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The Olive Press proudly launches its SIXTH edition
November 26th - December 9th 2020
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Don’t forget The new rules allowing you to drive in Spain until next summer Page 6
UNABLE to have his regular Friday night down the boozer during lockdown, expat Conor Wilde hit on novel idea for this one - to build a his own pub! The Irish expat, 46, got his mates over and converted his garden shed into what he claims is Spain’s smallFORGET THE DRAUGHT: Conor est watering hole. and pals at makeshift local Measuring 2.4m by 2.5m, it counts
Your
By Eugene Costello
‘sensible’ approach, which has kept the economy running as best as possible.
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on a cornucopia of Emerald Isle collectibles… and it even has Guinness on draught. “After being cooped up like a man in solitary in March I came up with a plan,” the Valencia-based real estate consultant told the Olive Press. “I had an old shed in the garden. got the lads over – Tuejar, El Gal-I lego & Champ – and we set about
“Life goes on and we must move forward,” insisted Antonio Bernabé, director of the Turismo Valencia Foundation, to the Olive Press, this week. “We have struck a good balance be-
How Amy’s guitar-maker from Valencia won over the world Page 15
voice in Spain
Blueprint
A bunch of crooks tried to sell my hotel for a song Page 16
Psycho killer Is Baqueira really Spain’s top skiing resort? Page 20
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Oh la landing Brexit!
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Run by Visit Valencia it offers a huge range of discounts for museums, events, restaurants, transport and even hotels. You can find it at www. valenciaon.com, and it is completely free. Roland Wareham, 55, a company director from Andalucia, was impressed by how well the city was handling the pandemic. On a business trip from his native Mijas this week, he said: “I was struck by how normal life seemed. In Ruzafa, all the bars and restaurants were open, and the terraces were crowded with families and friends enjoying the al fresco lifestyle. “In Andalucia, meanwhile, bars and restaurants must close by 6pm, and my town is like a ghost town at night. “Valencia should serve as a blueprint for the rest of Spain.” Opinion, page 6
NOW OUT: Valencia flag sits proudly on new edition THE WORD ON THE STREETS
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tween keeping life normal and keeping it safe.” While tourism is down 80% on last year, the tourist boss says all activities, including cinemas and museums, are open. Best of all, unlike much of Spain, locals and tourists must only stay in between midnight and 6am. “It’s a great time to discover the city as there are no queues,” adds Bernabe.
“We take the pandemic seriously, but we also believe in the right to have a full life.” Currently few places in the Comunidad face tough restrictions due to high infection rates. The city meanwhile, has developed an activity card called Valencia an app anyone can download, On, not just aimed at tourists.
Palace con
Vol. 4 Issue 95 www.theolivepress.es December 11th - December 24th 2020
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turning it into Spain’s smallest pub. And if I say so myself, we’ve done a grand job.” Called El Irlandes, after his favourite Martin Scorsese film, it happily fits his closest pals in for the usual Friday night Blarney. Wilde, from Skerries, near Dublin, has run the Found Valencia agency for two decades.
Valencia is open!
VALENCIA remains open for visitors, with COVID restrictions more relaxed than most other regions, insists tourist chiefs. The city has been praised by businessmen and tourists alike for its
Lifting the Val
BORIS Johnson’s vital dinner date with EU chief Ursula von der Leyen ended without a Brexit deal. Seemingly, the one thing the two sides can agree on is that things are not going well. Von der Leyen admitted the UK and the EU were still ‘far apart’, while Downing Street agreed ‘very large gaps remain’ in negotiations. Talks have now been extended until Sunday, despite EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier previously stating there would be no further discussion after Wednesday December 10. The politician is said to be ‘very downbeat’ and ‘very gloomy’, according to the Irish government. A No 10 spokesperson, has confirmed Johnson and von der Leyen ‘agreed that by Sunday a firm decision should be taken about the future of the talks’.
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Press Valencia team getting the message
A TRADE deal between the EU and is on the verge of being finalised, Britain EU looked set to cave in on fishingafter the An MEP broke ranks to say that itrights. likely the French would have to looked compromise with Boris Johnson’s demands over UK waters. Christophe Hansen said the EU have to meet the UK’s demands to would clinch an agreement. "There will be compromises to be made on fisheries. The status quo, that is somewhere we're not going to land,” he told an event. French fishermen are understood to have backed the compromise despite losing on access to certain fishing grounds. out It came after the EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier demanded the need to com-
3 1 / 1 2 / 1 9 .
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out around the city this week By Dilip Kunar
promise in order to get an agreement. France had previously been refusing to back down on any fishing deal, demanding near-parity to the UK’s coastal waters. It comes as the governor of the Bank gland warned that a no-deal Brexit of Enbe more economically damaging would than COVID to the UK. Andrew Bailey said failure to get a deal signed would create a massive cross-border trade blockage and damage goodwill tween Brussels and the UK for years. beMeanwhile, Ireland leader Micheal said on Monday he was hopeful that Martin a Brexit deal would be completed this week.
Taoiseach Martin said ‘by the end week we could see the outlines of a of this He said it would come down to deal’. will, both in the United Kingdom ‘political clear the political will is there fromand I’m the European Union’. EU ambassadors were told over the end that a trade deal with Britain weekis on the verge of being finalised. They were told the majority of the 11 main negotiation issues have ‘joint legal texts with fewer and fewer outstanding points’. The European commission president, sula von der Leyen, struck a positive Ursaying: “After difficult weeks with very,note, very slow progress now we have seen in the last days better progress, more movement on important files. This is good.”
Serial killer concern as police probe if ‘the Pirate’ could be behind another missing man in the Balearics
Tricky
It comes after Britain’s Prime Minister claimed that reaching a trade deal with the EU was looking ‘very very difficult’ earlier this week. “We’ll do our level best, but I would just like to say to everybody - be in good cheer, there are great options ahead for our country,” Boris Johnson said. Talks with the EU have remained in deadlock for days thanks to disagreement over fishing quotas. While it comprises just 0.1% of the UK economy, the fishing disagreement could spell a hit of up to 3% for the economy and up to the same for Spain, the biggest predicted victim in Europe. As Johnson took to Twitter to celebrate the coronavirus vaccine roll out on Tuesday, Belgium’s president jibed that the jab had been ‘Made in Europe’. No News is Bad news on p15
MISSING: Antonio Ferrer Juan, Thomas Egner y Francisco López. A PENSIONER nicknamed ‘the Pirate’ has been arrested by police hunting a suspected serial killer in Mallorca. Police believe Juan Torres Serra, 57, could be behind the death of at least four men in the Balearics, including a German expat. They also think he may be behind dozens of armed robberies and violent burglaries of homes around Mallorca and Ibiza. He is also suspected of killing two dogs. Detectives picked up the pensioner, who had been staying in the grounds of a property owned by
By Isha Sesay
a 48-year-old man who went missing under strange circumstances on August 24. Police are now scouring the area for the body of the homeowner, who they believe Serra buried on the grounds of the farm in Binasselem. Serra told the police that the Spanish man, whose name was given as Antonio L.M, had left for Ibiza and had given him a signed document stating that the house now belonged to him.
However, no trace of the man has ever been found and his bank account has not been touched since the day he went missing. This sparked an investigation into Serra, which sensationally revealed that he had been previously questioned about the disappearance of three men over the last three decades. Known as ‘the Pirate’ as well as the nickname ‘Rotavella’ in Ibiza, he had long been suspected by police
the curfew that stole xmas IT looks like being a miserable run up to Christmas for bars and restaurants after the COVID-19 curfew was brought forward by two hours. The Balearic Islands government has enforced a new 10pm to 6am curfew from last night. This will stay in place until at least December 21. President Francina Armengol said the measure ‘serves to combat the growth in coronavirus cases’ as ‘the situation is getting worse in Mallorca’. At present, the COVID-19 incidence rate over 14 days stands at 260 cases per 100,000 inhabitants. Armengol said this figure is ‘worrying’ and ‘shows an upward trend in infections’ since the rate stood at 198 last week.
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Under this new measure, bars and restaurants must close at 10pm and people are restricted to their homes during the curfew unless for a justified reason such as an emergency. Armengol also announced that bars and restaurants in Lloseta, Soller, Sa Pobla and Muro would be banned from serving indoors with outdoor service only permitted during the same period.
of many crimes. The missing men however, were the most suspicious as all had vanished in similar circumstances and have never been found. The first was 77-year-old lawyer Antonio Ferrer Juan who disappeared in Ibiza in 1997. Before disappearing, he told some of his close friends that Serra was threatening him to hand over money.
Suspicion
His car was found at the house where Serra lived after he disappeared. Then a year later in 1998, Serra’s German landlord, 41-year-old Thomas Egner, also went missing in Ibiza. When questioned at the time, Serra told police that the man had gone travelling to South America and left him in charge of the house. In 2007, 60-year-old Francisco Lopez Alvarez also went missing in Ibiza with Serra being the last person to see him. Serra is being held on suspicion of murder and will remain in police custody.
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NEWS IN BRIEF Hostage horror A MAN, aged 26, has been detained for threatening his girlfriend and her father with a knife and holding them hostage inside their flat in Palma. Responding police officers kicked down the property’s door to save the pair.
