it for an English bowl of jellied eels, writes Loraine Gostling

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1 9 4 2 8 5 6

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Down

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Puzzle by websudoku.com

2 Singlehanded (7) 3 Stillness (7) 4 Former Russian ruler (4) 5 Abroad (8) 6 Strangely (5) 7 Defamation (5) 15 Natives of e.g. Venice (8) 17 Dental filling (7) 18 Template (7) 21 Undo (5) 22 Tall and thin (5) 25 Stout pole (4)

All solutions are on page 30

Property

Is this Spain’s prettiest street?

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go S - p m to p ain ag ro ’s az pe in rty e

www.theolivepress.com

Issue 30

Page IV

June 2019

BALE-ING IN Gareth Bale scores exclusive costa pad

H

E might be getting nudged out of Real Madrid, but Gareth Bale is strengthening his ties to southern Spain.

The much-maligned Welsh wizard has spent a small fortune on a new property on the Costa del Sol, despite expectation of his return to the UK this summer.

The Olive Press can reveal the striker, who signed for Los Blancos for €100 million six years ago from Tottenham, has snapped up a stunning three-bedroom apartment in Marbella for just under €2 million.

The Welshman managed to knock around 10% off the price of the property, which was on the market for around €2.2 million.

According to sources closely linked to the deal, the modern pad is situated in the exclusive La Trinidad urbanisation

EXCLUSIVE along the famous Golden Mile, which features other celebrity homeowners, including ex-England midfielder Tim Sherwood.

The penthouse is just a 20-minute drive from Finca Cortesin, the luxury golf resort in Casares where Bale, 29, loves to tee up and has stayed at several times over the last few years.

He knows La Trinidad well as he has stayed at his agent Jonathan Barnett’s home in the urbanisation a number of times. The purchase comes after Bale threatened to ‘stay and play golf’ if the remainder of his Real contract is not paid. The father-of-three said: “I’ve got three years left on my contract. If they want me to go, they’ll need to pay me €17 million per season. If not, I’ll stay here. And if I have to play golf, I will.”

British buoy

VALENCIA saw more foreign property purchases than any other region in Spain in the second half of 2018 - and it’s mostly thanks to the Brits.

According to the latest stats from the Association of Spanish Notaries, the eastern region, which includes Alicante, saw 14,536 sales to foreign buyers.

The number far outpaced runner up An-

British investment continues to prove vital to Valencia and Spanish property markets dalucia, which enjoyed just over 9,100 purchases from the foreign market.

Catalunya rounded out the top three, meanwhile, on less then half of Valencia, on 7,606.

Perhaps unpredictably, and despite Brexit, the Brits dominated the overseas market in Valencia, accounting for 23% of foreign buyers looking for a rental investment or second home.

When it came to the share of Spain-based residents who bought a home, Brits still took up 12%, more than any other expat group.

The Brits continued to be the majority buyers in other key regions, including Andalucia, where they represented 32% of foreign sales, and Murcia, where they represented a whopping 56% of foreign sales.

II

June 2019

PROPERTY

Brits to the rescue Mark Stucklin

www.spanishpropertyinsight.com

Sales to British buyers propped up Spain’s property market in the latter half of last year, writes Mark Stucklin

T

HE number of Spanish homes acquired by foreign buyers increased in the second half of last year at the slowest rate since the second half of 2010, and growth would have been even lower had the the British not continued their love affair with property in Spain.

Foreign buyers acquired 50,249 homes in Spain in the last six months of 2018, up 1.4% compared to the same period a year before, reveals a report just published by Spain’s General Council of Notaries. Notaries witness the vast majority of property sales that take place in Spain, and according to their figures, foreign buyers made up 18.2% of the market, down from a high of 20.3% in the second half of 2015.

Although the number of sales involving a foreign buyer increased in the period, the notaries point out

that, “in comparison to the previous FOREIGN PUSH: Charts clearly show how foreigners dominate the market year, the increases registered in the two halves of 2018 were a long in the period, after a decline of ce the base period of the first half way from the results of 2017, when 0.7% in the first half of the year, of 2007, whilst comparing it to logrowth was above 10%.” Foreign whilst expat demand rose by 6.9%, cal demand. In the first two years demand looks like it might be run- down from 11.3% in the first half. both local and foreign demand The notaries point out collapsed by around 60%, but then ning out of momenthat both segments foreign demand started to recover, tum. now retreating whilst local demand (bright blue) The notaries break If you are selling a are from the high levels continued in the doldrums until the down the figures into resident and non-re- property in Spain of growth common start of 2014, and is still 40% below recent years. Refe- its peak after four years of recovery. sident purchases by you better hope in rring to expat demand Non-resident foreign demand – priforeigners, showing it will interest a the notraries say “It marily Western Europeans buying that non-residents appears that the trend holiday homes (dashed line) – recopurchased 22,111 foreign buyer towards growth in vered by 2012 and is now around second homes in the purchases of real 70% higher than it was at the height Spain between Auestate by foreign re- of the boom, whilst expat demand gust and December last year, compared to 28,138 pur- sidents, which had been growing – primarily economic migrants but chases by foreigners living in Spain. by more than 10% every semester also some Western Europeans moving to Spain (solid blue line) – recoSo non-residents accounted for 44% since 2014, has been interrupted.” of foreign demand, and expats li- The left hand chart above (blue) vered by 2015 and ended last year illustrates how foreign demand for 40% higher than in 2007. In both ving in Spain 56%.

Non-resident demand fell by 4.9% Spanish property has changed sin- cases you can see how demand

showed signs of turning down in 2018, though the same could also be said of local demand.

The chart on the right (yellow) shows how spending by locals and foreigners (non-resident and expat) has changed over the same period. Local budgets (red line) declined until the end of 2014, and have barely recovered since, with the amount spent on property in terms of €/m2 still around 35% lower than it was in 2007, whilst non-resident foreign spending has recovered to 95% of what it was, and expat spending is around 85% of what it was. If you need to sell a property in Spain you better hope it will interest a foreign buyer. www.spanishpropertyinsight.com

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III

June 2019

Foreign retreats THE halcyon days of the foreign home buyer market in Spain could be coming to an end.

The number of properties bought by foreigners, while still up, has shrunk to the slowest rate of increase since the second half of 2010.

Figures for the last six months of 2018 show a 1.4% rise on the same period a year before but although it looks positive on paper, Spain’s General Council of Notaries has pointed to a slow down in demand.

Interrupted “In comparison to the previous year, the increases registered in the two halves of 2018 were a long way from the results of 2017, when growth was above 10%,” the council stated. Non-residents accounted for 44% of foreign demand, and expats living in Spain 56%, between August and December last year.

In this period, non-resident demand fell by 4.9%, whilst expat demand was also down by 11.3% in the first half of 2019.

The council added:“It appears that the trend towards growth in the purchases of real estate by foreign residents, which had been growing by more than 10% every semester since 2014, has been interrupted.”

FORTRESS: Muralla Roja boosts security after Instagrammers

Football ace’s restaurant finally gets green light after 12 month construction ban LIONEL Messi’s latest restaurant venture has finally been put back on track after being blocked by the town hall for a YEAR. The Argentine football star will now resume constructing his beachfront restaurant in Barcelona after the local government shut him down when it discovered part of the building was not included in the original planning of the works.

Construction has been on hold for 12 months in the upmarket Castelldefels, with Messi desperate to have it finished for this summer season.

Situated in the Lluminetes neighbourhood, the Argentine restaurant will be run by his wife Antonella Roccuzzo and will have capacity for 100 people.

Green and tidy

RECOGNITION: Spanish hotels overwhelming winners in awards

Coast & Country properties give their top tips on a stress free way to sell your home

I

F you’re thinking of selling your property we want to help make sure this process is as stress free as possible.

One of the key tips is to make sure you have all your paperwork in order to minimise any potential problems.

There is nothing more frustrating than securing a buyer at a price you are happy with then everything falling through because the paperwork is not up to scratch.

Here are the key documents you need to have in place and ready to give your lawyer 1.

The Escritura (Title Deed) This contains a lot of information about the property and ownership of the property, this document will be signed when the sale takes place and ownership transferred. The escritura should reflect

IT was built to be a social utopia.

But the post-modern Muralla Roja apartment complex, designed by Ricardo Bofill in 1968, has become so popular that residents have begun shutting society out.

The installation of anti-drone technology is just the latest in a string of measures to jealously guard the pastel-coloured castle in Calpe from hordes of Instagrammers hungry for a like.

“Breaking and entering will be punished by six months to two years in prison,” read posters plastered across the geometric development, modelled after North African casbahs.

New additions to these posters read that any destroyed drones are ‘not the responsi-

Buzz off ! bility’ of the homeowners.

The problems began following the advent on Instagram influencers, when lucky property-owners became enraged at finding intruders on their doorsteps at all hours.

Proposals by Calpe town hall to make La Muralla Roja a Bien de Interes Cultural (BIC), which would regulate organised visits to the iconic development, could pacify the situation.

