TwoRenfe.people had to be airlifted to hospi tal to be treated for serious burns while more than a dozen others, including a 10-year-old girl were taken to localhospitals.Ourinvestigation into alarming late night craze
AWE: An Olive Press reporter caught on camera a wall of flames as they raced towards the A-23. The fire threatened the villages of Toras, Viver and Teresa.
Destroyed More than 286,000 hectares have been destroyed across Spain, according to the European Forest Fire Informa tion System (EFFIS) representing four times the average figure for the last de cade, and almost six times more than the 2021 total. A total of 15 of Spain’s autonomous re gions have had serious fires this year and will qualify for ‘disaster zone’ support with only the northern coast al regions of Cantabria and Asturias spared.
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TWO different areas of the Comuni dad de Valencia have been declared ‘disaster zones’ following the worst wildfires to hit the region in at least a Hotdecade.drywinds fuelled a blaze centring around Bejis in eastern Valencia forcing the evacuation of around 2,200 people and destroying close to 20,000 hectares before it was brought under control on Sunday. Flames For six days teams of firefighters battled a wall of flames that stretched across a perimeter of 138 kilometres sending a smoke plume that was visible all the way to Ibiza. Terrifying video footage showed fire fighters running for their lives as a tow ering inferno roared behind them. Residents finally allowed to return to their homes in the towns of Bejis and Teresa, Castellon province, on Monday did so to discover a black ened landscape, the smell of burning thick in the air and those buildings not destroyed by flames covered in a thick layer of ash. At the same time, further south along the coast in Alicante province, a wild fire tore through the Vall D’Ebo, threat ening homes and ravaging a further 12,000 hectares before it too was finally brought under control last Friday. Spain’s government said Monday it would classify regions struck by big wildfires this year as disaster zones, a move that will trigger emergency sub sidies and other financial support mea Standingsures. in front of the skeletons of charred trees in Bejis, Prime Minis ter Pedro Sanchez (pictured inset) ac knowledged the ‘psychological blow’ suffered by those who had lost their belongings to the flames, as well as the huge environ mental damage. “We are facing a climate emergen cy and these fires require us to rethink how we deal fighting them and how to deal with the recovery of theplaces affected by them,” said Sanchez. “This is the hottest summer since such records began and future ones are go ing to get even hotter, “ he warned. So far this year Spain has suffered around 400 separate wildfires, during a summer marked by ferocious heat waves and long dry spells.
By Fiona Govan
Train fire panic
AROUND a dozen passengers on a train travelling through a wildfire suffered burns after they feared their carriage was about to be en gulfed in flames and fled through a Thewindow.train was travelling between Sa gunto in the eastern province of Va lencia, to Zaragoza in Aragon when the driver stopped as he saw flames approaching the track ahead. Realising that it was too dangerous to continue, he was attempting to put the engine in reverse and back off to the nearest station when panic broke out inside one of the carriages.
Blaze A number of passengers used the emergency hammer to break the glass and escaped through a window. But once outside they were scorched by the flames and returned to the car riage to seek refuge. “Once they saw that they were sur rounded by fire they got back on the train and several of them had suffered burns,” confirmed state rail company
NEEDLE PROBE Page 4 EXCLUSIVENEWS
Prime Minister Sanchez declares ‘disaster’ zones after fires sweep the region
CRIMEwww.theolivepress.es August 25th - September 7th 20222 NEWS IN BRIEF
Spanish police bust notorious drug trafficker known as the Reina de Ronda, who inspired best-sellingDrugsbookgang coup
Pitch million.atitiesProvincepitchesARTIFICIALperfectsoccerin13Alicantemunicipalwillberenewedatotalcostof€2.3Areastoben efit include Benidorm, Calpe, Gata de Gorgos, and PowerVillena.boost
Hotel Blitz
REPORTED crimes in Ali cante Province have gone up by 24.6% in the first half of 2022, compared to the same period last year. The total number of crim inal offences was 43,438 between January and June, compared to 34,857 in 2021. Eight killings took place in the first six months - three of them being the schoolboy shooting of his parents and brother in Elche. The overall figures are sim ilar to the first half of 2019 with the next two years see ing the Covid pandemic and various lockdown and late night travel restrictions.
QUEEN OF THE SOUTH
Vax Call AROUND 720 ‘at risk’ people in the Valencian Community are getting text messages calling them in for a monkeypox vaccination. They are mainly men with existing HIV conditions. Bad siblings TWO brothers in their late 30’s have been arrested for sexually assaulting a boy in an Algemesi town square. The boy was inappropriate ly touched and ran home to tell his parents who con tacted the police.
By Fiona Govan NABBED: Maria del Mar Mellado A NOTORIOUS drug trafficker dubbed the Queen of Ronda has been busted by police in LegendaryMadrid. Maria del Mar Mellado, 38, ran a network of mules bringing in cocaine from the Caribbean, while leading a double life as an out-of-work Basedbeautician.outof sleepy Cuevas del Becerro, near Ronda, her drug trafficking empire recruited dozens of local unemployed people to smuggle from the Dominican Republic. The class A drugs, mostly imbibed in condoms, was then processed in Ron da and distributed across ToSpain.keep her cover and instill good feeling locally, she helped pay for local sports facilities as well as donating huge sums to pay for the town’s Three Kings parade at Christmas. She also distributed toys to needy children around the Ron da Knownarea. to police she was pre viously arrested in 2012, when she was handed an 11 year sen tence, getting out a couple of years ago. She is now back behind bars after police recently tracked a woman who had acted suspi ciously while on a commercial flight from Colombia. Believing her to be carrying cocaine, police followed the woman from Madrid airport to a contact in the city. From there she was given an address to make her delivery and it was there that police rec ognized the ‘well-known drug trafficker nicknamed the Queen of PoliceRonda’.said that in addition to the 11kilos of cocaine smuggled, they found a hidden compart ment in Maria’s car containing €23,000 in cash as well as six encrypted phones. Her earlier arrest in 2012 was the inspiration behind Arturo Perez Reverte’s bestselling book Reina del Sur - Queen of the South - which has been made into a hit TV series and movie.
A MAN and woman have been arrested after stealing from 55 Benidorm hotel rooms since TheyJuly. were said to be part of an Algerian gang targeting Costa Blanca towns in crime blitzes before moving on to another location. The man - said to be the gang leader - has been re manded in custody. Gang members mingled with guests during the day to access rooms and commit thefts. They often walked around in bathing gear to suggest they were genuine guests. Personal valuables were stolen and safes forced open in rooms.
VILLAJOYOSA will get a new €5.4 million elec tricity sub-station which power provider Iberdrola says will benefit 54,000 customers in the Marina Baixa area. The new plant goes online in 2024.
CRIMESOARING
THE Policia Nacional have brought down what they called a ‘very violent’ Benidorm drugs gang that grew and sold marijuana. Police described the arrests as a ‘coup’ after an ‘arduous and complex’ investigation. Five men and two women of different European nationalities were detained after two house raids in Altea and l'Alfas del Pi with marijuana farms at both properties. Five guns, ammunition and silencers were seized by po lice in addition to daggers, tasers, and knuckle dusters
TOGETHER: The Portillo family A TEAM of firefighters battling flames in Aragon have shared a vid eo of them giving water to a roe deer and soothing its burns, providing a heartwarming moment during the horror of yet another wildfire. The fawn was dehydrated and suf fering mild burns after running from the burning forest in a blaze in Mon cayo, in the province of Zaragoza. This summer has been the worst in terms of forest fires on record with more than 270,000 hectares already devastated by flames across Spain.
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HOLLYWOOD superstar Richard Gere has brought a sprinkling of stardust to Spain this summer. The 72-year-old joined fellow Hollywood A-lister An tonio Banderas at Marbella’s Starlite Festival. They were the big names at the 13th edition of the fes tival’s charity gala - founded by Banderas and busi nesswoman Sandra García-Sanjuan - which raises cash for good causes. During the event, tenor Andrea Bocelli was awarded for his foundation’s work in helping the poor in Italy. Gere's wife, Alejandra Silva, was also awarded for collaborating with charities including Open Arms and the Rais Foundation.
Extra time autographs and photo selfies.Ashiscar window came down, a man grabbed his arm and snatched his watch before running away.The player ini tially tried to chase down the thief himself be fore thereturnedarrestmadepoliceanandwatch.
BARCELONA star Robert Lewandowski had a nasty welcome to his new life in Spain. The Polish star, who has just signed for the Catalan out fit, had a €70,000 watch ripped off his arm when arriving for a himproachedfanswhenhappenedcidentThesession.traininginaptoget
Bambi saved
Former UK minister celebrates his 40th wedding anniversary and retraces his father’s steps during his civil war escape from Spain
ByEXCLUSIVEJonClarke earliest memories included his father speaking of his ha tred of Franco. “His tone was shocking be cause he was the most loving and gentle of humans. Yet loathing for Franco poured from him. He carried a debili tating wound, of the spirit not the “Mybody.father's life had been devastated by the Spanish conflict. As a supporter of the government in 1936, he had fought against the rebels. In January 1939, as the govern ment side was stumbling to defeat, he crossed the Pyre nees into exile.” Today, life has come full cir cle for the Portillos, with Mi chael spending a lot of time in Spain, where he chose to cele brate his 40th wedding anni versary recently with family and friends. He and his wife, recruitment consultant, Caroyln Eadie, have owned a charming townhouse in evocative Car mona, near Sevilla, for over a decade. Children “I’ve known my wife since we were small children, so the 40 years is only the married bit,” he Thesaid.couple were unable to have children after she de veloped cancer early in the Hismarriage.father died in 1993 in London, but was buried in Madrigal, in Avila, where he has a grave. The Pyrenees with Michael Portillo started on Channel 5 last week
momentsLandmark
REVELLERS in Ibiza got a surprise when Brit ish star Robbie Williams got up on stage during aTheconcert.crooner joined his pals Flynn Francis and Tim Metcalfe, whose band Lufthaus were per forming at brand new venue 528 Ibiza. “It was a dream come true to have one of the world’s most successful artists at our new ven ue,” explained venue boss Andy McKay. Dream come true
“I feel delighted that the hard work that so many peo ple do is recognised,” said Silva.