Barred THREE men have been arrested for trafficking drugs from a bar Ses Salines. The gang was busted after a suspicious resident tipped off police.
Iron maiden A 42-YEAR-OLD woman has been arrested for breaking into a man’s home in Palma and attacking him with an iron chain.
Seven sins A SERIAL thief has been caught in the act of breaking into a car in the capital’s Rafal district. Investigators say the man, aged 46, was behind at least seven other robberies.
CRIME
December 11th - December 24th 2020
Car-jacked
Crack down
British couple robbed by ‘good Samaritan’ gang as they leave Spanish port for Mallorca A BRITISH couple journeying to Mallorca were savagely robbed in a car-jacking incident by criminals posing as ‘good Samaritans’. Company director Chris Ogilvie-Taylor and his wife Linda were forced over by motorbike robbers in the heart of Barcelona during the broad daylight attack. The couple, 65 and 64, were headed to their holiday home in Palma, via ferry, when they were attacked. The pair, who live full time in Portugal but travel to Mallorca each year, decided to stop
A MAN has been brutally attacked by two burglars inside his home in Mallorca. The homeowner was woken up by the thugs as they broke into his house in Palma’s Nou Llevant district on August 24. After asking them to get out of his property, the homeowner was grabbed by the
EXCLUSIVE off in Catalan capital for lunch with three hours to spare before their ferry. “I guess we looked like wealthy targets with the car being on Portuguese plates,” said Ogilvie-Taylor, from London, who was driving a Mercedes GLC. “I’m pretty certain we were tailed as we left the port. “We were apprehended as we drove near the zoo by Parc de la Ciutadella when someone on a scooter tapped on my window, pointing to my rear tyre. “And at that moment the on-
Home attack neck by one of the assailants and beaten. A second man retrieved a taser from his pocket and shocked the resident several times. The two suspects then proceeded to raid the house, stealing two mobile phones and a small quantity of cash.
board computer indicated the tyre had deflated rapidly,” he continued. Naturally, he pulled over to inspect the tyre, while the rider explained to his wife, who speaks good Spanish, that he had seen the tyre blown. “He said not to worry as he knew a mechanic who would be able to bring a spare and help change it and then he drove off, promising to return with his friend.” It was then they suddenly realised that the man had been dis-
Cops were able to identify one of the criminals through analysing CCTV footage. One man was arrested after a police raid at his home uncovered one of the stolen phones. A second man was on November 30. Both have been charged with robbery with violence and intimidation.
VICTIMS: the OgilvieTaylors and Mercedes tracting them while an accomplice had opened the rear door and snatched two expensive designer handbags, which contained their passports, credit cards and some cash. “A haul of over €10,000,” added Ogilvie-Taylor. It emerged the tyre had been slashed by a long knife – suggesting the hijack could have got very violent if they had tried to stop it. “It’s a classic ‘Good Samaritan’ theft, which I call the modern equivalent of lawless 18th-century highwaymen,” continued Ogilvie-Taylor. “The fact it can take place in broad daylight in a modern, European city like Barcelona, is amazing.” Last year, Spanish police warned tourists about a migrant gang who were slashing car tyres, then robbing owners by posing as Good Samaritans when they were forced to pull over. The gang from eastern Europe preyed on tourists on a 450mile stretch of the AP-7 motorway, running from Catalunya’s border with France to Murcia.
POLICE have smashed a major drugs ring operating in Mallorca. Guardia Civil shutdown three narcotics sales points in Capdepera as part of their crackdown on drugs across the island. Four people were arrested for drugs trafficking and belonging to a criminal group. Covert surveillance revealed that the gang sold cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana at the sales points. These narcotics were purchased from Palma and replenished on a weekly basis. Once enough evidence was collected, police raided two properties in Capdepera and one in Font de Sa Cala. Footage of the raids show officers and sniffer dogs searching through the home and a car. In total, agents seized 200g of cocaine, 100g of marijuana and 16g of methamphetamine. Over €11,000 in cash was also found alongside scales and tools to cut and package the drugs.
SNIFFED OUT: Drugs find
Friends.
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At OD Port Portals we have our own star rating. In fact, we have all the stars of the Mallorca sky and we will enjoy them all together every summer night at OD Sky Bar, on our spacious terrace and at our restaurant On Top. A hotel full of local experiences, music, art, gastronomy, yoga, pre-parties, flea markets, brunches, concerts, Pilates, tardeo, sea, sun and all the stars. A hotel full of life.
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TOP: Letizia Ortiz, Isabel Diaz and Elena Ochoa
No kidding around NINE-year-old Solea Fernandez Moreno from Sevilla, the youngest contender at this year’s Junior Eurovision Song Contest, has done her country proud by taking third place. Born into a family that is part of the famous flamenco clan Farrucos y Fernandez, Solea proved that musician’s blood runs in her veins by interpreting Palante, a catchy number that fuses flamenco and urban pop. Her performance earned her 470,000 online votes – over 10% of the total share – and proved that Spain may well have a new Rosalia in the making, as many have suggested. The winner was France’s 11-year-old Valentina, with J’Imagine who burst into tears at the result.
FORBES has done what it’s known best for and made another list that ranks society’s elites. But the twist in this tale is that all of Spain’s ‘most influential people of 2020’ are women. Clocking in at number one is the Reina de España herself, Letizia Ortiz. A public sweetheart, Queen Letizia has presided over numerous important events this year when her husband, King Felipe VI, has had to self-isolate.
Girl power
The rest of the list is largely dominated by politicians, presidents and CEOs. Ana Botin, President of Santander bank, is the silver medallist, while the President of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Diaz Ayudo, comes in at third. Other famous faces on Forbes’ list include psychologist and gallery owner, Elena Ochoa Foster.
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Love is blind LOVE ISLAND’S Theo Campbell is suing an Ibiza beach resort after nearly going blind from a flying fizz cork. The reality star, who rose to fame after appearing in the third season of the hit ITV show, was partying at a champagne spray party hosted by Wayne Lineker when tragedy struck.
TV star sues swanky Ibiza beach club after champagne cork blasts in face and leaves him partially sighted By Kirsty McKenzie
While enjoying the celebrations at O Beach Club one of the party’s official bottles
PAIN: Theo partying and, right, recovering
Baring All SPANISH on-screen superstar Penelope Cruz is set to reveal the most intimate details of her life in a new documentary TV show, Pongamos que Hablo de, available on Atresplayer Premium this December. The detailed series will track the actress’ life from Alcobendas to Hollywood to Madrid, through over 30 interviews with the star herself and those closest to her.
TENNIS star Rafael Nadal has raised over €20,000 in the fight against coronavirus. The world number two donated one of his prized match winning shirts, worn at the prestigious Roland Garros tournament in France last year The donation formed part of the #LaMejorA-
popped in his direction and penetrated the cornea of his right eye. Theo required 11 stitches after surgery in Ibiza and the UK, but is still suffering severe sight issues. The 29-year-old Great Britain runner says the incident has significantly reduced his ability to work, and wants answers as to why his sight has never fully recovered. “The last 15 months or so trying to come to terms with what has happened have been hard,” he said. “I’m a positive person and try and remain upbeat but as time goes on the chances of my sight getting back to normal become reduced. “I’m speaking with doctors about what may or may not be possible but I also have a number of questions about what happened to me. “I don’t know what the future may hold with regards to my sight but I feel that the least I deserve is answers to what happened and why. “Bringing this case was something that hasn’t been done lightly but I feel that at present it’s the best opportunity for me to get the answers I deserve.”
POPULAR: Bad Bunny
LATIN rapper Bad Bunny has been named as Spotify’s most-streamed global artist of 2020 with fellow reggaeton singer J Balvin (pictured below) trailing close behind. Bad Bunny, 26, born in Puerto Rico, shot to stardom after collaborating with Cardi B on her single I Like It in 2016 and went on to become one of the best-selling Latin music artists in the world. Famous for performing Latin trap and reggaeton, Bad Bunny - real name Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio - has garnered millions of fans in Spain, the UK and beyond. In 2020 he hit more than 8.3bn streams, beating out the likes of Drake and J Balvin for the global top spot. His second album YHLQMDLG was the most streamed release of the year, ahead of After Hours by the Canadian singer The Weeknd, Hollywood’s Bleeding by Post Malone and Fine Line by British singer Harry Styles.
Getting shirty sistencia, or The Best Assistance auction to raise much needed funds for the Spanish Red Cross. Organised by Liga ACB, Spain’s premier bas-
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ketball division, Nadal’s shirt proved to be a big seller, bringing in a whopping €20,500 Before the auction opened, Nadal shared a video to social revealing that he would be donating a ‘precious object’. He said: “I wanted to donate the shirt with which I won Roland Garros in 2019.
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NEWS IN BRIEF Grim discovery A PASSER-BY found the partially decomposed corpse of a man washed up on the shoreline of Platja Es Caragol in Santanyi yesterday evening.
December 11th - December 24th 2020
CAN’T BEAR IT
Droning on THE Government of the Balearic Islands has announced that it will use drones to surveil parties over the Christmas period, looking for gatherings of more than six people.