But for now, with hashtag #lamurallaroja rising above 12,000 posts on Instagram, the war between the influencers and the keepers will continue to escalate.

Messi start

TWO iconic hotels on the Costa del Sol are among a string of seven in coastal Spain earmarked for a €30 million revamp by the new owners.

The Pez Espada in Torremolinos and the Riviera Hotel in Benalmadena are part of the new chain purchased by the Azora group, which also includes five sister hotels in Benidorm.

All will get a share of the €30 million facelift fund.

Failed attraction

UNBLOCKED: Messi restaurant

Built in the 1960s but now in ruin, the property is an old farm and is just a 60 second walk from the

Investment bonanza

beach.

Using his real estate company Edificio Rostower SL, the five-time

SPAIN is leading the way in hotel sustainability with 26 ‘green stays’ in the country being awarded by TripAdvisor.

The Barcelo Hotel Group has had 32 of its hotels recognised for their sustainability in total , including three in Mexico, two in the Dominican Republic and one in Portugal.

The ‘TripAdvisor Ecolider certificate’ aims to recognise hotels for sustainable practices and allows ‘eco-friendly’ travellers to see which ones best share their values.

Sustainability is incorporated into the design of hotels like Menorca’s Barcelo Hamilton, which has solar-heated hot tubs.

The green efforts of hotels are also paying off in other ways, for example the Barcelo Cabo de Gata in Almeria is helping to maintain the nearby natural park from which it takes its name.

Ballon d’Or winner has already lost around €150,000 on the project, but will hope to turn it around now he has been given the green light once again.

It comes after the father-of-three’s previous foray into the restaurant world ended in abject failure some three years ago, when his Bellavista del Jardin del Norte eatery in the centre of Barcelona closed after two years following a drop in profits.

The Lluminetes barrio has been on the up in recent years thanks to an influx of Barcelona FC stars moving into the area, including Messi.

It has seen the arrival of pricey restaurants and boutique hotels while the value of many homes has far surpassed the €1 million mark.

LEADING man Michael Douglas has put his 250-acre Mallorca estate back on the market for nearly half the original asking price.

The two-times Academy Award winner has even done a voiceover for a special video to drum up buyers for the stunning €29 million property.

The historic S’Estaca estate offers expansive views of the sea and has five apartments, a loft, two cottages, home cinema and spa.

Douglas, who is married to actress Catherine Zeta-Jones, brought the estate in 1990 with his former wife Diandra Luker.

The Fatal Attraction star originally put the property up for sale in 2014 for a cool €50 million.

Don’t just coast it 2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

any changes that have been made to the property while under your ownership, i.e. the installation of a pool an extension etc. If not, a declaration will need to be done so the escritura can be signed with the correct details ready to be updated.

Proof that the Spanish Property Tax (IBI) payments are up to date, ideally for the past 4 years.

Payment of the Community fees. If you live In an apartment or on a community, you will need a certificate of payment of the community fees A copy of the statutes and rules of the community of owners must also be passed on to the buyer.

The latest paid bills for electricity, gas, water, etc.

The energy performance certificate. An energy performance certificate has been mandatory since 2013. As a

7.

seller you must provide the energy performance certificate which shall be given to the buyer.

Certificate of habitability. This is a requirement that declares the house habitable, it is usually valid for around 10 years so if check if you have one or if you need to get one done.

If you are thinking of selling and need any help, sorting out your paperwork, getting a valuation or would like more tips on making the process as easy possible pop in and see the team at Coast and Country in Moraira or give us a call on 965 270 636 or drop us a line with your questions to info@coastandcountry. properties. We look forward to hearing from you!

Contact us at info@coatsandcountry.properties or call 0034 693554967 or visit us in central Moraira.

IV

June 2019

PROPERTY

Streets ahead!

Carrera del Darro, Granada Carrera del Darro is one of the most scenic walks in Granada, along the river Darro (which means ¨gold¨ in Latin). It is located at the edge of the Albaicín, the old Arab quarter that is today a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The street has remained practically the same since the 17th century, with many interesting buildings from the 16th and 17th centuries and remains of old Moorish houses.

Spain has published a list of its prettiest postcodes

S

PAIN is one of the most visited countries in the world, attracting travellers from all four corners of the globe.

They come here for the food, the culture, and of course, the stunning local architecture.

If Spain’s streets could talk, they would tell incredible stories, with the Moors, Christian conquerors and Romans and beyond having created and lived among them.

They are so steeped in history and architectural splendour that Spain’s tourist board has listed the most beautiful streets in the country.

Here we present a whistle-stop tour of some of this year’s winners.

Calle San Agustín, San Cristobal de la Laguna, Tenerife La Laguna is the second city of Tenerife and home to its first University.

Calle San Agustín is located in the city's historic centre, which is declared a UNESCO World Heritage site. You can gaze at the many colourful houses and visit historic buildings such as the Casa Salazar and the Convento San Agustín.

Calle del Angel de Toledo

Passeig de Gràcia, Barcelona With its fascinating buildings and impressive range of luxury boutiques, Paseo de Gracia is one of the most famous streets of Barcelona, and is often compared to the Champs-Elysées in Paris. It was originally built to connect the Catalan capital to the town of Graciá.

Today, Graciá is a neighbourhood of Barcelona, but it has kept its independent and vibrant spirit. The boulevard is representative of the modernist era that ruled the city throughout the 19th century. You can admire Art Nouveau buildings such as the Casa Batló and Casa Milá, designed by Antonio Gaudí.

Walking through painter El Greco's adopted home is like travelling back in time. Historically known as the ‘Western Jerusalem’, Toledo was once the home of Jews, Christians and Muslims who famously lived in peaceful co-existence.

Calle de Angel, in the old Jewish quarter, is an example of the city’s cross-cultural heritage. The figure of an angel gives its name to the street. An Islamic-style gate, separated two parts of the judería.

V

June 2019

Calle Betis, Sevilla LOCATED in the Triana district, Calle Betis has become an emblematic spot of Sevilla.

The street’s patchwork façade of colourful and asymmetrical houses make it typical of the Andalucian capital. It follows the course of the river Guadalquivir, which the Romans called Baetis (hence the name of the street).

Calle Marques de Larios, Malaga Calle Larios, in Málaga’s city centre and next to the port, is the epicentre of Málaga’s social life and shopping scene. It is currently the most expensive street to live in Andalucia for rental values. It was named after the Larios, a wealthy malagueña family, who bought most of the shares when the street was built. It was

opened to the public on August 27 1891. The harmoniously constructed street is the home of big retail chains and luxury stores such as the jeweler Swarovski. Calle Larios also hosts many major events, including Málaga Fashion Week. In the early 2000’s it was renovated and became pedestrian.

Calle de las Flores de Cordoba (Calle Velazquez)

Calleja de las Flores, in the old Jewish quarter of Córdoba, regularly makes it in rankings of the world's most beautiful streets.

In fact, much of the city’s historic centre has been declared a World heritage Site by UNESCO. The narrow dead end street comes off Calle Velázquez-Bosco and ends in a little patio with a fountain in the middle. The stone pavement, arcs and white walls create the typical look of a Mediterranean town street that makes it so popular with tourists. Between the tile roofs you can see the bell tower of the Mezquita-Cathedral. Perhaps the street’s best known trait is the the coloured pots of carnations and geraniums hanging from the walls and balconies.

Passeig del Born, Palma de Mallorca In the heart of Palma, Paseo del Borne is an outstanding example of the city’s European-like modernisation at the beginning of the 19th century.

It was built on the old channel Torrente de la Riera, that used to cross the city, and connects the famous Plaza Juan Carlos I and Plaza de la Reina. The boulevard was designed by Madrid architect Isidro González Velázquez, who shaped it in a way reminiscent of the Paseo del Prado in his home city. Two pairs of majestic sphinx guard the street at its beginning and end.

Calle Alcala, Madrid

Calle Alcalá is one of the oldest and longest streets in Madrid, at 10,5 km. Starting from the Puerta del Sol, it was the road to Alcalá de Henares and eventually on to Aragón. At the intersection of Alcalá and Gran Vía stands the emblematic Metropolis building, topped with a statue of the goddess of Victory.

Metropolis was designed in the turn of the 20th century by French architects Jules and Raymond Février. Its classic BeauxArts style was unusual in Spain at the time.

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the historic old town pile, even though I had absolutely no intention of buying it.

The beautiful stone portico and heavy wooden Ronda doors opened onto a porch the width of the entire hallway with a beautiful wrought iron decorative arch above them.

Very much the Andalucian vernacular, this was the way centuries of owners used to bring their animals in from the fields at night.

And off we went through a warren of rooms entered via ornate ochre-painted wooden doors.

Some of the rooms were tall and grand with ceiling rosettes and romantic vaulted ceilings.

All the windows onto the street were arched and crowned with solid metal rejas in the classic Ronda style.

