st be ag ’s m ain rty lish Sp pe Eng pro in
Property
APRIL 2022
on page XII
Life in the shade
THE enclave of Zagaleta has often been described as It’s one of Spain’s most exclusive place‘southern Europe’s to live’. on behind the highmost expensive places to live. But few And when you count tech fences of La Zagaleta, know what goes ties, captains of industryon the celebri- a giant the second member and, now, the palace. Olive Press of the family,” adds global dictators who Property takes a peekwhere Putin is said to own the agent. stalk its privileged spaces, that’s no surprise. gated community that “It’s real royal golf The multi-million price rity is ‘its number one claims that secu- “Our perimeter shielding, of the locals are to and the attitudes priority’. tags certainly Indeed, match,” he confollow suit, as does tems and security routinesdetection sys- around 240 homes security is of so much its incredible golf have so far been tinued. “It’s ultra exclusive and will thwart imporcourse, which has just tance so snobby, way more than a few hundred year, that after a late-night incident last most attempts to attack properties, built. the Chelsea or people allowed to which explains why an Israeli company the incident rate is “Most homes go for around 7 to 8 mil- Cheshire set. was commisthere’s its intriguingplay… and then sioned to build a new “Owners put 10,000 recent links to fence. ‘high tech electric’ 100 times lower than in other residen- lion euros,” explains one British agent, Russian dictator Vladamir tial complexes,” he claimed. who has sold a number club bar so they can euros behind the Putin, who Expected always get a drink owns a property there. The estate there over the last year. of properties or cigar when they to become the most want and “And some have expen- Baraka’ and was originally called ‘La even doubled The giant 2000 sqm sive in Spain, literally it owned crawling with Astonthe place is in price over the last by disgraced bilthe Rock of the King palace, known as 900-hectare estatewill run around the lionaire Saudi Martins, few and DB4s and years.” that (or Roca del Rey) McClarens.” counts on its own private vis, between Marbella sits in Benaha- Khashoggi, who arms dealer, Adnan All surrounded Thesedays, was and the foothills licopter pad and bowling vineyard, he- of the Serrania de some of the world’s said to have held they have either by deep woodland, galeta is runthe company behind ZaRonda. alley. sea by most or Ignacio mountain views debauched (or both), But it’s the three floors “The residents are parties at the hunting ter his father died two Perez Diaz, afwhile there is also lodge in the equestrian years ago. a private According that has got eyebrows underground euros each in two being charged 5,000 1970s. center and golf course, Europe’s security and raised among pay for it,” reveals installments to help Today it is the with in 2019, itsto its last available accounts clubhouse of the resort, a second one on the way. a source. “They are immediate holding As revealed by the defence elite. not exactly happy about which was acquired company Zagaleta International by a group of in- The amazing course, said to be one of it.” month, it counts Olive Press last It comes after Head UK Inc is based in Panama, while on armed guards of security Jose vestors in 1989 led by Andalucian bank- the best in Spain, only counts on 250 two other enand has a deep bunker Miguel Navarro boasted er, Enrique Perez monitoring the Flores, who came members, which is because only home- tities, Soto Properties SA and Campo last year that Straits of Gibraltar owners can join. Alto SA, are based in 24/7. And this in a his team have a ‘maximum response from Huelva. Switzerland. time of three minutes The giant estate was “The price for membership to any alert’. alone is approximately 420 then divided into 120,000 euros and plots, of which then it’s 10,000 a See pages II and III to find out year for the lead member more on the properties and 7,000 for Zagaleta available in
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HYPNOTISED BY JESUS!
HE grew his hair long like Jesus and was looked up to ‘like a god’. A so-called ‘healer’ (or curandero) he had a herbal medicine practice on the costas and a series of intelligent graduate friends. But sex cult leader Tio Toni, 64, was allegedly an evil child abuser, who brainwashed dozens of people into effectively living in slavery. Now, after police arrested Tio Toni - real name Antonio GL - along with eight other followers, five of them female, he is set to face 80 years in prison.
PSYCHIATRIST: Miguel Perlado
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Victims and therapists tell Olive Press of ordeal at the hands of sex abuse cult leader Tio Toni By Jorge Hinojosa
In a shocking investigation, the Olive Press can reveal how Antonio allegedly hypnotised his followers to believe he was a spiritual healer over a staggering 30-year period. Victims and psychologists told us how the alternative medicine practitioner conned his respectable middle class patients into giving him money and sometimes even their homes. He even managed to enlist them into ritual sex sessions, some of them filmed on camera. In some of his most depraved acts, he allegedly took the virginity of teenagers, in front of his followers, also on camera. He managed to first snare his victims through an alternative health practice in the coastal city of Castellon. At the clinic, which doubled as a
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health shop, he conned his victims into believing their health - and lives - would improve by joining his cult, called Vistabella. As well as saying that he had been chosen ‘as an envoy from God’ and he was ‘cleaning up society’, he told them he was able to cure their ailments, including cancer. But once they had moved to live on his giant inland estate in the rural Maestrazgo region of Valencia, they effectively became his slaves. Working around the clock on a schedule their leader dictated, they had no idea, at least initially, that behind the scenes he was allegedly abusing their children and often their wives and partners. When police finally raided his huge finca, Mas de la Chaparra, a bright pink building, near the village of Vistabella del Maestrat, on March 15, they were astonished by what they found.
Aside from €15,000 in cash, they discovered over 100 valuable watches, but the most unusual was a collection of keepsakes and mementos. These included drawers full of bizarre hair cuttings and dozens of religious calling cards. There were numerous storage devices and computers and ‘a bunker full of security and surveillance equipment’ revealed the local mayor.
Orgies
There were also allegedly videos of sexual orgies in which ritual practices regularly took place. Meanwhile, they seized training manuals for members, including one, ‘A course of Miracles’ which gave them a series of exercises and orders to follow. This week, a long-time neighbour of his home in Castellon, told the Olive Press Tio Toni would initially not charge for the ‘health’ services he provided. The woman, a fortune PLUMBING & AIR CONDITIONING SPECIALISTS
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SECT: Leader Tio Toni teller, visited his practice in Castellon on many occasions and ‘nearly got sucked in’. She said: “I spent months going to his consultation because he said he was a healer. He put his hands on me, claiming it would cure me. “But it soon became clear he was trying to manipulate me, especially when after a few sessions he asked me to go to a private back room with him. “That was the moment when I felt something strange was going on.” Asking to remain anonymous, she continued: “He was over-friendly with me, and told me he was sent from God and that’s why he grew his hair out like Jesus. “He was certainly very persuasive and I saw a lot of people become totally obsessed with him,” she continued. “He made them feel they were totally loved.” Over the course of ‘a few years’ she lost an alarming four friends to the Continues on Page 4
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CRIME
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NEWS IN BRIEF
A VALENCIAN woman has revealed how she suffered 56 years of abuse from her husband and eventually resorted to barricading herself in a room. Police finally arrested the 83-yearold man because his wife had been ‘too embarrassed’ to report his regular attacks herself.
Stole to order A SIX strong gang who stole goods to order from supermarkets for bargain-hunting Elche restaurants has been arrested by Alicante police.
Station assault AN axe-wielding man, 29, who tried to rob an Alicante petrol station was arrested after an employee locked himself inside the building and phoned police.
Fake claim AN Elda man was arrested after lying to police about two men robbing him of €2,000 that he had just withdrawn from a bank. Security camera footage showed he made up the story to make a bogus insurance claim.
April 7th - April 20th 2022
DECADES OF ABUSE The woman told officers she had been ill-treated throughout her entire marriage with physical attacks and regular verbal threats, insults, and humiliation.
Matters took a recent turn when she piled up furniture against a door every day to stop him gaining access to her room, due to the increased seriousness of threats.
Pushing it First blood for prosecutor as ‘Requena Rambo’ refuses to testify while facing 60 years A MAN dubbed ‘Rambo of Requena’ after he shot someone in a botched robbery then fled to the hills for months, is facing life behind bars. Pedro Lozano, 30, also shot a policeman, before he was finally tracked down by a crack anti-terror unit in the Pyrenees. He is this week facing 60 years in prison during a trial in Teruel in which he is accused of
Bad trip POLICE are looking for a home robbery gang that travelled from Murcia to plunder properties in Gata de Gorgos and Pedreguer. One gang member, 25, was caught at a property and charged with 11 break-ins.
By George Mathias & Jack Gaioni
attempted murder, abduction, coercion and multiple auto thefts. Gimenez, from Sagunto, near Valencia, is alleged to have stolen three cars and held a man hostage in a rampage in February 2020. Prosecutors allege he went on
Poor interpretation
TWO Russian interpreters have been arrested in Alicante for defrauding vulnerable Ukrainian refugees. Police say the mother and daughter scammed €5,000. The women snared their victims in queues of refugees at police stations who were obtaining Spanish residency permits. The duo spun a yarn that they were employed by the police. They falsely claimed they could speed up the processing of documentation in exchange for cash. Adults were charged €250 each and children were billed at €150 per head.
to burgle a villa in Requena before shooting and wounding the homeowner. It was then he went on-the-run, knowing that he was Public Enemy number one and the net was closing. He went to ground in the depopulated mountains between Requena and Teruel, where he would break in and sleep in unoccupied farmhouses. After numerous reports of break ins and sightings he was finally tracked down by Spain’s counter-terrorism Rapid Action Group, to the village of Muniesa, in June 2020. But police were unable to capture him and after a gunfight Gimenez escaped after wounding an officer with a sawn-off shotgun. He somehow managed to carjack a local driver before heading north, towards the Pyrenees. But police were soon on his tail,
using a flotilla of 4x4 vehicles, drones and even a helicopter. They finally cornered him in Albalate del Arzobispo, where they got involved in a second gun battle which ended with Lozano wounded multiple times.
Killing
Prosecutor Jorge Piedrafita has asked for a 60-year prison sentence as well as €180,000 in compensation. While Lozano has so far refused to testify, his defence insisted he had no intention of killing the Guardia agents. They said he deliberately did not aim at ‘any vital organs’ and should face no more than a two year sentence for serious injury, six months for illegal possession of a weapon, and one year for trespassing. The case continues.
Van lifer scammers A PAIR of scuzzy van lifers have been charged with robbing businesses by force while travelling around Spain. The couple were nicked in Villena after police found loads of items in their motorhome stolen from shops and hospitality businesses. The man, 41, and woman, 39, both Spanish, were also wanted by the authorities in Huelva and Malaga. Database checks matched items stolen from a restaurant the previous day in Almansa, in Albacete. The duo were also linked to a hotel robbery in nearby Riopar. Investigations are also probing them for other crimes possibly committed.
Playing a game A DENIA scammer tricked at least 17 online customers into paying for a video game console that he never sent. The Spaniard, 44, has been charged with fraud after using online portals to charge between €515 and €580 for the console. Purchasers transferred money through an online app or via a bank transfer but received nothing for their payment.
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www.theolivepress.es SPANISH megastar Rosalia has revealed secret screenshots from fellow singing sensation Harry Styles - but it appears the pair’s interaction got lost in translation. During an interview on The Tonight Show the Catalan-born songstress explained that she changes her number a lot to help her focus when she’s working in the studio. When host Jimmy Fallon suggested that friends would then be texting someone else, she responded: “That happened to me – I didn’t know that someone else gets your old number. I thought you use that number and then it disappears or something.” The 28-year-old revealed that confusion over her digits recently left her red-faced when boyband star Styles tried to reach her. Instead of speaking to the Spanish warbler, clueless Styles accidentally messaged
April 7th - April 20th 2022
3
Lost in translation a mystery individual who inherited Rosalia’s old phone number. The Spanish pop star pulled her phone out to show the host screenshots of the bizarre exchange Styles had sent her, saying: “Your texts are so confusing.” In the screenshot, you can see that the British star had sent Rosalia a message about her song ‘Dolerme’, calling it ‘so beautiful’. The person with Rosalia’s old number then replied: “I know my darling.” After exchanging ‘love you’ messages, the stranger then revealed that they didn’t know who they were texting. When Styles told them he was ‘confused’, they replied: “This number belongs to someone before. But now it’s my number. So don’t bother me anymore. Good night.”
