Merry Christmas and a happy New Year to all our readers
OLIVE PRESS
The
MALLORCA
FREE
Vol. 5 Issue 121
Your expat
voice in Spain
www.theolivepress.es December 17th - January 13th 2022
All the fun of the slopes 2021 - 2022
A Sierra Nevada
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Photos by Telemark
Nothing beats a weekend in the Costa del Ski, writes Jon Clarke
the magical architecture And if you fancy a change, Alhambra, why the Sierra Nevada of Spain’s most visited monument, the of the T’S not hard to work out Europe's top skiing is only half an hour away, while the beaches is often dubbed ‘southern beckon in an hour. nearby Costa Tropical sunbathe resort’. in the Alps this week The famous adage of ‘ski in the morning, and it’s While you’ll be shivering lunch is very much game on Pyrenees, I’m eating and it’s foggy in the the top of Spain’s second in the afternoon’ many times. the Sibeen tried and tested in bright sunshine near interests me. I like visiting usu- But none of that the sport, but also the food and highest mountain. the Sierra Nevada is for It’s mid-December and and a few of the regulars erra Nevada watchthe people. ally warm during the day while everyone looks There is simply nothing more amazing than drive are actually skiing in t-shirts, on the skyline as you ing the resort appear Malaga or tanned. washed down with an from around Spain (or fly over to land in that Even better, my light lunch, to just over €10…and Gibraltar). Mulhacen obligatory caña, comes up the slopes! peaks of Veleta and as far as is at a restaurant halfway not the number of ki- The snow-capped miles around (in fact of can be seen for 120 miles as the crow flies) and “Here we sell the weather, Luis Hernandez, boss gone Grazalema, somesteep, often single-carriageway to lometres,” explains Juan the prices have hardly winding up the EOE ski school. “And any drive in the country. the top is as exciting asout with timeless views and up for years.” This is a wonderful day
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Continues on Page 2
SNOW TREKKING: Across
See our special 8 page Sierra Nevada supplement, which tells you all you need to know to get the best out of Europe’s most southerly ski resort See page 9
the sierra
Not fine!
STARS: From left, Fosh, Molina, Arellano and Salazar
Mallorca restaurant awarded twoMichelin stars MALLORCA once again has a two-Michelin starred restaurant, putting the island firmly on the haute-cuisine map. The awards were handed out by culinary wizz Quique Dacosta, who holds six stars of his own. Voro, the restaurant run by chef Alvaro Salazar at the Cap Vermell Gran Hotel, near Canyamel on the island’s eastern coast, was awarded the coveted two-stars in a ceremony to launch the 2020 Michelin guide to Spain and Por-
COOKING UP A TREAT
tugal held this week. One of only four restaurants across Spain to gain two stars in the latest edition, it is now the only establishment on the Balearics to boast the accolade. Two other restaurants across the islands also won their first star. La Gaia at Ibiza Gran Hotel earned a star under chef O s c a r Molina, w h i l e chef Fernando P Arellano’s Zaranda was awarded a star less than three months
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after it reopened in a new location at Palma’s Hotel Es Princep. Arellano had previously gained two stars for his restaurant of the same name in Mallorca’s Castell Son Claret, but the establishment closed in July 2020. Maca de Castro in Mallorca’s Port d’Alcudia, which already boasts one Michelin star, won special recognition for its environmental and sustainable practices with a Michelin Green Star, becoming the second restaurant to do so in the Balearic Islands and one of only 27 to receive the distinction across Spain.
WIZZ: Quique Dacosta
Mallorca and two on Ibiza. Among them is British chef, Marc Fosh who held onto his Michelin Star for his eponymous restauCongrats rant in Palma for the eighth conThe Balearic Islands as a whole secutive year. now boast 10 restaurants with “Thanks and congratulations to one Michelin Star – eight on all of the fantastic team at the Marc Fosh Restaurant! The Michelin Guide has recognised our work and efforts for another year with a Star...Thank you.” Fosh See pages 20 & 24 wrote on his twitter account when the new guide was unveiled in a ceremony in Valencia on Tuesday.
Tel: 952 147 834 TM
ACTOR Andrew Shim has pleaded with Spanish police to sell off his Mercedes Sprinter to avoid jail following a €88,655 fine for drugs trafficking. Shim was running a business renting out luxury motorcycles at Spanish race tracks before Granada police found 60kg of marihuana in his transport van at a petrol station in October last year. A Malaga court let Shim off with a suspended sentence in July after an eight-month stay in prison, on the condition the Nottingham-based actor paid a fine equal to the drugs’ black-market value. But now Shim, 38, has pled poverty and asked if police can sell his Mercedes. It had been impounded leading to the collapse of his Trackside Hire Ltd business. If he does not pay, police could issue an international arrest warrant to bring Shim back to Spain and face jail. “Shim is insisting he doesn’t have the money to settle the fine and has asked for the van that was confiscated to be auctioned off and the proceeds put towards payment,” a judicial source told the Daily Mail. “The state prosecutor has been asked for a report before the judge makes a final decision. “If the judge agrees to the money made from any auction of the van being put towards what he owes, and it’s a big if, it’s only going to get him out of a hole for a bit because there’s no way that vehicle is worth anything like €88,000.” Prices of second-hand Mercedes Sprinter vans begin at around €25,000, however Shim is known to be a car enthusiast and has posted upgrades to his Sprinter on social media. It comes after Spanish police busted Shim and two associates for handling Continues on Page 4