A narrow stairway climbed into a cavernous loft space where the metal roof beams still bore the hooks used for hanging and curing hams,

n

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T started as a search for a modest bolthole in Ronda to live in during the holiday season when our country house is rented out.

Then I stumbled across an enormous old school and it was love at first sight.

It was not even on the list of properties I was being shown and it certainly didn’t fit my criteria, but I could not walk past without taking a peek inside.

I persuaded the agent to show me

a

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In the first part of a new series on historic home renovation, designer Gabriella Chidgey reveals how a plan to buy a flat in Andalucia became a project to turn the listed 18th-century home of one of Spain’s most celebrated bullfighter into an idyllic aparthotel

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My romance in Ronda

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a string of garlic still dangling from Apart from a new roof, this proone of them. Strewn around were tected 315-metre-square building boxes full of rags, as well as a had remained untouched for about 20 years… and needed a complete 1980s National police uniform! renovation.

Like much of the house it had lovely teI rang my husband rracotta barro floors, immediately and told I rang my alarmingly bowed in him I had fallen in love husband a number of places. … but thankfully for Doors from the interhim, only with bricks straight away nal courtyard led to and mortar … and inand told him I sisted he came to see a large external yard, it the next day. chicken and pig sheds, was in love On closer inspection a back kitchen and it turned out to be a even a small stable.

Every space detailed the lives of former home of the legendary 18th those who had once inhabited the Century bullfighter Pedro Romehouse, set in the ancient Barrio ro, the very man who constructed de San Francisco - dusty furnitu- Ronda’s nearby bullring - Spain’s re, baskets, pots, pans, tea sets, rush chairs, beds, framed prints of Saints and ancient family photos.

And all around were views across the rooftops of Ronda’s casco historico to the fabled Serrania de Ronda mountains.

oldest.

Painted by Goya, the ‘godfather of modern bullfighting’ was born in the same street and the torero’s crest is indeed carved into the stone portal, as with a number of other buildings around the town.

Dating from the 1780s, it was later bought by a local aristocrat who later generously gifted it to one of his trusted labourers and, from that point on, it became a home to farming families.

At some point, part of the building became a local school and later a bar, while during the civil war it served as a temporary hospital.

Continues overleaf

GRAND DESIGNS: The 250-year old home, near Ronda’s arabic Almocobar gate (far left) has been converted into stylish holiday apartments

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June 2019

HISTORIC: The 315-metre property was a warren of different rooms, some with vaulted ceilings (above) and full of old doors and windows, original terracotta tile floors and perfect to divide into five apartments, most with private terraces

FORMER OWNER: Torero Pedro Romero, who built Ronda bullring

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June 2019

PROPERTY

Service you deserve People you can trust

Jacaranda Spain is a new kind of real estate company. We are 100% created and owned with our office based in the Jalon valley.

Office: 966 481 277 / 966 480 766 Mobile: 666 340 663 info@jacarandaspain.com

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From Page VIII

The rest of the house was owned by Dolores, along with her nine siblings.

Sadly it was entirely unsuitable for us and so I continued to see other properties, smaller but a better fit, and even made offers on two.

But nothing worked out.

Meanwhile, my mind kept returning to the old school

GIVING NEW LIFE house, besotted (as was my Double the investment - and husband) with the romance a far greater risk, since it of its past, mulling over its would involve re-mortgaging our own potential. home - it would And finally, I If the walls however, reap saw how it might actually far greater were sound work for us… rewards. they should being divided And I don’t into five apartmean just fistay even if ments, each nancial. It is uneven with their own a privilege to private terrawork with such ces, with scope a historic builfor a communal garden and ding. And inspiring to bring it back to life. even a swimming pool.

LITTLE CHANGE: Some parts of the house, like this outdoor kitchen, were little touched to keep a sense of the building’s past

So after a year (yes, a year!) of bank negotiations, and another year waiting for licenses, we are nearing the end of a very exciting build.

Although we have renewed the plumbing and electricity completely, installing air conditioning and heating, insulating the house against the elements and noise, and fitting double glazed windows, the intervention has been as gentle as possible.

We took the view that if the walls were sound, they should stay, even if the surface was uneven. For that would be its charm.

RE-APPOINTING: One of the key issues was how to divide the huge loft space, while keeping its charming old terracotta barro floors and metal beams once used for curing hams and drying onions and garlic

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GREAT OUTDOORS: Creating a nice garden with a pool was vital to allow holidaymakers a place to unwind and relax after a busy day of sight-seeing

rt men

Only where the structure was dangerous, the beams rotten or the plaster cracked and broken did we strip back to start again.

And what a series of unexpected treasures we found.

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Visit www.alcantarilla.co.uk or hashtag Ronda Romantica to find out more or to book at this wonderful new apart-hotel in Andalucia’s most charming inland town.

Or call 654152122

More about that in the July issue of the OP Property Magazine when we reveal how to find the best builder to

RESEARCH: Local agent Thorwald Bodensiek of Serrania Services shows Gabriella around the property

* O f f e r

work with you, how to get planning permission and how to enhance and protect old Andalucian buildings.

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June 2019

PROPERTY

BBQ King

Ingenious pellet stove barbecues are a dream come true for cooking outdoors

F

RANGE: Employee at Furniture World

INDING the balance between providing the perfect BBQ, while also getting to spend quality times with your guests, is an age old dilemma.

So much is in the timing, preparation and location of your barbecue, and even then, it can so easily go wrong.

That is until now.

An ingenious new to Spain barbecue range is being fired by wood pellets and allows you to set the temperature from an easy-to-use app.

Launched by the US company Traeger - which has been a wood-fire barbecue specialist since the 1980s.

The pellets are fed to the stove via a hopper at the side, which slowly feeds them into the barbecue by a corkscrew (auger) method.

You simply set it to the temperature you want and in 15 minutes it is ready to cook.

You can bake, barbecue, grill, smoke, braise and roast, six cooking methods all in one grill. There are so many settings and the app even gives you recipes and tells you the exact cooking times.

It makes the job so easy you

VARIETY: The Traeger range includes eight models on display can spend time talking to your You can even bake cookies, bread or pizza. friends..

There are 9 different types of This is all thanks to a temperawood pellets available, each ture probe that is placed into the meat and with their uniensures that que flavour. The you get to the smoke they proTraeger exact required duce will infuse your food with Barbecues come temperature as per your recipe. a delicious flaSaturvour and aroma with free shipping Every morning, and a bag will around Spain and day 10.30am until give you around Portugal 1.30pm, this 20 hours of June, Furniture slow cooking World in Estetime.

You can slow cook a joint of pona is demonstrating how to meat (brisket, leg of lamb, use the Traeger barbecue grill chicken etc) or fast cook your and is giving you the chance to steak or chops to perfection. taste food that has been fres-

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hly cooked on it.

At Furniture World they have 8 different models from the Traeger collection on display for you to look at, and a wide range of accessories and wood pellets.

Also you can go to the web page www.barbecueworld.es or call us on 687940966 The Traeger Barbecues come with free shipping around Spain and Portugal and also carry a three-year warranty.

Furniture World is situated in the Estepona Poligono, Calle Juan de Mena and they look forward to your visit.

Visit www.barbecueworld. es for more information.

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June 2019

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June 2019

PROPERTY

Making a splash Rule-breaking Madrid design firm gives grungy office block some colour therapy

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TAKE an austere concrete shell, lob some paint at it, and what have you got?

The ominously-titled building, LH135.

This is the latest ambitious project of Mariano, the award-winning Madrid design studio, famed for its non-conformist style and ‘a certain sense of humour’.

Headed by Mariano Martin, the firm has just completed transformation of a drab office block into a wash of eye-catching colour in a bid to restore ‘joy’ to the workplace.

Bright pink, yellow, orange and blue are all at play here to create an office space which, according to Martin, is ‘trying to look back with affection but without nostalgia’.

He adds that with the colours, ‘time will gradually return to the building the joy it used to have’.

In this renovation of the 3000 m2 space, colour is boldly employed to highlight the block’s formerly bleak elements, including air ventilation shafts, stylish terrazzo floor tiles, concrete pillars and limestone facade.

Martin champions the original features: “The beauty of a terrazzo floor, like the ones used in the impressive Venetian palaces, the nobility of the concrete pillars, as the Romans taught us, a limestone facade and a granite hall...can you ask for more?”

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EEN on a house, but not sure if it’s worth the time?

Virtual reality property tours have arrived on the Costa Blanca for just this reason.

Continuing a 10-year tradition of innovation, Jacaranda Spain has invested in state-of-the-art photographic equipment to give buyers a 360-degree tour of its properties listed online.

“It’s the future, and it’s already here,” said business owner Rob Park.

“It means our clients who are overseas can stick a pair of goggles on and walk through

the house without jumping on the plane.

“If you have a VR headset, then you’re literally there in the property.”