SLAP (UN)HAPPY… Pedro Almodovar reveals his thoughts about THAT Oscars slap and ‘cult leader’ Will Smith
Top score BARCELONA’S Camp Nou stadium was packed out as a world record 91,553 fans watched the home team beat Real Madrid 5-2 in a Women’s Champions League semi-final. The previous record for a women’s game was 90,185 at the 1999 World Cup final between the United States and China at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.
Win
Up until now the record for a club fixture was 60,739 supporters who saw Barcelona beat Atletico Madrid at the Wanda Metropolitano back in March 2019. Club bosses were keen to see a bumper crowd for Wednesday’s match which saw Barca win 8-3 on aggregate. They allowed Barcelona’s 147,000 members four free tickets each, with non-members able to buy entrance for between €9 and €15.
SPANISH director Pedro Almodovar has described how seeing Will Smith slapping Chris Rock over a misguided joke about his wife’s alopecia provoked ‘a feeling of absolute rejection’ in him. Almodovar wrote about the incident in a diary on his experience at attending the awards ceremony, for which his film Parallel Mothers was nominated for two Oscars. He reveals that he had a ringside seat and was ‘barely four metres from where it happened’. “In the general overhead shots, I am the little white head you see in the photo,” he revealed. “What I saw and heard pro-
BAD DEED: Almodovar unhappy with Smith duced a feeling of absolute rejection in me. Not only during the episode, but af-
…but Oscar happy THE Oscar headlines may have been taken by Will Smith’s infamous slap on Chris Rock, but a Spanish filmmaker has made a little bit of history. Spain took home its first ‘Best Animated Short Film’ Oscar, with animator Alberto Mielgo victorious thanks to a 15-minute movie called The Windsceen Wiper. The short took seven years to make with Madrid-born Milego having to finance the project himself. The Oscar success came as a surprise as an entry from the award-winning Aardman studio backed by Netflix was the hot favourite to win.
terward, too, in the acceptance speech — a speech that seemed more like that of a cult leader,” he wrote. “You don’t defend or protect the family with your fists, and no, the devil doesn’t take advantage of key moments to do his work,” he said in reference to the advice Smith said he received from Denzel Washington.
Devil
“The devil, in fact, doesn’t exist. This was a fundamentalist speech that we should neither hear nor see.” His diary also featured deliciously indiscrete revelations about Kenneth Brannagh scouting for a part in his next film and gripes about America’s tendency to overuse air conditioning.
Right royal treat QUEEN Letizia stood alongside Prince Charles to cut the ribbon at the first museum in the UK devoted entirely to Spanish art. The Spanish Gallery, located in a converted high street bank in Bishop Auckland (County Durham), wants to be the Prado of the North. On its walls hang masterpieces from the Spanish Golden Age by painters including El Greco, Murillo and Velazquez. The new museum is part of the Auckland Project, a regeneration scheme backed by art collector and philanthropist Jonathan Ruffer. In 2010, he bought Auckland Castle and its contents which included several paintings by Francisco Zurbaran. Many pieces included in the first show are from Ruffer’s personal collection with additional loans from Museo del Prado, the Hispanic Society of America and other major collections of Spanish art.
TO SIR WITH NO LOVE SPAIN’S former king, Juan Carlos, is to appeal against a decision that he is not immune to a civil damages case brought by his ex-lover. A decision by High Court Justice, Matthew Nicklin, means that the emetrius king, who abdicated in 2014, could face a civil damages claim in London’s High Court. It has been brought by Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein, 58 and may mean that Juan Carlos, 84 and now living in Abu Dhabi, might be forced to give evidence in the case. She is suing Juan Carlos because she believes he asked Spain’s intelligence service in London to put her under surveillance since 2012, after she allegedly rebuffed his marriage proposal.
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NEWS
www.theolivepress.es From front
Sex crime
sect, as well as a female member of her own family. “I was so worrie I ended up organising a meeting with them to try and tell them that this guy was manipulating us, but they just refused to believe me,” she continued. She revealed how Toni continually managed to expand and add to his inland estate in order to house his growing number of ‘believers’. When she tried more recently to get her friends out, she revealed how Toni had sent some of them to her home threatening to expose her as a witch. “They accused me of having done witchcraft on a child in the sect who had got really ill or died,” she explained. “It was very intimidating.” A psychologist, who called in police after he began working with a number of victims last year, said the abuse on the group and, in particular, children was ‘truly shocking’. Miguel Perlado told the Olive Press that the victims had first come to him ‘very con-
fused’ about what was going on inside. “They could barely even describe the place where they had lived for so long,” he revealed, adding that they were threatened about speaking out ‘or they would get bad energy’. He said they ended up becoming very isolated from their family and friends and Tio Toni even made them become isolated from each other and ‘encouraged conflict between them’.
Burdened
They were burdened with many chores and the house was continually upgraded and maintained, so they ‘could not think for themselves’. He added that many of the minors didn’t attend school and also created ‘alternative identities’ because they didn't have the capacity to explain what was going on. He added that it was possible the place was visited by foreigners and other expats, but the main sect was Spanish. A total of 12 victims were ‘liberated’ when police raided the farm, including two children, aged 13 and eight, who have been taken in by Valencia social services. This week, six of nine adult members were given bail while three, including Toni remain in custody.
SITE: The sect’s compound in rural Valencia
April 7th - April 20th 2022
FOXY BABIES THIS cute bundle of fur is one of six flying fox pups born at Benidorm’s Terra Natura Zoo. The youngsters, who are doing well, will begin to fly when they reach three months. The park now has 49 flying A BRITISH man hosting a Ukrainian refugee family has had cash raised through a crowd-funding app withheld because he didn’t include his middle name when he registered. Teacher, Mark Bicknell, 51, from Entre Naranjos, in Orihuela, is furious with GoFundMe after taking in the family-of-three from Kyiv. They escaped to Spain with just three small backpacks last month. Mark decided to launch a GoFundMe appeal to help his guests, including a five-year-old girl. But weeks after raising over €500 to buy essential items for the family,
foxes who belong to the bat family. The world’s flying fox population has fallen by 30% over 15 years due to hunting, deforestation and the degradation caused by palm oil farming.
NoFundMe Expat can’t get cash donated to help him look after Ukrainian family EXCLUSIVE By Alex Trelinski
it still can’t be accessed. “The first few donations were processed but everything stopped as the fund-raiser was set up in the name of Mark Bicknell, but my bank account is registered as Mark William Bicknell,” he told the Olive Press.
Farmers’ fury HUNDREDS of farmers are set to hold a tractor protest in Alicante on May 10. It comes as a result of rising costs in the sector as well as increased imports from developing countries, which is hitting demand for locally-produced products. They are also angry at the rising cost of water.
While happy that GoFundMe flags up concerns, he believes that this time ‘it has gone too far’. It comes after he gave the organisation copies of his TIE card, passport, bank statements, and other personal details to clear up the matter.
Absurd
RIDICULOUS: Mark Bicknell can’t get funds
“All my communications were done via email with somebody called Bashir and despite the very extensive personal data I supplied they were still not satisfied,” said Mark. “This is patently unreasonable and absurd,” he added. Mark revealed that he had used GoFundMe be-
fore and had no problems over the name variation. The Olive Press contacted GoFundMe’s media department in Spain, with boss Macarena Arcos promising she would be ‘contacting Mark to see how the problem can be solved as soon as possible’.
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NEWS
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April 7th - April 20th 2022
RAINBOW’S END
But no gold for British couple as their dream home is bulldozed in another sad chapter in Spain’s planning history FOR two decades it had been the dream retirement home of British couple David and Janet Hartshorn. The four-bedroom villa in the hills above the Costa del Sol had all the hallmarks of the perfect escape from rainy, cold north-west England. The retired publicans from Cheshire, had long dreamed of their place in the sun. So when the opportunity of buying the dreamy Torrox plot came up, they jumped at the opportunity. However, Villa Arco Iris (meaning ‘rainbow’) has proved to be anything but its BEFORE: The couple’s dream home Arcos Iris
EXCLUSIVE by George Mathias
namesake and rather than a pot of gold it has left them hundreds of thousands of euros out of pocket. The couple had fallen for the age-old trick of trusting local tradesmen in southern Spain. They had been assured by building firm Nertor that they would be able to develop a small shack on a plot of land into the sizable retreat they valued at €500,000 last year. But just one year after buying it, they discovered it was illegal. And that is where their nightmare began. Some two decades later at exactly 9.01am on April 5, 2022, a town hall bulldozer started on a 40-minute rampage to bring it down to
DEVASTATED: Janet and David, as home is demolished
5
NEWS IN BRIEF More screening ALL women in the Valencia region aged between 25 and 65 will now be eligible for cervical cancer screening in addition to breast tests. The health ministry has announced an expanded screening programme with invitations sent out automatically.
Health call
rubble. Their countless pleas to Malaga Court to reconsider, even including a request to give up the property to Ukrainian refugees, were all in vain. The authorities were adamant that it should not have been built and never had the correct permission. Despite enlisting lawyers and local pressure group SOHA nothing could be done. To add insult to injury, the cost of the demolition work will be charged to the couple - to the tune of €24,000. Now the plot, formerly an idyllic setting for the Hartshorn’s and their family friends to spend long summers, has been reduced to a derelict building site. “It is very distressing and a big part of our life’s work has been turned to rubble,” David told the Olive Press, last night.
“We have put all our life savings into this work, and now it is all going to be taken away.” He continued: “It beggars belief how this can happen. Consultation with certain Spanish contractors is a downfall from the beginning. They bend the truth.” On Monday morning, David, accompanied by daughter Adelle, 46, who had flown over from England for moral support, finally accepted the fate of their beloved home. The only legal part of the house is an uninhabitable 20-square-metre annexe. This was spared by the demolition team but it will come as little consolation to the Hartshorn’s, who have been forced to move in with friends nearby and who will leave the country for good on May 6. The case echoes that of Len and Helen Prior in Almeria
who watched as bulldozers flattened their villa after it was deemed illegal by the town hall in Vera. For 13 years they lived in the garage on the plot, while they mounted a legal battle that eventually declared the demolition was illegal. They won damages. Another victim, Gurney Davey, saw his home razed to the ground in the Guadalhorce Valley last year.
Painful
The Olive Press has previously reported on 30,000 homes in Andalucia that were retroactively made legal in urban planning law change. But such a law has not been extended to the Cheshire couple. “I was not able to watch the demolition, it was too painful,” David added last night.
AROUND 500 people protested in Los Alcazares last week to demand a 24-hours health centre for the area. Residents have to travel up to 20 minutes to neighbouring San Javier or Torre Pacheco when the local facility is closed.
Cove charge JAVEA council will charge a summer car parking fee at the Portitxol and Granadella coves. Increasing numbers of parked cars along the access roads, making it difficult for emergency vehicle access, have prompted the move to charge.
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NEWS FEATURE
www.theolivepress.es Voted top expat paper in Spain
A campaigning, community newspaper, the Olive Press represents the huge expatriate community in Spain with an estimated readership, including the websites, of more than two million people a month.