Sorry end A HOMELESS man who had been suffering from a mental illness has taken his life inside the iconic Parc de Mar, near to where he slept rough most nights.
Opening bat THE first local junior cricket club, the Mallorca Meerkats, has been launched and will be running training sessions on selected Fridays at the Queen’s Centre.
SLAIN: Female brown bear Sarousse was shot by a hunter who claimed it was ‘self defence’ AN investigation has been launched after a pair of brown bears were gunned down in a ‘dark day’ for efforts to protect the endangered species. The adult females were shot dead by different hunters, with one claiming to have fired at the bear in self defence. In what has infuriated environmentalists, both animals
were killed in conservation zones, in the week a law banning hunting in Spain’s National Parks came into force. The first bear was shot in the Palencia mountains, in Castilla y Leon, by a hunter who claimed he thought the creature was a wild boar. A second bear, named Sarousse, was killed during a hunt in the Aragon Pyrenees. The 21-year-old animal - one of just 350 in Spain - was shot dead in the Bardaji valley. The hunter, who claimed he was acting in self-defence, gunned her down at pointblank range when she acted in an ‘aggressive manner’ after being disturbed by his dogs.
Environmental groups unite after hunters kill two protected brown bears on ‘dark day’ for Spain By Kirsty McKenzie
Sarousse, who had originally been captured in Slovenia before being released in 2006, is the third bear to be killed in the Pyrenees this year. Spain’s environment minister Teresa Ribera slammed the deaths and said efforts were underway to determine what led to the killings on November 29. It comes after six green groups, including Ecologistas en Accion, SEO Birdlife and
Friends of the Earth, united to demand immediate action. The Guardia Civil’s wildlife unit Seprona confirmed this week that an investigation has now been launched. The deaths came just 10 days after police in Catalunya arrested a local environmental official over the death of a third bear, a six-year-old male called Cachou, who was killed in the Val d’Aran area in April. The Spanish Brown Bear Foundation described the killings as a ‘dark day for conservation’.
New evidence in Maddie probe GERMAN police are gathering new and ‘interesting’ evidence as they prepare to question the chief suspect in the Madeleine McCann disappearance case. Chief Prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters revealed he is following up new information on Christian Brueckner, who spent over a decade travelling around Spain and Portugal. This includes new photos from holidaymakers at the time of Maddie’s disappearance, in 2005, in Portugal. “There are quite good leads we are following
Footloose FAMED flamenco dancer Rafael Amargo has been arrested for drug trafficking. The performer's partner was also detained while the authorities searched their home, where they found drugs. Amargo, 45, is allegedly facing charges for drug trafficking and criminal association. He was due to star in a new production in Madrid this month.
disaster
up,” said Wolters. It comes as Brueckner, 43, was moved to a notorious high security jail once used by the Gestapo as an execution centre during the Nazi reign. The German pervert is serving a 21-month sentence for child sex offences as well as seven years for the rape of an American, 72, in Praia da Luz, where Maddie went missing. He had an application for parole turned down last month and will be in prison until at least 2026.
Easy cop
A BRITISH thief has been rumbled by an off-duty cop when he tried to exit a Valencia bar with stolen cash and alcohol. The arrest came just as the off duty cop was arriving for his shift at the Torrevieja barracks. He spotted the Brit, 35, and his 31-year-old Spanish colleague, clutching money and bottles of spirits, coming out of a bar that was shut during the COVID lockdown. When he ordered them to stop they ran leading to a chase with the officer finally apprehending the British felon, who has an ‘extensive criminal record’ of similar crimes. His partner in crime was finally located hiding in bushes.
The group warned that deliberate hunting carried penalties of up to three years in prison. “This is enough. These bears were everyone’s heritage,” said spokesman Garcia Paloma, who insisted the laws needed to be strengthened. Bears, once critically endangered in Spain, are now considered ‘high priority’ by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). Brown bears became a protected species in 1973 as part of an attempt to grow numbers in the Pyrenees between France and Spain.
SPAIN’S economy is the most vulnerable to a hard Brexit research from the Bank of Spain has found. While experts have said the impact of Brexit will vary from country to country, Spain’s exposure to calamity is ‘notably higher’, analysis has found. Due to its significant relationship with the United Kingdom, Spain is at greater risk of negative financial and commercial impact in comparison to other countries in the eurozone.
The deaths came as sport and commercial hunting became illegal in Spain’s National Parks on December 5. The law was actually passed in 2014, but the then-ruling party, the PP, granted a six year extension, which came to an end last week. Hunters described the ban as ‘ecological disaster’ that will lead to job losses and overpopulation of the species. Environmental groups called for Aragon’s regional council to suspend all wild boar hunts in the areas where the presence of bears is known.
BREXIT Cash crash
In a worst case scenario, the Bank of Spain’s analysis calculates that the UK’s exit will cause the GDP of the European Union to drop by 0.4% by 2022. Meanwhile, the UK’s economy will suffer a significant blow with a fall of between 1.5% and 3% of GDP by 2022.
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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 Fair game? EVEN before last week’s gruesome shooting of two bears at the hands of swaggering hunters in Spain, we’ve been worrying about the fate of the creatures that roam the country’s national parks. The number of Cantabrian brown bears has steadily grown since the 90s, from a record low of 60 to the current 350 living in the Cantabrian Mountains and an additional 40 in the Pyrenees. But they are still an endangered species and the senseless death of two females is a particularly hard loss. Supporters of hunting may argue that their expensive activities provide job opportunities but that shouldn't be at the expense of the animals. It would be far better to boost the economy by creating jobs in National Parks that allows us to enjoy life alongside the animals instead of working against them.
Animal Farm AS Brexit negotiations are taken down to the wire, the final sticking point for Johnson and his cohort is, bizarrely, fish. Like school children scrapping over who has the bigger piece of birthday cake in their party bag, each side has fought hammer and tongs over EU quotas in UK waters that quantify for a minuscule 0.01% of trade. It bears consideration then that, as the powers that be fight for fish, this fervour hasn’t been shown for people hoping to be saved by the same governments. A fish that crosses an invisible borderline into our waters automatically becomes ours— we are willing to fight, to the detriment of international relations, for their citizenship. Yet when people cross invisible lines, on desperate and dangerous nighttime voyages, they far from automatically become our people. Often, we simply send them back where they came from. As the refugee and migrant crisis rages on at Gran Canaria’s Arguineguin harbour, thousands of people from Western Africa have been left to wait for aid and shelter. While some asylum seekers are vulnerable, most are highly skilled workers, as demonstrated by Spain’s thriving refugee restaurant industry (see right). It’s important to acknowledge that these people are monumentally more significant and, on an unsentimental economic level, more profitable for the EU in the long run than cod, bass or haddock.
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The healing taste of home Could Spain’s restaurant industry be the answer to its refugee crisis? Lydia Spencer Elliott reports on the asylum seekers whose home cooking skills are ‘building appetites, not walls’
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S BOMBS rained down from the sky in Syria, all 38-year-old Wesal could think of were her children. In terror, she fled the civil war-torn country with her twoyear-old in her arms, leaving behind her home and a successful medical career for a safer life in Spain. Arriving in Madrid but not speaking Spanish, she was unable to use her qualifications as a phlebotomist (blood specialist) and her employment prospects looked bleak. But what she did have was a talent that crossed borders and communicated without language: she could cook. “Chicken and rice with mint, parsley and Middle Eastern spices, Wesal was an amazing chef,” remembers Natalia Diaz, founder of the Madrid charity Chefugee whose slogan is, ‘Build Appetites, Not Walls’. “Syrian food is delicious and, when we started, nobody in Madrid was serving hummus or tabbouleh. Now Wesal has her own catering company and hummus is in every restaurant.” Set up by a group of volunteers in 2016, Chefugee’s mission is to provide refugees and asylum seekers with the opportunity to
TOGETHER: Hala with her team at the Refusion Restaurant and creation (right)
earn fair wages and share their The smells, the scents, it’s like cultures through their culinary recreating your childhood.” skills. Elsewhere in the capital, Hala Funded and promoted through Dondieh discovered food’s culinary events in Madrid, in- healing powers working in the cluding a week-long Refugee refugee-run restaurant RefuFood Festival, today the team’s sion alongside chefs from Venproteges are working all over ezuela and Sudan. the Spanish capital, everywhere “I’ve grown as a person, as an from pizzerias and artist and as pop-ups to upmara chef since I ket eateries. started workRefugee run “It was actually ing here,” says quite hostile when the 29-year-old restaurants we started in who left Syria 2016,” says Diaz. are becoming a in 2013 after “Restaurants in her mother was Madrid didn’t want trend all around persecuted for to hire refugees. criticising Presthe world “But food is a great ident Bashar cultural bridge and al-Assad. “I’m refugees are proud learning how to to talk about their culinary cul- make Sudanese food and I’m ture. It’s good for people to see sharing my recipes, which is the them in a positive light, rather most beautiful thing.” than just pity what they man- “We have a moral, rather than aged to escape. a paper and ink, contract be“Food is healing,” adds Diaz. “ cause we’re trying to build a It always reminds you of home. platform for people in the future,” says Hala. “That future for a project like this is a beautiful kitchen with people from all over the world,” she says. “We have chefs from three continents now, but why not have all of them? Food will always gather us together.” says Hala. But as coronavirus restrictions continue to damage Spain’s restaurant industry, not everyone shares Hala’s multi-cultural enthusiasm. This month, over 1,000 Spaniards took to the streets of Gran Canaria to protest the soaring number of arrivals from Africa to the Canaries, with many demonstrators brandishing ‘stop invasion’ placards. “I have nothing against the immigrants,” one unemployed protester told reporters. “But if there isn’t enough to go around for us, how can there be enough for them?” “It’s not all like a happy ending,” confirms Diaz. “Wesal still struggles with paperwork and rent payments and a lot of our chefs were furloughed or let go at the start of lockdown.” LEARNING: Students at the Mescladis cooking school and dishes
“But everything that we make from our events goes to the salary of the chef and a fund for refugee businesses in the future. So, when this whole thing happened we used that to buy groceries for refugees who were out of work and money.” Despite pandemic and prejudice, refugee-run restaurants are becoming a trend, popping up everywhere from Lebanon to London and Brooklyn to Berlin. While mostly private initiatives, the appeal of the food industry for asylum seekers has been noticeable in government-funded projects too. Throughout this year’s European Commission enterprise, which found over 1,000 refugees jobs tailored to their interests in Spain, the most popular job after farm work was waiter or chef. Barcelona Restaurant owner Martin Habiague is convinced food could be the answer to the refugee crisis. “The hospitality sector in Spain is very strong,” he says. “Even though we are suffering with the pandemic on top of us, it’s a good sector to create inclusion and gain social, economic and political rights for people.” Habiague’s not-for-profit cafe, Espai Mescladis in the El Born barrio, currently employs 16 migrants in chef and server roles, as well as students from Venezuela, Honduras, Guatemala, and multiple African countries learning how to cook professionally. “Historically, we have three ways of dealing with people we consider ‘other’,” he says. “We go to war and kill each other, which is what we’ve done for centuries, we build walls around us so people can’t meet or interact, which is what we’re currently doing, or we promote dialogue, which brings positive results.” Gastronomy is a great equaliser, he affirms: “Geography, history, culture, social habits, even politics or economics, these are all things we can talk about when we talk about food,” he says. “We are the only animal on the planet that modify the elements to feed ourselves, it’s how we define ourselves as human beings and it’s something we all have in common.”