Park said his business’ ethos is to be a ‘new kind of real estate company’ that keeps up with the latest technology.

He said that the foreign real estate market in Spain is ‘totally unlike’ the UK, or other parts of Europe as buyers don’t have the luxury of just walking in to an agency.

“You’ve got to do something different here,” said Park, who cut his teeth with Stadman

Service deserve Internationalyou before creating Jacarandayou Spain.can trust People “In a few years virtual reality and things like Google Glasses will be the new Amazon Alexa.

“So we’re at the cutting edge, helping customers sell the house they’ve loved, or buy the house they’re dreaming of.”

For more information visit www. jacarandaspain.com, email Jacaranda Spain is a new kind of real estate company.

We are 100% created and owned info@jacarandaspain.com or call 966 481 277 or 966 480 766 with our office based in the Jalon valley.

Office: 966 481 277 / 966 480 766 Mobile: 666 340 663 info@jacarandaspain.com

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June 6th - June 19th 2019

Tax take SPAIN has revealed plans to increase the government’s tax take by €5.6 billion in 2020 with new digital and financial transaction taxes.

PSOE, which won last month’s general election, has set out the forcecast in its fouryear stability programme submitted to the EU Commission.

The government plans to increase fiscal revenue by €1.7 billion by ending corporate tax exemptions and introducing a €1.2 billion digital levy.

Money will also be raised through a tax on the financial sector, planned to net an extra €850 million.

In the programme, the government has also projected weaker economic growth this year, of 2.2%, as the eurozone experiences a slowdown.

BUSINESS

Trapped Rato Spanish former IMF head faces fresh corruption charges as full scale of crimes come to light JAILED ex-International Monetary Fund chief Rodrigo Rato has been told he faces a fresh corruption trial in Spain.

The Madrid High Court has ordered Rato to stand trial alongside 12 others for deals allegedly offered by senior Bankia figures to public relations firms in return for €2 million in suspected bribes.

MINT: New notes are more secure than ever

Olive Press readers who have attended one of our Blacktower seminars along the coast over the years may remember the introduction to our client Alan

A

LAN moved on a permanent basis to Spain in 2005 and walked into our office about two years ago.

Alan wanted us to review his situation to assess how well organised it was or if there is some action to be taken, especially in light of the Brexit saga and any uncertainty of his position post-Brexit.

This is what we established during our first meeting: – – Alan holds his credit card sized ‘residencia’ which must make him a resident, but still chooses to pay his taxes in the UK for different reasons: – – Alan understands the system there; – – Alan’s mate down the pub said taxes are much higher here. He must know because his brother-in-law in the UK is an accountant; –– Alan’s gestor told him 12 years ago that Spain does not need to know about his income in the UK;

Those charged will have to put up sureties of close to €4.5 million or face having their assets seized.

Prosecutors are seeking a sentence of four years’ jail time, which would double the time Rato must serve to eight-and-a-half years, and a fine of €2.5 million.

Authorities have already charged Rato over his role in listing Bankia on the

THE new €100 and €200 notes have landed in Spain and the 19 other countries which have adopted the currency.

This freshly minted legal tender is the latest in the ‘Europa’ series after the five, 10, 20 and 50 euro notes. Issued by the European Central Bank (ECB) the updated currency is vegan friendly, reduced in height to better fit wallets, and is harder to forge.

The €200 is now the largest denomination, after the ECB decided to stop printing €500 notes.

Security is at the forefront of the new notes, by German designer

ACCUSED: (Left) Rato to face another trial

stock market during his time heading up the bank from 2010 to 2012.

New money Reinhold Gerstetter.

A so-called ‘satellite’ hologram with a silver band running through it, and a watermark of the goddess Europa both feature on the new notes.

When turning the item in light, the hologram displays an oscillating euro symbol for extra security.

A special print within the main illustration, and a small emerald insignia that shines when hit by light complete the new security measures.

Rato was head of Caja Madrid which merged with six other struggling banks to from Bankia in 2010.

He was accused of falsifying Bankia accounts in order to trick investors and hide substantial losses at the height of the financial crisis.

The false stock market listing drew in many smaller and unsuspecting investors but authorities were soon forced to step in and rescue the bank.

Rato, who also served as Spain’s economy minister, must also await judgement on a separate tax avoidance case against him.

Meet Alan!

BY Christina Brady

– – Alan does not want to bring all his money into the Spanish banking system.

– – Alan’s mate Steve said bureaucracy is a nightmare in Spain and Alan is paying some taxes anyway, the IBI, so that should be fine; – – Alan does not speak Spanish, so the less he needs to be involved in Spanish admin, the better; –– Alan also heard that Spain will take everything he has when he ‘pops his clogs’ as Inheritance Tax is huge in Spain; –– Alan can go to the doctor, if needed, on his EHIC card; –– If Alan was questioned regarding his tax position in Spain, Alan heard once somewhere during a seminar that there is a “6 months rule”. Alan will just make sure that he remains in Spain just below 6 months by booking a holiday to Portugal for two weeks and also spend 6 months in the UK. Alan loves the idea of being a “fiscal nomad”, Alan is smarter than the system.

In recent years, the objections and comments raised by Alan are what we would typically hear when we meet with

people that have either recently moved here or have been living here for some time, but never had a look at their financial situation to make sure it is correctly structured in the most efficient way.

Here’s the reality.

–– Tax residency is a matter of fact, not a choice; –– Taxes are not necessarily higher here, but comparable to other countries; There is a lot Alan can do to improve his tax position and become better off as a Spanish fiscal resident; – – Alan’s IBI is a local tax on property and has nothing to do with Tax Residency; –– Recent changes to Inheritance Tax in Andalucía makes it one of the most generous autonomous regions in Spain for IHT purposes, and IHT won’t apply anymore in most cases; –– The EHIC is only meant to be used during temporary visits; –– “Fiscal Nomads” do not exist. The 6-month rule is only the starting point in determining where you are tax resident. Other criteria are considered too when it is unclear.

How Blacktower Financial Advisers helped Alan: 1. Alan is a Spanish fiscal resident without any doubt. This means that Alan’s main reporting obligation

Baby printer THE magic moment when a baby appears via ultrasound is a memory a parent cherishes for life.

But the blind and visually-impaired have missed out on this special experience - until now.

A new project at the Hospital de Manises in Valencia, called ‘Mi Bebe 3D’, has given blind parents the opportunity to hold a silicone sculpture of their unborn baby thanks to 3D printing technology.

Rebeca Hendre Roig, in charge of the department of games at the ONCE organisation for the blind, said the 3D printing was the ‘the best technology of today’.

“Every mother has this crazy desire to see her baby, and this technology helps to shorten that wait,” said Roig, who herself benefitted from a silicone sculpture.

The figures are created from ultrasound images taken in the 32nd week of pregnancy.

Once made, the fetus is then installed upon a base with ‘personalised messages’ in braille, and parents can customise the skin colour.

Fernando Gil, head of the gynecology service at the hospital said that aside from the decision to gift visually-impaired parents a sculpture for free, ‘80% of pregnant mothers’ at the centre have also showed interest in the technology.

www.theblacktowergroup.com

will now be in Spain. By the end of June Alan will have to submit the Modelo100, i.e. tax declaration on which he declares his worldwide earned income, interests and gains made. By the end of March Alan will have to submit the Modelo720 on which Alan provides information on his assets outside of Spain.

2. Alan now understands that with the increased multi-jurisdictional transparency and exchange of information, such as the Common Reporting Standards (CRS), Spain freely receives tax information automatically and it is only a matter of time before Alan is asked to rectify his situation.

How Blacktower Financial Advisers can help you: Do your own reality check and consider: –– Are you a (fiscal) resident?

–– Are you ready for the Automatic Exchange of Information?

–– Do you know your obligations (Modelos 100 and 720, Empadronamiento)?

–– Are your assets structured in the most effective way?

As HMRC in the UK once pointed out “Come to us before we come for you.”

The same applies to Spain.

Contact us now to assist you with your reality check.

Blacktower Financial Management Ltd is authorised and regulated in the UK by the Financial Conduct Authority and is registered with both the DGS and CNMV. Blacktower Financial Management (Int) Ltd is licensed in Gibraltar by the Financial Services Commission (FSC) and is registered with both the DGS and CNMV in Spain

FOOD,DRINK & TRAVEL Winer takes all

A JALON bodega has won two awards at a national wine fair considered the most prestigious in Spain.

Bodegas Xalo was on the list of winners in two categories at the Feria Nacional del Vino (FENAVIN) wine fair in Ciudad Real last week.

One of their iconic wines, Bahia de Denia (2018), was awarded a gold medal in the white wines section, while the sweet mistela Riu Rau won a ‘great gold medal’ - the highest distinction of the contest.

“We are extremely proud that our winemaker Sergio Balaguer also got a special mention,” a spokesperson for Bodegas Xalo said.