OPINION NOT AGAIN! THE horror and heartbreak of seeing one’s home smashed into smithereens isn’t a fate reserved solely for those living under threat of Russian bombs in the Ukraine. And while Andalucia is far from a war zone and noone is in fear for their lives, it must feel pretty close to it for the couple who this week watched their dream home reduced to rubble. It’s a travesty that such a terrible outcome continues to happen to those who fall foul of Spain’s planning laws, either because they were duped by unscrupulous developers, trusted the wrong legal advice or unwittingly failed to follow the proper procedure. Or in some cases, like the infamous Priors, did everything right yet ended up having to live in their garage. For decades Andalucia’s political factions have passed the buck on ending such abuses and streamline the planning process, not just to prevent rampant corruption of town halls but to protect those who bought in good faith and invested their hard-earned life savings to spend their retirement in the sun. Despite amnesties, ombudsmans and appeal processes, we are still writing headlines about bulldozers rolling in. It’s time Spain took responsibility once and for all to protect homeowners instead of penalise them.
FINGERS CROSSED IT’S hard not to feel hopeful with Easter just around the corner that we are finally putting the hardships of the pandemic behind us. After two years of cancelled Semana Santa, tourists are set to return in numbers close to pre-Covid times. Whether flocking to the beaches for some much needed sunshine or crowding the streets to watch the religious spectacle of the processions, let’s keep our fingers crossed that the recent storms clear and it doesn’t rain on the parade! Happy Easter!
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A viable alternative Forget mystery skulls and the Maddie McCann suspect, Orgiva’s globally-known alternative community is bustling with cultural links to Robert Graves, Genesis, the Olive Press, and even the Romans, writes Jo Chipchase
S
PAIN’S most famous alternative community has been in the news this year after a human skull was found in its midst, while it also emerged the prime suspect in the Madeleine McCann mystery spent considerable time in Orgiva. Christian Brueckner, 45, was a regular visitor to the Dragon Festival and frequently stayed in the Alpujarra area following the toddler’s abduction from Portugal in 2007, as we revealed. However, these are just a handful of the rich and varied things that happen in and around this thriving Granada market town. With an artistic and colourful community that attracts people from around the world, Orgiva is one of Spain’s only rural places that is a hive of activity for most of the year. The hub of the country’s alternative scene, rather like Glastonbury or Totnes in the UK, hundreds of free-spirited individuals live in Orgiva, where coincidentally the Olive Press launched in 2006. But forget the town itself, nearby is a trio of alternative settlements - Ben-
O
UCH! Another electric bill arrived today as more evidence of the skyrocketing price of energy. Electricity costs have quadrupled - yes quadrupled! - from February last year to February this year, according to official figures. You might assume then that any additional source supplying power to the grid would be much welcomed. Not so, if you consider the current hot debate in town halls around many parts of Spain. Take inland Valencia. Requena, Utiel and Siete Aguas are all opposing the installation of 10 new wind turbines in the nearby Sierra de Tejo. These turbines are massive significantly larger than those in nearby Buñol and other parts of the province - and would be installed atop towers of up to 110 metres and with blades measuring 150 metres (normally 40 to 90 metres). To proceed, two forest tracks will have to be built and maintained to accommodate the oversized turbines around Siete Aguas. Healthy stands of pine and oak will need to be cut, resulting in potential erosion, while a high voltage line will run to a substation on the opposite side of the A-3 highway. Such are the concerns for bird mortality, the town halls are preparing a motion to expand the special ZEPA bird protection zone, an EU directive that already covers much of the Sierra del Tejo area. On many levels, I hope they are
eficio, Cigarrones and El Morreon that date back to the 1980s, when the UK had a thriving new age traveller scene – one that easily relocated to sunnier climes at the drop of a hat. Completely multinational Beneficio is the only true ‘community’, explains Ela Graves, the grand-daughter of celebrated writer Robert Graves, who has lived around Orgiva for four decades. And, as the Olive Press discovered, not everything is rosy in these ‘social experiments’.
Beautiful Beneficio Some 400 people live in this stunning valley between Orgiva and Canar, with various long-term residents living high up on the land, near an old Roman road. Very international today, the community was originally established by Brits, mostly from Wales, including Sorrell Badger, who came from the Tally Valley, in the 1980s. “We were discussing finding somewhere warmer and drier to live under canvas,” she explains. “So a small group left Tally and came to Spain to look for a suitable place to live, and here they discovered Beneficio.”
They initially bought and settled on a finca and soon many like-minded people joined them investing time and money, including John and Yvonne, who started a communal tipi called ‘Big Lodge’. One British old-timer – who visited on holiday in 1992 and simply never left – invested with some other community members, who bought two adjoining farms. Today, most of the land is privately owned, although some is natural park and people aren’t permitted to camp within 15 metres of the river. While described by some as a ‘peaceful retreat’ and ‘a spiritual
Wind of change Two sides of the ecologist movement clash as Spain debates renewable energy, writes Jack Gaioni
successful, but there is another side to this debate: On windy days in Spain, wind generation supplies up to 71% of the nation’s demand - surpassing all other electricity sources. It is cheaper per kilowatt hour, emits much less greenhouse gas and uses less water consumption than any other energy source. Furthermore, it makes electricity
directly, circumventing the need to burn fossil fuels (coal) or process uranium for nuclear power. Spain has a favourable topography and climate for wind power and is, in fact, the fifth largest wind power creator in the world. As it did with tunnelling (due to its mountains), the country has developed proven technical know-how to improve and ex-
pand in wind generation. Climate impact vs. high c energy debates will not en arguments both for and a wind power are symptom complex, multi-faceted that have no easy solution The energy companies an halls, like those in rural cia, both make convincing ments for their side.
cost of nd. The against matic of issues ns. nd town Valeng argu-
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April 7th - April 20th 2022
MEET THE OP TEAM
7
A busy life
A focus on Olive Press journalist Alex Trelinski
H awakening’, others revealed a growing division between some of the old-timers and the more recent (and transient) car park dwellers, over ‘partying’ and keeping the place tranquil. There are also tales of ‘fake gurus’ targeting younger girls, and most residents agree that ‘Bene’, as it is often known, has more than its fair share of problematic people. “A lot of people with mental health problems are attracted to Beneficio,” explains Tony,
who has also lived in El Morreon. But half the time, explained another, the local police and Guardia Civil literally send them up there. “They sometimes literally drop them off at our entrance track,” she adds. Despite this, there are many positive features to Bene, in particularly its woodland setting. Romanian mother-ofthree, Chunga, who has lived there for 12 years, showed us its communal lounging and cooking facilities, a natural pool for a cool dip, a women’s space, clothes sharing spaces, and an adventure play area for children. Despite claims by some local authorities that the locals aren’t correctly registered in Spain, the majority are actually on the official ‘padron’ at nearby Canar town hall.
Counterculture of Cigarrones
There are no easy answers; the exponential rise in electricity costs are draconian and the arguments against turbines are often strong. The best we can do is apply careful scrutiny and scientific rigour to the debates in each specific area… and all the while, turn off the lights, and watch our energy consumption.
Along the riverbed, near Tablones, are hundreds of alternative people who privately own their land. Famed for the annual Dragon festival, which was eventually banned, Cigarrones had an alternative scene in the 1970s, when dozens of English students left the UK to buy and renovate a series of abandoned buildings. Forward-thinking individuals, including Ela Graves, who bought in the 1980s, they believed in the concept of permaculture and utilised the already-existing irrigation system. Graves, the grandchild of celebrated writer Robert (I Claudius and Goodbye to all That) she was joined by her recently-deceased counterculture hero brother, Davey Graves. Across the river, Driving Over Lemons writer, Chris Stewart, carved out his own little corner of sustainable paradise. A creative scene developed, involving the arts and music and, in 1987, a series of new age party crews from the UK started parking up and joining until in 1996 the Dragon Festival was born. During its heyday in the early 2000s, this anarchic festival attracted over 10,000 revellers, which didn’t please everyone, including the then-mayor, Adolfo Martin Padial, who sent in the police. A more receptive socialist mayoress helped a little but the antagonism between the organisers and the town hall eventually became too much and, in 2009, it came to a halt, with large fines issued to the organisers. They had been on the authority’s radar since activist Vittorio Miotto organised a series of protests against a quarry scheme in 2004, which led to arrests, but, in the end, derailed the plans. As Miotto recalls today: “I first turned up in Ciggy to help someone sort out a clutch problem on a bus. It was love at first sight - I’d landed in
paradise with food growing everywhere.” And he’s still there today. “Ciggy is forever changing, it’s an un-intentional community - everyone just does their thing with respect for others. The ‘elders’ who have been there since the early 90s are all still there, so it must be working.” Cigarrones has a collaborative vibe where people can display their arts and crafts, and share home-grown vegetables and snacks.
Autonomy in El Morreon El Morreon runs along the Rio Suico towards the Rio Guadalfeo. Set up by Israelis in the 1980s, they launched a campaign for anyone to turn up and join their free-spirited, open-minded community, where they were told you would ‘never starve’. Nikki B, who came from the UK in 1994, explains: “It’s a village of many nationalities, including Spanish. Although it’s not a community in the sense of everyone working together as a whole, the village comes together in times of need, change, work, necessity, and the occasional celebration. “We are a group of similar-minded individuals connected by common aims and inspirations such as self-government, self-responsibility and sustainable living through exchange. “We also believe in hard work in the gardens, as well as alternative energy sources and low impact dwellings, plus respecting our neighbours and our differences.” The place has certainly changed a lot over the years, she continues. “When I arrived it was dry and barren, while now it’s green and abundant. Every year I make olive oil, dry almonds and fruits and preserve vegetables.” Nikki certainly didn’t starve. “In this environment, I have lived from donations and exchanging skills and food with others. “Consumerism does not rule my life and I have time to explore my art and music. “I was able to follow some of my dreams. I was once told ‘when you live here, you become more yourself than you ever thought. Nobody will take responsibility for you here’. What a beautiful introduction to autonomy and authenticity.”
AVING interviewed a legion of political leaders, from Tony Blair to David Cameron and Paddy Ashdown to Tony Benn, getting a comment from a councillor in Javea or Orihuela must sometimes seem trivial. But there’s never been a dull moment for Alex Trelinski, since he rocked up on the Costa Blanca 13 years ago. Now the rock of the Olive Press reporting team in the East of Spain, it was certainly a change of lifestyle for a man, who worked since 1981 as a presenter, producer, and manager at the BBC. Cutting his death at Radio Humberside, his first major interview was with actress Rula Lenska, which he conducted in Polish for 20 seconds to shock both himself and his listeners. He went on to present hundreds of sports shows for over 25 years following the likes of Derby County and Nottingham Forest. He also worked as a presenter for BBC Sport in London rubbing shoulders with presenters like Chris Evans and Chris Moyles, before becoming boss of Radio Derby. Political programmes were also his passion and election night programmes were frequently anchored in the Midlands and the North. Grilling the likes of ‘Red’ Ed Milliband and Neil Kinnock came easy, while not so easy was handling a drunk councillor suggesting studio guest Margaret Beckett wasn’t wearing underwear, live on air. His most memorable broadcast moment came when he was dragged from the pub on a Sunday night in 1989 to present all-night coverage of the Kegworth air disaster, which killed 47 people as the plane landed on the M1 motorway. His reporting team went on to recieve an international award for its coverage. Come the late noughties, he approached his personal half-century and fancied a life change and a move abroad. Spain and the Costa Blanca came out of the hat, and Alex has worked on local radio and other media over the years before ending up in a key role with the Olive Press. Despite occasionally missing the BBC, it’s a move that he has not regretted.
The top five most read stories on www.theolivepress.es in the past two weeks are: PICS: It looks like armageddon Costa del 1-SolIN turns orange yet again as another calima hits Spain brown Spain’s white villages call for 2- Stained help to clear up after Sahara sandstorms have gone forward but here’s why 3- TheSpainclocks is still stuck in the wrong time zone never buy pre cut fruit and 4- Why youvegshould at supermarkets in Spain Putin: despite Spain declaring there 5- Chateau are no oligarchs based here, the Olive Press can reveal at least one
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GREEN
STRAWBERRY FIELDS FOR NEVER
Calls for Spain to stop plans for farms in protected wetlands LEADING supermarkets across Europe including Sainsbury’s, Waitrose, Tesco and Asda are calling on Andalucia to halt plans to allow more strawberry farms near protected wetlands. A public letter signed by major food companies and sent to regional president Juanma Moreno urged him not to approve a plan that would allow the creation of new farms in an area already threatened by water theft that has drained vulnerable aquifers. Moreno is studying legislation that could approve more agriculture within the Donaña National Park, one of Spain’s most valuable wetlands and a UNESCO protected wildlife site.