December 10th - December 23rd 2020
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BREAK OPEN THE BUBBLY: It was smiles all round as the Olive Press editing and production team celebrated the paper’s sixth edition in Valencia. It came after a superb Autumn saw our online visitor numbers for November double on last year’s figures. While the number of unique visitors and visits doubled to 750,000 and 1.8 million, the numbers of pages read went over three million for yet another month.
Hit for six! Sometimes five times a fortnight is just not enough, as Olive Press prints new sixth edition in Valencia
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VALENCIA / COSTA AZAHAR 9th 2020 ress.es November 26th - December FREE Vol. 1 Issue 1 www.theolivep
LOCKDOWN LOCK-IN EXCLUSIVE UNABLE to have his regular Friday night down the boozer during locka down, expat Conor Wilde hit onhis novel idea for this one - to build own pub! The Irish expat, 46, got his mates over and converted his garden shed into what he claims is Spain’s smallest watering hole. FORGET THE DRAUGHT: Conor Measuring 2.4m by 2.5m, it counts and pals at makeshift local
COUNTDOWN TO BREXIT
Don’t forget
The new rules allowing you to drive in Spain until next summer Page 6
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ALL SMILES: Juan Carlos at Lia restaurant
The Oliv launched ite Press proudly s SIXTH ed ition
OLIVE PRESS
ELL we did it again. In the midst of one of the toughest times in recent years, with your help we have managed to expand to a new and exciting region. Despite the spectre of Brexit and COVID-19, the Olive Press now has a SIXTH edition in Valencia and the Costa Azahar. Our fortnightly mix of news and features, experts and entertainment went down well in the sophisticated city, Spain’s third biggest. Delivered to over 100 spots around the city and up the nearby coast, it is most easily found on stands at Mercat Central or at the car park entrance of El Saler shopping centre. It is also well sited at the excellent Paris-Valen952 cia bookshop by Corte Ingles in 147 Plaza834 D’Alfons and at the popular Bear Club Irish pub. “It’s certainly been flying off the stand outside our office,” said Chris Solomon, manager of HomeEspana estate agency. “It’s obviously convenient being next to an Irish pub… but we’ve noticed quite a few Spanish also taking it.” Meanwhile, you’ll also find it up the coast in town’s like Castellon, where restaurants Puerto del Sol, el Faro Industrial and L’Antigua Valenciana all stock it. Meanwhile golf clubs like Escorpion, in Betera, and the four star Porto Cristo hotel in Peniscola welcomed it with open arms. “It is great to have an English newspaper launching in the area,” said chef Isaac Sidro, owner of the el Faro Industrial restaurant, in Castellon. TheOlivePress-256x170-HOME02.indd
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colon a cornucopia of Emerald Isle lectibles… and it even has Guinness on draught. “After being cooped up like a man in solitary in March I came up with esa plan,” the Valencia-based real Press. Olive the told consultant tate I “I had an old shed in the garden. got the lads over – Tuejar, El Gallego & Champ – and we set about
turning it into Spain’s smallest pub. And if I say so myself, we’ve done a grand job.” Called El Irlandes, after his favourite Martin Scorsese film, it happily fits his closest pals in for the usual Friday night Blarney. Wilde, from Skerries, near Dublin, has run the Found Valencia agency for two decades.
Valencia is open!
VALENCIA remains open for visitors, with COVID restrictions more inrelaxed than most other regions, sists tourist chiefs. The city has been praised by busiits nessmen and tourists alike for
By Eugene Costello
‘sensible’ approach, which has kept the economy running as best as possible.
“Life goes on and we must move forward,” insisted Antonio Bernabé, director of the Turismo Valencia Foundation, to the Olive Press, this week. be“We have struck a good balance
Back to Blanca
How Amy’s guitar-maker from Valencia won over the world Page 15
tween keeping life normal and keeping it safe.” last While tourism is down 80% on year, the tourist boss says all activities, including cinemas and museums, are open. Best of all, unlike much of Spain, in locals and tourists must only stay between midnight and 6am. city the discover to time great “It’s a as there are no queues,” adds Bernabe. “We take the pandemic seriously, to but we also believe in the right have a full life.” Currently few places in the Comuto nidad face tough restrictions due high infection rates. The city meanwhile, has developed On, an activity card called Valencia not an app anyone can download, just aimed at tourists.
Blueprint
Run by Visit Valencia it offers a huge range of discounts for museums, events, restaurants, transport and even hotels. You can find it at www. valenciaon.com, and it is completely free. Roland Wareham, 55, a company imdirector from Andalucia, was pressed by how well the city was handling the pandemic. On a business trip from his native Mijas this week, he said: “I was In struck by how normal life seemed. Ruzafa, all the bars and restaurants were open, and the terraces were crowded with families and friends enjoying the al fresco lifestyle. “In Andalucia, meanwhile, bars and restaurants must close by 6pm, and my town is like a ghost town at night. “Valencia should serve as a blueprint for the rest of Spain.”
Palace con
HAPPY: Readers including chef Isaac Sidro found the new paper at one of over 100 locations, including the El Saler centre and WORD ON THE STREETS Home EspanaTHE office A bunch of crooks tried to sell my hotel for a song Page 16
BEST FOOT FORWARD: The Olive
Lifting the Val Is Baqueira really Spain’s top skiing resort? Page 20
Oh la landing Brexit!
Tel: 952 147 834
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Press Valencia team getting the message
Britain A TRADE deal between the EU andafter the is on the verge of being finalised, rights. EU looked set to cave in on fishing looked An MEP broke ranks to say that itcomprolikely the French would have to over mise with Boris Johnson’s demands UK waters. would Christophe Hansen said the EU clinch have to meet the UK’s demands to an agreement. "There will be compromisquo, es to be made on fisheries. The status to land,” that is somewhere we're not going he told an event. to have French fishermen are understood out backed the compromise despite losing on access to certain fishing grounds. MiIt came after the EU’s chief negotiator to comchel Barnier demanded the need
out around the city this week By Dilip Kunar
promise in order to get an agreement. to France had previously been refusing back down on any fishing deal, demanding near-parity to the UK’s coastal waters.of EnIt comes as the governor of the Bank would gland warned that a no-deal Brexit than be more economically damaging COVID to the UK. a deal Andrew Bailey said failure to get signed would create a massive cross-border betrade blockage and damage goodwill tween Brussels and the UK for years.Martin Meanwhile, Ireland leader Micheal a Brexsaid on Monday he was hopeful that it deal would be completed this week.
Opinion, page 6
of this Taoiseach Martin said ‘by the enddeal’. week we could see the outlines of a‘political He said it would come down to and I’m will, both in the United Kingdom the Euclear the political will is there from ropean Union’. weekEU ambassadors were told over the on the is end that a trade deal with Britain verge of being finalised. 11 main They were told the majority of the texts negotiation issues have ‘joint legal points’. with fewer and fewer outstanding UrThe European commission president,note, positive a struck sula von der Leyen, very saying: “After difficult weeks with very, the last slow progress now we have seen in on days better progress, more movement good.” is This files. important
NOW YOU SEE IT, NOW YOU DON’T: Our stand full of papers at Mercat Central a fortnight ago and again last week
3 1 / 1 2 / 1 9 .