Luveetoseeyou
IT has been a landmark year for former British government minister Mi chael Portillo. As well as celebrating his 40th wedding anniversary in Andalucia, he has been trav elling around the Pyrenees learning about his father’s escape from Spain after the bloody civil war. In a four-part series, The Pyrenees, he revisits how his father Luis, a left-wing academic at Salamanca Uni versity, was forced to flee his homeland. Despite not fighting for the losing Republican side, he was a staunch supporter un like his six brothers, who all fought for the victor, dictator ItFranco.meant a long and tricky journey to escape the new regime that executed tens of thousands of Republicans af ter winning in 1939. His son, who served as a Tory minister, in the government of Margaret Thatcher and lat er John Major, has now paid tribute to his father walking stretches of the Pyrenees that he took. “I hope he might think that my coming here is a tribute to him and his sacrifice,” he ex plains in one episode. “The Spanish Civil War hung over us like a big, black cloud every day, and his sadness of a potential unrealised.” He revealed in 2009 that his
FOOTSTEPS: Portillo following his father’s trail
The President of the Associ ation of Nightclubs, Daniel Espasses, 33, told the Olive Press that a protocol has been put into place in order to stop this ‘viral challenge’. “When a case is detected, we immediately contact the po lice, they arrive at the club with an ambulance to carry out the first test and then another test is made at a hospital,” he said.
“I believe that clubs are still safe for women, our staff know what to do in case a woman is pricked or is spiked in a club, also there are a lot of cameras that are monitoring what’s going on the premises,” he added. Despite the police re ports that no one has been drugged, several victims have reported feeling woozy after being pricked, suggest ing Miriamotherwise.Alba, 20, wrote on Twitter that she was a victim of needle spiking in a Barce lona club. She said: “Someone pricked me in the thigh. As soon as I realised it, I ran to the bouncer who helped me and sat me on a sofa.
While a Guardia Civil inves tigator confirmed they are still searching for ‘definitive motives’, she revealed it ap pears to have started out as an online ‘challenge’. The Madrid investigator, Maria Luisa Calcerrada told the Olive Press that, incred ibly, none of the 96 cases in volved drugs. But, she added, the conse “Ten minutes later I col lapsed feeling drowsy and with a feeling that I would do whatever I was told.”
quences of the irresponsible ‘prank’ could be deadly. “We haven’t had any cases of drug-facilitated sexual assault. All of the tests of women who reported being needle spiked were nega Shetive.” added: “We are cur rently investigating what the perpetrators’ motivation is, but it always happens in crowded places. Drowsy “They are not an organised group. The perpetrators come from different back grounds and have different “Butmotivations.weare taking this very seriously and need to stress the dangers to people,” she Meanwhile,added. a Professor of Forensic Toxicology from Santiago de Compostela University, Angelines Cruz, warned that as the same needles are probably being used on different victims, there's a danger that serious
WHO’S BEHIND YOU? Clubbers need to be aware EXCLUSIVE By Jorge Hinojosa
Opinion Page 6
AN alarming summer craze for pricking unsuspecting partygoers with needles could spread Hepatitis and HIV, an expert has warned the Olive Press There is no official data on the number of victims spiked, but already it is into the Andaluciahundreds.alone has seen a shocking 96 possible cases of ‘hypodermic needle spik ing’ with dozens more re ported in Valencia and the Balearic Islands. The Spanish press has spec ulated that the spikings could be attempts to drug young women to later sexu ally assault them. However, an Olive Press in vestigation has found that this is unlikely, with police sources revealing that it ap pears to be part of a ‘danger ous prank that started in the UK’ last year.
Needle pricks!
Health boss warns that idiotic viral challenge attackers could spread HIV and hepatitis diseases like hepatitis and HIV can be transmitted. But she also does not be lieve that drugging or sexual abuse is the motive. “To drug someone with a needle, the perpetrator needs a lot of time to inject the drug,” she explained. “Also, the effect is not imme diate, so it makes no sense to me that this technique is used to override their will.” She concluded: “Now that the perpetrators know that they are committing a crime, they will think twice before doing it.”
forPininghome
A HOMESICK teen age Ukrainian refugee was intercepted on a long-distance coach after his worried mother con tacted police in Valencia. The boy, 16, ran away from his new home and sent a text message tell ing her about his deci sion. His mother went to the police and told offi cers that he had boarded a coach at Valencia’s bus station to take him back to Ukraine. Identified Police identified the coach the boy was on and discovered that it was still in Spain. It was making a rest stop in northern Catalunya at La Junquera- close to the French border. A call was made to La Junquera police who boarded the coach and took the teenager into protective custody.
NEWSwww.theolivepress.es August 25th - September 7th 20224
JAVEA wants to bring an 18th century watchtower back to its former glory. The five-metre thick walls of the Castell de la Granadella were badly damaged by mines and gunpowder discharged by Spaniards wanting to prevent it being captured by French Javeaforces.council will apply for a €408,000 Valencian heritage grant to restore the remains of the small castle which will include rebuilding an interi or stone staircase as well as improving the surroundings around it.
EXCLUSIVE: Possible outbreak of lethal disease in Spain after an expat is rushed to hospital
sustainableVery
alarmLegionnaires
NEWSwww.theolivepress.es August 25th - September 7th 2022 5
“The wages of the pickers and oil mill charges would cost more than the price obtained for such a small quantity of olives,” he added.
GOING DOWN BENIDORM firefight ers came to the rescue of a group of people after they got stuck in a lift that jammed between floors. An emergency call came from a municipal multi-sto rey car park in the city with 10 young people trapped for what turned out to be 90 Theminutes.easiest way out was for the fire crew to force a big hole above the door and bring each of the group out to safety.
ACCESSPOPULAR
A BRITISH expat is fighting for his life after contracting Le gionnaires Disease. Richard Dickman, 80, was rushed to Marbella’s Costa del Sol hospital after being diag nosed with the potentially le thal disease. At least two more people have also been affected by the out break, the hospital confirmed on Tuesday. Dickman’s family believe he caught the bacterial infection near his home in La Cala de Mijas and have appealed to the Olive Press to try and identify the source. His daughter confirmed that at least one other patient is also being treated at the same hos pital, while a further outbreak happened in Almeria last week.
VALENCIAN Community hos pitality businesses lead Spain’s coastal regions when it comes to sustainability. The findings come in a survey compiled by non-profit recy cling entity Ecovidrio. The overall sustainability index for the Valencian Communi ty was 70.8%. Seven out of 10 Valencian establishments are already applying measures in areas like waste management, energy consumption, and water Someusage. 3,469 businesses were surveyed in the region as part of the ‘I Barometer’ on hospitality sustainability on the coast.
BENIDORM council says over 5,000 people have used their three accessible beach points in June and July. These are where people with limited mobility can go onto beaches and into the sea with the help of special access ramps, along with shaded areas and changing Therooms.city has a point at Le vante beach and two at Po niente, with almost 8,500 people accessing them this year up to the end of July.
disasterHarvestOLIVE growers in the Va lencian Community are set to forgo this year’s harvest as the costs of olive-picking and making olive oil are too high. Extreme weather conditions in the last four months have caused a massive fall in the number of available olives.
Watchtower bid
Luis Julian Perez from the Va lencian Association of Farmers told the ABC newspaper: “In some inland regions of Valen cia such as Utiel-Requena there is no harvest, or there will be so little that it will not be feasible to collect it.
“He started to feel sick on August 12 at home, and after collapsing he was admitted to hospital four days later,” she told the Olive Press this week. She added that her dad, who has lived in Spain for a decade, hadn’t ‘been to a lot of plac es’ before contracting it so it should be possible to trace the Sheoutbreak.knows one other neigh bour who also contracted the illness and is being treated at the same Legionnaires’hospital.disease is a se vere form of pneumonia - lung inflammation usually caused by infection. It’s caused by a bacteria known as legionella, often from stagnant water. She is particularly angry that he had received a visit from a doctor from a private medical service four times before being admitted to hospital. “I can’t see any improvements in my dad’s health, it’s very worrying,” she said. It is not the first case of Legion naires detected at the Hospital Costa del Sol over the last few weeks. Investigating “We have detected more cas es and the Spanish Ministry of Health is currently investi gating it.” a press officer con firmed to the Olive Press. The first outbreak in Europe took place in a Benidorm ho tel in 1980 - when half of the guests, around 150 people, got sick with four of them dying. The guests picked up the ill ness from piped water. One person died, a 68-year-old journalist, and 14 others were hospitalised after an outbreak at Benalmadena ice rink in 2007. By Jorge Hinojosa
THE huge surge in supposed needle-spiking cas es experienced in bars and nightclubs across Spain this summer is worrying on so many levels and is the latest in the long list of potential dan gers facing women when they go out to have a good Authoritiestime. appear to be taking it seriously but there is so much mystery surrounding the cases that it isn’t clear what the motives are or wheth er, in fact, there really is a new danger lurking.
3 - Lack of sleep Aside from the heat and humidity which is a key cause of insomnia, the amount of people wards you on your side of the road, people who refuse to reverse, motorway tailgaters, and tiny cars blocking the entrance to your property. And then, of course, you’ve got the Moroccan tourists returning home for the summer from England, France and Germany, loaded up with goods on the roof and exhaust ed after a steady 12 hours of driving non stop. Never take your eyes off them!
Experts seem to think it a highly unfeasible way to surreptitiously administer the volume of date rape drug required to render a victim helpless and to do it without being caught in the act, while police and hospital reports seem to back that up. Very few victims of suspected jabbings, not only in Spain, but in France and the UK where this sort of crimewave first emerged, have tested positive to any drugs. And no suspects have ever been However,arrested.there is anecdotal evidence of people experiencing drowsiness and even black-outs and memory loss accompanied by what appear to be puncture wounds to the skin.
MEDIEVAL: Arches at the Cijara reservoir have reappeared
As reservoirs dry up, long lost ancient sites are revealed, writes Fiona Govan ACROSS Spain archaeological trea sures are emerging from the deep as a prolonged drought causes res ervoir levels to drop to their lowest in Thedecades.severe drought parching Spain this summer is proving disastrous for farmers and has forced water restrictions on urban areas, but for those who enjoy seeking out historical sites there is a surprising silver Fromlining.a Roman fort in Galicia to the Stone henge of Extremadura and a medieval church in Catalunya, the Olive Press takes a closer look at long lost treasures exposed by receding waters. In Extremadura, a flock of sheep find shade from the sizzling glare of the midday sun beneath the arches of a medieval bridge, a 14th century structure lost to a watery mate change has left reservoirs at their driest in 1,200 years, and winter rains are expected to diminish further, a study pub lished last month by the Nature Geosci ence journal showed. Just outside the sleepy town of Peralêda de la Mata, a clutch of megalithic stones now rise up on a muddy shelf laid bare by the receding water; an archaeological site dubbed the ‘Stonehenge of Spain’. Dating back 5,000 years, the circle of granite menhirs are all that remains of a sun temple built by Bronze Age man on the banks of the Tagus River in Caceres prov Valuedince. as a site of interest by the Romans, the stones had been ignored until the 1920s, when a visiting German priest with a keen interest in amateur archaeology made detailed sketches and sent the most moveable material back to a museum in his home city of Munich. So undervalued were the stones, many of which had fallen from their upright position to lie forlornly in the mud, that in 1963, officials in the Franco regime thought little of flooding the area to create a vast water reserve.