Lynxes
The marshes are visited by millions of migrating birds each year and the area is also home to a sizeable population of endangered Iberian lynxes. Some 1,900 acres of the park is occupied by greenhouses cultivating strawberries. “The existing special plan is an important tool to ensure more sustainable cultivation at the origin of the supply chain,” they say. “We are concerned that the proposed changes undermine this goal and endanger the Doñana national park,” says the letter. “Appropriate measures should be taken to ensure the sustainability of water and soil management in Doñana in the long term,” it continues. “Should this
By Katharina Beiersdoerfer
not succeed, we believe that the reputation and the long-term development of the region as a supply area are at risk.”
April 7th - April 20th 2022
Take a bow THE UK’s first liquified natural gas-powered ferry has made its inaugural voyage as it sailed from Portsmouth to Bilbao. Brittany Ferries’ Salamanca departed with more than 600 passengers and freight vehicles on a trip that will now become a regular route. Brittany Ferries CEO Christophe Mathieu said: “LNG-powered ships like Salamanca are a clear statement of our commitment to the future and to fleet renewal. “They are cleaner vessels, significantly cutting air quality emissions like soot and sulphur.” The Salamanca will now make two trips to Bilbao each week as well as a weekly return-voyage to Cherbourg in France. Both Bilbao and Santander ports will host refuelling terminals to power the ships in partnership with Spanish fuel giant Repsol.
Environmental disasters that need action now
HEED THE NEWS! APART from the devastating and deeply upsetting events unfolding in Ukraine, two very noteworthy pieces of news were in the news last week that should not be allowed to pass by without comment. I will cover them both separately. They equally reinforce my constant message that more needs to be done to protect the environment for future generations. PLASTIC IS TOXIC A new study has revealed that of those people tested, 77% had plastic in their blood. Microplastics (tiny plastic particles) are pollutants found almost everywhere on Earth. Scientists have detected microplastics on Mount Everest, in the Mariana Trench, in baby poo. AND NOW IN HUMAN BLOOD. Polthylene Terephthalate (PET), commonly used in disposable water bottles, was the most widely encountered plastic, closely followed by Polystyrene (PS) which is used for food packaging.
Green
WHERE IS IT GOING IN OUR BODIES?
Some will be excreted, but some will be retained in our organs. Not a pleasant thought. Microplastics, like all plastics, are non-biodegradable. They can take hundreds of years to degrade in the environment. Our bodies do not last that long. It is yet another wake up call for us all. Plastic pollution is a widespread problem. It contributes to climate change, threatens ocean health, damages the health of marine species, food safety and quality and affects coastal tourism. And now it is being proven to affect human health and it is all at a phenomenal cost to the world’s economies. Experts predict that the societal cost of plastic pollution produced will exceed €7 TRILLION by 2040. Last year, the estimated costs of plastic pollution topped €4 trillion. In addition 99% of plastic is made from fossil fuels gas, oil and fracked gas. It is truly toxic and harms all aspects of life from the moment production begins. HEATWAVE IN THE ANTARCTIC How does the coldest place on earth have a heatwave? It is yet another wake up call. At the end of March an unprecedented temperature was recorded in the Antarctic. A temperature of 40C ABOVE AVERAGE was recorded at the French/Italian research station Concordia, located over 3000 metres above sea level on the Antarctic plateau. Meanwhile at the other extreme of the planet in the Arctic, in the absence of sunlight, a temperature 30C
higher than the March average was recorded. With both the Antarctic and Arctic breaking records this calls into question even the most pessimistic climate change models. So what does all this mean? Scientists are predicting catastrophic polar ice melt that will cause sea levels to rise and disrupt ocean currents. This reinforces my regular message - climate change is NOT a future problem, it needs tackling now. Every fraction of a degree increase in global warming matters. Francisco Navarro, a glacier expert at the Technical University of Madrid, warns that these polar heatwaves contribute to many recently documented disasters. And what more, if we warm the planet by two degrees more (which we are on track to do) these events will be 14 times more frequent. The damage caused by global warming in these regions is irreversible. A temperature spike on February 8 this year caused the collapse of an ice shelf measuring 3,800 square kilometres. Sea levels in Antarctica are predicted to rise by up to 1.7 metres by 2100. All this sadly has consequences for us all.
Martin Tye is the owner of energy switch company Mariposa Energy. +34 638145664 ( Spain Phone ) Email him at martin@mariposaenergia.es
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Property
S pr pa op in’ in er s b En ty es gl ma t ish g
APRIL 2022
€12.7m
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The rules for rural home hunting, see our guide on page VI
Life in the shade THE enclave of Zagaleta has often been described as ‘southern Europe’s most exclusive place to live’. And when you count on the celebrities, captains of industry and, now, the global dictators who stalk its privileged spaces, that’s no surprise. The multi-million price tags certainly follow suit, as does its incredible golf course, which has just a few hundred people allowed to play… and then there’s its intriguing recent links to Russian dictator Vladamir Putin, who owns a property there. The giant 2000 sqm palace, known as the Rock of the King (or Roca del Rey) counts on its own private vineyard, helicopter pad and bowling alley. But it’s the three floors underground that has got eyebrows raised among Europe’s security and defence elite. As revealed by the Olive Press last month, it counts on armed guards and has a deep bunker monitoring the Straits of Gibraltar 24/7. And this in a
It’s one of Spain’s most expensive places to live. But few know what goes on behind the high tech fences of La Zagaleta, where Putin is said to own a giant palace. Olive Press Property takes a peek gated community that claims that security is ‘its number one priority’. Indeed, security is of so much importance that after a late-night incident last year, an Israeli company was commissioned to build a new ‘high tech electric’ fence. Expected to become the most expensive in Spain, it will run around the 900-hectare estate that sits in Benahavis, between Marbella and the foothills of the Serrania de Ronda. “The residents are being charged 5,000 euros each in two installments to help pay for it,” reveals a source. “They are not exactly happy about it.” It comes after Head of security Jose Miguel Navarro boasted last year that his team have a ‘maximum response time of three minutes to any alert’.
“Our perimeter shielding, detection systems and security routines will thwart most attempts to attack properties, which explains why the incident rate is 100 times lower than in other residential complexes,” he claimed. The estate was originally called ‘La Baraka’ and owned by disgraced billionaire Saudi arms dealer, Adnan Khashoggi, who was said to have held some of the world’s most debauched parties at the hunting lodge in the 1970s. Today it is the clubhouse of the resort, which was acquired by a group of investors in 1989 led by Andalucian banker, Enrique Perez Flores, who came from Huelva. The giant estate was then divided into approximately 420 plots, of which
around 240 homes have so far been built. “Most homes go for around 7 to 8 million euros,” explains one British agent, who has sold a number of properties there over the last year. “And some have even doubled in price over the last few years.” All surrounded by deep woodland, they have either sea or mountain views (or both), while there is also a private equestrian center and golf course, with a second one on the way. The amazing course, said to be one of the best in Spain, only counts on 250 members, which is because only homeowners can join. “The price for membership alone is 120,000 euros and then it’s 10,000 a year for the lead member and 7,000 for
the second member of the family,” adds the agent. “It’s real royal golf and the attitudes of the locals are to match,” he continued. “It’s ultra exclusive and so snobby, way more than the Chelsea or Cheshire set. “Owners put 10,000 euros behind the club bar so they can always get a drink or cigar when they want and the place is literally crawling with Aston Martins, and DB4s and McClarens.” Thesedays, the company behind Zagaleta is run by Ignacio Perez Diaz, after his father died two years ago. According to its last available accounts in 2019, its immediate holding company Zagaleta International UK Inc is based in Panama, while two other entities, Soto Properties SA and Campo Alto SA, are based in Switzerland.
See pages II and III to find out more on the properties available in Zagaleta
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APRIL 2022
PROPERTY
ANOTHER YEAR OF BATTLE?
H
AVING barely recovered in 2021, international demand for property in Spain faces another challenging year in
ANALYSIS: How the Ukraine war might affect property sales in Spain, writes Mark Stucklin
2022. Under the circumstances, foreign demand recovered reasonably well last me an average purchase price of year from a deep slump in 2020 that €150,000. was largely due to the pandemic. By the end of 2021 the foreign marThat said, the market is still smaller ket share had fallen to 10.8%, down than it was in 2019, and this year from 12.5% in 2019. But the truth the international market faces a new is that the decline started before the headwind in the fallout from the war pandemic, with sales falling 4% in in Ukraine. 2019 after nine years of uninterrupAs I pointed out in my last column for ted growth. the Olive Press Property Magazine in Then along came 2020 with the coFebruary, the market ronavirus pandemic. staged a remarkaCovid-19 was undersble recovery in 2021 tandably challenging as sales increased It’s remarkable for foreign buyers, an annualised 38% with international trathat there nationwide last year, vel being hit hard. and by almost 20% Many potential buyers were 50,000 compared to 2019. were unable to travel international But most of that to Spain in 2020, and growth was driven by travel restrictions have sales in 2020 strong local demand, lingered to this day. while foreign demand All things considered failed to recover all it’s remarkable that the ground it lost over the pandemic there were close to 50,000 internayear of 2020. tional sales in 2020, and 61,000 in Foreign demand is not an insignifi- 2021. cant segment of the Spanish proper- But although foreign buyers increaty market. In the last decade foreign sed by 29% last year they were still buyers have gone from a low of 6% down 3% compared to 2019. Local market share in 2011 to a high of demand, in contrast, was up 14% 13% in 2016. compared to 2019. That represents an investment of By nationality, the British were still €8 billion that year if you assu- the biggest group of foreign buyers
in 2021, but not as dominant as they used to be. Ten years ago the UK represented almost 20% of the foreign market for Spanish property, and was almost double the next biggest market every year for more than a decade. By 2021 the British market share fell to 11%, just ahead of Germany on 10%, and France on 8%. The UK is now just another big market vying for the top spot. The Germans even overtook British buyers in the third quarter of last year - the first time that has ever happened. Declining British demand is a big reason why the international market failed to make a bigger recovery last year. UK demand recovered a modest 8% in 2021 compared to the pandemic year, and remained 23% below 2019, while German demand recovered 58%, and 30% respectively. Brexit is undoubtedly a big part of the explanation for weak British demand, especially the 90/180 day rule. So all in all, 2022 looks like another challenging year for the international market. The ramifications of Brexit are still unfolding, the pandemic is still a fly
in the ointment, and now the awful war in Ukraine is making everyone nervous. One conveyancing lawyer reports the market has ground to a halt like the Russian advances as investors opt to wait and see, while other property professionals I have spoken to report business as usual. Ultimately, it’s too early to tell. Some muse that the conflict in eastern Europe will increase demand for homes in Spain, which is protected by the Pyrenees and about as far away as you can get in Europe from Russia (by that argument, Portugal is even better placed). But the conflict could also exacerbate the economic problems caused
by the pandemic, with high energy prices pushing up inflation and reducing purchasing power in many European countries. Will the conflict reduce the number of buyers from Russia and Ukraine, who numbered 2,000 in 2021 combined, and represented 3.4% of the foreign market, or will it increase their numbers as they flee the region? I expect more will want to move to Spain, but less will be able to do so. Check out more from Mark Stücklin at Spanish Property Insight for the latest news and analysis to help you navigate the Spanish property market as you buy or sell real estate in Spain.
Unique family villa resort in sunny Spain, Benicull, Valencia, ready to enjoy and create new family memories
For Sale
€690.000
Thinking about selling your house?