21/6/19 13:30
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Honorary consul
And lawyer at Swan Partners also the UK honorary consul - Martin Hayes welcomed us saying: “It’s great to finally have your excellent paper here in Valencia.” It has been a busy few years for the Olive Press group, having launched three new editions in just two short years, starting with the Costa Blanca north and Costa Blanca south editions last year and now Valencia. Backed by our website and strong social media presence, most expats already knew of the Olive Press before we launched in each region. Since our inception 15 years ago the Olive Press has built up a loyal readership in all of our regions, that also include Andalucia, Gibraltar and Mallorca.
We have long known that the large expat community – of ALL nationalities – in Spain see the fortnightly publication of their local edition as one of their highlights. They are a huge mix of nationalities and around 10 to 15% of our readers are actually Spanish. Packed full of well researched news and features we have continued to produce an exceptional read through the difficulties of the coronavirus pandemic. And we are sure that we will attract a whole new set of fans with our latest edition. Our team, led by distribution chief and logistics expert Jamie Gantley, got the papers out during the worst storms of the year a fortnight ago. They will be doing it every fortnight from now on. Meanwhile our team of journalists - who include Alex Trelinski and Simon Wade, both based in the Valencia region - will be sniffing out the best exclusive stories and look behind the headlines to bring our readers the news that matters. Olive Press editor Jon Clarke said: “I have long been aware that there is a whole section of the coast north of Valencia and in the city with a large expat community that has been poorly served by English language titles. “I am delighted to be able to rectify this. We
Olive Press online ‘Spain’s best English news website’ The top five most read stories on www.theolivepress.es in the past two weeks are: TOP LOCATIONS: In central locations such as the Bear Club and Saint Martin’s pub will bring our readers the very best local news – and offer our advertising clients a fantastic platform to publicise their businesses.” Print day meanwhile, was a hectic affair as the entire team pulled together to produce a fantastic launch edition. While sales manager Charlie Bamber and local rep Melissa Boer brought in business right up to the final hour, our head office staff of editors and designers pulled all the stops out to hit print deadlines. No small task when considering that all the existing five newspapers had to be produced as well! And there were no less than SIX unprecedented power cuts that left the team kicking their heels for an hour-and-a-half in the dark in Malaga. The number was perhaps prophetic.
gets a much-need live entertain1- Benidorm ment boost on Spain’s Costa Blanca (27,485 views) predicted to give Spain’s Costa Blan2- Storms ca a big drenching (21,705 views) You will not be permitted to travel to meet 3-close friends in Spain’s Andalucia this Christmas (21,517 views) British-led drugs gang ran marijuana busi4-ness out of restaurant on Spain’s Costa Blanca (21,436 views) Benidorm’s bars and restaurants issue 5- ultimatum to top politicians in Spain’s Costa Blanca (20,153 views)
Get in touch today at sales@theolivepress.es or call us at 00 34 951273575 for a special quote
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LA CULTURA
December 11th - December 24th 2020
CASTLE find
A PREVIOUSLY unknown medieval fortress has been discovered on Mount San Paio, in Vila de Cruces (Pontevedra). The site was originally catalogued as another Galician castro, but has now yielded a unique find for the Iberian Peninsula. The ancient fortification is a motte-and-bailey type fortification, characteristic of northern Europe, dated between the 9th and 10th centuries and which has come to light at a site in Vila de Cruces. A motte-and-bailey castle is a fortification with a wooden or stone keep situated on a raised area of ground called a motte. Windsor Castle, in England, is an example of such a construction, as are many others in the UK. However, until now, nothing like this had been documented on Spanish soil.
DIG: Secrets unearthed
Bank-sy-ing on art
ART: Works by Banksy will be on show
SOME of the works of British street artist Banksy will be on show in Spain in the coming months. An exhibition called The Street is my Canvas has just started in the Circulo de Bellas Artes in Madrid. It marks a return to the capital for work by the anonymous artist, after the BANKSY: Genius or Vandal exhibition at the IFEMA centre last year. Fans of his art will - coronavirus restrictions permitting – have until May 9 to see some of his most notable works. It is billed as a multimedia exhibition with around 30 pieces. It is the first time this particular exhibition has been on show in Spain and is promoted as ‘a unique opportunity to learn more about the legacy of one of the most relevant artists internationally’.
CrowNing glory The Spanish city had a starring role in the Netflix series MALAGA was transformed into the Australian outback to provide the set for the most recent season of the hit Netflix show The Crown. The largest city in southern Spain had a starring role in the royal drama, with spots including AC Hotel Malaga Palacio featured in the fourth season. The big-budget series, rumoured to be one of the most expensive TV shows ever to be made, cut costs by filming scenes set in Oz in the Andulucian city. Scenes for Sydney, Canberra and Brisbane were all shot in the city of Malaga while Uluru, the landmark formerly known as Ayer’s Rock, emigrated to the deserts of Al-
By Kirsty McKenzie
meria. The brief appearance of a well-known city in the episode - named Terra Nullius also had Spanish fans pretty excited. One Twitter user joked that Brisbane ‘was filmed in the most Spanish city you’ve ever seen in your life’. Another spotted that one scene was captured from the top of AC Hotel Malaga Palacio. Shooting for the special Australian episode which follows Charles and Diana on their 1983 tour down under, took place last year. Emma Corrin and Josh
CINE MAGIC: O’Connor and Corrin on location... in Malaga, which doubled for Sydney and Brisbane O’Connor, who play the young royals, were also spotted filming in Almería ,
In Focus CITY streets have witnessed a whole variety of memorable and moving events in Europe’s modern history, serving as everything from the scenes of political battlefields, to the venues of throbbing carnivals. Many of these have been immortalised in photography and film, which are now themselves the focus of a new exhibition in Mallorca. Titled Cámara y ciudad: La vida urbana en la fotografía y en el cine (‘Camera and city: Urban life in photography and cinema’), the exhibition in Caixa Forum, Palma, brings
A MASS grave in northeast Spain could shed light on the Muslim conquest of the Iberian Peninsula. Workman in Tauste, near Zaragoza unearthed the ancient Islamic necropolis, which is said to contain more than 4,500 skeletons. Archaeologists say the 400 tombs across the five-acre site are likely to date back from the 8th century. By 711, Arab forces had invaded Spain after crossing the Strait of Gibraltar and conquered most of the Iberian peninsula in just three years.
Power
They remained in power for the next seven centuries until 1492, when the area was totally reconquered by the Christian kingdoms. The discovery of the graves is viewed as highly important because it is one of the few pieces of evidence that Muslims lived in the area. The human remains, which were only discovered in recent weeks, are to be exhumed by the end of the year. The findings will undergo DNA analysis to determine the origins of the population and provide a deeper understanding of the spread of Islam in Spain.
Global success EUPHORIA: Of cities at excellent new Mallorca exhibition at Caixa Forum
together the work of photographers and filmmakers who have dissected scenarios of
Dark Tides by Philippa Gregory BOOK REVIEW
where Clint Eastwood filmed many of his famous spaghetti western films. Actor Richard Roxburgh, who plays Bob Hawke in The Crown, said the spot had ‘a desert kind of light’ that was the perfect substitute for the Australian Outback. Netflix added that they relied on ‘a little cinematic magic’ and used special effects to superpose iconic famous Oz landmarks like Uluru and The Opera House onto the background.
Grave discovery
The Queen of historical fiction is back with a captivating tale of secrets and lies in 17th century London. Two strangers arrive at Alinor’s warehouse in London. One is a beautiful young woman who claims she is Alinor’s son’s widow and pregnant with his child. The second is a wealthy man who believes Alinor’s son is his illegitimate child. Alinor’s doubt and mistrust grow as the two new arrivals in her life demand more of her. An intriguing story of love, loss and deceit. €19.50 The Bookshop San Pedro, www.thebookshop.es
urban life, focusing on the 20th century in a nuanced exploration of street photography. The works on display ‘speak of the euphoria of the metropolis and the loneliness of the modern city, of war and reconciliation, of protest and change, also of
By Laurence Crumbie
self-assertion in the streets,’ writes the gallery. Taken together, they recount the ‘birth and growth of the city to the melancholy generated by its decline, passing through its role as a meeting point to the surveillance exercised over citizens in this global village of our digital age.’ In addition to film material from Spanish collections, the exhibition includes works from the Centre Pompidou in Paris, surrealist prints by Cartier-Bresson, and contemporary works such as the projects of American photographer Philippe-Lorca diCorcia. It runs until March 7, 2021. Entrance costs €6 or is free for clients of Caixabank and people under 16 years of age.