1 - Water disputes As water gets increasingly scarce and streams and taps dry up, neighbours can frequently be found screaming at each other, perhaps because someone took their ‘acequia’ (wa tercourse) water at the wrong time of day or inserted a pipe without permission.
4 - Bad driving Motorists hurtling to OVERLOADED: Cars bound for Morocco
BOILING OVER Feeling the heat? Hot under the collar? Jo Chipchase picks her Awful 8 things that make August Spain’s ‘mad month’ partying outside your house until the early hours, oblivious that you have work at 9am, is another. And then just when you finally drift off to sleep, some one throws a ‘petardo’ (banger) down your street.
5 - School’s out… seemingly forever Back in June, you couldn’t wait for the kids to break up for summer, imagining the family fun you could have! Now, after a few trips to the waterpark and some fraught days out at the beach, you can’t wait for school to restart. And why must we wait until the second week of September with the purse completely emp ty? Of course we mustn’t forget to mention the teens moaning endlessly, having crawled out of bed at 2pm. 6 - Rude waiting staff Cooking in the heat isn’t fun, so why not visit the local restaurant? Unfortunately, everyone else who didn’t decide to head north on July 15, for six weeks, had the same idea. So it’s hard to find a table, the waiters are rushed off their feet, and the prices have seemingly gone up by 20%. After that, it takes 30 minutes to get a drink and then, after forgetting your or der, the starters and main courses all turn up together. Of course, the bill has plenty of er rors and, when you point this out, the waiters are openly hostile.
NEWS FEATUREwww.theolivepress.es6 HEAD OFFICE Carretera Nacional 340, km 144.5, Calle Espinosa 1, Edificio cc El Duque, planta primera, 29692, Sabinillas, Manilva NEWSDESK: 0034 951 273 575 For all sales and advertising enquiries please contact 951 27 35 75 ADMIN Sandra Aviles Diaz (+34) 951 273 575 theolivepress.esadmin@ OFFICE MANAGER Héctor Santaella (+34) 658 750 424 theolivepress.esaccounts@ DISTRIBUTIONENQUIRIES (+34) 951 273 575 theolivepress.esdistribution@ Voted top expat paper in Spain OPINION 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. Deposito Legal MA-498-2019 AWARDS Best expat paper in 2016Spain-2020 Best2020English language publication in Google2012Andalucia-2022NewsInitiativegivestheOlivePressasubstantialgrant. PUBLISHER / EDITOR Jon Clarke, jon@theolivepress.es Alex Trelinski alex@theolivepress.es Jo SimonChipchaseWade simon@theolivepress.es Cristina Hodgson cristina@theolivepress.es Fiona Govan fiona@theolivepress.es Dilip Kuner dilip@theolivepress.es George Mathias george@theolivepress.es Jorge Hinojosa jorge@theolivepress.es
Questions remain as to whether targeted victims are being dosed for nefarious motives or in some sort of sick craze designed to sow terror. Others consider that it’s all an urban myth, a so cial panic gripping an anxiety-ridden generation as they emerge from a pandemic. Whatever the truth, it is having the very real ef fect of promoting a climate of fear. Women already have to be wary of so many things on a night out, from unwanted attention to sexual predators spiking their drinks or following them home. Every case should be taken seriously and night clubs should step up efforts to promote a safe environment.
OOPS: Road madness descends
SPA TOWN: was once popular then flooded for reservoir fate when the valley was flooded in 1956 to create the Cijara Yetreservoir.nowits 16 mude jar arches stretch across a parched dust bowl having reemerged after one of the driest summers Itsever.buttresses rise from the cracked earth supporting a 225 metres pathway that crosses from nowhere to nothing, over little more than a few murky puddles after the reservoir lost some 90% of its Thewater.story is repeated across the Iberian peninsula where cli
2 - Too much fiesta Whether it’s your local town fiesta or a random late night concert, the party in August never stops! Sadly, this may result in a constant resaca’ (hangover), which tends to ‘calentar la cabeza’ (heat the head) and makes peo ple very unreasonable. Drinking in the sun doesn’t help.
Keep them safe
SECRETS FROM
WELL you’ve made it this far… and only a week to go. Be content that the majority of heatwaves are behind us and the so-called ‘mad month’ of August is nearly at an end. But beware; it’s usually now, during the final throes of the long hot summer, that the real ‘mala leche’ (or bad milk) starts to come to the boil. A month of extreme heat, traffic jams and pushy city dwellers demand ing perfect speedy service is when the locals’ tempers start to fray. And when the hot and humid days combine with a full moon - as happened on August 12 – the loco vibe is at its worst. Here are our eight forms of madness on the Costas.
www.theolivepress.es 7August 25th - September 7th 2022 Get in touch today at sales@theolivepress.es or call us at 00 34 951273575 for more info
“We are in a particularly dry year, a very difficult year that confirms what climate change scenarios have been highlighting,” Energy Minister Teresa Ribera confirmed earlier this month. At the Buendia reservoir, just east of Ma drid in Guadalajara, the ruins of a spa town made popular for its restorative waters during the reign of Isabella II in the early 19th century have reappeared, caked in dried mud. For half a century, the once elegant resort on the banks of the Tagus served as a getaway for Madrid’s wealthy bourgeois, until it fell into neglect once trips to the beach became more popular. It too suffered a watery fate under the Fran co regime’s rampant reser voir Hundredsscheme.of villages across Spain were sent to a watery grave and their residents forcibily evicted during Fran co’s mass construction of a network of reservoirs. The projects brought not only the loss of towns, villages and sites of historical interests but also human trage dy with several disasters resulting in mass deaths, events which were covered up by the totalitarian regime. A reminder of such acts of destruction in the name of progress emerged earlier this month at a dam just north of Barcelona. Little by little, the bell tower of a ninth-cen tury Romanesque church appeared from the receeding waters revealing the fully intact building that was once at the heart of the community of Sant Roma de Sau be fore it was flooded in the 1960s. But nowhere has the reveal been quite so impressive as at a reservoir in Ourense province in Galicia. Here, the archaeological remains of a vast Roman camp can now be viewed in their entirety. Known as Aquis Querquennis, the vast site once served as a fort and military barracks for Roman legions during the building of the Via Nova road until it was abandoned around 120 AD. For nearly two millennia the once im portant military outpost lay forgotten until the 1920s when local archaeologist Florentino Lopez Cuevillas rediscovered the site and ex cavations began. But in 1949 the valley near Os Baños in Ourense province was earmarked as one of the first sites in the reservoir project and the area was flooded to form the As Con chas Reservoir. As a result only parts of the site, which measures 2,5 hectares in total, are usually visible depending on the water level at dif ferent times of year.
5 - General weather forecast in Spain’s Anda lucia for the rest of the summer
TIP OF THE ICEBERG
WATERY GRAVE: The Roman camp churchQuerquennisAquisand(below)thethatwasatthe heart of Sant Roma de Sau NOT one, not two, but three great in vestigations in this week’s paper. And then there are the exclusive leads on pages 2 and 3 and our doz en or more features on everything from the severe drought to the anniversary of Spain’s little-known explorer Elcano. Yes, the Olive Press is full of content. And known for it around the country and abroad.Butwhat you are reading here is just the tip of the Theseiceberg.are merely the main stories from the last few days. Looking for current, up-to-the-minute news ev ery day then you will need to use our website. Every day, our team of nearly 20 journalists and writers scattered around Spain are reporting on the things that matter here. Be it the terrifying, fast-moving fires, a new law passed or the arrival of a famous politician or sportsman, you can be sure to find out first in the Olive Press online. And there is much, much more content on museums to visit, exhi bitions launching and musical extravaganzas. Our archive alone is already tens of thou sands of articles published since we launched in 2006. We aim to ensure that anyone reading www. theolivepress.es will be the best informed expat or tourist visit ing TakeSpain.alook, you’ll definitely be inspired.
3 - 2,500 evacuated as wildfire hits Spain’s Zaragoza and Alicante
The top five most read stories on www.theolivepress.es in the past two weeks are:
EURO MONTHLY NEWS
The all but forgotten site made headlines during the exceptionally long hot summer of 2019 when the megalithic stone circle emerged for the first time since the valley was flooded. After garnering international press attention, Spain took steps to issue cultural protection status which was grant ed only after the menhirs had once again disappeared when the reservoir filled with the autumn rains. Now again they appear in what, with global warming, could become an annual occur
THETHE DEEP
2 - 1500 people evacuated as worst fire in a decade rages in Alicante province area of Spain
1 - Secrets from the deep as reservoirs dry up across Spain long lost ancient sites are revealed
Arence.prolonged dry spell and extreme heat made July the hottest month in Spain since at least 1961 and August may well follow into the record books. Spanish reservoirs are at just 40% of ca pacity on average in early August, well be low the ten-year average of around 60%, official data shows.
8 - Vital businesses being closed Your car has developed an annoying fault that needs fixing right now, but your mechanic is obviously away or on the beach with his family. Meanwhile, your bank manager has gone hiking with his friends, and the town hall and public offices are basically shut for anything important you might need. You’ll just have to wait for Sep tember 1.
ANCIENT: Megalithic stones at Peraleda de la Mata
4 - Map images from space show in real time where wildfires raging in Spain
The remains of a vast Roman camp can now be viewed once more
7 - Queues for everything August means queues – whether it’s for a pop ular visitor attraction, a viewpoint to take that Instagram snap, or a visit to the public toilet. This doesn’t improve anyone’s mood, particularly as the Spanish aren’t very good at doing it and fre quently barge ahead of you.
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EXCLUSIVE
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Don’t look up I WILL be visiting your beautiful coun try for seven days this Autumn and shall walk the ‘Caminito del Rey’ high up the El Chorro gorge in Malaga. To make the trip even more inter esting I will be doing it in Scottish nation al dress. Has anyone done the walk in a kilt before?
LETTERS August 25th - September 7th 202210 Mind your language!