Bar responds after English breakfast pizza causes controversy online EXCLUSIVE

By Joshua Parfitt

SAUSAGES, eggs, bacon… everyone knows that Brits love a good fry up, but what about when it’s on a pizza?

One bar in Benidorm has been slammed for concocting the so-called ‘English breakfast pizza’.

Good Times Bar and Grill takes a traditional margherita before smearing on a dollop of beans, two greasy eggs, a pale tomato, sausages, mushrooms and two rashers of bacon.

The pizza has been lambasted online by food fans, with many pointing out that the sausages are left on whole.

Andy Hurst said it ‘looks rank’ while Lucy Anderton said it combined her ‘two favourite things’ but still looked ‘minging’.

Steven Harrison said: “It looks terrible and typically British hangover food, not sure what time of day it would look appetising.”

However, not everyone was completely against the bar’s

GANDIA restaurant Chef Amadeu has won the 45th edition of the International Fideua de Gandia Competition, held on Wednesday.

The traditional food of the Marina Alta town is similar to paella, but uses short stems of pasta called fideos in Castellano.

The 30 participants and six cooking schools More than 200 wineries and cooperatives participated in this year’s FENAVIN, representing wines from all over Spain.

Nearly 20,000 buyers attended the fair, with a quarter coming from overseas.

Both garlanded wines are made from the Moscatel de Alejandria grape, which is traditionally grown in the Marina Alta with some vineyards nearly 150 years old.

Have a pizza that! creative offering.

Ben Brown said: “What annoys me is that it’s a good idea, but why the bloody hell have they left the sausages on whole?”

Harry Shorrock said the bar should cut the toppings ‘into smaller bits’.

Paul, mana- CONTROVERSY: Pizza fry up ger of Good Times Bar and Grill, told sausages should have been the Olive Press: “The con- sliced, and the beans probacept was a random creation bly a side-dish for dunking.” more for a joke.

He added the pizza is still on “But at the end of the day the menu and can be tailored presentation is key - the to suit the ‘customer’s choice’.

Ice ice baby!

ICELAND has opened a new express store for Brits who want a taste of home on the Costa Blanca.

The shop, operated by British-run Overseas Supermercados, stocks everything from British back bacon to Robinsons squash and is open seven days a week in Moraira.

It complements larger supermarkets in Benissa and Javea, as well as further down the Costa Blanca in Benidorm, San Fulgencio, Torrevieja, Lomas de Cabo Roig and Pinar de Campoverde.

“We have listened to our customers demands,” Overseas Supermercados managing director

Cool beans NESTLE Spain has earmarked €17 million for a boiler that uses coffee grounds to power a factory in northern Spain.

The main objective is for the Girona facility to have zero landfill waste by 2025 before the multi-national expands the scheme worldwide.

The boiler will be up and running by mid-2020 and will reduce the natural gas consumption of the factory by 25%.

25

June 6th - June 19th 2019

FRESH: New Moraira Iceland Garry Richardson told the Olive Press.

“There were so many requests for us to be in Moraira, and we’re still looking to put more shops in the Costa Blanca this year.”

The shop stocks Iceland-brand frozen products, as well Waitrose home-brand cheeses and food from other staple British businesses, such as Greggs.

Store manager Averline said customers can ask for products usually found in Benissa, which can be delivered to Moraira the next day.

“Many customers have also been asking for a range of veggie meat-replacements, like Quorn and Iceland-brand burgers,” she told the Olive Press.

“We will have all of them within a few weeks.”

Averline added the store will offer sales and discounts, such as a current deal on limited edition Twix white chocolate fingers.

The shop on Avinguda de la Paz is open 9am to 9pm.

WISDOM: Alonso advises trainees

Fideos festival from as far as Japan, Peru and the United States battled it out for the top prize, which includes a €2,500 award.

Early Wednesday morning, the Japanese team were spotted taking notes from Michelin star chef Manuel Alonso in his Casa Manolo restaurant in Gandia.

Alonso shared his fideua secrets to the team from El Chateo Ginza, in Tokyo, saying that ‘tranquility and confidence’ are key.

"It’s all about putting in the ingredients little by little, and at the exact moment,” the Michelin star chef added.

"50% of the success of taking the prize is the preparation.”

This year Restaurante Macario in Tavernes de la Valldigna came second, with Goya Gallery in Valencia taking third place.

THE paper not to miss in Costa Blanca THE Olive Press is now distributing all over the coast in a whole host locations.

Found at golf courses, tourist offices, museums and petrol stations, it has become the most sought-after English newspaper on the Costa Blanca every fortnight. Look out for one of our many stands, as seen below at local newsagents.

We print around 15,000 copies every issue and take our distribution very

seriously, and need you, the readers to keep us informed of numbers... and more importantly if each location needs more or less papers.

We also want to know where you would like to see it and where you don't think we should bother. Here are a select group of a few dozen key drops.

Please get in touch at Newsdesk@ theolivepress.es to find your nearest drop or suggest another.

DENIA DENIA DENIA DENIA

Carrefour Consum Denia market Tourist office

JAVEA JAVEA JAVEA JAVEA

Iceland Yorkshire Linen Bay Radio Jordan-Bay

BENISSA BENISSA

Iceland Pepe Sal

MORAIRA MORAIRA MORAIRA MORAIRA

Pepe Sal Iceland Quick Save Telitec

GANDIA GANDIA

Carrefour Tourist office

ALBIR ALBIR ALBIR

Consum Mendoza Albir Sur

CALPE CALPE CALPE

Consum Britannia clinic Calpe Dental

ALFAZ DEL PI FINESTRAT

PMR Marina S

PEDREGUER PEDREGUER

Harris Furnishing Monroes

ALTEA ALTEA ALTEA

Yorkshire linen Dial Prix Albir Colonial

JALON JALON JALON

Cafe Ole Garcia Villas Hamiltons

TEULADA TEULADA

Consum First Stop

ALFAZ DEL PI

Costablanca supermarket Mendoza

BENITACHELL

Lady Elizabeth School Javea golf club

ALFAZ DEL PI

BENITACHELL

Advertise with The Olive Press TEL: (+34) 951 273 575 EMAIL: sales@theolivepress.es

FOOD,DRINK &

26

June 6th - June 19th 2019

Top of the tipples

Would you pay €1,000 for a bottle of sherry from Jerez? Check out our connoisseur’s guide to 10 of the best-scoring Spanish wines (according to the Parker Guide) and you’ll be sorely tempted, writes Claire Leibovich

T

HE love affair between Spain and its wine has been turbulent but enduring.

The land of Cervantes has been making wine since pre Roman times in some regions.

Production slowed to a trickle under non-drinking Muslim rule, but enjoyed a relative renaissance between the Reconquest and the 20th century when two world wars and Franco’s ban on wine exports put the stopper on production once more.

But Spain’s grape expectations rose again and 1986, when it joined the EU, was a turning point.

Today the Spanish wine revolution is well underway and has almost caught up with the country's booming gastronomy.

Spain is the third biggest producer of wine in the world, behind France and Italy, and the top international exporter.

It’s also still the best value for money as Spanish wine prices remain comparatively low.

The country is home to over 400 grape varieties, although the Famous Five - Tempra-

nillo, Garnacha, Monastrell, Palomino and Airén - are most commonly used. But that’s changing too. Specialists and amateurs are not only redis-

covering traditionally reputed wines but also experimenting new creations.

Check out our connoisseurs guide to the best of the best,

Rioja, Ribera del Duero and Priorat The Big Three wine regions at the international forefront of the Spanish wine revolution need no introduction but there’s still much to learn.

Bodegas Contador, Benjamín Romeo ‘Contador’, Rioja

based on the celebrated Robert Parker Guide. Your new-found knowledge will please your palate, impress your friends and never mind the price!

Rioja, in northern Spain, has long been the country's most famous wine region, along with the ‘sherry triangle’ of Jerez. It produces mostly red wines, but even its whites are celebrated for their distinguishable oak aromas and flavours. However, one of the best is atypical of the region: Benjamín Romeo´s ‘Contador’ is a modern wine lacking that signature oak flavour but still obtained a score of 95 in the Parker guide (2018). Dense and complex with fruity aromas, its limited production and high Parker score explains the average price of €247.

Jerez Sherry wine and the Andalucian town of Jerez de la Frontera are synonymous and production dates back to the 8th century at least. First exported in the 12th century, for a long time it was reputed to be the finest wine in Europe and was probably the first wine to be commercially

exported to the Americas. Jerez is made from the white Palomino Fino grape, which makes it drier than wines using Pedro Ximénez and Moscatel de Alejandría grapes. The vineyards of Jerez and the neighbouring coastal towns of El Puerto de Santa María and Sanlucar de Barrameda are collectively known as the Sherry Triangle.