NETFLIX has announced a Korean remake of the Spanish hit series Money Heist. And with over 65 million households tuning in to watch the original series, it's no wonder the streaming service wants to capitalise on the show's success. While the original Money Heist (Casa de Papel) was written by Alex Pina, the Korean version will be penned by Ryu Yong-Jae who is previously known for My Holo Love. “Korean creators have been developing their own language and audiovisual culture for years. They have managed, like our series, to go beyond cultural borders and become a point of reference for thousands of viewers around the world, especially among young people,” Pina told Variety. "That's why I find it so fascinating that the world of La Casa de Papel is so attractive to Korean creators to do an adaptation. The fact that the action is set on the Korean peninsula also seems to me to be a milestone, which I'm really delighted about,” he said. In a statement Netflix told reporters: “The international popularity of the La Casa de Papel is proof that significant works based in different cultures and languages can be widely distributed by Netflix and loved by audiences worldwide.” It has been announced that the Korean remake will have 12 chapters, but the release date is still unconfirmed. Meanwhile, the fifth and final season of the original Money Heist is currently in production and slated for 2021.
FOOD,DRINK & TRAVEL
All aboard
CANFRANC train station, situated in the Pyrenees between Spain and France, is set to reopen next month after being shut for half a century. A historical landmark, the terminal was where many Jews fled Nazi Germany, including the painters Max Ernst and Marc Chagall. Originally opened in 1928, the station was used to transport goods - including Swiss gold.
Chateau
Once called the ‘Titanic of the Mountains’ the terminal boasts a French chateau design and the second-largest high-speed rail network in the world. The gargantuan building that’s ten times the size of St. Pancras in London -had its services brought to an abrupt halt in 1970 when a derailment destroyed a bridge on the French side of the line. But thanks to a collaboration by France, the European Commission and the Aragon government, the railway will be restored to its former glory. “Canfranc [station] is part of the memory and our identity, of our DNA, of our most intimate feelings as a people,â€? JosĂŠ Luis Soro, Regional Minister of Mobility for Aragon, told reporters.
Takes the cake!
Spanish lesson for Italians as Iberian panettone scoops awards
By Alex Trelinski
A SPANISH bakery has won a major Italian award by showing the locals how to make the world’s best panettone. The sweet bread was originally created in the Milan area and has spread around the globe as a treat that is especially popular over the festive season in countries like Spain. Fartons Polo sent off some of their special bakes to Rome and got a gold award in a contest organised by the Italian Federation of Pastry, Ice Cream and Chocolate. The 60-year-old Alboraya
TASTY: Spain beat Italy at its own game (Valencia) based company has been baking panettones for over a decade, both in a traditional version and one with
Bottom of the class SPAIN could lose out on tourism because of poor language skills. The nation ranks worst among all EU countries when it comes to learning English, a new report has found. The country has swapped bottom place with Italy, which climbed three places in the annual table. Only a handful of Eastern European countries, including Albania, Ukraine and Turkey, fare worse. The Dutch came top of the survey, with many of the Lowlanders speaking better English than those from the UK.
chocolate chips. They started work last year on creating an artisan panettone made with homemade sourdough. Fartons Polo thought they had come up with something special and decided to see how good it was by entering the competition, which featured over 300 international rivals. They are keeping the exact baking process under their hat, but besides the fresh sourdough, the Fartons blend includes vanilla from Tahiti, orange and lemon zest, and cream.
December 11th - December 24th 2020
Passenger friendly
Bounce back IN a testament to Mallorca’s resilient tourism industry, another luxury hotel is setting up shop in the Balearics post-pandemic. Scheduled to open in 2022, the Kimpton Hotel will have 79 swanky rooms next to Santa Ponsa Golf course. It comes after the success of the Kimpton Vividora Hotel, which opened in Barcelona earlier this year. Just 30 minutes from Palma airport, with a chic but relaxed atmosphere, the hotel is set to become a hotspot in Mallorca’s vibrant vacation scene. “We all know that 2020 has been a year of missed holidays,� said the group’s managing director, Karin Sheppard. “As soon as people are able to travel again they’ll be looking for experiences in destinations rich in culture and natural beauty,� she said.
FOLLOWING Easyjet’s controversial change in luggage allowance, Jet2 has pledged to keep passenger-friendly policies. The Leeds-based firm claims it will not change its on-board baggage rules after Easyjet recently emulated Ryanair’s charging policy. The Irish airline has long had additional charges for second carry-on bags, but Jet2 has promised it has no plans to introduce similar policies, when flights resume later this month. With 10 UK bases and destinations to many holiday destinations, it hopes to reintroduce some services in time for Christmas, following COVID-related cancellations. It says passengers will not be charged for a large cabin bag and will continue to benefit from two pieces of free hand luggage, whether the service is flight-only or part of a holiday. In addition to a piece of hand luggage weighing no more than 10kg and no larger than 56cm x 45cm x 25cm (including wheels and handles) customers can carry a small personal item that can be placed underneath the seat in front of them.
OP QUICK Crossword
Across 6 Loses signal strength (6,2) 8 Hogwarts posties (4) 9 Load (6) 10 Close, but no cigar (6) 11 Together, they're a charm (12) 14 Ghostly cop is incoherent expert on how we tick (12) 17 Small settlement for a Shakespeare character (6) 20 Coordinated (2,4) 21 Indolently (4) 22 Meets up with (4,4) Down
OP Sudoku
10
1 Hunkers down (8) 2 Very widespread (8) 3 Leaped (6) 4 Wordsworth words (4) 5 Mountains (4) 7 Branch of Islam (5) 12 According to some ... (2,2,4) 13 Set off (8) 15 Uproar (6) 16 Three bright stars are his belt on high (5) 18 Increases (4) 19 Narrative songs (4)
All solutions are on page 14
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The Olive Press all editions FP (342mmx256mm) December 9
12
FOOD,DRINK & TRAVEL
December 11th - December 24th 2020
Sites for sore eyes
Laurence Dollimore discovers Spain’s most treasured UNESCO sites
SPAIN is richly endowed when it comes to natural beauty and historical sites. This has been recognised by UNESCO, which has so far included 48 locations across Spain on a list of sites awarded protected status from the United Nations culture department since it was established in 1945.
The collection of sites reflects the complex and varied history of Spain from Roman times, through the Moorish conquest and Christian Reconquest to the pInnacle of its power as a Renaissance empire during the 15th and 16th centuries. Check out the OP’s own Unmissable UNESCO collection.
ENSHRINED: The prehistoric burial chamber Dolmens in Antequera are one of the most recent sites to be recognised by UNESCO
Palmeral of Elche, Alicante An oasis in the heart of a Spanish city. This historic date palm grove was awarded World Heritage status in 2000 for being a unique example of Arab agricultural practices on the European continent. Its formal layout, a typical feature of the North African landscape, was transplanted to Spain during Islamic occupation and has managed to survive to the present day. The ancient and elaborate irrigation system, which is still functioning, is an additional highlight.
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run to the hills
Monastery and Site of the Escorial, Madrid More than 500,000 tourists a year visit the spectacular Renaissance palace and monastery complex built by the great Philip II of Armada fame. Constructed from the profits of New World discovery during the 16th century ‘Golden Age’, it comprises the royal monastery and a magnificent hunting lodge and retreat, some five kilometres away. In these two buildings, the might of the Spanish monarchy and the clout of the Roman Catholic Church come together
in jaw-dropping architectural splendour. Under UNESCO’s wing since 1984, the royal site includes a stone complex of extraordinary dimensions surrounded by formal gardens, the monks’ kitchen gardens, the House of Trades, and the Company Quarters where the palace and monastery services took place.
Royal Monastery of Santa Maria de Guadalupe, Extremadura
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From humble origins as a 13th century chapel, this Caceres monastery came to symbolise two significant events in world history both dating from 1492: the Spanish reconquest and Christopher Columbus’ voyage of discovery. It was here that the great explorer came to give thanks to the iconic Virgin of Guadalupe for his safe passage to the Americas. Added to over the years, making it an exceptional example of widely differing architectural styles, the monastery remains a place of pilgrimage for the Western world and Latin America. It joined the UNESCO stable in 1993.
FOOD,DRINK & TRAVEL
December 11th - December 24th 2020
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Donana National Park, Sevilla This enchanting waterworld overlapping Huelva and Cadiz provinces is one of the most important wetlands in Europe - complete with rice paddies and endangered Iberian lynx. But despite its myriad marshes, lakes, channels, reserves and lagoons, this paradise for birds needs all the protection it can get in the dry summer season, when water is scarce. Its forests shelter fallow deer, Spanish red deer, wild boar, the European badger, the Egyptian mongoose and the rare Spanish imperial eagle. Dunes and 25 km of unspoilt white sand beaches are also part of a unique biodiversity that has been under threat from agriculture, water pollution and tourism. The park was declared a Biosphere Reserve in 1980 and added World Heritage Site to its credentials in 1994.
Historic Centre of Cordoba, Cordoba
Cathedral, Alcazar and Archivo de Indias, Sevilla
In 1984 UNESCO threw a protective cordon around a chunk of Cordoba’s historic quarter, encompassing the twisting maze of streets that lead to its showpiece Great Mosque. The architecture reflects thousands of years of occupation by differing cultural groups, beginning with the Romans in 2BC. In the 8th century, Cordoba became capital of the Damascan emirate, when 300 mosques and palaces were constructed in a frenzied bid to rival the gems of Constantinople, Damascus and Baghdad. When Abderraman III established it as the headquarters of an independent Caliphate in 929, Cordoba’s realm extended all over the Iberian peninsula.