I READ your article on the front page dated July 27 to August 9 and was disgusted by your de scription of the painful deaths of so many wild animals with the words ‘the charred corpses of wild animals barbecued to a crisp’. Is it really necessary to describe the agonising deaths of these poor creatures in such a disrespect ful way? Whilst we cannot regard the deaths of the heroic firefighter Daniel Gullon Vara, or the brave farm er, Victoriano Anton Raton who also died in the fire trying to save his flock as being in any way comparable, I am sure you would not dream of using such words regarding them. Perhaps in the future you might think twice before writing so uncaringly about our animal friends.
Brian Brannan (by email)
Objection!
Editor’s note: Perhaps a reader can help
Regards, Gerry B. (via email)
Editor’s note: We complete ly agree with your points, es pecially the fact that so many people were delayed with resi dency applications which then scuppered the driving licence swap. The OP will continue to highlight the issue and keep up the pressure. Let’s hope that the issue is sorted very soon.
FAKE DOG SHELTERS
WE would appreciate your guidance please. We live on the Northern Costa Blanca and read your excellent newspaper Weregularly.areconsidering moving to Santiago de la Ribera on the Mar Menor and would like to know if in your opinion, it has a problem with flooding. We know there was a freak gota fria in 2019; however to your knowledge, does it flood regularly when you get heavy rain?
If you are living and working at a dog shelter please make sure your valid name and address is recorded on the list of workers employed by the dog shelter.
ALSO please ensure your wages are recorded and available to authorities. FINALLY never drive a van owned by the shelter with an English driving license.
Pat Cross, subscriber to Olive Press online
Some readers are not too happy with the way we say things and sometimes what we say
NEVER live and work at a dog shelter if these requirements are ignored. newsdesk@theolivepress.es
Robert T. Costa Blanca
U-T URNNOW!
Secondclass
Jock Mcinnes MBE Editor’s(Scotland)note: Not that we are aware of, but perhaps our readers know better. Floody Murcia!
Editor’s note: Thanks for your point of view. In fairness to Martin Tye, he is passionate about the climate crisis and his message was that too little is being done too late. You are correct that the ‘tie’ com ment was part of a larger package of measures.
Dear Olive Press, REGARDING your online article about people not swapping their UK driving licences for Spanish ones in time, to my mind the main reason was the delay in getting a residence card. It took me 18 months but by then the DGT would not accept a UK/ Spain driving licence swap, instead giving three months extensions. They then suddenly stopped us driving with no notice, which I find disgusting. Many affected have paid hundreds of thousands of pounds into the Spanish economy by buying prop erty and continue to contribute by spending here on a yearly basis. We are being treated as second class citizens, in a situation created by in competent Spanish bureaucrats. Simply put, our human rights are being trampled on and I for one would contribute to some form of class legal action.
Editor’s note: We chose not to include some gruesome images of burned an imals as they would have been very distressing for some readers but instead the writer wanted to describe the true horror. She did not use those words lightly and it wasn’t meant to be ‘disrespectful’ of an animal’s life but as a way of really hitting home the horror of the wildfire crisis. We will bear your com ment in mind in the future.
The power of words
I OBJECT to your vilification of Pedro Sanchez’s announcement that public employees need not wear ties to work (Sanchez Has It Cracked, Martin Tye column all editions). You failed to explain that this was so they could keep cooler and therefore tolerate the air conditioning being set a little higher to save electricity. You also failed to mention that the ties were a small measure among several others designed to alleviate the ener gy crisis. Please let’s have some balanced reporting!
A report from Global Forest Watch last week stated that in the past 12 months, around 16 football pitches of trees PER MINUTE were lost to forest fires. This is twice the amount of tree cover burnt compared to 20 years ago. Last year alone a for ested area the size of Portugal was lost. Fires are becoming more frequent, and more severe, and as a consequence stored carbon is unlocked. Trees and soil store carbon dioxide. This is one of the key gas es warming our atmo Thesphere.United Nations says that the outlook for forest fires in the decades to come is Itgrim.forecasts an expect ed increase of 50% in extreme fires by the end of this century. Apart from fires, deforestation continues to increase. Last year in the Brazilian Amazon the losses caused by agricultural clearance and logging were the highest in the past de Deforestationcade. changes local and regional cli mates and removes a lot of the evapotranspi ration that helps keep temperatures low and more humid. So cutting down these forests is actually making them hotter and drier, and makes them more prone to fires. None of this is rocket science. The reality is staring us in the face. When will we see the elephant in the room removed? Sadly, I don’t think it will be in my lifetime.
Green MattersBy Martin Tye
A POPULAR Spanish city is hoping to save up to 79% of its power consumption by switching all its street light ing to LEDs. Benidorm council has award ed a €2.5 million contract for phase two of an Energy Effi ciency project, which will see lights renewed in the Levante and Poniente areas. Some 3,512 light points and 55 control centres will be converted. The network will have the flexibility to change the power and intensity of the lights when needed. Phase one of the project cost over €2 million, and covered the Old Town area as well the Foietes-Colonia Madrid and Imalsa-Els Tolls districts. That phase saw 2,379 LED lights installed.
GREENwww.theolivepress.es August 25th - September 7th 2022 11 +34 951 120 830 | gogreen@mariposaenergia.es | www.mariposaenergia.es 100% Certified Green Energy Reduce your energy bill Switch to our 100% Green Energy Save even more money with our solar PV panel installations! Generate your own electricity Solar PV Panels Simply send us a recent bill & we will calculate how much you can save. Get a quote today Contact us today Martin Tye is the owner of energy switch company Mariposa Energy. +34 638 145 664 ( Spain Phone ) Email him at martin@mariposaenergia.es When will we see the elephant in the room removed? N O not the 1999 Stanley Kubrick film starring Tom Cruise and Nicole Kid Iman.refer to the inactivity of the world’s leaders who refuse to see something in plain Theview.effects of climate change are reported constantly in all the media. Not just here in EYES WIDE SHUT the Olive Press, but in all newspapers, TV channels, and radio stations. Excuse the pun, but it really is a ‘hot topic’.
AN Asian algae now declared an ‘invasive species’ is wreak ing havoc to native biodiversi Inty. just a year it has spread 400 kilometres along Span ish coastlines, costing local councils millions in cleaning beaches and, even worse, it is destroying local sea meadows. These are crucial parts of the ecosystem that are a haven for marine life. Rugulopteryx Okamurae is a species of brown seaweed na tive to the Pacific Ocean that mainly inhabits the coasts of Japan, China and Korea. Experts suspect that it arrived on Spanish shores through the ballast that ships dump when they arrive in port. Its presence was detected in Spain for the first time off the Spanish enclave of Ceuta on the North African Coast. Its advance, at breakneck speed, has allowed it to cov er 400 kilometres in a single year from the Strait of Gibral tar – 200 km in the direction
LIGHTS PLANS
Asian algae taking over Spanish waters of Malaga and 200km in the direction of Portugal. It has also been found in the Canary Islands where re searchers have warned of its danger to the marine ecosys tem of the archipelago. Now towns on the Costa del Sol are having to spend huge amounts of money in an effort to combat the species. Estepona has so far removed By Dilip Kuner more than 3,000 tonnes of in vasive algae from beaches at a cost of €1 million. The problem is spreading rapidly with fears that it will reach Murcia, Va lencia and the Baleares soon.
SPAIN’S cities are having to play catch-up with Valencia in trying to get people out of cars and onto two wheels. The city has seen a 21% rise in people using its cycle lanes between January and July this year compared to 2021. The Xativa to Russafa section is the busiest with a daily average of 7,996 users. Valencia has around 170 kilometres of bike lanes with a new 2.1 kilometre section being built on Avenida del Cid and another 5 kilo metres in the pipeline. The cycle network received praise from the OCU Consumer Organisation. A 2020 bicycle users study rated Valencia as the best city in Spain to get around by bike or scooter and this year, the OCU gave the city a five-star cy cling rating.
Pedal power
RAVAGED: The sea meadows before (left) and after
ALIEN INVASION
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Cash for culture
The owner of the La Torre-La Janera farm in the province of Huelva had asked the Jun ta de Andalucia permission to grow the lucrative crop, which was given on the con dition a full archaeological survey was done on the site. Now this survey has borne fruit of a rather different sort envisaged by the farm er, including 526 menhirs (standing stones) plus nu merous dolmens, burial mounds, two ‘observatories’ and a wealth of other an cient andto-interpretationsurvey,necropolises.(tholoi),threemenhirs,onlyOriginally,material.archaeologistshadevidenceoftwofivedolmens,circularburialareasaquarryandfourButthenewwhichincludedphoofsatelliteaerialimages,aswell as the use of LiDAR (laser) data, revealed a much richer archaeological world. Experts from the universi ties of Huelva and Alcala de Henares describe this complex - which began to be erected at the end of the sixth millennium B.C. and was maintained for almost 3,000 years - as ‘unique’. The farm is located on the left bank of the Guadiana River, around the Monte Gordo hill. The article El sitio megalíti co de La Torre-La Janera (Huelva): monumentali dades prehistoricas del Bajo Guadiana outlines the finds. Most of the menhirs (up to 260) are concentrated in 26 alignments and two stone circles. The alignments, from one to six rows, can reach 250 metres in length. They were all built on slopes or Thesummits.stonecircles were built ‘on the tops of hills with a clear horizon towards the rising sun’ aligned during equinox and solstice, ac cording to the report. In addition, numerous dolmens, tumuli and cists (stone lined graves) have been detected. Isolated The dolmens have been found both isolated and grouped together. One of them has a chamber 3.50 metres long, almost a metre wide and a circular tumulus surrounding it with a diam eter of seven metres. The study was carried out as part of the general research project Menhigua. Menhirs and megaliths in the Lower Guadiana . The work began at the end of 2021 and will continue until 2027, when it is planned to conclude anal ysis of the site.
JAEN Cathedral has become the first church in Spain to of fer a 360º virtual visit The cathedral, considered by many to be one of the nation’s best, will be the first in the country to offer tourists a cul tural visit of the temple with 360º glasses, permitting a birds-eye view of the religious Thebuilding.virtual reality experience is the latest innovation from the Granada-based company artiSplendore. Images of the majestic cathedral have been recorded by different drone flights and merged into a spectacular audiovisual sim ulation experience, to be en joyed at the end of the tour of the cathedral.
returnColdplay
Stone me!
SOME 180,000 people have already applied for the €400 youth culture Thevoucher.Ministry of Culture is handing out the ‘bono’ to youths who turn 18 to spend on cultural activities and prod Theucts. application period opened on July 25 and ends on October 15, with around half a million people eligible. Called the Bono Cultural Joven, it is A SCHEME to plant a 600 hectare avocado plantation has led to the discovery of one of the biggest megalithic sites in Europe, dating back some 7,000 years.
