Olive Press Costa Blanca South and Murcia- Issue 91

Traditional Spanish crafts... and chill out in cool

caves

See inside

The

P

New man at top

A GIANT swing to the right has seen Ximo Puig swept from power in regional elections.

Carlos Mazon is the new president of Valencia, after his PP party more than doubled its seats in Les Corts.

In a stunning victory he got 40 seats - up 21 on the 2019 elections - and with the aid of far-right party Vox (13 seats) he has an easy majority.

It comes as Ciudadanos and Podemos were wiped out in the weekend’s regional and local elections.

Neither got a single seat, failing to poll the minimum of 5% under election rules.

They lost 18 and eight seats respectively, while Puig’s PSOE socialists got 31 seats and Compromis got 15.

In his resignation speech, Puig insisted he was leaving Valencia ‘stronger’ than when he came to power in 2015.

Mazon promised a ‘stable’ government for everybody, ‘whether they voted for us or not’.

See Merry go round, page 4

Opinion Page 6

BLANCA SUR / MURCIA

UNINSURED

AN expat who the Olive Press exposed as a holiday rental fraudster also took money for fake insurance policies.

Juliette de Courcy Withey allegedly scammed dozens of expats while working as an agent for one of Spain’s leading insurance companies.

We can reveal how the Malaga-based resident allegedly pocketed thousands of euros she was meant to hand over for insurance policies at Caser Seguros.

De Courcy, from Guaro, scammed clients by selling them invalid house and car insurance policies, having befriended them locally.

The expat - who is currently being prosecuted over a bogus rental scheme - has allegedly been up to her antics for the last two decades.

“It’s about time she paid for her

Rental scammer exposed by Olive Press also sold bogus insurance policies

EXCLUSIVE

By Alberto Lejarraga

scams,” Susan Platt, from Liverpool, told the Olive Press this week. The 69-year-old revealed she only discovered a villa she rented in Marbella was not insured a year after giving De Courcy €600 in cash. “She actually cancelled the Liberty policy the very same day she took the money,” she slammed. “I had no idea it wasn’t valid until a Liberty agent told me she was not working for them and said the policy had been cancelled.”

Another victim from Holland, suffered a similar fate.

The Mother-of-two and her husband based in Guaro, were given ‘official Caser handwritten receipts’ after paying ‘thousands in cash’ for fully comprehensive car insurance over a number of years. They only discovered their fate when they were involved in a car accident in which the other driver was hospitalised. To their horror they later got a call from the court saying they had to pay €3,000 to the affected party as their vehicle was ‘not insured’.

“We could not believe it,” she said. “It was only then we realised we had been driving uninsured for years. And even with two kids in the car!”. She added: “It was a horrible time

Was this the spot?

Olive Press exclusive reveals the lake camp where police believe suspect Christian Brueckner brought Madeleine McCann

See Ground Zero on page 2

BEWARE: De Courcy and husband David, while (inset) our rental probe in April

but when I went to talk to Juliette and demanded she give me €3,000 she said she would sort it all out, but never did.”

Eventually, they took De Courcy to court and, this month, after 10 long years they finally learnt they will be getting their money back. Under the settlement, De Courcy and husband, David Withey, were found guilty of ‘misappropriation’ and handed prison sentences, according to Olive Press legal sources. “While Withey tried to take the blame, the court did not buy it and sentenced both to two years in prison, suspended over the next Meanwhile, two other expats Gill and Glyn Williams, from Kent, recently discovered from Caser that their car had been uninsured for the entire period they had paid De Courcy.

“We were very lucky we had no accidents,” said Gill this week.

Tricked

She also believes there are many other victims including a German friend, who had to move home, plus a Swedish couple.

“And there was another British friend of ours who went to claim after an accident only to be told by Caser she was not insured.” De Courcy declined to comment and simply replied ‘goodbye’ and hung up, when called.

While Caser failed to comment, Liberty confirmed Withey had indeed tricked customers.

A spokesman explained she had got away with it as she was collaborating with one of Liberty’s former agents, who was later sacked for ‘embezzling money’.