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APRIL 2022
IN THE MONEY!
FIVE STAR BOON A HOTEL builder is planning a further 590 five-star bedrooms. Around 235 million euros are to be invested by the Millenium group in properties including two in the business district of Madrid. The group’s latest hotel, the Radisson Collection Hotel Gran Vía, has just opened in Bilbao with 137 rooms. The group has another hotel in Bilbao, plus others in Sevilla and Sotogrande.
Not breaking in the Top 10 CATALUNYA has the highest percentage of burglaries in Spain. Meanwhile, Spain had 142,780 break ins in 2019, the last available figures, making it 11th globally. Just 15% of these burglaries were solved and the total cost was 213 million euros, according to insurance company Budget Direct. The highest break-in rates in the world are in Peru, which had 2,806 burglaries per 100,000 inhabitants.
VALENCIA, Toledo and Granada are the most affordable provinces in Spain. According to property portal Idealista there are 89 towns in Valencia with homes offered for sale below €1,000 per square metre. The cheapest properties are in the village of Benifairo de la Valldigna, at just €430 per square metre. Toledo province in Castilla-La
Mancha had 65 towns and Granada 40 meanwhile. The town which has the cheapest property in Spain is that of Alcaudete de la Jara, in Toledo, where the average price was just €316 per square metre. It is followed by the nearby Cordoba towns of Fuente Obejuna, with €341 and Belmez with €370. In total, 815 towns across Spain have homes for sale below €1,000 per square metre. On the other end of the scale are the four provinces where not a single property can be found with a price tag below €1,000 per square metre. Not surprisingly, these are the Balearic islands, the provinces of Guipuzcoa and Vizcaya in the Basque Country and finally Las Palmas in the Canary Islands.
Peak of luxury Stunning rock star mansion acquired in the Pyrenees
A STUNNING mountain retreat where a famous Spanish singer sheltered for the last year of his life has sold for €2.2 million. The 912 sqm home of Pau Dones, who died in 2020, has been acquired by a middle aged couple, believed to be from northern Europe. The farmhouse, in the village of Betlan, in the Val de Aran region of the Pyrenees, is just 20kms from Spain’s top skiing resort Baqueira Beret. The six-bed, six-bath property has three wings and includes its own gym and recording studio for Pau’s band Jarabe de Palo. He bought it in 2000 and united three separate buildings, as well as building a treehouse for his daughter Sara. The wood and stone built farmhouse was the perfect retreat for Pau, when he died of advanced colon cancer at the age of 53. Sitting on the edge of the village it had a 6000 sqm garden, with breatht a k i n g views across the nearby peaks and valleys.
Live healthy in Valencia Pic credits: Engel & Volkers
PROPERTY investment in Spain is at record levels and more than double last year. Transactions in the first quarter are expected to hit €3.7 billion, a 136% increase on 2021. According to real estate consultancy firm JLL, residential rental property has become the main segment for investment. This year has also seen a strong return to investment in hotels, following uncertainty in the sector due to the pandemic.
BARGAIN BUYS
SNAPPED UP: Mystery buyer purchases former rocker’s house
It has a separate guest cottage with its own parking space. It has been described
Bullring up for sale THE Plaza de Toros de Fuengirola is looking for new owners. Turina Victoria, the company that owns the bullring, has set an asking price of €4.5 million for the historic building, which has a capacity of over 4,000. The premises were refurbished in 2012 preserving the facade and expanding the premises by 2,500 square metres. A statue of bullfighter Antonio Jose Galan, known as Feungirola’s favourite son, is one of the defining features of the grounds. The bullring, built in 1962, is being advertised on Spain’s property portal Idealista and includes the bullring, the car park, and all commercial premises. “Over the course of 60 years, the most outstanding figures of bullfighting have performed here including Antonio Ordoñez, El Cordobes, Paco Ojeda and Espartaco,” the listing on Idealista said. Bullfighting in the square normally takes place in the summer season and during the month of October as part of the Fair
as being ‘among the best properties’ in the entire Val de Aran region. “The family who bought it wanted a unique house in the valley but not too near the skiing slopes,” explained Xavi Cardona, of the agency that sold it, Engel & Volkers. “For reasons of discretion I cannot give you any more details.”
VALENCIA has been named the healthiest city in the world to live in, followed by Madrid. The study, conducted by money. co.uk, looked at a range of factors such as air pollution, obesity, and number of sunlight hours as well as healthcare quality and affordability. Valencia has been top of the list for the second year in a row, owing to its good weather and high life expectancy. Barcelona was also featured, coming in at 17 on the list. Despite this, Spain did not feature in the top 20 healthiest countries. Japan was deemed to be the healthiest country in the world, thanks to its incredibly low rates of obesity and healthy diet, followed by Switzerland. Surprisingly, Cuba was third on the list. Despite being a relatively poor country, it has a world renowned healthcare system. Neither the UK nor any of its cities were featured on the top 20 lists. The study was released in advance of World Health Day on April 7, a global health awareness day in partnership with the World Health Organization.
My Spanish saviour
of the Virgen del Rosario, patron saint of the city. Not limited to bullfights, the ring has hosted a wide variety of cultural events over the years including equestrian shows, dressage events, and carriage displays. A number of parties are thought to have already expressed interest in acquiring the bullring, with at least one interested in changing its use. However, under law, the building must be retained for predominantly cultural use.
SELLING a villa in Mallorca saved singing star Claire Sweeney during the pandemic. The former Brookside actress, who is currently starring in 9 to 5: The Musical, sold it for just under €1million in 2019, which helped her ‘sit it out comfortably’. It more than made up for her paltry earnings of just 6,000 euros during the whole of 2021 with almost no work. “Our industry was decimated. Thankfully I’d sold this big house in Spain so I was blessed that I could sit it out comfortably,” she told the Sunday Times. “It broke my heart to sell but it was in its own grounds and my little boy didn’t want that - he wanted to be with other kids.” She bought the house in 2004 for €690,000 and sold it for €950,000, but ended up ‘more or less’ even after all the taxes. “I wanted to do everything right and paid both Spanish and English taxes…I got back more or less what I’d put into it,” she continued.
June 3rd - June 16th 2021
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APRIL 2022
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PROPERTY
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NE of La Zagaleta’s most iconic residences is now on sale. The recently completed, state-of-the-art mansion boasts pristine panoramic sea views in blissful privacy. Nestled atop the highest point of La Zagaleta, Casa Sohaeal is a feat of architectural design, showcasing luxury scale and unmatched sophistication.
Zagaleta is back in the news as it emerges that one of its luxury homes - one of Spain’s most expensive - is likely owned by President Putin. So what does it cost to buy there?
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T is already known as the most exclusive place to live in southern Europe. With its round-the-clock security, low density houses and incredible location between Marbella and Ronda, La Zagaleta has price tags restrictive to all but the world’s wealthiest captains of industry, celebrities and, well, dictators. After the Olive Press revealed last issue that its most expensive home, el Roca del Rey, is linked to Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, we decided to see what else is on offer.
Given that the triple-basement, double-guardpost ‘VP palace’, as it’s sometimes called, is estimated to have cost €40 million to buy, it’s amazing that you can buy something here for as little as €3 million. But don’t forget when your on-off neighbours include the likes of Hugh Grant and Cristiano Ronaldo, you’ll be paying a fair amount more per year for the services. Here are a few of the current properties on the market that can be viewed from estate agent Reas.es:
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HIS newly mansion blends modern design with Italian style furnishing. The property rests on a large flat plot with lush landscaped gardens, an impressive infinity pool, and breath-taking panoramic views of the Mediterranean.
€10m
€14.7m
PUTIN ON THE GLITZ!
Hunker down
Civil war bunker offered for sale in downtown Madrid, writes Elena Goçmen Rueda
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SAFE AS HOUSES: Bunker offers lots of space and great security
HAT once served as a bunker during the Spanish Civil War is now for sale as a modern property in one of Madrid’s most desirable areas. With a colourful modern design, three metre high vaulted ceiling and exposed brickwork, it is the very definition of urban chic. The property, costing €580,000, is located in ritzy Barrio de Salamanca, minutes from the famous Retiro park. It is also a fantastic size measuring 249 sq metres divided into several open areas connected by arches. The main entrance connects four halls and has a kitchen and four bathrooms. According to Idealista, its location underground makes it attractive as a space for events, a show-room or as an art gallery. Those interested in maximum security may also be tempted by a property that recently came on the market in Mallorca. Overlooking cliffs in Cap Blanc is an unusual property that incorporates a vast underground bunker. A former military base within the town limits of LLucmajor, the eight-hectares estate includes a building which once served as a barracks and has room for 12 bedrooms and a canteen. Boasting fabulous views it is listed with a price tag €3.8million and marketed by Ivory Homes.
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APRIL 2022
€9.4m
€10.8m
THIS spectacular property is a work of art in itself representing the very best in contemporary architecture. This large-scale villa is the ultimate dream home for luxurious living by the ocean boasting not one but two swimming pools.
€6m
€9.4m
BUILT with the highest quality of finishes and exquisite attention to detail, this accommodation comprises, a hall, living room with long fireplace and access to the terrace and the pool in addition to a dining room, a lounge, open-plan fully equipped gourmet kitchen japanese style with breakfast bar, with direct access to the terraces and the garden area.
This classically elegant villa sits on a substantial plot of 9,800 square metres, with panoramic sea views and is flanked by the epic view of La Concha mountain, above Marbella.
The villa, of classic architectural style, has a double height entrance hall with beamed ceilings and classic French windows. The elegant bedrooms and classically tiled bathrooms all enjoy private terraces and the fantastic views complete with a snooker room, cinema room and gymnasium.
€6m
€4.75m
THIS newly built eco-friendly masterpiece is designed to blend into the natural surroundings with elegance and class. With its ultra-modern design, the property boasts is situated in a lap of nature, in the residential La Zagaleta Country and nearby golf club.
€14.7m
THIS imposing villa is situated on an extensive plot with a superb southern orientation offering breath-taking views to Northern Africa and Gibraltar. It is complete with a blue infinity pool that brings the surrounding greenery and glistening Mediterranean right up close.
€12.7m
This 6-bedroom villa with delightful gardens has unrivalled views of the mountains and is complete with a billiard room, wine cellar, spa and substantial basement space with a cinema and gym and a garage with space to park six cars.
This unique villa oriented to the south west enjoys magnificent views to the golf courses, mountains and the Mediterranean consisting of two parts joined together through a gallery and featuring an elegant patio entrance with an exquisite marble fountain in Alhambra style.