Barbadillo Reliquia Palo Cortado Jerez This winery is located in Sanlúcar de Barrameda, a port town celebrated for its Manzanilla, a variety of sherry with a subtle chamomile flavour (manzanilla means chamomile in Spanish). However, Barbadillo also offers remarkably old and chokingly pricey wines, including an Oloroso, Pedro Ximenez… and a Palo Cortado, the first sherry to be awarded 100 by the Parker guide. Barbadillo’s Palo Cortado is dry with a clear, golden complexion. Average price €1,003.

€100 3

Dominio de Pingus ‘Pingus’, Ribera del Duero One of the most expensive Spanish wines, Danish 00 oenologist Peter Sisseck €8 established the Pingus domain in the province of Valladolid in 1995, which remains its best vintage year, followed by 2014. Although it produces other wines, Dominio de Pingus is its flagship. Intense yet elegant, with a deep colour and balsamic and floral aromas, this cult wine averages an astronomical €800 a bottle.

Vega Sicilia Unico Gran Reserva, Ribera del Duero

Gonzalez Byass Anada Palo Cortado

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Alvaro Palacios L´Ermita, Priorat Over the past few decades, Priorat has gained international recognition for its exceptional wine - one of the only top-class wines in the world produced from Garnacha grapes. Alvaro Palacios was instrumental in this revival when he acquired an old plot of vines in the Catalan region in 1990. It is now considered the best spot to produce wine in Priorat. L’Ermita, a blend or Cariñena and Garnacha, is the star of Palacios’ winery, receiving a perfect 100 points from the prestigious Parker guide in 2013. L’Ermita is almost black in colour with a den03 se but delicate texture with fruity €7 undertones. Average price €703.

Teso la Monja, Toro, Spain

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This wine is traditionally known as Spain's first great wine and the most sought after. The renowned winery Vega Sicilia started operating in 1864, however the first Unico cuvée dates back to 1936. Unico is produced from 80% Tempranillo, and the rest from Bordeaux varietals. It shot to international fame in the early 1990´s, and since then it has only gained in desirability, in particular because of an increasing scarcity. The average price is €376.

Another top Palo Cortado sherry hails from the Gonzalez Byass bodega in the town of Jerez itself. With its iconic Tío Pepe brand, Gonzalez Byass’ sherry is famous worldwide. The Palo Cortado is salty and intense with citrus notes.

Average price €164 euros.

€164

€247

Toro is a region in the northwest of Castilla y León that has recently soared to fame for its powerful, full-bodied red wines made from Tina da Toro (Tempranillo). Teso la Monja comes from the eponymous, family winery near Valdefinjas, in Zamora. It holds the record for the most expensive Spanish red wine €993 with an average price of €993.

Descendientes de J. Palacios, La Faraona, Bierzo Also in the northwest of Castilla y León, the potential of Bierzo as a wine-producing region was discovered relatively recently by the same Alvaro Palacios (above) who helped put Priorat on the map in the 1980s.

The winemaker established Descendientes de J. Palacios in Bierzo in 1999 and now produces a selection of high-end, single-vineyard wines. La Faraona is a red wine made from Mencia grapes grown on barely more than an acre of land, with the vines yielding just a single €939 barrel of wine each year.

Its average price is €939.

TRAVEL

27

June 6th - June 19th 2019

Alicante

Back in its heyday, Alicante was as synonymous with good Spanish wine as Rioja is now. Popular in Spain and Europe (especially in England) in the 16th and 17th century, it is said that France's King Louis XIV would only drink Alicante wine on his deathbed, and that it was also Queen Elizabeth I’s favourite. Fondillón, a strong,

Bodegas Volver Triga, Alicante

Montilla-Moriles These wines from Cordoba share similar characteristics to sherry, yet they are often overlooked by wine lovers. The Andalucian region mostly produces sweet, dessert wine from Pedro Ximénez grapes.

Bodegas Toro Albala Don PX Convento Seleccion

€229

This winery in Aguilar de la Frontera is famed for its vintage PX wines. Convento Seleccion is a dense and complex wine with notes of dark chocolate and roasted coffee beans, and less sweet than other PX wines. The 1946 is its best year and it was the first sweet wine to be awarded 100 points by the Parker guide (1958 was also an exceptionally good year with a score of 97). Average price €229.

Bodegas Volver is located inland, between the towns of Salinas and Pinoso. It was established in 2004 by Rafael Cañizares, fourth generation in a winemaking family, who has largely contributed to the international boom of Spanish wines. A red wine made with 85% Monastrell and 15% Cabernet Sauvignon, this is an elegant and spicy tipple with the perfect balance of acidity and sugar. Grapes come from five different vineyards with very low yields and are carefully monitored at all stages and processes, pruning, flowering, fruiting, ripening. Then the wine is aged for 20 months in French oak barrels. The result is an opaque, purple colour and it has aromas of black and blue fruit. Average price €34.

€34

semi-sweet wine similar to Pedro-Ximénez from Montilla-Moriles was once the most prized Alicante wine. Forgotten until the 1950s when local producers started producing it again, the region’s wine industry is now experiencing a complete comeback.

Sierra Salinas 1237, Alicante Scoring 91 in the Parker guide, this is a rare blend of Monastrell, Cabernet Sauvignon, Alicante Bouschet and Petit Verdot. It has an intense colour with €49 complex red fruit aromas. Average price €49.

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28

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At K Sud Dental, we use the best materials and state of the art technology to ensure the results are completed to a high standard and perform for many years to come.

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To summarise: “Our aim is to continuously maintain and build the trust and loyalty of our patients through high quality dental treatments, excellent patient care and open, honest advice. We are excited to have a young talented team who are all equally as passionate about what they do as how they do it.”

HEALTH

Elephant in the room

LIDL have issued an alert concerning a gripper toy in the shape of an elephant that could be a ‘choking hazard’ for children.

Non-profit Spanish organisation FACUA released a statement on behalf of the German supplier requesting the immediate return of the toy from Play30 tive Junior.

The toy was marketed all over Europe from April, but Lidl fears the detachment of small parts could now be a danger to children.

The statement said the toy’s model number was HG04414, version 11/2018, with IAN 304083.

“FACUA recommends that consumers who own this toy in their homes return it to any of the Lidl establishments,” the statement said.

Toxic invader

Man left fighting for life after toxic spider bite

Health & Beauty

Look better in the buff: Get your without giving up everything

Care and Nursing at Home

A MAN has been hospitalised for 10 days after being bitten by a venomous spider ‘15 times more toxic than a cobra’ on the Costa Blanca.

Manuel Gil Pardo, 45, was walking his two dogs with his wife last month in Elda when a tiny violin spider crawled up his left trouser leg.

The venomous spider (Loxosceles laeta) originates from Chile but was first spotted in Spain in 2017.

Gil said he felt a ‘pinch’ inside his left knee, but thought nothing of it at the time.

Late on Saturday May 18 his leg ballooned and Gil was hit by a

Looking sexy, svelte or built by BPT but addition in your clothing is one thing. may be requir Looking better in the buff is a runners and yoga enthusiasts sculpting result topping the list. toxic bite whole other ballgame.

Clothing “TruSculpt RECOVERING: Manuel Gil Pardo after According to board- exciting new - even low-cut necklines, shortsudden 40-degree fever. livingedin Sax, near Elda, has been plastic surgeon shorts or tight-fi tting tees - can certifi non-surgical b After hide arriving in and out hospital forMD a monL. ofBernacki, your flat awsthe and Hospital accentuate Walter The lower abd General Universitario in Elda at th and a half following a violin your assets, but when you are of Ohio Plastic Surgery in handles can be 5:30 nude, on Sunday, he needed urspider bite on her right leg. there’s nowhere - or way Central Ohio, “The newest single 15-minu gent surgery remove necrotic non-surgical The spider bit bothcontouring Miranda Nabody - to hide to anything. treatment sessi tissue and expulse varro Pla, and her partnerhave at been very is 25, Cutera’s truSculpt If you wantthe to venom. look better system It comes woman their home. that uses radiofrequency body sculpting naked,after you another are not alone.

Far iD Theytechnology are three oftofour known target and bifrom it. More and more people (RF) achieve with tes on the Costa Blanca this year destroy fat in your are into healthy living and permanently system,” says – the Spanish public health spots (think muffi n topsbody getting fit these days. The good trouble Jeffrey S. Dove has love refuted the idea a ‘plague’, handles) - inofjust 15 of Skincare news is that there is finally and however. something you can do about comfortable minutes with no Chestnut Hill, M IF your hayfever is particularly bad you’ve A bite from a violin spider, which By and lar We have found that it this that year doesn’t- or involve giving downtime. developed the sniffles for the first don’t fear,doing the measures 10-30mm, treatmentbetween works on all skin up time carbs -and sweets, you’re not the only one. can be sizes fatal toand humans. physiques, excessive crunches or having types, Experts have warned the pollen invasive levels cosmetic have shot up Its venom is reportedly who 15 times including individuals surgery. around Spain with May and June theFully worst months. morepreviously toxic than cobra, and 10 notaconsidered one-third of were It comes after heavy April rains andAmericans humidity, coutimes more than sulphucandidates forpotent body contouring optwere for minimally pled with the rise in temperatures invasive and higher winds. or body procedures.” ric acid. fat reduction And this year it has been worsened due totreatments olive trees, arachnid hidestruSculpt in dark corWhat’s more, sculpting to look The which tend to produce more pollen ners, hence an its average Spanish fat name produces betterininodd-numbered the buff, according to iD years and whose pollen spreads amuch further, upmen to and reduction ‘the corner and isand one of of spider’, 24 percent, new survey of 500 400km. the deadliest in Spain. improvements are seen women from Cutera, Inc. And visible “The pollen is terrible and levels are high,” Other deadly Iberian spiders 6 to 12 weeks following the inthose whowarned exercisehead regularly in of allergies at Ciudad Real Hospital Francisco Feo. the European black widow rst treatment.