“It must have been through this collaboration that she had access to our office,” he said.

WINNER: Mazon (front) and loser Puig

Easy rider

FREE bus services will start on Monday and continue all summer between Corvera airport and the area’s main cities of Cartagena and Murcia.

Padron con

AN Albudeite couple were caught charging €400 to unregistered foreigners for getting their names on the municipal padron.

The plot was rumbled as the duo kept using the same address for the applicants.

Shock zap

A PREGNANT Lorca woman, 27, suffered an electric shock and a burnt arm when she tried to fish out a mobile phone that her daughter had put into the washing machine .

Nasty fall

TWO men, 20 and 48, were taken to the Vega Baja Hospital on Monday after falling from scaffolding at an Algorfa construction site.

EXCLUSIVE

IT was his secret camp that he called his ‘little paradise’. Hidden in a copse overlooking Arade lake, this was the Portuguese hideout that Christian Brueckner would come to ‘cleanse himself’ alongside lots of beer and marijuana.

As well as a rudimentary table, hewn out of a log, the Madeleine McCann suspect even sculpted a stone bench down by the water’s edge. But what most intrigued German detectives, who spent 72-hours scouring the area last week, was a perfect stone circle, now dismantled, that was made beside it.

“This was his exact special spot he liked to come to ‘cleanse himself’,” a former friend told the Olive Press on a visit to the reservoir, last year.

“He came here often, but I don’t know exactly what he did as he was always secretive.”

Granada

The Olive Press established he spent long periods by a trio of lakes on the Algarve, as well as Granada’s Alpujarras region, where he sold drugs and stolen items.

The convicted rapist and paedophile particularly liked Arade lake.

“He would drive down to the edge of the lake. He liked to be near the water,” revealed the German mother-of-two, who is a key witness in the case.

“He always camped in the same spot and said he came to ‘cleanse himself’ and he certainly washed himself and his

GROUND ZERO!

clothes in the lake.

“He drank a lot of beer as when I came down with him to pick up stones for a wall at my house there were loads of empty cans.

“I think he liked the silence and the fact there was usually noone else around. It now makes me horrified to think what he really might have done down there.”

Talking at her home near Silves, the expat, who has lived on the Algarve for three decades, added: “The most important thing detectives needed to know was exactly when and where he went by the lake. They made me pick it out on maps and aerial shots, which luckily I could do.” Located just 30 miles from where Madeleine, then 3, was snatched from her bed in Praia da Luz, Arade lake sits close to where Brueckner was staying at the time in the village of Foral.

A former flatmate, Michael Tatschl, told the Olive Press in 2020 that Brueckner ‘loved’ spending time by the lakes with his friend Christian Post, an IT technician, who now lives in Cambodia. “He loved the isolation at the lakes… and he was definitely a pervert and more than capable of snatching a child, for sexual kicks or money,” said Tatschl, from his home in Austria. “He was always bragging about making money. He even talked about selling kids maybe to Morocco, and I think he probably sold Maddie to someone –maybe a sex ring.”

When finally tracked down to Kampot, in Cambodia, last year, Post said he also believed Brueckner snatched a sleeping Madeleine while on a burglary spree. “Now I know about his paedophile past. I’m 100% cer-

tain it was him. I think he found (Madeleine) by chance and took her,” said Post. This is a theory that German detectives have been working on since they unearthed a stash of 8000 photos and videos, including child abuse, at

a Brueckner property, in 2016

The files came with various other items, it can be revealed, some of which ‘directly implicate’ Brueckner in the abduction. Yet remarkably, while he was twice extradited from Portugal for sex crimes against children, Portuguese detectives never considered he could be involved.

He is currently serving a seven-year sentence for the rape of a 72-year-old in Praia da Luz, in 2005.

It was German cops who dis-

covered his phone was used near Madeleine’s apartment on the same night she went missing.

Prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters told the Olive Press he is ‘certain’ Brueckner abducted Madeleine and killed her. Detectives have found at least one ‘relevant clue’ from the Arade search and taken dozens of samples back to Germany to be analysed over the coming weeks.

Olive Press editor Jon Clarke was the only journalist to visit the ‘secret camp’ of Madeleine McCann suspect last year, as three-day lake search finds ‘relevant clues’

RITUAL CLEANSING: What did Brueckner do at Arade lake stone circle ?

Photos by Jon Clarke

Maddie cops cover up, p6

JADE Jagger is in the doghouse after being fined for resisting arrest, but could end up in the jailhouse if a police union lawyer has his way.

The 51-year-old daughter of Mick Jagger and his first (and legally speaking only) wife Bianca appeared at a fast-track hearing in an Ibiza court alongside her 31-year-old lover Anthony Hinkson.

Police were called to La Oliva restaurant in Ibiza’s Old Town when Hinkson was being abusive to staff and customers.

He refused to identify himself to officers and Jagger was reported to have intervened to ‘defend her partner’, and in doing so ‘assaulted’ and insulted a female officer. After two nights in the cells the pair appeared

Princess

of Wales

KING Felipe VI and Queen

Letizia were in Wales for their daughter Leonor’s graduation ceremony from Atlantic College in the Vale of Glamorgan. Seventeen-year-old Leonor, who is the Princess of Asturias and the heir to the Spanish throne, began the two-year course at the sixth form college back in 2021. Her parents reportedly paid the £67,000 tuition fees themselves. Also in attendance at the ceremony was the royal couple’s youngest daughter Sofia, aged 16 and known in Spanish as the infanta Leonor will now be starting military training in the autumn, following in the footsteps of her father.

Taking the Mick

in front of a judge who ordered Jagger to pay €800 compensation and fined her a total of €1,400 for resisting arrest and ‘causing personal injury’.

Hinkson was jailed for four-months - automatically suspended as it is a first offence - for assault.

But now lawyer Eduardo Luna, hired by Spanish police union SUP to fight the case, wants the judgement annulled.

He has called for a retrial with fashion designer Jagger charged with the more serious offence of wounding.

Bridezilla strikes

On-off-on again aristocratic wedding saga claims dress designer casualty

SHE is an aristocrat, half sister to Enrique Iglesias and a TV personality boasting her own Netflix reality series called Lady Tamara And the long-running saga of her on, off and on again wedding is turning into a soap opera all on its own.

Tamara Falco - the sixth Marchioness of Griñón and, through her socialite mother Isabel Preysler, sister to Iglesias - has dumped her wedding dress designer and jetted to New York to be fitted by Wes Gordon. The creative director of Car-

By Dilip Kuner

olina Herrera has stepped in at short notice to replace Basque designers Sophie et Voila, with the July 8 wedding date looming.

The story of Falco’s nuptials has kept the social pages of the Spanish press busy from the moment she made the engagement announcement on Instagram last autumn. She declared that she was going to marry businessman Iñigo Onieva (pictured), but within days a video emerged

BEST EVER

THE man considered as the world’s greatest-ever marathon runner - Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge - has run off with the 2023 Princess of Asturias Award for sport. It is one of eight €50,000 prizes handed out for outstanding work in fields like the arts, communication, scientific research and literature which will be presented at a ceremony in Oviedo every September.

Kipchoge, 38, who won Olympic gold in the marathon in 2016 and 2020 and was the world 5,000 metres champion in 2003 ‘is considered a legend in world athletics and the best marathon runner of all time’, said the Princess of Asturias foundation.

CAN YOU SEE ME? THEN SO CAN ALL OUR READERS

NO GENT

SPANISH singing superstar Rosalia has slammed a fellow artist’s attempts to attract attention after he shared a faked topless photo of her on Instagram Far from apologising for his actions, Reyes instead celebrated becoming a ‘trending topic’ on social media.

Reyes, 26 and from Sevilla, also took the opportunity to plug his next record. “Wait for my upcoming single, it’s called Rosalia ,” he wrote via social media.