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APRIL 2022
PROPERTY
GUIDE TO BUYING IN THE CAMPO
INVEST IN A DREAM, NOT A NIGHTMARE... The Olive Press asks a series of industry professionals how to avoid falling into traps when buying rural properties
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ANY people dream of buying in Spain’s beautiful ‘campo’ (countryside) but, if you don’t proceed with caution, your vision of a tranquil life could easily turn into a rural episode of ‘Homes from Hell’. Some common nightmares encountered by unsuspecting buyers include paperwork irregularities, a lack of water, border disputes, access problems and hostile neighbours. And that is just the half of it. Here we take a look at some of the key issues that need to be considered: Boundaries matter First and foremost, don’t buy anything that doesn’t have a ‘Nota Simple’ (an official land registry report) which means it isn’t legally registered. Spain has two different property registration systems - the Registro de la Propiedad (Property Registry), which is focused on ownership and title, and the Catastro or Cadastre, which shows the geographic location of the property, with a physical description and the boundaries defined. The latter is used to calculate property taxes. It’s always best if the two property records match up, although this is quite often not the case, especially with older properties. However, you don’t want a lot of divergence. In 2015, a law was passed to coordinate the two databases. “The first thing to do is to check the boundaries of the property - that the description coordinates with the square meters shown on the Castastral,” says architect Julian Dominguez of MDV Cons-
By Jo Chipchase truction, in Orgiva, who does a lot of work for estate agencies and buyers in rural Granada. He recommends buyers request the current certification from the Cadastre with a full description of the property so they can check and compare that there are no discrepancies. Judith Sunley, one buyer who got pocket. caught out in the rural Axarquia Don’t assume that because it’s a area of Malaga, insists: “Make sure remote location, planning permisthe vendor or their agent shows sion doesn’t apply – it does. Above you the actual boundary - walking all, beware of natural parks – meait with you - to avoid disputes with ning areas with environmental protections in place. And remember neighbours later.” She has a cautionary tale having that planning permission can be bought a charming rural home in expensive in Spain. 2013 with her solicitor telling her it “In protected areas and national wasn’t a problem that the Catastral parks, it’s virtually impossible to record was different to the Land Re- get anything legalised that has not already been done, but possible gistry. “But it then led to four years of in- for existing buildings – although creasingly acrimonious arguments difficult,” says Matthew Wood, of with our neighbours, who were Lanjaron Property. “Natural Parks are different, but also ‘grabbing’ our land difficult.” and planting on it. He adds: “Buyers “Eventually, we took Beware of should check the legathem to court. But buying in lities of the build. It can it was only a day be a ‘legal building’ before our court natural parks but may only be a nave case that they finaand classified (storage room or warelly agreed on the house) and not an acboundary in the rural land tual vivienda (home).” presence of our If you’ve bought land respective topograwith a ‘nave’ on it, local regulaphers and lawyers.” She concluded it was a long and tions mean you might not be able costly process that could have been to expand the building or reclassify it. And you may not even be able easily avoided. to live in it. Julian Dominguez agrees: “Before Can you build? buying, make sure you verify what If you’re buying land with the idea protections there are in the area of restoring a ruin, ensure it’s not and whether you can obtain perjust a pipe dream that will simply mission from the town hall to build.” never happen, leaving you And remember even if the house is t h o u s a n d s legal, if you buy in a natural park out of even restoring a swimming pool can be problematic. One expat Tom Down, who bought near a village in the Sierra Nevada natural park area, explains: “I re-
ceived a ‘multa’ fine of €1,400 for a small concrete repair around a damaged swimming pool that was hazardous to children.” The local town hall architect explained that pools aren’t allowed in the natural park, even though the pool was marked clearly on his ‘escritura’ as a ‘deportiva’ – a swimming pool - and other neighbouring properties have them. Water – too little or too much Water is vital to life and is also im- the day, meaning it will be portant to your rural purchase! If dark and inhospitable? Will you you don’t have sufficient water, you need a 4x4 because the access might need to have it delivered by track is liable to degrade and tanker, which can be very expensi- wash away? ve. Your rural idyll could easily be In some locations, the ‘acequias’ spoilt by pests – human or otherwi(irrigation water courses) may run se. Do your homework outside the dry in hotter months – so do your property before committing to buy research first. and always talk to the neighbours. Just because it says there are wa- Mark Stucklin, of Spanish Proter rights in the ‘escritura’, does not perty Insight, insists you check if mean they exist. other people believe they have “When I bought my mountain ‘cor- rights concerning the property tijo’, I didn’t get a lawyer to check you’re buying. the water rights,” explains Tom “Keep an eye out for ‘suspicious’ Down. “It turned out that I was only signs, such as conspicuous paentitled to five minutes of water thways running across your land, once a week.” lots of spent cartriIn contrast, some pladges or other evices can have too much dence of hunting If you see water. on the property, anything of Remember buying at signs of people exthe bottom of a hill concern, draw it tracting water from means, when it rains, stream etc. to your lawyers’ ‘your’ you will get the lot and “If you see anything heavy rain could mean of concern, draw it attention flooding. to your lawyers’ atThere’s also the issue tention.” of wastewater and cess pits. The- Other issues to be aware of are se are quite complicated and will access being allowed along farm depend on whether the property is tracks, which are under the control already legal, or is being legalised, of the local farmer – possibly with as well as its proximity to an alre- gates. Make sure they are happy. ady existing ‘acequia’. And remember if you want mains “The exact requirements vary be- electricity connected, you may tween town halls,” explains Mat- need to pass over your neighthew Wood. “So, look them up be- bour’s land which requires their fore proceeding.” permission, so keep them onside. The same also applies to water Research the neighbours and pipes. neighbourhood You’ll obviously also need to check mobile and internet signals and Location, location, location is im- easy transport links as well as the portant. Is your property in the location of the nearest medical shadow of a mountain for most of centre.
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APRIL 2022
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Is the Ukraine war (and inflation) affecting Spain’s property market, asks Campbell Ferguson of Survey Spain
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Employ a good lawyer Don’t try to buy a property on your own, and never sign documents presented to you directly by the vendor’s side. “Always seek professional help and don’t take advice from Facebook groups,” insists Matthew Wood. “Use a legal advisor who is fully compliant with rural properties and will visit the property in person. Otherwise, it is impossible to check it properly.” Francisco Ortega of AF Consulting in Motril, who has 20 years’ conveyancing experience, says: “Clarify all the conditions of the sale with the estate agent. However, don’t believe that you don’t need a lawyer to purchase a property, and they’ll do all the paperwork and legal documentation for you. I have many clients who are fighting legal proceedings in the courts for this reason! “We’re talking about a very large investment and the consequences of making a mistake can be financially and emotionally catastrophic.” He adds: “My advice is to find a lawyer in the area – or at least the region where you’re going to buy. Being ‘on the ground’ locally and knowing the surroundings will ensure your lawyer has greater knowledge of your purchase.”
VER 3,000 kilometres separate the ‘tranquillity’ of the costas from the horrors of Ukraine. However, the effects of the war have become the ‘trigger’ for a sharp rise in inflation and shortages that have been building up since the financial crisis in sun being readily available 2007/8. here. This has been building with 14 Over the last week, I’ve asked years of quantitative easing, many professionals if they are which basically means the finding any evidence of chan‘watering down’ of currencies. ges in the local market. Add in a sudden shortage of Overall, the answer has been, fuel, wheat and other commodities, alongside disruptions of ‘Not yet’. But there’s greater trade caused by Covid, and uncertainty about the future, consumers are suddenly finparticularly from their clients. ding they’re not getting so With some, there is an urgency much for their Euros, Pounds to buy just to get the security of or Kroner, and definitely not a ‘fixed’ asset before anything their Roubles. major happens. Inflation is traditionally slowed With others, there is greater by wage and price controls, caution and a wish to hold onto with the latter now being imwhat they’ve got. One lawyer plemented in Spain for fuel, even said that two clients had as well as restrictions on rent pulled out of deals within the increases. last few days, losing their 10% It is also controlled by redudeposits. cing the amount of money Either way, agents have rarely available, by increasing intebeen so busy with deals berest rates. This ing concluded leads to cash and the difficulty and savings haof finding proving less value, for their There’s greater perties meaning people clients to buy. start using it to uncertainty buy things that The logic is that about the will hold their demand should value, such as go down for thofuture se just looking property. for a holiday While rising interest rates make home, as there mortgages more expensive, will be less money around. at a time when consumers are British buyers are likely to be spending more of their income some of the worst affected on general living costs, there as they are already suffering are some positives. from the impact of Brexit. Russians, too, will be absent. In particular, property is seen However, the reduction in theas a safe haven in times of se sectors are being made up inflation… and Spain has a for by buyers anxious to place nice range of it as far away as their funds in solid assets, far one can get from the troubles away from the current conflict. in northern Europe, including And the costas have already the Ukraine war. seen significant increase in buThen there are the obvious yers from Germany, and intefactors like the weather and restingly Romania, over recent cost of living, but also things months. like the ‘free’ energy from the
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Golden visas Something else worth considering is the EU’s planned changes on the granting of investment-backed visa’s. This is likely to cause a rush of applications with ‘golden Visas’, as they are called, getting granted to families investing more that €500,000 in property here. They can also be acquired by investing the same amount in Spanish companies or even Spanish Government Bonds. Overall, expensive property should not see any significant changes, with an increase of interest rates. However, lower value property purchases are more often linked to mortgages, and that market may stutter as buyers find it harder to find a mortgage or shy away from them in case interest rates rise substantially. Fixed rate mortgages are becoming hard to find. We tend to forget that higher interest rates were once common around Europe, with them being as high as 17% in the UK in 1979, when inflation averaged 13%. Fortunately, and hopefully, we are a long way away from those levels. To conclude, I believe the demand for property from those with money will continue, therefore encouraging the upper price sector of the market in Spain. However, buyers, agents and other professionals will be ‘looking over their shoulders’ with unease, unsure of what lies ahead.
Campbell D Ferguson, FRICS. Chartered Surveyor in Spain. RICS Registered Valuer. Director – Survey Spain SL. Regulated by RICS. Tel: 00 34 952 923 520 & Mobile: 00 34 650 599 701 - www.surveyspain.com
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LA CULTURA Final drum roll
April 7th - April 20th 2022
Cashing in
SPAIN’S government has approved a birthday gift to all 18-year-olds in the form of a culture voucher worth €400. The Youth Cultural Bonus, which can be spent on books, concerts, cinema tickets, museum entrances or even video games, has been passed by the Council of Ministers. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced the scheme last year, saying it would introduce youngsters to Spain’s rich cultural history. He added that it would also support Spain’s culture industry which suffered a 15.8% decline in spending in 2020 as Covid-19 pandemic restrictions bit. Approximately 500,000 teenagers are said to be eligible for the pass. The money will be loaded onto a virtual card and spent via smartphone.
Foo Fighters cancel Spain gigs in Madrid and Valencia after death of drummer
FOO FIGHTERS have cancelled their 2022 tour following the death of drummer Taylor Hawkins. It means the band will no longer be playing two planned gigs in Madrid and one in Valencia.
By George Mathias
Emergency services were called to a hotel room in Bogota, Colombia after Hawkins complained of chest pains whilst on tour with the band last weekend. They found him unresponsive upon arrival and administered CPR, but were unable to revive him. A band spokesman said: “It is
Don’t make him cry CELEBRITY chef Dabiz Muñoz has ignited fresh debate on the eternal question of what should go in an authentic Spanish tortilla. Muñoz claims that onion in the omlette is strictly a no-go, saying that the sweetness of the vegetable tarnishes the overall flavour. The Spanish staple has countless recipes that vary drastically by region. The three Michelin star chef admitted that his remarks were likely to cause considerable controversy: “Whenever
I say that tortilla should be made without onions, people tell me that I am silly, and I have no doubt that I am.” Dabiz Muñoz, who will soon open a new restaurant - RavioXO in Madrid, - claims that the onion gives an ‘excessive and unnecessary sweetness’ to the tortilla. “A good egg, a good oil and a good potato is a good combo that does not need anything more than a little salt,” he added during a presentation at Fusion, held at Madrid’s Ifema.
with great sadness that the Foo Fighters confirm the cancellation of all our tour dates due to the shocking loss of our brother, Taylor Hawkins. We are sorry and share the disappointment of not seeing each other as planned. Instead, let’s take this moment to heal, to draw closer to our loved ones, and to cherish all the music and memories we’ve built together.” The band also announced that anyone with tickets will be automatically refunded. The promoters of the gigs in Spain, Live Nation, said: “It is with great sadness that we announce that the Foo Fighters concerts in Valencia and Madrid are cancelled.”
Opioids
Hawkins, 50, joined the band in 1997 and went on to record eight studio albums with the band. A toxicology report found at least 10 substances in his body,
including opioids and cannabis, though the cause of death has not yet been established.
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Euro spotlight BENIDORM will be the home of Spain’s Eurovision Song Contest jury for this year’s event in Turin on May 14. Model and television presenter Nieves Alvarez will read out the expert jury votes with Benidorm in the background. The jury put together by broadcaster RTVE will be based in the city, with Benidorm council planning to organise an event that evening for Eurovision fans.