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PARACETAMOL tablets weighing 1g and Ibuprofen weighing 600mg are no longer available without prescription in Spain.

The new measure comes after the entry into force of the Spanish Drug Verification System last February, by BPT which will see each packet of drugs come with a registeredand QR code. runners yoga enthusiasts The new system imposed the topping the list. regulations after finding that According to boardthe sale of 1g paracetamol tacertifi plastic surgeon bletsedviolates the Spanish Law of Guarantees and RationalMD Use Walter L. Bernacki, Drugs.Plastic Pharmacists will face ofof Ohio Surgery in fines ofOhio, between €3,000 and Central “The newest €6,000 if they are caught breanon-surgical body contouring king the rules.Packets of 500mg system is Cutera’s truSculpt or 650mg paracetamol tablets still uses available without presiDarethat radiofrequency cription, however,toastarget are 400mg (RF) technology and tablets of Ibuprofen. permanently destroy fat in your

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Hometown glory A HORSE named after the Spanish town its expat owners fell in love with has ridden its first race in the UK. Alan and Sue Cromshaw named their black thoroughbred Javea Magic after relocating to the seaside spot.

The horse was raced on May 28 at Leicester Racecourse, in which the Queen also had a horse.

“We called him Javea Magic because after having 14 magic years in our villa here we wanted to mark it in our own way,” Sue told the Olive Press.

“He came out and led until the final 1 1/2 furlongs, when he just got tired in the end.

“He came in 7th from 12, which is a great start considering he was racing against Godolphin horses and one horse owned by the Queen.”

Javea Magic was entered at Chester earlier

E IV US CL EX

buff: Get your sexy back p everything you love Chill pill

SPORT

29

June 6th - June 19th 2019

INSPIRATION: Alan and Sue-s horse in May, but had to be withdrawn as he was ‘spooked’ by noises in the stall next to him.

“He’s a two-year old, but is showing a lot of potential for the future” Sue added.

National golf tournament to tour eight Spanish cities for its second birthday DETAILS for the second ever edition of an exciting national golf tournament have been revealed.

The Seve Ballesteros PGA Spain Tour 2019, which tours eight Spanish cities, was unveiled by the Sports Council (CSD).

Incorporating both men and women events the golf tour kicks off in Soria at the golf club of the same name from June 6-8.

Ciudad Real then hosts the next stage from June 13-15, followed

by Benidorm (July 4-6), with the fourth tournament in Madrid from July 25-27.

Road to Valencia Cadiz then hosts the fifth event in August, while the sixth is in Bilbao in October and the se-

Royal rise REAL Madrid has unseated Manchester United as the ‘most valuable’ club in Europe.

The report by KPMG took into account the Spanish giants popularity, profitability, broadcasting rights, stadium value and potential for future growth.

Real, now valued at €34 billion has leapfrogged United who had led the way for the last three years.

The Manchester club was valued at €31 billion after

Reyes in peace FORMER Arsenal winger Jose Antonio Reyes has been laid to rest at an emotional church service in his hometown in southern Spain.

The 35-yearold died after speeding at 147mph in his Mercedes and a tyre blowout caused him to veer off a motorway outside Utrera, Sevilla on Saturday.

Jonathan Reyes, 23, the former Gunner’s cousin was also killed in the high-speed crash.

The much-loved player’s coffin was draped in a Seville FC flag and thousands watched on as the casket was carried by family and friends.

failure to reach the latter stages of the Champions League has seen them lose ground.

Report author Andrea Sartori said: "At league level the English Premier League has confirmed its absolute dominance, having nine clubs in the top 32 and accounting for 43% of the total aggregate value."

venth is the Phillips Hue Spanish Championship of Male Professionals of the RFEG from October 31 to November 3.

The grand final of the prestigious national run of competitions is set to take place in Oliva Nova in Valencia from December 6-8.

The leading 40 male athletes of the Order of Merit 2019 will compete at this final stage, while 10 women will battle it out in the female event.

The aim of the Seve Ballesteros tour is ‘to promote golf and sports through its professionals’, according to Spanish PGA president, David Pastor .

The tour features alongside alongside the PGA Championship of Spain and the Spanish Championship of Professionals of the Royal Spanish Golf Federation, which are yet to be announced.

Touch the sky RUNNING up the stairs is usually a sign the lift has broken.

But for two athletes from the Costa Blanca running to the top of the world’s tallest skyscrapers has become an international sport.

CHAMP: Cardona in NY

And now, following this week’s race up the One World Trade Center in New York, Ignacio Cardona from Javea has cemented his position as the world no. 2 in the Vertical World Circuit.

The annual competition, in its eighth year, comprises 11 races in the tallest skyscrapers across the globe.

Athletes have this year already run up the 2,917 steps of the Lotte World Tower in Korea - the world’s fifth tallest building - and will later this year scale the International Commerce Center in Hong Kong - the world’s 12th tallest building.

Cardona is joined by world no. 6 Antonio Soler, also from Javea.

Both men are supported by Javea town hall, and are training for Broadgate Tower in London on June 20.

30

June 6th - June 19th 2019

Loraine Gostling is not the Costa Blanca’s biggest football fan, but does have a soft spot for Jordan Henderson’s dad

A

COLUMNISTS

GetTING ConnectED

Kicking off

LL hail to the men in sent off Chingford’s local golden boy David Beckham red shorts!

A fitting start to this in the 1996 World Cup for week’s page 30 as I kicking yet another bloody was pondering on the dan- Diego; and three, the damn gers and hazards of clea- offside rule which has been ning BUT this week’s event explained to me time and in Madrid overtook my time again.

I DO actually thoughts for get it now BUT some obscure as the rule reason and Kane’s second states - and so I thought I goal against I quote from should maythe infallible be entertain Tunisia was due Google - ‘a my readers by revealing my to me having too player is in offside poexpertise on many cervezas an sition if he is the subject of nearer to his football (the opponents’ soccer type - not the American game, goal line than both the ball of which I know absolutely and the second last opponent’. zilch).

Actually, come to think of it, My opinion, for what it is I know pretty much nothing worth, is that it makes no about the UK version as I bleedin’ sense whatsoever! am in that group of fema- Plus, when you add maths les who lost the will to live into the equation, like haafter: one, Diego’s ‘Hand of ving to work out who the God’ shattered England’s second last opponent was dream in 1986; two, they it boggles my mind indeed,

By Loraine Gostling

DAD JOKES: Jordan Henderson’s father Brian (left) has fun

especially as sport and maths were never my top subjects at school, having bunked out of them both as many times as I could pos-

sibly get away with.

So, concluding the whole offside situation, I would strongly advise the withdrawal of the rule forthwith and thus doing, there would be far more action and much less of those annoying whistle-blowing shenanigans!

This year will be pretty boring for those who, like me, only ever get their England/ Spain kits in the wash once every two years, buy the traditional car flags, which generally have to be taken off ashamedly by the second round, and go along at least four hours early to get a seat at the bar with the biggest TV and table service (can’t miss any dramas!) to watch our national teams do battle, hopefully with the Argentinians and/or the Germans (yes I remember 1966 too!).

When attending World or Euro Cup matches, it is also very important to be strategically placed near to a loo (ie. not having someone nearer to the toilet door than both you, your mate and the second last waiter) as, invariably, a goal

by England/Spain will most definitely be scored while

CHAMPIONS: Jordan Henderson after Champions League win

you are peeing.

That has happened to me so many times that I now go on purpose in the hope that England will score while I am looking for a new loo roll.

In fact, let it be said that Harry Kane’s second goal against Tunisia last year was totally due to my having downed too many cervezas during the second half.

Now it seems I have done my usual trick of digressing from the subject I actually intended to write about this week, but for those who have read my previous columns, that will come as no surprise I suppose and now you will have to wait with baited breath for another two weeks to read about

that.

Before I sign this off and send it over to the esteemed editors, I would like to just tell you of my one claim to soccer fame.

Last year, I went to Moraira to watch the World Cup matches as the bar there has a TV that can be seen from space and they don’t ever run out of loo paper.

Anyway... who happened to be watching the England match but Jordan Henderson’s dad, Brian.