Catalan warbler, Rosalia, 30, who shot to international fame thanks to singles such as Saoko and Chicken Teriyaki soon responded to the actions of Reyes.

of him canoodling with a New York model at a music festival in the US. Despite his initial claims the image was from 2019, before he knew 41-year-old Falco, TV sleuths had identified the festival as being held just a few weeks previously. The TV gossip shows went into meltdown and the saga was barely off the screens, with Falco apparently bringing her relationship with Onieva to an end when she removed the engagement post from Instagram But after Onieva apologised, the couple reunited on a Christmas trip to the Arctic, and now a lavish three-day celebration is planned.

“Looking for clout by disrespecting and sexualising someone is a kind of violence and is disgusting but doing it to get… plays [of a record] is pitiful,” she said via Twitter Reyes has since deleted all his posts about Rosalia.

Inspirational run

A 65-year-old man with Parkinson’s has been hailed as ‘an inspiration’ by broadcaster Jeremy Paxman for a 970-mile run from London to Barcelona.

Neil Russell, a former advertising executive from Gloucestershire, began his epic run last week and plans to complete it at the end of June.

He aims to finish in time for the opening of the World Parkinson’s Congress in the Catalan city.

Paxman - younger brother of former UK Ambassador to Spain Giles Paxman - was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 2021.

He said: “People like Neil are an inspiration and he shows that having Parkinson’s need not be a barrier in life.”

WHITE ELEPHANT SLAIN

BULLDOZERS have finally moved in on an infamous 'white elephant' that has drained away millions of euros in public money.

The Marina Baches Cultural Centre - nicknamed La Paloma - was once branded ‘the shame of Pilar de la Horadada’.

It even reached national notoriety as a prime example of overspending by councils during the boom period of the 2000s.

Now, after years of legal wranglings, €390,000 has been allocated to demolish it. Its original construction budget was just €2 million but that soon spiralled to €9 million by 2006, when building was forced to stop.

The shameless project was officially scrapped in 2014 when it was described as ‘obsolete’ Pilar council ended up having to pay €2.7million in compensation to two companies for lost revenues as an underground car park on the site could not be used.

Besides demolishing La Paloma, the underground car park with 252 spaces will be refurbished at a cost of €2.3 million - more than the 2001 original budget. for the cultural centre.

MERRY GO ROUND

By Alex Trelinski

NEW mayors are on the way for Elche and Orihuela after a strong showing for the PP party in Sunday’s local elections.

Pablo Ruz is set to become Elche’s new leader after his party got 11 seats, and with the support of far-right Vox (leader Santiago Abascal pictured) five seats, will have a majority.

Pepe Vagara will be Orihuela’s new mayor after winning 10 seats - one more than last time, but will also have to do

a deal with Vox.

Alicante’s mayor Luis Barcala saw a big rise in his vote with five extra councillors, while Eduardo Dolon in Torrevieja, Jose Maria Perez in Pilar de la Horadada, and

Position boosted

THE PP party strengthened its control of the Murcia region gaining five seats - two short of an overall majority.

It means that the PP's Fernando Lopez will remain as president with 21 seats but needs votes or abstentions from the far-right Vox party, as before.

Vox got five new seats to take its tally to nine while the PSOE lost four seats and now has 13.

Unidas Podemos hung on to its two seats but Ciudadanos was wiped out with the loss of all six seats. The PP has been in power in Murcia since 1995. San Javier and San Pedro stayed in PP hands, while Los Alcazares remained strongly under PSOE control.

Santa Pola’s Loreto Serrano all boosted their majorities. Jacarilla was a surprise PP gain from the PSOE which also enjoyed increased majorities in places like Almoradi and Benijofar.

It was not all doom and gloom for the PSOE which retained control - despite some fears - of Guardamar, Rojales, Dolores, and Algorfa amongst a clutch of Vega Baja councils.

It’s up in the air what happens to San Fulgencio council, where the PP is now neck and neck with PSOE. Who runs the council will depend on which direction the two councillors of the independent PIPN party decide to go. Similar horse trading will take place in San Miguel de Salinas to see if the PSOE stays in control.