Marley’s brotherly love BRITISH band Coldplay will play the Olympic Stadium in Barcelona on May 24 and 23, after a seven year break from TicketsSpain. will be available from August 25 via Tick etmaster and Livenation websites costing from €50 to €150. The Music of the Spheres World Tour started in Costa Rica in March and includes six sold-out concerts at Wembley stadium in London.
By Dilip Kuner
LA CULTURA August 25th - September 7th 2022 13
One of Europe’s biggest megalithic sites discovered on planned avocado plantation
ANCIENT: Standing stones are impressive Vanguard visit valid for 12 months with the objective to inspire a new generation of art lov ers while also giving a much needed boost to artistic and cultural centres that are still recovering from the Covid Applicationspandemic.can be made through the bonoculturajoven.gob.es website.
MEGALITHIC SITE: One of the biggest in Europe
OP QUICK CROSSWORD All solutions are on page 14 7Across The BBC (6) 8 They’re sniffed at (6) 9 Extinguishes (4,3) 10 Chinese dynasty at the time of Jesus Christ 11(3) Mountain-climbing aid (5) 12 Besmirch (7) 15 Body make-up? (7) 16 Baby transport? (5) 18 Sum charged (3) 19 Settings (7) 20 Wet cement mixture 21(6)Arranged like matry oshka 1Down(6) Horse sense (8) 2 Most technologicallysophisticated, (5-2-333)Andrea Bocelli, for ex ample (5) 4 Butler’s underling (7) 5 A zero-risk position (7,2,4) 6 St. Paul’s’ architect 13(4)Underscores (8) 14 Engages (7) 17 Perfume (5) 18 Abrading tool (4)SUDOKUOP 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21
I T was a throwback to the Jamaica of the 1980s. Two of the legendary Marley family graced the same stage to pay tribute to their father, the most successful reggae artist of all Headliningtime. Rototom Sunsplash festival, in Benicassim, Valencia, Damien Marley was clearly delighted to welcome his older brother Julian on stage during an encore.Sharing the stage for their dad’s sem inal hit, Could You Be Loved, will cer tainly go down as one of the best live moments of the year. And the pair clearly get on despite their three-year age gap - and brother Damien’s bigger commercial success. Bouncing around and grinning at each other, they have both had successful musical careers, although Damien has won four Grammys over recent years, in part due to his fusion with rap music. The duet came during the second en core of the headline slot for Damien in which he played a medley of his dad’s hits including War, Is This Love and Exodus. It had been a great opening night to Europe’s biggest reg gae festival over an extraordinary seven nights at the FIB fi esta ground in Beni Reggaecassim. legends the Skatalites opened the festival with their classic brand of ska/reggae fu sion, on the go since But1963.it was Damien Marley that whipped the crowd up into a frenzy in particular with his hits, There For You, Medication and Jam Rock
HERO: Elcano (left) returned home in the Victoria
ELCANO COULD
While Magellan and 232 others didn’t make it, it is 500 years since intrepid Spanish explorer Elcano made the circumnavigationfirstof the world I T is 500 years since Spanish ex plorer Juan Sebastian Elcano cir cumnavigated the world. September 6 marks the anniver sary of his return to Sanlucar de Bar rameda (Cadiz) after completing the remarkable feat, just two decades after Columbus had discovered the Americas. A fitting celebration involving a large flotilla of boats will be marking the event in both Sanlucar and nearby Sevilla, the final port of call. The expedition had begun three years earlier on September 20, 1519, under the command of cele brated explorer Ferdinand Magellan. Five ships set sail from Sanlucar but only one came back. Not many people realise that Portuguese nav igator Magellan - so often credited with this feat of nautical exploration - only made it halfway. Despite that, Magellan had been the mastermind – the man with the plan to find a trading route around the Americas to the Spice Islands. Out of favour with the king of Portu gal (for complicated reasons), he’d come to Sevilla seeking crew, boats, maps, first hand information from other explorers, and the financial backing of Charles I of Spain, all of which he got.
TO mark Elcano’s amazing voyage, theV Centenary Festival begins at Sanlucar(Cadiz) on September 6 with a flotilla ofnaval ships.The replica of the Victoria will cross themouth of the Guadalquivir, 500 years tothe day, and lead a procession of boatsupriver, past the shores of Bajoquía andAlsoBonanza.inSanlucar on September 6, thecyclists of the Vuelta de España, beginstage 16 of their own long-distance endurance endeavour at noon. And theRoyal Symphony Orchestra of Sevillaperforms Magallanes Requiem in memoriam in a grand marquee beside thePaseo Maritimo in the evening.On September 7, the Victoria and accompanying boats will sail past thetowns of Puebla del Rio and Coria delRio, arriving in Sevilla the following daywhere festivities continue September8-11 at Muelle de las Delicias. (ticketsat Expectfestivalvcentenariosevilla.org).artisansmarket;historical reenactments; demonstrations by potters,glass blowers, blacksmiths; theatre;puppet shows; and food ‘served in avintage maritime atmosphere’.Afterwards the Victoria will be open tovisitors, moored beside the First Aroundthe World interpretation centre (PaseoMarqués de Contadero).
LA CULTURA14 OP Puzzle solutions Quick Crossword Across: 7 Auntie, 8 Odours, 9 Puts out, 10 Han, 11 Piton, 12 Tarnish, 15 Anatomy, 16 Stork, 18 Fee, 19 Locales, 20 Slurry, 21 Nested. Down: 1 Gumption, 2 State-of-the-art, 3 Tenor, 4 Footman, 5 Nothing to lose, 6 Wren, 13 Stresses, 14 Employs, 17 Scent, 18 File.
Elcano’s rise through the ranks was helped by a combination of various misadven tures and staying He’dalive. ended up captaining most of the ships, and now he was in charge of the last ship sailing for home. He skilfully brought the one remaining boat, the Victo ria, around the Cape of Good Hope, and up the coast of West Africa. He finally sailed into Sanlucar in September 1522 with a to tal of just 18 men out of the 250 who had set sail… and fit tingly their names are all list ed on a plaque on the library beside the town’s square Pla za de Cabildo. In a letter to Charles I, Elcano marvelled at the roundness of the world, and told him his crew had spread peace, forged alliances, collected spices, and endured sweat, hunger, thirst, cold and heat. The king rewarded Elcano and you’ll marvel how any of these narrow, 26-metre wooden sailing boats got anywhere. The Santiago, sent to hunt around the southern tip of South America for a passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific, was wrecked in a storm. The crew of another ship, the San Antonio, deserted and sailed it back to Spain. After successfully find ing the passage, later named the Strait of Magellan, and enter ing the Pacific, sever al of the crew on the three remaining boats got sick and died from scurvy and malnutri Ontion.arriving in Cebu, in the Philippines, Magellan got to work immediately, converting the locals to Christianity and forging allegiances. He lasted three weeks before being killed in a battle (on April 27, 1521). Days later, two captains, Barbosa and Serrano, who had stepped up to jointly fill Magellan’s shoes, were invited to a local tribe’s banquet
COMMEMORATIONELCANO WEEK spared (others were not) and served five months of hard la bour on shore in chains as a conse mooringsit’sthefull-scaleproblems.wasn’tlytionThequence.circumnavigawasultimateatriumphbutitwithoutitsVisitthereplicaofVictoria(oncebackatitsinSevilla) with a large reward of ducat coins and sent him on a new expedition to the Pacific three years later. It would have made him one of the country’s richest men on his return, but as fortune would have it he end ed up dying of scurvy in 1526.
By Sorrel Downer
KILLED: Magellan (right) died in battle
The boats were stuffed full with spices,nutmegginger,andcloves
Equipped with his ships, (the Trini dad, Concepcion, Victoria, San Anto nio and Santiago) and a crew of 250 men, he set off across the Atlantic. Among his men was Elcano, a 43-year-old Basque sailor and ship owner, an expedition veteran who’d been living in Sevilla and had joined the venture as a ship’s master. There’s a plaque beside the beach in Sanlucar of Magellan and Elcano, which suggests they were equals and allies. In fact, just seven months into the trip, as the fleet bobbed off Patago nia, in Argentina, Elcano took part in a mutiny against Magellan. He was and Thesailors.alongmassacredwith27depleted fleet sensibly moved hurriedly on, abandon ing one, Justsailsailorsweren’tbecauseConcepcion,thethereenoughlefttoit.twoships reached the Moluccas, the fabled Spice Islands of Indonesia, after two years and a month at sea. The boats were stuffed full with gin ger, nutmeg and cloves but, as they were about to set off for home, the Trinidad sprang a leak, and had to stay behind. The new expedition leader and 53 sailors elected to stay behind too.
*Data extracted from process closure surveys after using our roadside assistance and breakdown services. 952 147 834 TheOlivePress-256x342-MP0622.indd 1 6/6/22 10:43
THE past couple of weeks has seen the pound to euro (GBP/EUR) exchange rate fluctuate, before trending broadly higher in response to Bank of England (BoE) rate hike speculation. During this period we have seen GBP/EUR trade between a high of €1.1913 and a low of €1.1780.
ELECTRICITY usage in Spain fell by 3.7% in the first week of measures introduced by the government to reduce demand on gas generated energy. The European Union wants a 7% fall on gas demand in Spain to reduce energy dependency on Russia across the region. Spain’s target figure is over half of what most other EU mem ber states have to produce. The first week of the measures between August 8 and 14 saw a 3.7% fall compared to the pre vious week. That also coincided with an other major heatwave. Ecological Transition Minister, Teresa Ribera, said: “I thank everybody’s efforts as a whole to abide by the measures such as limiting air conditioning temperatures.”
WHAT Looking ahead, the immediate focus for GBP and EUR inves tors will be the publication of the latest UK and Eurozone PMI releases. If these report that private sector activity in the UK or Eurozone continued to weaken in August then their respective currencies could fall. In terms of data a key focus will also be the Eurozone’s upcoming consumer price index. August’s preliminary figures could propel the euro higher if they report inflation in the bloc continued to ac celerate this month. Another uptick in inflation is likely to increase the odds of another 50bps rate hike from the European Central Bank (ECB) at its next interest rate decision. However, any upside in EUR exchange rates may remain limited in the face of ongoing concerns over Europe’s energy security. Meanwhile, the final weeks of the Conservative leadership elec tion may infuse additional volatility into the pound. GBP investors will be paying particularly close attention to frontrunner Liz Truss for more clarity on how she will tackle the UK’s cost of living crisis as Prime Minister.