This trio of architectural gems in the heart of the city are a monumental draw for tourists.
The Moorish Alcazar is the oldest royal palace still in use in Europe; the gothic cathedral is the largest in the world and contains the tomb of the world’s most intrepid explorer, Christopher ColumVizcaya Bridge, Bizjaia, Basque Country bus; while some of his charts can be A more recent addition to the list is the Vizcaya Bridge, awarded UNESCO staseen at the stuntus in 2006. The world’s oldest transporter bridge - designed by Bilbao architect Alberto de ning Renaissance Palacio, a disciple of Gustave Eiffel - opened in 1893. The 43m high structure Archivo de Indias was the first in the world to carry people and traffic on a moveable section of building, which roadway across a river. The suspended gondola system was used as a model holds the largest for similar bridges old world collection across Europe, Africa of documents relaand America, only a ting to New World few of which remain. discovery. UNESCO added it to Between them, its portfolio in 2006, they epitomise praising its innovatiSpain’s Golden ve use of lightweight Age, incorporating twisted steel cables vestiges of Islamic and hailing it one of culture, centuries the most outstanof ecclesiastical ding architectural iron constructions of power and the trathe Industrial Revoding clout Spain lution. acquired through its colonies.
Alhambra, Generalife and Albaycín, Granada The magnificent red fortress dominating the city of Granada has inspired artists, writers and poets for centuries and is considered to be one of the seven Wonders of the World. The imposing Moorish palace was once the residence of emirs who ruled the area in the 13th and 14th centuries and created the enchanting walled gardens of the Generalife, with its cool fountains and carp ponds. The Albaycin is the medieval town that grew up around the Alhambra, a bustling residential area today, with Moorish and Andalusian architecture harmoniously intertwined. All three sites have been bubble-wrapped by UNESCO since 1984.
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14
COLUMNISTS
December 11th - December 24th 2020
Life on the ocean waves
I HAD all summer, but which month did we decide to do a powerboat course? In December! Crazy, I know! However, this just proves there is no bad time to do a boating course in Mallorca. Now you may ask yourself, why would someone like me without a boat or the means right now of owning one, want to learn to drive one? Well, firstly we’re surrounded by beautiful bays, and secondly, just for the sheer fun of it! If you live in Spain one of the best things about being here is the lifestyle. In England, even if you own a boat you’re unlikely to use it much due to the weather. But here anyone can enjoy boating pretty much all year round. I have had some experience of driving a speedboat as my Dad owned one when me and my brothers were kids. I remember it being great fun buzzing about Lake Windermere before the fun sponges introduced a speed ban. But I’ve never taken a proper course and was really up for learning a new skill. We met Steve Wickenden, director of Balearic Sea School (BSS), who estab-
EXIT COUNTDOWN TO BR
O
VER the past week, apart from the excitement of a vaccine becoming available for use in the UK, intense talks between the EU and the UK have been taking place with not much being reported which was seen to be a positive outcome. That old adage ‘no news is good news’ though seems to be in question as talks look to be on the verge of collapse with the countdown stopwatch being paused while David Frost and Michel Barnier report back to their principals that the ‘conditions for an agreement are not met’ and Boris Johnson saying a deal is ‘unlikely’. Neither side wants to compromise although a no deal could spell problems for both the UK and the EU. The fishing industry is one stumbling block as France, in particular, wants to continue to fish in British waters but Britain is digging its heels in and part of its ‘taking back control’ wants to control that access and, with the last EU
Learning to handle a powerboat is an all-year round treat
lished the company in 1999 after moving how in-depth the training was. to Mallorca from London. Steve can usual- I just thought we’d be shown how to masly be seen whizzing about Puerto Portals ter and moor the boat, little did I expect on his electric scooter co-ordinating train- to learn navigational skills, tying different ing courses, charters and gardiennage of knots, anchoring etc…. Our first morning 30 vessels. was spent doing theory before going out He’s a well-known character in Puerto Por- on the 10-metre RIB, which as we now tals having lived in Mallorca since 1997 know means Rigid Inflatable Boat. and knows all We were first there is to know taught how to about boating. manoeuvre the Our instructor boat which may for the two-day seem simple in course was Gerthe open sea, man-born Gasbut with around ton Westphal 45,000 registered who has been boats in the Baleteaching for arics and other over 10 years. obstacles to be Prior to the aware of like course Paul and paddle boarders I were given a and snorkelers, Royal Yachtyou have to know ing Association what you’re doing handbook which out there. we’d read from It was a bit nipcover to cover. py on the ocean, From day one I but I was actually was surprised at SEA LEGS: Hubby Paul learns the ropes grateful for the
No news is bad news Waiting with bated breath for a Brexit deal, writes Anne Hernandez
summit this year on December 10, France could veto any deal it doesn’t like. We wait with bated breath as to the outcome but, as has been predicted by many since the referendum back in 2016, it has certainly gone to the wire! Meanwhile, the haulage firms are left unable to plan for any new rules because that information, due in August, is still not forthcoming. So, as previously reported, delays at customs and queues regardless of any deal, might mean food shortages in the UK which, in turn, will likely lead to price increases as the extra tariffs and costs of delays are offset. 26% of the UK’s food imports come from the EU, produce like fresh fruits, salad vegetables, meat and wine could become scarce and unbelievably, even most of that very British
WON’T FIT: Final piece of the jigsaw is proving hard to place
Cheddar cheese comes from Ireland! And, of course, the site in Ashford, Kent where all these lorries are due to be held while the paperwork is checked, is still under construction. Rain has stopped work there for some time but the construction wasn’t even started until late summer. Nothing like leaving things to the last minute! Spain has announced the requirements for visas for Brits visiting after December 31. The 90 days in any 180 days Schengen rule still stands but longer stays will need a visa being granted in advance upon application for those Brits who, as non EU citizens, wish to come to reside, work or study here. Spain continues to try to meet our increased and late demand for those residencies and exchange of driving licences but, with appointments being few and far between, many Brits are very worried for their residential status here come next year. We, at Brexpats in Spain, are doing our best to help but 24 hours in a day at the moment frankly do not seem enough! The EU is interested in our plight with TV and radio wanting interviews and talks with our members over the next couple of weeks but, disappointing though not surprising, nothing requested from any British-based press!
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Unseasonal greetings
A
ND just like that, it was Christmas. Traditionally the festive season is a little different for freelancers like myself as we indulge in the yearly game of ‘Make sure you get paid by all your clients by the second week of December, or you won’t see your hard earned until they get back after Three Kings”.
Have yourself a COVID Little Christmas time
Special
In a funny way, I will miss the equally traditional response of all secretaries and PAs at this special time of year that goes something along the lines of ‘I’m sorry, he’s gone skiing in Sierra Nevada’. The movement restrictions have put paid to that one. 2020 being The Year That Was, the last time I looked at the slopes they were absolutely pristine, but all activities are banned. You can bet your bottom ‘centimo’ that when we are allowed to ski, there will be a never before experienced thaw… Christmas festivities have been curtailed as well. A 1.30am maximum curfew has
NOT OPEN: Skiers will have to wait but will snow last?
been announced for Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve that means we may be treated to the sight of the devout legging it home at 1.15am after Midnight Mass. A 1.30am curfew and no gatherings to do the grapes etc. on New Year’s Eve will also be somewhat of a damp seasonal squib. Whereas in the UK, midnight is the highpoint
Quick Crossword
Down: 1 Crouches, 2 Pandemic, 3 Sprang, 4 Poem, 5 Alps, 7 Sunni, 12 It is said, 13 Detonate, 15 Outcry, 16 Orion, 18 Adds, 19 Lays.
Telling it like it is
cold weather as it meant none of us had to physically go in the water to practice rescuing a man overboard, which was replaced with a buoy. One of the trickiest things for me was learning how to get the boat back into the port safely, berthing it between the expensive super yachts without bashing into any! Also navigation, as we had to be able to plot a route on a map which started to hurt my brain, as I have the worst sense of direction on land never mind the ocean! After an intensive two days we’d completed the course and were presented with our Powerboat Level two licence which enables us to hire any boat up to 10 metres and go out and enjoy being on the sea. I’d recommend BSS to anyone as it’s the longest established sea school in the Balearics and is open to all, whether you want to learn boat handling for the first time or to further career prospects as a skipper. For more information visit: www.balearicseaschool.com or Tel: (34) 606 859 560
OP Puzzle solutions Across: 6 Breaks up, 8 Owls, 9 Burden, 10 Almost, 11 Hummingbirds, 14 Psychologist, 17 Hamlet, 20 In sync, 21 Idly, 22 Runs into.