POLLY’S International Bookshop
Quality Used Books since 1985 Polly’s Bookshop in Javea Port is 35 years old. “Polly’s is as old as me,” says Sam, her proud owner, “and to celebrate, we are opening a new Polly’s Bookshop in Moraira.” Like Polly’s Javea, the new shop has thousands of quality used books, fiction and nonfiction, in English, Spanish, German, French and Dutch. Apart from the books that are extra special, they’ll still be 3 euros each with a euro credit if you want to return it. We are continuing with our busy proofreading and editing services and our popular book finding and ordering services too. It feels great finding an out of print book for someone who has been searching for it.
Javea Port, Calle Santisimo Cristo del Mar 03730 – tel: 665 314 404 Moraira-Teulada, 237 Moraira Calpe Road 03724 – tel: 711 010 439
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LA CULTURA
April 7th - April 20th 2022
DON QUI-NOT
12 essential Spanish literary works that are not Don Quijote, writes Elena Goçmen Rueda
Nada by Carmen Laforet
Luces de Bohemia by Ramon Maria del Valle Inclan
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HE oldest literary prize in Spain, the Nadal Prize, was awarded to this book in 1944 in its first edition. The title Nada (nothing) captures the essence of this novel: an existentialist work that captures the day to day life in post-war Barcelona: Sadness, poverty, desperation... A young Andrea arrives in Barcelona to study literature and sees her initial enthusiasm and innocence clash with the reality of his tragicomethe times. dy novel starring Calisto and Melibea was published in 1499. The mad passion of Calisto for Melibea leads him to break all moral and social barriers and ally himself ew works of theatre define tragedy as aptly as the with a dubious malast play by the great Granada writer Garcia Lorca. dame, Celestina. A After the death of her second husband, Bernarrace then begins da, the mother of five daughters, goes into secluin which the charsion and imposes a rigorous and suffocating eight-year acters selfishly period of mourning on her grown-up girls. But a love seek their own affair that entangles the daughters who all hanker for benefit: Calisto the same man will change the lives of all of them. The to have Melibea play begins and ends with Bernarda saying the same and Celestina to word: Silence. get rich at the expense of his master.
WHENEVER iconic Spanish literature is mentioned, the first and sometimes only work that comes to mind abroad is that of Miguel de Cervantes. And that’s no surprise as his famous tome Don Quijote de la Mancha is not only one of the best-selling books in history, it is after the Bible the second most translated book in the world. But in reality there are other novels and plays that are shorter, easier to read and with more exciting subject matters than the senile old gentleman who famously tilted at windmills.
La Celestina by Fernando de Rojas
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lso a tragicomedy, this Valle Inclan play is about literary life in Spanish society in the early part of the 20th century. It focuses on the nocturnal stroll through Madrid of a blind poet, Max Estrella, accompanied by his agent Don Latino. The story recounts the last hours of elderly Max’s life and visits countless spots in the capital and a cast of fictional and real people.
La Casa de Bernarda Alba by Federico Garcia Lorca
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Fortunata y Jacinta by Benito Perez Galdos
San Manuel Bueno, Martir by Miguel de Unamuno
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his realist novel reveals a writer committed to his times and a progressive Spain. The stormy love affair between Juanito and Fortunada, unable to overcome the difficulties that their different social status, takes place in the traditional atmosphere of the late 19th century. The book portrays the role of women in society, with the pair as its greatest exponents.
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he novel revolves around the author’s great obsessions, immortality and faith, although they are presented with a new approach for him: the alternative between a tragic truth and an illusory happiness. When Angela Carballino writes the story of Don Manuel Bueno, a parish priest of his little village Valverde de Lucerna, multiple events show him to be a saint of flesh and blood. Everything changes when the parish priest confides to Angela’s brother Lazaro - of progressive and anticlerical ideas - his most intimate secret: he does not believe in faith or in God, but pretends to do so in order to maintain peace and belief in the afterlife among his faithful followers.
El Lazarillo de Tormes by an anonymous writer
Fuenteovejuna by Lope de Vega
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ope de Vega’s play, written in verse and published in 1619, belongs to the Spanish Golden Age. Fuente Ovejuna is a small village under the rule of Fernan Gomez, a cruel and unscrupulous man who exploits his vassals. The people get fed up with his malice and decide to kill him, agreeing to all insist the killer ‘was Fuente Ovejuna’. It is considered a symbol of the unity of a whole people against feudal tyranny.
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ritten in 1554 by an unknown author, this is an adventure of a roguish, but appealing hero of low social class who lives by his wits in a corrupt society. Dickens, Mark Twain and Burroughs were all influenced by the novel that revolves around Lazaro, a naive boy who, struggles to get through all the adversities and complexities of life. In a nutshell, after his father dies, his mother puts him in the service of nine masters, all of whom represent a criticism of society.
LA CULTURA
April 7th April 20th 2022
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THE SPORTS BAR IN MORAIRA
Platero y yo by Juan Ramon Jimenez
El camino by Miguel Delibes
ALL SPORTS UNDER ONE ROOF 10 TVS, POOL, SNOOKER, GAMES MACHINES AND MUCH MORE
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FOOD, DRINKS AND COCKTAILS
ublished in 1914, the book represents the transition of the narrative of modernism and all subsequent currents. Platero is a muchloved donkey in the care of a young boy who treats him as his best friend. An incredible bond is created between the human and the donkey due to various reasons, among them the death of his relatives, which makes the boy not trust any human being.
his is Delibes’s third novel, published in 1950 and set in post-war rural Spain. It tells the story of Daniel el Mochuelo who goes to the city to study travelling through the countryside with his friends Roque and German and reliving the adventures of simple village people.
Call or WhatsApp (+34) 616 749 167 22C Kristalmar, ctra Moraira -Calpe Moraira, 03724
Don Juan Tenorio by Jose Zorrilla
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enorio is one of the most famous characters in Spanish theatre. The story takes place in Sevilla during the Golden Age. A year after making a bet to see who is more wicked and womanising, Don Juan Tenorio and Don Luis Mejia meet to recount their exploits, which end with Tenorio as the winner. But everything changes when, after a bet to seduce a nun, he falls madly in love with Doña Ines.
La vida es sueño by Pedro Calderon de la Barca
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ritten in 1635, the play has the main character questioning the meaning of life while in captivity. The drama revolves around the deprivation of Sigismundo’s freedom by his father, King Basilio of Poland, who imprisons him for fear that the predictions of a consulted oracle, according to which he would defeat and humiliate him, will come true.
rescued by:
ADOPT a DOG DAY 10th APRIL 2022 - 11am-4pm MORAIRA DOG PARK
Dog Parade
Fun for Kids
Dog Show
Face Painting
Food and drink
Various Stalls
for more info contact Gemma: 626 939 223 gemma@telitec.net
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FOOD & DRINK
April 7th April 20th 2022
EARNING HIS BREAD MADRID is officially home to the best sandwich in Spain - and it’s creator has bagged €1,500. Neotavern of Santerra was crowned at Spain’s ‘Sandwich Oscars’, when its chef took the top title at the Madrid Fusion Sandwich Contest. The gourmet tapas bar, located on Calle Ponzano in Chamberi, triumphed after a taste-off against hundreds of sandwiches from across the country. Chef Maximo Benagues’s ‘Ventresca Madurada’ - a combination of tuna tartare, garlic, oil, pepper sauce, mustard, lettuce and smoked cheddar - won the judges over. Benagues said it was the tuna that made his sandwich so special. The red tuna belly is matured with sea salt for 24 hours and wrapped in ribeye fat, the chef revealed. He scooped the winning trophy along with the cash.
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Across 1 Tag for an out-of-town railway station (7) 5 Bumpkins (5) 9 What the retina’s cones detect (6) 10 Deadeye Annie --- (6) 11 Creeps (6) 12 Oxfordshire power station town, with a railway museum (6) 13 Pivotal (3) 14 Starry-eyed (4) 15 It might be frozen in unfriendly welcomes (4) 17 Chihuahua’s bark (3) 19 Fallacious (6) 21 Cash in Kolkata (6) 23 Cheerless (6) 24 Lifers rampage on aeroplanes (6) 25 Hard as granite (5) 26 Beef (7)
SUPERMARKETS will be allowed to ration essentials in a bid to stop shelves from being emptied by panic buyers. Milk and sunflower oil have been particularly scarce in supermarkets across Spain over the past week, as hoarders stocked up amid fears that supplies of cooking oil from Ukraine could dry up. A lorry drivers strike has affected dairies with several shutting down production as they could not distribute
Attempt to stop hoarding amid Ukraine war shortages By Jorge Hinojosa
milk. But supermarket bosses say there is plenty to go around - as long as people stop panic buying. Some supermarkets had been attempting to limit the sale of certain products to prevent
Just the ticket TRAVELLERS will now be able to take advantage of a combined ticket that includes both air and rail journeys to reach 14 destinations across Spain The scheme is a partnership between Spain’s flagship airline Iberia and state rail operator Renfe which is being upgraded and expanded to include more cities around Spain. The Train&Fly scheme will now include Zaragoza, Sevilla, Malaga, Cordoba, Valladolid, Valencia, Alicante, Leon, Palencia, Pamplona, Salamanca, Albacete, Zamora and Orense. The combined ticket also includes journeys on the local commuter train network known as ‘cercanias’ to connect between Madrid’s Adolfo Suarez Barajas airport and Atocha or Chamartin. The service is available for both single and return travel with one ticket valid for the entire journey from the city of origin outside of Spain to the final destination within it. So for example it will enable the traveller to make the journey from London Heathrow to Orense in Galicia with just one ticket.
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All solutions are on page 22
stockpiling but did not have the legal backing to do so. Spain’s government has now announced that it had approved rationing on a temporary basis as part of the raft of measures introduced to mitigate the impact of the Ukraine war that will be in place until June 30.
Legal
Trade Minister Reyes Maroto said: “The law change provides legal backing so that they can limit the number of items bought and thus avoid hoarding, and to ensure fair access for all consumers.” But not everyone agrees. General Secretary of consumers’ association FACUA, Ruben Sanchez told the Olive Press: “A practice prohibited for almost 30 years is being authorised. This will encourage hoarding by limiting the number of products that a consumer can buy. “This new power should not be left in the hands of supermarkets who will take advantage by raising the prices of items. This is wholly irresponsible by the government.”
Life’s a beach
A MALLORCAN beach has been named amongst the world’s top 20. Playa de Muro’s fine golden sand and turquoise water impressed Tripadvisor,, who ranked it alongside padvisor beaches in Australia, Italy and Hawaii. It is the only beach in Spain
that made it onto Tripadvisor’s ranking of ‘The best beaches in the world of 2022’. The ranking is based on reviews by users that have visited the beaches, and six kilometre-long Playa de Muro secured 17th place.
BUSINESS LA CULTURA Bleeding heart
21 Spiralling prices
April 7th - April 20th 2022
Algae success
TWO Spanish companies have joined forces to cultivate algae that stops nitrate pollution in water, as infamously seen over recent years at Murcia’s Mar Menor lagoon. Mediterranean Algae and G2G Algae Solutions have won an Agritech Startup Europe Award which encourages solutions to environmental and climate change issues.
Funding
The success of the companies, which were only formed in 2020, means they will get training in applying for European funding to take their joint-project, known as ALGALI-TIC, onto the next stage. If successful, they could win grants totalling up to €7 million. They plan to put the algae into water courses which will filter out harmful nitrates.