Cash handoutTHE European Commission could give Morocco €500 mil lion to keep migrants out of the EU for the period of 2021 to The2027.two sides are set to reach an agreement that would be a 50% increase on the sum of €343 million for 2014 to 2020, according to a Commission Thesespokesman.funds will pay for inte gration and protection projects for refugees living in Morocco, forced returns and police coop eration to fight against organ energySaving
By Alex Trelinski
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Cost of food driving inflation up despite fall in petrol prices
Eggs and milk are up by 22.5%; cereals 20%; and bread at almost 15%. Chick en is 16.3% more expensive than in July 2021, with other rises including fish (11.4%); beef (14.5%); fruit (15%); potatoes (13.5%); and coffee (12%).
INFLATION in Spain rose to 10.8% in July - the high est rate since December Figures1984. from the Nation al Statistics Institute(INE) showed that despite signif icant falls in petrol prices, rising electricity and food costs led to a 0.6% increase over the June inflation rate. Some basic foods have risen by well over 20% in a year. Inflation has gone up for three consecutive months after a 1.5% fall in April. In May it climbed to 8.7% and reached 10.2% in June, de spite the introduction of a government price cap on gas and other initiatives to lower the rate. Core inflation (which does not include fresh food or en ergy) also went up by 0.6% in July to stand at 6.1% - the highest since January 1993. In regard to food, the INE said that basic products in the shopping basket such as oil have registered a rise of 28.6% in one year.
Getting poorer
PROTECTING AGAINST VOLATILITY This kind of volatility can cause some nasty surprises if you need to transfer money overseas. On a £200,000 transfer, just a onecent gap translates to a €2,000 difference. And the larger the sum, the higher the discrepancy. Fortunately, there are ways that you can protect against volatility. Specialist currency brokers, such as Currencies Direct, offer dif ferent tools to help you navigate the ups and downs of the cur rency market. For instance, you can use a forward contract to secure an ex change rate for up to a year. This way, you won’t lose out if the market moves against you. Services like rate alerts and daily updates make it easy to keep track of what’s going on in the forex world so that you can make informed decisions. And with Currencies Direct you’ll have a ded icated account manager there to provide guidance and support whenever you need them. At Currencies Direct we’re here to talk currency whenever you need us, so get in touch if you want to know more about the latest news or how it could impact your currency transfers. Since 1996 we’ve helped more than 325,000 customers with their currency transfers, just pop into your local Currencies Direct branch or give us a call to find out more.
GBP/EUR exchange rate firms on hawkish BoE rate hike bets
timetablePipeline
A NEW gas pipeline con necting Spain and France could be ready in ‘eight or nine months’, according to Ecological Transition Minister, Teresa Ribera. The pipeline is seen as a major way for European countries like France and Germany to counter ex pensive or disruptive sup plies from Russia. Emergency The line would run through the Catalunya region and the Pyrenees mountains. Ribera de scribed the situation as an ‘energy emergency’ for Europe as it looks to wean itself off Russian gas Sheflows.added that the pipe line plan would need ‘very important investment’ including the financial backing of the European Union.
READY: Teresa Ribera
WHAT’S BEEN HAPPENING? After taking a tumble at the start of the month as a result of the Bank of England’s (BoE) recession warning, the GBP/EUR ex change rate remained subdued through the second week of Au gust amid lingering concerns over the UK’s economic trajectory. Exacerbating these concerns was the publication of the UK’s latest GDP figures. While these reported a smaller-than-expect ed contraction in growth in the second quarter, they stoked fears the UK could slip into a recession in Q3. Meanwhile the euro traded in a wide range through this peri od. The single currency’s negative correlation with the US dollar prompting swings in the euro amid fluctuating USD exchange Therates.middle of August saw the pound mount a convincing recov ery with the publication of some high-impact UK data releases. The UK’s latest wage growth and inflation figures both printed above forecast, bolstering expectations the BoE will pursue a 50bps rate hike in September and strengthening Sterling sen Duringtiment. this time the euro was left on the back foot, in part due to Germany’s latest ZEW index, which reported sentiment in the Eurozone’s largest economy continued to deteriorate this Themonth.single currency’s upside potential also remained limited amid growing concerns that Europe will face a gas shortage this winter.
Highest Euro zone annual inflation hit a new record high of 8.9% up from 8.6% in June, with the lowest rates seen in France, Malta (both 6.8%), and Finland (8.0%). The highest annual rates were recorded in Estonia (23.2%), Latvia (21.3%), and Lithuania (20.9%). ised criminals in the area. The European Commission is looking to sign similar deals with Algeria, the Gambia, Sen egal and Mauritania. With Rabat claiming it invests €435 million to stop the mi grant surge, it has pressed the EU hard for the €500 million figure. The sum is supplied by the Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument of the EU (NDICI). The fund has a budget of €79.5 billion for 2021 to 2027, 13% more than the previous period.
DO YOU NEED TO LOOK OUT FOR?
The first is Alvear Pe dro Ximenez Solera“Westatement.1830,arevery disappointed with Iberia Express’s management, which showed it doesn’t keep its word and doesn’t respect workers who have struggled to keep the company afloat,” the statement said. Airline workers lost part of their income during the pandemic as many were on fur lough and some bonuses were suspended. As in the case of the Ryanair and Easy jet strikes, the overwhelming majority of flights, though subject to delays, cannot be cancelled due to Spanish government laws.
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IBERIA Express cabin crews will go on strike between August 28 and September 6 over working conditions. The industrial action is the latest involving low cost operators in Spain. Ryanair cabin crews are striking for four days per week until January while Easyjet pilots have the last of three 72-hour week end strikes starting on August 27. Iberia Express- part of the International Airlines Group (IAG) that owns the main Iberia carrier and British Airways - runs short and medium-haul routes to over 40 European cities. Cabin crews want better working condi tions and pay rises to offset inflation, the USO and SITCPLA unions said in a joint
TRAIN operator, Renfe, is running an experimental freight train across Europe to import grain from the GrainUkraine.exports had until re cently come to a standstill due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with ships unable to leave Black Sea ports. That position has now changed but Renfe is still piloting a test run to import 600 tons of grain to Barce lona, by-passing sea ports. The idea has come from the Ministry of Transport which said it would analyse ‘the capacity of land transport to support maritime routes’. A train with 25 empty 12-metre containers left Spain on August 9 and will be filled up with grain in the south-eastern Polish city of Chelm- 25 kilometres away from the Ukraine border. It will then make the 2,400 kilometre journey back to Barcelona, arriving in early September.
LINEGRAIN
Local heroes
SPANIARDS are the main driving force for tourism to the Costa del Sol in August, account ing for 51% of hotel book ings compared to 49% of international origin. These figures contrast with previous years when international trav ellers accounted for 55%. In general, the Associa tion of Hotel Entrepre neurs of the Costa del Sol (AEHCOS) estimates that August will end with a hotel occupancy rate of 85.83% - 2% above previ ous forecasts and similar to 2019 figures. The tourist hotspot towns of Torremolinos,Fuengirola,Nerja, Marbella and Benal madena lead the way in occupancy rate.
A PAIR of Andalucian wines have received perfect scores of 100 in the prestigious Guia Peñín These are the first wines to have achieved the top mark in the guide.
By Dilip Kuner Express strike
HORNOS DE LA PEÑA, CANTABRIA CAVES OF MALLORCADRACH, T his is one of the few places you can take a boat ride (albeit a short one) in peak summer in Spain without the risk of sunburn. The Caves of Drach should be the name for a Bond villain’s lair, but it’s actually one of Mallorca’s top tourist attractions. Over 1km in length and 25m deep in places, the cave system boasts a large underground lake, Lake Martel, and, even more unusually, four classical mu Yes:sicians.as if being in a cave wasn’t
excitement enough, all visitors are ushered to a lakeside auditorium for a short concert that kicks off with Offenbach and ends with a light show over the water, before being transported towards the exit in little boats.
Spain’s caves are national treasures. The Olive Press has dug around to find the best but, with so many open to the public, it’s fair to say we’ve barely scratched the surface
GO off the beaten track and back in time to the home of some of the last Neander thals and first homo sapi ens. They picked a lovely spot: the cave is in the green Cantabrian moun tains, on a hill between two river valleys. One of the UNESCO group of 18 with Altamira, the cave art (engravings not paintings) is the big draw. Images of horses, bison, goats, a stag and snake are accurately observed, which makes the image of a man with one arm raised and a long tail just a little chilling. The oldest date from 18,000 BC, and the more ‘contemporary’, from 13,000 BC. One to explore with torch es, wearing a hard hat, and in maximum groups of four, this is not for clautro phobics who don’t like bats (there’s a resident colony). But as one recent visitor said: ‘a visit to this cave was one of the best days of my life’.
The depths of cool
FOOD, DRINK & TRAVEL18 August 25thSeptember 7th 2022
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W HEN Spain’s peak summer temperatures start nudg ing 40, visiting a cool, dark, damp cave sounds pretty good. The fact these hidden tourist sites are also atmospheric and spectac ular is a Sometimesbonus.the attractions are man made: The cave paintings in the Cave of Altamira, near Santil lana del Mar in Cantabria, were described as masterpieces of cre ative genius by UNESCO. Altamira is part of a world heritage site that includes another 17 caves in Northern Spain where Paleolithic art has been found, the oldest dat ing back to 35,000 BC, which is fair ly Othersmind-blowing.havestar attractions that are totally natural and millions of years old, like weird stalactites and stalagmites, while a few have all mod cons, fancy lighting and live There’smusic. a cave to suit everyone, but check out these:
FOOD,DRINK & TRAVEL August 25th - September 7th 2022 19
CAVING doesn’t get much easi er: Nerja has a Cueva Tren (cave train) that makes the short jour ney from the museum to the site, near Maro. Once there, visitors get to see jagged, needly stalac tites, and a worthy contender for the world’s largest stalagmite (a massive thing standing 32 me tres tall) on a 45-minute tour. It’s all surprisingly colourful thanks to the copper, iron and lead con tent of the rocks. Ancient artists were busy here too: so far 589 paintings have been discovered, but they’re out of bounds. Atmospheric night tours are available.