Terenia Taras
RULES: People will have to take care this Christmas
of the festivities, where everyone is well oiled and then goes around kissing anything in range, including the Labrador shirking in the kitchen, the Spanish haven’t even got out of their festive first gear as the clock strikes. As well as this, the lack of season celebrations will have serious implications for a freelancer like myself. I can normally count on at least two Christmas events to ward off starvation, plus I normally carry a discreet man bag containing Tupperware. ‘One for the plate, one for the takeaway’, is my mantra. Even the baccalaurean celebration that is the Olive Press Christmas Lunch seems to have been put on hold. So this year it looks like I will spend the Festive Season watching my specially commissioned ‘Highlights 2020’ video (all 30 seconds of it) while dressed in my New Year’s Eve Fancy Dress Outfit – a giant Scotch Egg…
HEALTH Just a little prick
December 11th - December 24th 2020
FERNANDO Diez, general director of Elix Pharma, has announced that the first models of the pharmaceutical company’s COVID-19 home testing kit will arrive in Spanish pharmacies ‘between December 10 and 15.’ Priced at €25.50, the ‘Primacovid’ home test is much more affordable than the PCR tests and, according to Elix Pharma, is 95.7% reliable. It works with a simple prick of the finger, detecting the presence of IgG and IgM antibodies
against SARS-COV-2 in the blood, and produces results within 15-20 minutes. Currently under manufacture in Switzerland, Primacovid bears the CE authorisation mark, meaning it has been approved by the EU. Elix Pharma hopes to distribute the first 500,000 models within the next three months. Unfortunately, however, a prescription is required to buy the home test kit. Nor are the prescription criteria themselves entirely clear
15
yet. Nonetheless, Diez told 20Minutos, ‘the demand [for Primacovid] far outweighs the supply.’ With any luck, the Primacovid home test kit will not spark the same fiasco as the Chinese-made coronavirus self-diagnosis kits distributed in Spain earlier this year. Of the 640,000 models purchased, 58,000 proved defective, leading to the entire batch being pulled.
Doses declared Testing times THE Spanish Ministry of Health has just announced that it will now also accept negative TMA tests from travellers wishing to enter Spain and that children under six are exempt. Typically under €100, a TMA (Transcription Mediated-Amplification) is cheaper than a PCR, which can cost over €200, and produces results twice as quickly – in around two hours. Like a PCR, a TMA is carried out using a nasal swab and detects the presence of genetic material from COVID-19, making it highly reliable. The Health Ministry has also ruled that children under six years of age are exempt if they are arriving via air and that test results can also be presented in French or German, in addition to in English or Spanish, which were the only accepted languages until now. The changes were made after Spaniards in Manchester complained that it was costing them up to £250 just to get a PCR test and that the results of tests carried out by the UK National Health System, in instances of suspected contact with a ‘positive’, did not include passport details or a Spanish ID number. All travellers to Spain are still required to fill out a ‘Sanitary Control Form.’
Health kick SCIENTISTS in Spain are studying how exercising twice a week for 50 minutes can help boost recovery from so-called ‘LongCovid’. Exercises used in the study include a programme of strength and aerobic exercises to help people return to full health post-coronavirus. Understanding the best rehabilitation methods is becoming increasingly important as people continue to report ‘long Covid’ symptoms - such as fatigue and dehydration - that have continued for many months after first contracting the virus.
By Lydia Spencer-Elliott
FOUR lions have tested positive for coronavirus at Barcelona Zoo. Zala, Nima and Run Run, all females, and
By Isha Sesay
A TOTAL of 51,000 people in the Balearic Islands will be vaccinated against coronavirus by April next year according to Health Minister Patricia Gomez. Gomez said the region will receive 102,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine with each patient requiring two jabs. The first to be protected against COVID-19 will be vulnerable groups and healthcare profesCHEERS: UK health staff clap the first COVID vaccination with Mallorca next sionals. This will include 5,500 elderly and disabled people as well as gressive throughout next year.” She explained that the biggest tra-freezers, syringes and neeIn anticipation of their arrival, challenge is to ensure doses are dles to be completely prepared,” 43,000 health workers. She said: “It is important that Gomez said her Health Depart- stored in ultra-cold tempera- said Gomez. we prioritise the vulnerable ment was ‘very busy working on tures of below 70C in order for “The objective is not to be the first, but to do it with health population in the first phase, all of the logistics necessary’ to them to be effective “We have purchased ul- guarantees.” but vaccinations will be pro- roll out the vaccine.
Jungle fever
male Kiumbe underwent a COVID-19 test after displaying mild
symptoms. Two staff members also tested positive for
the virus and an investigation is now under way to establish how the infection spread. Zoo officials said the risk of the virus spreading to visitors or other animals was low since no one gets ‘close enough’ to the pack. The lions, all aged 16, have had no contact with other animals at the Barcelona facility. Zala, Nima, Kiumbe and Run Run are responding well to treatment, and aside from a minor cough are almost back to full health.
Care
SPAIN’S health minister, Salvador Illa, has issued a blunt warning that relaxations of curfew and travel rules for Christmas could be changed if coronavirus cases continue to climb. The government last week agreed on a package of relaxations for the festive season with the country’s regional administrations. That includes travel between regions for family members,
Festive health warning the curfew start-time being pushed back to 1.30am for a few days, and up to ten family members allowed to meet at home or at a restaurant. Salvador Illa said: “If infection rates worsen in the coming weeks, then the measures for the Christmas period will be toughened.” The relaxations are already
subject to different regions adapting them according to the situation in their own areas. “If the measures that we have agreed with the regions are followed and mask-wearing, social distancing and hand hygiene recommendations are followed, then things will go well,” Illa added.
They are being treated with anti-inflammatory drugs and monitored closely. “The lions were given veterinary care for their mild clinical condition - similar to a very mild flu condition - and [they] responded well,” the zoo said in a statement. “The Zoo has worked with international experts such as the Veterinary Service of the Bronx Zoo, the only one that has documented cases of SarsCoV-2 infection in felines.”
Shots all round POSITIVE news of the Pfizer vaccine trial has given a boost to the struggling travel industry in Mallorca. Reservations made by British holidaymakers to Mallorca have skyrocketed since the vaccine’s success was confirmed.
Positive
Bookings to Mallorca shot up by 30% on the first day after the major announcement, according to ABTA tourist association. The group said the vaccine approval has ‘given a real push to the tourism industry’, with online bookings ‘increasing throughout the day’. “This shows that there is a desire to travel when there is security to do so, as in the case with the vaccine,” they said. Meanwhile in Spain, Andalucia’s Junta announced that the COVID-19 vaccination programme will begin in the New Year. According to the Regional Minister for Health and Families, Jesus Aguirre, the majority of the region will be immunised ‘in three or four months’. On Wednesday, the British government revealed that they would be the first country in the world to authorize the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine.
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Old love
FINAL WORDS
A 16TH century love poem recently discovered in Oñati, near San Sebastian, is believed to be the oldest known text in Euskera, the Basque regional tongue.
Baby plan SCIENTISTS in Barcelona are creating an artificial placenta to help babies born at less than six months’ gestation to develop in a ‘natural environment.’
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Vol. 4 Issue 95 www.theolivepress.es December 11th - December 24th 2020
Aliens or pranksters? A STRANGE silver monolith has appeared in Spain, one of half a dozen suddenly appearing around the world. The Spanish example appeared overnight beside the ruins of a church, in Ayllon, Castilla y Leon. An identical monolith was also found over the weekend in the town of Sulzbach, Germany, meaning the eerie objects have now appeared in six countries, also including Britain, Colombia, Holland, Romania and USA. The first one was discovered in the remote Utah desert on November 18 and caused a sensation online.
ENGLISHMAN George King climbed Barcelona’s Agbar Tower without ropes on Saturday to ‘raise spirits’ during the virus-affected festive season. STRANGE: Monolith
Who dumped Trump?
Hitting the heights Expat hitting world’s top 10 peaks - including Everest - in staggering personal challenge for charity
By Alex Trelinski
AN EXPAT is running the equivalent distance of an ascent of Mount Everest plus the world’s top peaks for charity. Dave Clissitt’s ‘Ten Peak Challenge’ involves scampering the height of 10 world summits including the seven highest on seven continents. The ultra-marathon runner, 49, who lives in Villajoyosa, has already done three parts of the challenge on a circuit rising 1.8 km up to Torre del Aguilo. The Spanish summit section included Aitana, the highest spot in Alicante Province, and the country’s biggest mountain, Mount Teide, in the Canaries.
BUMMER: Trump figure HE has had fun poked at him for years and has lost the election, but now the final indignity has been heaped on Donald Trump - a statuette of him taking a poo has been produced for Christmas. Catalan figurine makers Caganer.com have made a series of tiny figurines of the biggest names from 2020, transforming iconic faces from the world of politics, artistic, sports or fiction, into caganers (poopers).
Bottoms up
CHALLENGE: Dave Clissitt is well on the way The Aitana saw Dave, originally from Wales, doing 12 laps of the course in over three-and-a-half hours to clock up 23.5 kilometres.
The challenge is all about raising money for Doble Amor School, which is a special Benidorm college that looks after people with disabilities.
This year Trump taking a dump features highly in their seasonal offer for nativity displays. Other figures to get the same treatment include Vladimir Putin and Boris Johnson, and even Her Majesty the Queen. They all feature bare bottoms and a pile of poo in a typically ‘robust’ display of Catalan humour. And there’s no need for these tiny leaders to keep 6ft apart as 15 of the most popular sculptures now come with masks.
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