Now, Señor Henderson Junior is sort of infamous for being a bit ‘lippy’ on the pitch, so we were all very amused when Brian got on the phone to him at half time and told his little lad not to #$@&%*! swear at the ref or he will get sent off.

Jordan seemed to have heeded daddy’s words and was a good boy the rest of the game.

Brian is a nice guy and the day was absolutely brilliant with him being there, especially as England won.

Finally, for those who happened to make the journey to Madrid on Saturday, especially those who paid stupid amounts of money to see Spurs lose, or those who didn’t actually get into the game and had to drown their sorrows in the blue bars and sleep on park benches...suckers! (lol)

Across: 1 Sunset, 6 Oslo, 8 Saved, 9 Paella, 10 Debt, 11 Rural, 12 Aden, 13 Yelp, 14 Crimea, 16 Due, Down: 2 Unaided, 3 Silence, 4 Tsar, 5 Overseas, 6 Oddly, 7 Libel, 17 Asp, 19 Balsam, 20 Lull, 23 Ante, 24 Amiss, 26 Eton, 27 Pigged, 28 Kenya, 29 Levy, 30 Remind. 15 Italians, 17 Amalgam, 18 Pattern, 21 Untie, 22 Lanky, 25 Spar

MOTORS

31

June 6th - June 19th 2019

Ronaldo adds to his luxury fleet of supercars with a McClaren weeks after buying the world’s most expensive car

NEW: Greener model

Electric switch THE first fully electric Corsa hatchback will be made in Spain under new plans revealed by Opel.

Known as the Corsa-e, the electric version of the best selling model will be built at the Opel factory in Zaragoza.

Gasoline

Spain will also be the manufacturing hub for all variants of the six generation Corsa, including the gasoline or diesel. .

Opel executives said deliveries of gasoline and electric versions will starts towards the end of this year, with the first electric models appearing in spring 2020.

FORMER Real Madrid icon Cristiano Ronaldo has unveiled an addition to his extensive car collection - an €850,000 tribute to Ayrton Senna.

The Portuguese footballer has been pictured posing outside his Turin home beside the exclusive Mclaren Senna.

Built by McLaren as a tribute to the legendary Formula 1 racing driver Senna, Ronaldo’s new car is one of only 500 ever made.

Ronaldo posted an image

7,995€

of the Mclaren on Instagram and treated fans to a video of the car outside his villa with the caption

RENAULT and Fiat have confirmed they are negotiating a merger the would make the group a world leader with 15.5 million sales.

The union would catapult Fiat-Renault into third place in the world rankings, with 8.7 million vehicles a year behind Volkswagen (10.6 million) and Toyota (10.4 million).

This figure does not include the sales produced from the French companies’ alliance with Nissan and Mitsubishi which contributes a further seven million cars.

Renault’s board of directors announced that it had ‘studied with interest the opportunity.’

Directors also believe the ‘friendly proposal’ would reinforces ‘Renault's industrial footprint’.

‘enjoy’.

Designed for competition, the powerful Senna has 800 horsepower, thanks to a 4.0-liter twin-turbocharged V-8 engine, and can accelerate from 0 to 100 in 2.8 seconds.

Senna brought much success to McLaren between 1988 and 1993, winning three Formula 1 World Driver Championships and 35 Grand Prix races.

Ronaldo paid out €850,000 for the tribute supercar which is a bargain considering his annual salary amounts to around €69 million.

It comes as the legendary forward was rumoured to

General Director of SEAT Spain, Mikel Palomera was on hand to present keys for the luxury all-terrain Arona FR to the players.

Defender Marta Torrejon said: “I am very thankful, this is a privilege for us.

When I first started playing for the national team this was unthinkable.” have paid €11 million for the one of a kind ‘La Voiture Noire’ Bugatti prototype.

The unique car, with a top speed of 260 mph, was styled after the iconic Bugatti Type 57 SC Atlantic of the 1930s The Ballon d’Or winner already owns a Rolls-Royce Phantom, a Bentley Continental and an Aston Martin DB9.

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OPEL Corsa 1.0 Turbo S&S Excellence 115 Year 2015 1000cc, 115 hp Manual, Petrol 60,000 km

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PEUGEOT 207 CC 1.6 Year 2007 1600cc, 120 hp Manual, Petrol 78,000 km

BEAMING: Torres with her new motor

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NISSAN Tiida 1.8 Tekna 125 Year 2009 1800cc, 125 hp Manual, Petrol 99,000 km

SEAT has gifted a car to every single member of Spain’s national women’s football team in a move normally reserved for men’s football.

The Spanish car brand is the official sponsor of the women’s national team, who have been gaining more followers ahead of the World Cup in France.

Thankful

LUXURY: The latest in Ronaldo’s garage

Mega Merge

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CITROEN C3 1.4 Year 2012 1400cc, 75 hp Manual, Petrol 80,000 km

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RENAULT Megane 1.6 Authentique Year 2011 1600cc, 100 hp Manual, Petrol 82,000 km

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RENAULT Twingo 1.2 Year 2010 1200cc, 75 hp Automatic, Petrol 76,000 km

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FORD Focus Sportbreak Year 2014 1000cc, 100 hp Manual, Petrol 27,000 km

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Voted

Towering inferno A MAN in Barcelona tried to burn down his local cinema after management refused to give him a job last month. The next day he set fire to his own apartment block, and a hospital corridor. He was refused bail.

FINAL WORDS

Wrong move A MAN who was caught masturbating in a coach between Asturias and Madrid later stripped naked before a León judge.

He defended himself in court saying ‘I like all women’.

Clowning around THREE men wearing clown masks and wielding a taser robbed a cafe in broad daylight in Benidorm. One of clowns was held by the staff until police arrived, and eventually all three were arrested.

Bad trip POLICE were called after a 17-year-old boy was spotted making strange faces and rolling around the floor while on drugs in a central square in Elda. He was arrested after trying to bite a police officer.

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Vol. 1 Issue 6

www.theolivepress.es

June 6th - June 19th 2019

KNOW HIM?: Mystery dad in Spain in the 1960s

Beer we go!

THIS is the moment a group of British lads used a beer bong on a flight from Stansted to the Costa Blanca - with the help of an air stewardess!

The boozers, who were headed to Benidorm via Alicante airport, poured two cans of Heineken through the long funnel onboard the 6.10am flight last week.

A Ryanair stewardess reported-

British lads funnel beer down throats on raucous Ryanair flight ly said ‘this is fine’ and even helped to hold up the bong.

The drinker ended up falling into the aisle as a friend shouted ‘top him up’.

In a video posted online, another friend pours beer onto the downed passenger’s shirt while

roaring with laughter.

Another passenger then put the funnel on his head and danced up and down singing ‘he’s got a beer bong on his head, he’s got a beer bong on his head’.

A witness said it looked like the lads had been ‘up all night’ before boarding.

She added: “It’s crazy that people like this are Spain’s National Institute of Staeven allowed tistics. on planes but Just one municipality in the Vahow the hell lencian community registered on they get away the list of Spain’s 50 richest muniwith things cipalities, with Betera having a per like this once capita income of €13,043. they’re on Madrid’s Pozuelo de Alarcon, home board baffles to many professional footballers, me. including Gareth Bale, was ranked “I imagine a Spain’s richest municipality with plane like that an average income of €25,957. would have been packed

Down in the dumps

HALF a dozen towns in Alicante have been named in the list of Spain’s 50 poorest areas.

Almoradi was ranked 12th poorest, with a per capita income of €7.148, followed by Torrevieja (€7,271) and Calpe (€7,287), in 16th and 17th place respectively.

In 23rd came Crevillent (€7,541), in 37th came Aspe (€7,763) and in 50th place the list ended with Alfaz del Pi (€7,903), according to

FUNNEL: Down throat at this time of the year and other passengers must have been pretty uncomfortable.

“Okay, it’s a group of lads enjoying themselves and there doesn’t appear to be any violence.

“But who knows what can happen when you’ve got a large group of big men in a closed environment who are quite obviously off their heads on alcohol.”

Ryanair declined to comment.

Last chance saloon

A BRIT has launched an appeal to find his long lost father whose last known whereabouts were at a bar in southern Spain in the 1960s.

David Abbott, 53, from Blackpool, knows that the man he believes to be his dad spent time in Benidorm and the Costa Blanca and southern Spain in general and may have even moved there.

The only photos he has of his father are from Bobby’s Bar in Benidorm in 1965.

“I believe this man is my father who I’ve never met,” Abbott told the Olive Press this week.

“The woman is my mother Christine Oakes (Christine Abbott) who sadly passed away in 2015. I don’t have a name for the man...however I do know he made a call to Glenroyd Hospital Whitegate Drive on April 18 the day I was born to ask Christine what she had named me.”

He added: “Any leads would be fantastic… It’s a long shot but you never know.”

Recognise the man in these photos? Contact newsdesk@theolivepress.es