CUEVA DEL CANTABRIASOPLAO, NERJA MALAGACAVES,
GRUTA DE MARAVILLAS,LASHUELVA
OPENING to the public in 1914, the Grotto of Marvels is Spain’s oldest subterra nean tourist attraction. The grotto was carved out of limestone by the water which lies in crystal clear pools and drips through the walls. Two of the three levels are currently accessible, and each has multiple cham bers, well lit to allow you to admire the extraordinary rock formations and spar kling Locatedcrystals.under the hill, un der the castle in Aracena, legend has it the grotto was discovered by a farmer who was looking for his cow.
YOU don’t have to be a spele ologist (someone who stud ies, stalactites, stagmalites, gorges, columns, helictites and so on) to be awestruck by this cave, but if you are an enthusiast, you’ll be in para Thedise.cave has the world’s largest concentration of ‘eccentric helictites’ – that’s stalac tites that grow in multiple di rections (for reasons no-one understands). And the system is big, stretching 20 km. Discovered by miners who chipped through a dividing wall in 1908, the derricks, furnaces and tunnels of the industrial heritage form part of the visitor attraction at this very special, very isolat ed spot.
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THE 024 national helpline to prevent suicides in Spain has saved 585 lives through direct interventions since opening in early May. Emergency teams went to see those very-high risk call ers who contacted the 24hour phone service. The Ministry of Health initia tive has so far taken 34,000 calls from people with sui cidal thoughts or behaviour, as well as from friends, rela tives, and neighbours want
LIFELINE ing information or help. The service launched on May 10 with the slogan, 'Call to Life'. After a massive volume of calls in the line's early days, numbers now average around 300 per day. A Health Ministry spokes person said: “The volume of calls shows the need for such a service to deal with a silent and latent threat such as mental health problems and suicidal behaviour.”
By Alex Trelinski 951 27 35 75
When you take out an advertising campaign with the Olive Press, you get a lot more than just the printed newspaper We give you more! Sponsored posts on our website with linksto your site and with an average of 75,000page views per day We promote you on our hugely popularFacebook page with 30,000 likes andas many followers Our Twitter feed gives users direct accessto all our stories and every digital newspaper published Fully interactive digital copy of thenewspaper containing all advertising seenonline globally via Issuu Thousands digitalofviewsinournewspaper contact sales@theolivepress.es or
HIVE INFO DOCTORS have observed a surge in the number of people suffering an outbreak of hives this summer thanks to the higher than usual temperatures and repeated heatwaves. Known as ‘heat urticaria’, the skin condition involving the sudden appearance of bumps or welts can be dangerous as it can cause a drop in blood pressure.
SPAIN wants to in ject smaller doses of the monkeypox vac cine as there are not enough supplies to go round. Over 5,000 mon keypox cases have been declared since May, making Spain the world’s sec ond-highest coun try for the infection, after the United States. Doses The Health Minis try has asked the European Medi cines Agency (EMA) for permission to offer smaller doses, known as ‘dose-sparing’ to stretch-out limited supplies as far as Spain’spossible.Health Min istry did not speci fy how many doses it hoped to obtain from one vial, but Madrid’s regional health authority has lobbied for the same scheme as in the United States with five doses available from a vial.
Nearly 600 lives saved by new ‘suicide’ helpline in just 3 months
Confidential People can also call Samari tans in Spain between 10am and 10pm on (freefone) 900 525 100 for a confidential service in English or email forcauseSuicidepat@samaritansinspain.comhasbeenthemainofunnaturaldeath15yearsaftersurpassing traffic accident deaths, which for decades was the main reason for deaths from ex ternal causes, as opposed to diseases.
“It’s caused by extreme temperatures in the street, beach es, swimming pools and in the workplace and produces welts and swelling along with a lot of itching,” explained Dr Ignacio Garcia Nuñez, the head of allergology of Quiri on’s hospital in Cordoba. He warned: “Patients can suffer low blood pressure which is dangerous because this can cause dizziness and even loss of consciousness,” he added. He advises those who suffer an outbreak of hives to try and bring down their body temperature by cooling off in a cold bath.
By Dilip Kuner
WORK TILL YOU DROP
SQUATTERS: are a controversial topic in Spain
ESTATE agencies and property consultants are booming, with revenues up 42% in 2021 to a massive €7.8 billion According to the DBK Informa Sector Observatory the estate agencies had a turnover of €7.4 billion, 43.1% high er than 2020, while businesses with a real estate consul tancy profile took in €400 million, an increase of 21.2%. In terms of freehold residential sales, 650,000 transac tions worth €115 billion were made in 2021, an increase of 39.1%over 2020. The sector expects to maintain the upward trend in rev enues this year, although in the short term the pace of growth is expected to slow with the worsening economic situation and an upward trend in interest rates.
THE PP opposition party has announced it will propose leg islation to force squatters to be evicted in 24 hours. Squatting is a major problem, with estimates of 120,000 families in Spain having their second home - and sometimes their main residence - occu pied ‘illegally’. The proposed legislationwhich has a slim chance of becoming law - would rein state the crime of usurpation of property, with jail terms of between three and five years. It would also allow the com munity of owners to report squatters and start the evic tion process. The problem is particularly bad in Catalunya where near ly half of reported squatters Twolive. months ago the Catalan European Democratic Party (PDeCAT) made similar pro posals that would see squat ters evicted within 48 hours. They argued for a change in the law to make it possible to remove people from proper ties if they are unable to pro duce property deeds or a rent al contract to demonstrate their right to remain. And the proposal also sought to give communities of own ers the right to start proceed ings. If neither the communi ty or owner started the evic tion process, then the town hall would be given the power to do so. Squatters An estimated 49 properties are newly squatted each day. The proposals are in line with recent recommendations of a report on squatting in Spain by thinktank Accion Liberal. Its author, Daniel Rodriguez Asensio, stated: “Allowing squatting is just one more step towards a communist and authoritarian regime in which the will and rights of individuals are subjugated to the random wishes of the gov ernment of the day.”
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Boom time
NO ROOMTHE supply of shared flats in Spain’s provincial capitals has fallen by 45% in just a year. This is in line with a sharp reduc tion in rental housing stock, ac cording to a report by Idealista The availability of flat shares has plunged the most in Palma (-78%), Barcelona (-73%) and San Sebastian (-71%). They are followed by reductions in Malaga (-62%), Madrid (-59%), Guadala jara (-55%), Alicante (-54%), Tar ragona (-53%) and Girona (-53%). Just eight capitals have more rooms available than a year ago - Albacete
BUYING an average property in Spain now costs 11.1 years worth of wages compared to 8.2 years at the turn of the century. While this may sound bad, other countries are much worse off, ac cording to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Devel opment (OECD). In New Zealand ot takes 18.7 years worth of salary to buy a 100m2 home, followed by South Korea (16.6), Ireland (16.1) and Luxembourg (15.8). Spaniards are in line with the Por tuguese (11.4 years), Swedes (11.2 years) and almost on a par with the British (11 years). At the other end of the scale, US households only need the equiv alent of 4.1 years of average gross annual income to finance hous ing. This is ahead of Lithuania (6.5 years) and Finland (6.7 years) and Japan (7.5 years).
(plus 50%) Cordoba (20%), Cas tellon de la Plana (13%), Caceres (13%), Almeria (11%), Santa Cruz de Tenerife (8%), Palencia (7%) and Segovia (3%). While supply is drying up, rents are rising. Three capitals share the highest percentage increase in Spain (20%): Tarragona, Almeria and Malaga. These are followed by increases in Valencia (18%), Santander (16%), Alicante (15%), Guadalajara, Barcelona and Ma drid (14% in all three cases), San Sebastian (13%), Santa Cruz de Tenerife (13%), Lleida (11%), Huelva (11%) and Toledo (10%). San Sebastian is the city with the most expensive room rents in Spain, reaching €460 per month on average. It is followed by Bar celona (€450), Madrid (€420), Palma (€400), Bilbao (€370), Malaga (€350) and Pamplona Ciudad(€350). Real is, on the other hand, the cheapest city (€175 per month), followed by Palencia (€200) and Jaen (€200).
C IS FOR COVID More than anything else, Covid has dramatica lly changed the real-estate market, as there have been huge demographic shifts in work as well as housing. Many companies are finding that their employees, who have tasted the exotic fruits of freedom, are reluctant to change their new-found homeworking lifestyle. According to studies, around 18% of workers in the EU now work re motely. In Spain, the number of remote workers has surpassed 1.7 million. The lifestyle change brought on by the pandemic has been nothing short of a cultural revolution, similar to the mass production of cars and the change in living and working habits this brought about (think suburban America). Beliefs that this change is temporary seem mistaken, as the sheer numbers of lifestyle buyers coming to Spain at tests. This is a trend set to continue and which is reinforced by Spain’s introduction of a digital no mad law to make relocating to Spain for remote work much easier. Ten years ago, most purchasers were holiday home buyers, spending summers or a few weeks in winter in the sun. Today, an enormous number of buyers are lifestyle buyers. These are people
UBC: Ukraine, Brexit and Covid are not the only factors on the property market
When Auriel Roe started looking for rural property in northern Spain, she didn’t imagine walking into a time capsule
D IS FOR DEBT
FROM ABC TO UBC
S EEKING respite from the hot sum mers of Jerez, we looked for a bol thole to buy in northern Spain. We were attracted by Arbo, in the Galician province of Pontevedra – not so much for its fa mous lamprey eels, but the river beaches along the Miño river which forms the border with Portugal.