Russian oligarch behind Dia supermarket chain moans about ‘hardship’ of sanctions
THE oligarch behind Spain’s Dia supermarket chain has moaned about the hardships of not being able to access his fortune since sanctions were imposed after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Mikhail Fridman, who has an estimated fortune in excess of $10 billion told the Spanish newspaper El País this week that he was ‘practically under house arrest’. The businessman, who is based in London, said he was unable to access his bank accounts and his cred-
By Fiona Govan
it cards have been blocked. The 57-year-old said he had applied for permission to access funds to pay for his living costs but that if it were to be successful he could only withdraw £2,500 a month. He complained that it was barely ‘enough to live a normal life without excesses’. “I can’t even take anyone out to a restaurant. I have to eat at home and I am practically under house
SPANISH energy company Cepsa will spend €8 billion in a shift to using more low-carbon energy sources by 2030. The plan is for half the firm’s earnings to come from sustainable energy within eight years, as opposed to a projected 14% this year. Part of the strategy is a major overhaul of its network of 3,000 fuel stations in Spain to promote the use of electric cars. It will create an ultra-fast road charging network that includes at least one 150-kilowatt charger every 200 ki-
HARDSHIP: Fridman making do with €2,500 a month
arrest.” Home is the sprawling Victorian mansion Athlone
GOING GREEN lometres on the country’s main roads. The Cepsa plan backs the concept of green hydrogen, produced by passing renewably-produced electricity through water to split the element from oxygen. By 2030, Cepsa plans to have a green hydrogen refuelling station for heavy goods vehicles on all of the main routes that link Spain with Europe.
CRISIS PLANNING How to protect yourself against the volatility in the Pound Euro exchange rate, writes FX specialist Peter Loveday
RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR Dominating the headlines at the moment, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is also behind a lot of the movement in the Pound Euro pair. While both the Eurozone and UK economies are exposed to the economic fallout of the war and the sanctions levelled at Russia, the EU is particularly vulnerable, largely due to its energy links. So when there is positive news – such as progress in peace talks – the Euro tends to get a boost, while negative developments in Ukraine downgrade it. Of course, the situation in Ukraine is rapidly developing and constantly changing and even the savviest analysts are unsure how it will unfold. CENTRAL BANK POLICY Both the Bank of England (BoE) and the European Central Bank (ECB) are in the unenviable position of deciding on monetary policy at a time of surging inflation and faltering growth. Monetary policy has a massive impact on exchange rates. Usually central banks signal plans ahead of time so that any changes don’t shock markets. However, the huge amount of uncertainty at the moment makes it hard for policymakers to even decide on the best course of action, let alone communicate it in advance. That’s why the March meetings at the ECB and BoE both surprised markets, causing sharp changes in the GBP/ EUR rate.
Loss
The struggling retailer reported a €257 million loss for 2021 across its outlets in Spain, Argentina, Brazil, and Portugal, after an intensive period of restructuring and store closures.
Taxing position PROPERTY owners in Spain face some of the highest tax rates in the EU when it comes to electricity bills. According to Eurostat, Denmark had the highest, followed by Germany, Portugal and then Spain. On top of an electricity production tax there are extra tolls and IVA. Currently, the latter is temporarily reduced to 10% from the usual 21%. The government has extended until June 30 the current tax reductions on electricity.
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T
HE Pound Euro (GBP/EUR) exchange rate has seen some wild swings in recent months. In March alone, it fluctuated between €1.183 and a fiveyear high of €1.217 – a movement of around 2.8%. While we’re seemingly past the worst days of the coronavirus pandemic, other crises have stepped in to fill its place, injecting fresh uncertainty into the currency markets. Here’s what’s driving GBP/EUR at the moment and how you can protect against volatility:
House in Highgate which Fridman purchased in 2016 for an eye-watering £65 million. Fridman co-founded LIHS who hold 78% of shares in the Dia supermarket chain in Spain.
INFLATION in Spain has soared to 9.8% in March - the highest rate since May 1985, according to the National Statistics Institute (INE). The rate stood at 7.6% in February. The INE said the March increase was due to the surge in electricity and fuel prices, but also by the rise in the cost of food items due to the war in Ukraine. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said: “It is a bad figure which affects our economy, especially more vulnerable groups … due to runaway energy prices.”
+34 966 265 072 JAVEA ECONOMIC UNCERTAINTY Adding to the volatility, both the UK and the Eurozone face increasing economic uncertainty. Britain and the EU initially bounced back from the pandemic but Omicron, soaring inflation and the Ukraine war have cast doubt on growth outlooks. When forecasts are cloudy, volatility can increase. Long-term planning becomes harder, so markets are prone to more shocks, spikes and dips as new economic data emerges. PROTECTING AGAINST VOLATILITY This kind of volatility can cause some nasty surprises if you need to transfer money overseas. On a £20,000 transfer, that threecent gap between €1.18 and €1.21 translates to a €680 difference. And the larger the sum, the higher the discrepancy. Fortunately, there are ways that you can protect against volatility. Specialist currency brokers, such as Currencies Direct, offer different tools to help you navigate the ups and downs of the currency market. For instance, you can use a forward contract to secure an exchange rate for up to a year. This way, you won’t lose out if the market moves against you. Services like rate alerts and daily updates make it easy to keep track of what’s going on in the forex world so that you can make informed decisions. And with Currencies Direct you’ll have a dedicated account manager here in Spain to provide guidance and support whenever you need them. The people at Currencies Direct are a friendly - and locally based - bunch, so get in touch with them if you want to find out how they can help you.
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HEALTH
A Covid-19 booster vaccine made by a Spanish pharmaceutical firm has moved a step closer to being approved and could be on the market within two months. Trials on the Hipra vaccine have shown it to be effective against Omicron strain and it is now under review by the EU watchdog, the last step before approval. The vaccine, which is currently in
April 7th April 20th 2022
Spanish boost phase three trials, has been tested on 3,000 people from Italy, The protein-based vaccine acts as a booster for those who have already been fully vaccinated with another of the five vaccines approved by the EMA and is known as PHH-1V.
Alarming death
Stub it out Tobacco prices risers and extended smoking bans on the cards HEALTH bosses are considering raising tobacco prices and banning smoking on bar and restaurant terraces, and inside cars. Spain’s Minister for Health Carolina Darias is reportedly finishing off a reform to Spain’s Tobacco Law in a bid to reduce the number of smokers in Spain. It could see a hike on the price of tobacco where a packet of 20 cigarettes currently costs around €5, half the price of a pack in neighbouring France. The new rules could also see outside public entertainment spaces, including terraces and sports stadiums, become smoke free as well
as banning smoking in private cars. The move has been welcomed by anti-smoking campaigners. “We totally agree with these new measures, and hope they are not the only ones,” Raquel Fernández Megina, director of the Association Nofumadores.org told the Olive Press.
Changes
“Spain hasn’t made any changes to its laws regulating tobacco since 2010,” she added referring to the date when Spain banned smok-
ing inside public spaces including restaurants and offices. “The 70% of people who do not smoke are under attack in communal spaces like terraces by those who do smoke,” explained Fernandez whose lobby group launched a Change.org petition to ban it. Experts believe Spaniards may be more willing to accept the curbs since a ban on smoking at outdoor tables of cafes, bars and restaurants was imposed as one of the Covid-19 measures during the pandemic.
Cutting advice CONSUMERS are being warned against buying pre-cut fruit and veg. Not only are they paying a higher price at the checkout - pre-cut fruit and veg comes with a significant markup but they could also be risking their health. According to Spain’s Food Safety Agency (AESAN) certain fruit is much more likely to be contaminated if you buy it pre-cut. It has issued a warning about buying pre-cut and packaged fruit with high water content such as watermelon, melon, pineapple and papaya. Pre-cut fruit has a far higher chance of carrying salmonella especially when kept in warm temperatures. Although it is entirely legal to sell pre-cut fruit and veg in Spain, there are strict rules that must be applied. The fruit must be kept in temperature below 25ºC and in a ventilated space that is not exposed to direct sunlight. The agency also says such fruit should be consumed within three hours of being opened.
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Rules relaxed
But the official state bulletin published on Wednesday has expanded the range of permitted travellers from third countries to include unjabbed individuals who have taken a test before departure. This rule previously only applied to those aged between 12 and 18, to allow those who had not been jabbed to enter if they had a negative PCR test taken with 72 hours prior to arrival. Now it will allow the cheaper and quicker lateral flow tests taken in the 24 hours before travelling to Spain.
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THE world's first case of an otter killed by Covid has been discovered in Valencia. A team of researchers at three Valencian universities attributed the infection to contact with contaminated sewage in the river where the animal was living. The Eurasian otter’s remains were found in the Bellus reservoir, near Beniganim. The virus was detected using two different PCR tests, one nasally and the other using lung tissue. In May last year, the same team detected two positive cases of the virus in mink in two rivers in Castellon.
SPAIN will now allow unvaccinated visitors - including from the UK - provided they have a negative test or recent recovery certificate. The relaxation of the rules that has prevented unvaccinated holidaymakers from visiting the country comes just in time for the Easter holidays, but cutting it fine for those hoping to arrange a last minute break. Until now only those with proof of full vaccination within the last nine months, or those with a booster, or a certificate of recovery from Covid-19 have been accepted.
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Talking turkey
FINAL WORDS
TURKEYS escaping from Torrevieja’s (Alicante) Parque de la Naciones have been terrorising passers-by and flocking on to the N-332 main road, leading the local council to call in a specialist trapping firm to rehome the birds.
Hands off! VETS at Barcelona zoo have been unable to find out the sex of a rare newborn Spider Monkey as its’s mother is so protective they can not examine it.
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Black Hawk Down
Police catch dive-bombing hawk that attacked humans and caused terror A BIRD of prey that was causing havoc in the town of Tobarra, Albacete, has finally been caught. The Harris hawk had escaped from its owner, a local falconry enthusiast from Murcia. It decided to settle in Albacete, some 150 km away, and was causing panic for the town's 8,000 residents. It was seen swooping down
on children in the streets, striking fear into locals that someone could be seriously injured. Environmental rangers were called in to help a team from Seprona, the nature protection arm of Guardia Civil. Together, they hatched a plan to catch the rogue bird with a trap involving decoy birds, culminating in its capture in the net of a five-metre-long pole.
WINGS CLIPPED: The rogue hawk was finally captured
The operation was not made easy for them due to the bird’s use of the town’s electricity
Ham fisted
HAMBURGLAR STRIKES AGAIN
A 52-year-old man has been arrested for stealing premium legs of ham from a Malaga market, with him accused of nicking €10,000 worth of the delicacies after climbing a street light to get in the premises on six occasions.
A RESTAURANT bill dodger has once again proven there is such a thing as a free lunch. Hamburglar Antonio Miguel Grimal fell back into his old ways and tried to flee without paying for a burger - mere days after being released from prison. The Olive Press previously reported that the 47-year-old
from Zaragoza was cuffed after he refused to pay a €70 bill. The crook was sent to prison but on his release went straight back to skipping payment and refused to pay a €47 bill at a hamburger restaurant. The fraudster has been arrested over 30 times since 2016 for the same crime.
poles as a vantage point. The raptor was captured safely and without being harmed before being sent to the Wildlife Recovery Center of Albacete. The bird, native to America, is known to be very aggressive when stressed. It is a popular bird among falconists and they are often used to disperse pigeons from London’s Trafalgar Square and the tennis courts at Wimbledon. Harris hawks range in length from 46 to 59 cm, with a wingspan of up to 120cm.
MORE than half of women in Spain say they have been the target of sexist statements about being bad drivers. A survey reveals that 50.6% of Spanish women have had the trope about women behind the wheel said about them. Meanwhile 18% of men admitted to believing that women are worse drivers than men. The findings were published as part of a campaign by car maintenance firm Midas to bust the myths that women are worse drivers than men. The company has now teamed up with the charity Ayuda en Accion to empower women on the roads by paying for driving lessons for women who can’t afford them.
Paws for court A MADRID court is to bring in dogs to help support and calm witnesses and victims when they are about to testify. The programme, launched under the name ‘Dogtor Animal’s Courthouse Dogs Research project’, is being trialled. Research in the US has shown that pooches can aid in calming the victim and eases the process.