SPAIN is bracing itself for a general election in July after the country lurched to the right in the local elections.

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez (pictured) took everyone by surprise by calling a snap national poll for July 23.

It comes after the country - and even shockingly Andaluciamostly turned blue in the May local elections.

Around the country, the right wing Peoples Party (PP) share rose by 9%, snaring 31.5% of the votes, compared to 28.2% for the PSOE socialists.

Nationwide, the PP benefited from the collapse of centre-right Ciudadanos, taking seven of the 12 regions, overthrowing PSOE in Aragon, Valencia and Rioja. The PP is likely to need support from Vox to form various regional governments.

It is this alarming rise of the farright Vox party that Sanchez thinks he can counter in a quick election.

“The best thing is for Spaniards to have their say to define the political course of the country,” he said on Monday. Voter turnout was similar to 2019, with a 61.4% turnout.

Plenty of changes at the top, while horse-trading is set to decide new mayors in San Fulgencio and San Miguel

FLOODGATES OPENED

A HEAVY storm caused severe flooding in Molina de Segura with 100 l/m2 of rain dumped on the town in just an hour.

Many roads were flooded with properties damaged especially in rural areas - but nobody suffered any injuries during last Thursday’s storm. Emergency services rescued 15 people trapped in their vehicles as they were caught out by the heavy downpour. One incident saw a boy being flipped out of his stroller as his mother pushed him across a flooded street. They were both pulled to safety by a pedestrian. Meanwhile, a helicopter was deployed to rescue four peo-

Storm dumps record - and needed - rain in just one hour

By Alex Trelinski

ple and 34 dogs at a home in Cañada de Morcillo.

The greatest damage was in Huerta de Arriba and Huerta de Abajo with rescues continuing until 2am on Friday. Warehouses were flooded in Molina's La Estrella area and there was significant damage to the cemetery where part of the perimeter wall collapsed. Ironically, farmers who have been struggling with drought this year ended up with flooded fields from the downpours, which at times turned to hail. Some 4,000 hectares of land were affected with 60% of crops being citrus fruits.

200,000 Brits

Stuck at home

AN alarming 200,000 British tourists are set to stay away from the Costa Blanca this summer. And it’s not for want of coming.

There has been a 10% drop in the number of flights and seats from the UK to Alicante airport, it has been revealed.

The Costa Blanca Tourist Board has admitted that there are 67,000 fewer seats on planes flying from London Gatwick alone this summer than in 2019.

Boss Jose Mancebo insisted this was despite no reduced interest from the UK market - which still dominates foreign visitor numbers.

“The summer was planned a year ago which means there was a certain amount of conservatism in the number of flights scheduled,” he explained.

Seat offerings are a 9% fall on 2019 numbers, accounting for around 200,000 passengers.

“The demand is still there but the UK market share used to be so high, that it will take a while to recover all of it,” added Mancebo.

The drop at Gatwick, comes curiously as Manchester put on an extra 47,000 seats this summer.

Mancebo said that a lot of work has been done to extend the season through the winter and the first few months of the year were ‘very good’.

Benidorm-based hotel association Hosbec said there was a fall in the British market in early spring, but has recovered well in May.

UK bookings are now accounting for 50% of the resort's hotel occupancy.

Around two million Brits are still expected to fly in for bucket and spade holidays this summer.

CATTASTIC!

THE LYNX population has risen by over 300 cats in just a year.

There are now 1,668 of them living across Spain and Portugal.

The figures for 2022 are in stark contrast to over two decades ago when there were less than 100 Iberian lynxes alive, with the species facing extinction.

Some 563 cubs were born last year helped by captive breeding centres.

Most of the species (84%) are found in Spain with the rest in southern Portugal.

They have spread around large parts of mountainous Andalucia, while work was recently begun to reintroduce them to rural districts, near Lorca, inland Murcia.

European Union funding, through various Life projects, has played an important part in the running of the programme.