Nonetheless, in the news and in the forefront of many people’s minds, speculation has settled on the two I’s – inflation and interest rates – and whether these will spell trouble for the property Inmarket.theUS, interest rates for fixed-rate mortgages have shot up from around 3% to nearly 6% (in Spain, fixed-rate mortgages can still be found for just over 2%). Not surprisingly, this is having an im pact on both sales and prices, as households are able to carry less debt in the face of higher interest rates. Here in the Costa del Sol, the effects of infla
MUSEUMTOWELCOMEMY
The figures quoted above about US interest ra tes come from a recent article in The Economist. In this article, it was pointed out that while there are headwinds in the US market, the landscape is vastly different to the last crisis. As the author sta tes: “The total value of mortgage debt is around 65% of household income, compared with nearly 100% in 2007.” This is the same in Europe and particularly in Spain where banks, their lessons learnt the hard way from the last crisis, have restricted loan-to-va lue lending to sensible levels. In fact, my first-hand experience is that very few buyers on the Costa del Sol use a mortgage unless for fiscal reasons. There is also the fact that the majority of homeow ners with mortgages are locked in to extremely low fixed-rate mortgages. This is borne out by the numbers. According to data from the College of Property Registrars, about 60% of home buyers in Andalusia have fixed-rate mortgages. This is a massive sea change from pre-2007, when effecti vely 100% of mortgage holders held variable-rate Becausemortgages.of this, even if the ECB raises interest ra tes in line with those in the US, we won’t see the kind of massive defaults we saw in 2007. That means the market won’t be flooded with forced sales at bargain-basement prices. In addition, the housing carrying cost for homeowners has fallen from over 50%, prior to the crisis, to a stable and sustainable 30% in Andalusia. Spaniards now also have higher levels of savings and lower debt loads in general. So, I’m not expecting a deluge of new properties to the market for quite some time. Which leads to our next letter:
byInsiderPropertyTheAdamNeale
We made an offer on a mansion stu ffed with dusty antiques. We thought we could turn it into a boutique hotel and mentioned this to the estate agent. The agent told the elderly owner who told her grandson. But he thought it was such a good idea he decided to try it himself, tion are likely to be most felt, in the short to medium term, in the rising cost of new construction. This will have less of an immediate impact on resale ho mes, which already have costs ‘baked in.’ In addition to the uncertainty of how the conflict in Ukraine could escalate, the most immediate effect is to drive various inflationary forces, especially fuel costs, which then will add to upward pressu res. This will, again, hit new-build prices hardest. In 2015, Brits made up about 22.5% of foreign home purchases in Spain. By the beginning of 2018 – before Brexit – that had fallen to below 15%. Brits now make up about 12% of the mar ket. However, in the same time period, Germans have risen from about 7% to almost 10% and both Moroccans and Swedes have grown from around 2% to about 6% of foreign property buyers. Those percentage numbers also hide the fact that buyers from all the major purchasing countries have rebounded in total number of sales. The UK is still below its peak in 2016 but, if current trends hold, it will have returned to previous sales num bers within two years. So, we’re seeing a mix of indicators, which can be confusing. With that in mind, I’d like to suggest a new acronym to make sense of current trends and to have some predicti ve power, DSC. Let’s look at each of these.
INTEREST RATES & INFLATION
ON DISPLAY: Just as Paula left it
Does this spell trouble for the Spanish real estate market?
IN our current climate of instability, lots of people have lots of questions about the Spanish real es tate market and what it means for them. Should they sell now before prices fall? Should they wait to buy until prices fall? Will prices fall at all? And, are we set for another crisis like 2008? The short answer is this is not ‘another 2008’ for many reasons. Let me explain. A cynical Costa del Sol estate agent may take ins piration from the movie of David Mamet’s master piece Glengarry Glen Ross, in which Alex Baldwin distills his knowledge of the real-estate business to the famous acronym, ABC – Always Be Closing. However, there’s a new acronym, UBC – (Ukra ine, Brexit, Covid), to which I would add two I’s, inflation and interest rates (UBIIC?) that threatens to burst the current boom…or does it? Against the apparent negative backdrop of UBC, the Costa del Sol real-estate market has reached record levels of transactions and, in some loca tions, prices have risen as well. In Marbella and Estepona, for instance, we see increases in sales compared to the first quarter of 2019 (the last comparable quarter with no Covid restrictions), of 57% and 102%, respectively. In Malaga province as a whole, prices rose year-on-year by 7.6%, at least keeping pace with the general inflation rate.
S IS FOR SUPPLY The negative effects of low supply have been well documented, leading to inflation in many types of assets from secondhand cars to housing. Su pply in the Marbella property market is a huge problem. It used to be the case that, in any given development, there would be 5% of stock availa ble, giving buyers a reasonable amount of choice. In the current market, in many developments we are down to 1-2% stock availability and, for the reasons above, the landscape looks likely to re main this way for some time. Basically, you have a combined situation of sellers not selling, while demand continues to rise. One of the effects of the Ukrainian conflict has been to increase Scandinavian interest in buying a second home in Andalusia, “just in case”. This reinforces what was already a trend in the market, which has led to the growth of a sizable Scandi navian community on the Costa del Sol and in Alicante.
PROPERTY August 25th - September 7th 202222
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FROM DSC TO USP Back to where we started. There are very good reasons to be concerned about the state of the world and, for our purposes, its potential impact on the real-estate market. However, many of the se anxieties arise from wrongly believing the cu rrent moment is a parallel to the 2008 crisis. In addition to the statistics, I believe the USP – uni que selling proposition – of lifestyle pockets such as the Costa del Sol,mean they will continue to attract a significant amount of lifestyle buyers; retirees, digital nomads, start-up entrepreneurs, and more. This will remain true, as evidenced by current sales numbers and buyer interest, to the extent that these beautiful pockets of sun weather the oncoming storms and remain sunlit, flourishing refuges.
becauseaImysterious.jectsSometall.fivehapstiny,Paulasuggestwardrobehindleftdressesday.toAsturiasinpeoplesomeruralthisThebeinthewasperonlyfeetobwerecalledone'wheypig'ithad four legs, a sort of snout and looked like it might have been used to drain a large round of Another,cheese. found hanging on a wall, with a dangerous cluster of sharp nails protruding at eye level, was perhaps used for carding wool. Hanging from Paula's kitchen ceiling were various bas kets which, I imagine, were used for picking and storing apples. There were ceramic pots she would have put on top of the stove for keeping food Somewarm.things she left behind gave us an intimate glimpse into her life. She had been mad on gingham, and used it for making curtains, cus hion covers and aprons. We found her perfume bo ttles and talcum powder in a bedroom drawer, and a prayer stool (pictured right) beside her bed. And the wooden crib she had kept its stand is proba bly the one she had lain in as a baby, and used for her own.
Of course, how could you expect an estate agent to remain anything but confident (ABC)? Whether my optimism is well-placed, time will tell. But with record numbers of tourists predicted this summer and Costa del Sol hotels at 100% occupancy, many more people will discover the charms of the Spanish lifestyle and choose to stay long after their holidays are over.
MUSEUM: A reminder of times past looking to radically alter their lives by spending more and more time in the sun, living and wor king from home or running their business from afar.
PROPERTY August 25th - September 7th 2022 23 and so the sale was called off. We found another property nearby, less grand but with a valley view and a pear orchard. The pears were ripe at the time of our visit and we were seduced into offering the asking price. But the lawyer we engaged to handle the sale discovered an archaic rule: To buy a property right on the Portuguese-Spanish border, we would need permission from the Spanish military. It would be a leng thy business with a slim chance of suc cess, so we gave up and decided to look further afield. Buying in Asturias proved more straight forward. We eventually settled on a tradi tional stone house that had been empty for ten years, virtually unchanged for a hundred, and still had oil lamps on the It’swalls.common for contents to be included in the sale of old abandoned houses in Spain, but when we checked that would be the case, the late owner’s grandd aughter became suspicious, suspecting there might be something of great value in there. In the end, we paid a little ex tra and kept everything. She never really understood our desire to be custodians of this mini-museum, but for us it was a fascinating time capsule and we wanted to preserve it. We learnt about the old owner and her life from the contents of the house. Her name was Paula Solis – we first saw her name carved into a wooden mor tar, and later found a bran iron with her initials on it. re were two pairs of tiny den shoes of the sort that are still worn by
A DISABLED Dutchman stalked two Ger man tourists then punched one in the face and stole his wallet, before racing away at high speed in a wheelchair. Joseff M. 56, didn’t let the fact he was in a wheelchair stop his criminal plan when he followed the tourists through the Plaza del Olivar in Palma. Without warning, the thief punched his 62-year-old victim in the face before making his getaway, with the Germans in hot pur suit as he bounced over the cobbles in the SIMPSON 2. HOMER 3. 05-12-56 ESPANA4a. 05-12-12 4a. 05-12-22 5. C4043243 market square. A National Police patrol spotted the com motion and joined the chase, eventually catching and arresting the Dutchman. He now stands accused of an alleged crime of robbery with violence. His victim was taken to hospital by ambu lance bleeding profusely, while the attacker got a trip to the police station.
OPRESSLIVEThe COSTA BLANCA NORTE / VALENCIA voice in FREE Vol. 3 Issue 88 www.theolivepress.es August 25th - September 7th 2022We use recycled paper REREREuseducecycle
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A MAN has been arrested after he lost 333 points from his driv ing licence after taking the fall for other motorists’ offences. Under Spain’s licensing system everyone has between 12 and 15 points on their licence (eight for new drivers), which are lost for certain driving offences. Once the total reaches zero, a ban kicks in. The 28-year-old Armenian resident of Valencia had MINUS 321 points on his Nowlicence.police are investigating 91 motorcyclists who had put the man’s name on paperwork to say that he was the rider. The ruse was uncovered by Guardia Civil in Mallorca after a motorcyclist sped through a checkpoint, almost hitting an officer. Police sent a notification of several serious road offences to the registered owner of the thatproblemThenianofthethewhomotorbike,returnedformwithdetailstheArmeonit.onlywasaspeed camera photo clearly identified the rider as a woman. Police dug deeper and found the Armenian had lost the huge number of points for driving offences. Investigations revealed that he used social media to advertise his service of taking the blame, charging between €75 and €200 per point. Ban He had long since been banned and his licence was not even valid for motorbikes - but that did not stop his lucrative scam. Police remain puzzled that the DGT had not taken action.
changeCarrion FARMERS are complain ing after a vulture killed a two-day-old calf on a farm in Salamanca in the second incident in a few days. They say the birds have changed behaviour because of food shortages caused by new health regulations.
Silly who25-year-oldcalledFIREFIGHTERSdronewereouttorescueadronepilothadclamberedup a steep cliff in Malaga to rescue his expensive crash landed toy only to get stuck himself Guns to order A MAN in A Coruña has been arrested for mak ing guns on 3D printers including an almost com pleted AR9 assault rifle after officers spotted his presence in online discus sions about firearms.
Fall guy ended up with MINUS 321 points on his driving licence
By Dilip Kuner IT isn’t quite the publicity Barcelona was hoping for. A television interview with tourists about what they love about visiting the Catalan capital unwittingly revealed one of the major bugbears. While a holidaymaker shared what he saw as the delights of Barcelona, a man can be seen in the background picking up a rucksack and making off with it. Moments later an other man returns from a swim to discover his bag has been stolen. Love “I love the beautiful beach, the clean sea water, the good weather… the food,” said the interviewee on TVE as in the background the victim of the robbery shouts ‘my bag, my bag. Did some one see something?’. The video reveals one of the prevalent gripes from vis itors to the city that petty crime is rife and pick pock eting very common. Luckily, thanks to the vid eo, the perpetrator was soon identified by police and arrested.
Wheeled marauder
Points to order