INUNDATED: Molina’s streets were submerged

Voted top expat paper in Spain

A campaigning, community newspaper, the Olive Press represents the huge expatriate community in Spain with an estimated readership, including the websites, of more than two million people a month.

OPINION

Key losses force Sanchez's hand

REGIONAL and municipal elections are always fascinating in Spain because it's not just the Sunday night that's interesting but also the deals needing to be struck between unlikely bedfellows over the following days.

By the way, if you don't think such elections are important, then tell that to Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez of the PSOE.

As the results came in, he made up his mind on Sunday night to bring forward December's general election to July 23 as a way of getting smaller left-wing parties to get their act together or face a Partido Popular (PP) victory.

The PP won the important benchmark of the Valencian regional government, which they ceded to Ximo Puig's left of centre 'botanic' coalition in 2015.

President-elect Carlos Mazon is a well-known figure in Alicante province especially for running the provincial council, but he has to decide how to govern as he doesn't have an overall majority - meaning some kind of accommodation with the far-right Vox. That's a similar scenario in Valencia City Council, where to the surprise of some pundits, the left-wing coalition was brushed aside in favour of the PP becoming the top party.

That result more than the regional one may have got Pedro Sanchez reaching for a strong brandy on Sunday.

The PP in the Murcia region easily kept power under Fernando Lopez Miras and they strengthened their advantage in many municipalities.

But Spain is very different from the UK, because whatever the political colour of a party, if the locals like their council, they vote it back in, rather than use the election for some kind of protest vote on the national situation..

That meant the PSOE gaining extra seats in some areas or just holding on to a council they were expected to lose. This meant it was far from the total PP landslide that some might have predicted.

As for July 23? Heaven knows!

PUBLISHER / EDITOR

Jon Clarke, jon@theolivepress.es

Dilip Kuner dilip@theolivepress.es

Alberto Lejarraga alberto@theolivepress.es

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John Culatto

ADMIN Victoria Humenyuk Makarova (+34) 951 273 575 admin@theolivepress.es

MADDIE COPS

ALAWYER who twice oversaw searches at a reservoir looking for Madeleine McCann in 2008, has slammed the Portuguese police and state over the ‘shameful’ way the case was handled.

Marcos Aragao Correia organised two searches around the Barragem de Arade alongside the Spanish detective agency, Metodo 3, who were hired by the McCann family.

As well as insisting their findings - including bones in a bag weighed down by a stone and a child’s sock - were ‘ignored’ by police, he claims the ‘corrupt’ government of the time orchestrated a cover up.

In a damning interview with the Olive Press, he drew parallels with another missing girl, Joana Cipriano, who vanished at the age of 8, just 10 miles from Praia da Luz, where Madeleine went missing in May, 2007.

Talking from his home in Madeira, he slammed the way the mother of the girl, Leonor Cipriano, who he represented as a lawyer, had been tortured by police into signing ‘a false confession’ that she had killed her daughter.

And he described it as particularly ‘shameful’ that the same group of detectives, led by Gonzalo Amaral, was later tasked with investigating the case of missing Maddie, who vanished while on holiday in Praia da Luz.

“It is totally shameful that the Portuguese government, led

EXCLUSIVE

By Jon Clarke, in Silves

by the corrupt socialist Jose Socrates, allowed Amaral, already accused of torturing Leonor, to again be responsible for an investigation into the disappearance of another child, Madeleine.”

The father-of-four continued: “And soon it was found that the same ‘script’ of the police was always to accuse the parents of the children without any evidence.”

He added: “The Portuguese State is in fact a dictatorship disguised as democracy.”

In the shocking case of Joana, she had vanished in 2004 without trace, as she ran an errand to her local grocery shop, in Figueira, for her mother at dusk.

Incredibly, both her mother and uncle were accused of killing her after police claimed she had walked in on them in bed.

Detective Amaral - who was eventually removed from the Madeleine case - built up the accusation and claimed Joana was killed and her body was ‘fed to pigs’.

But it proved to be a total fantasy and Amaral received an 18-month sentence for perjury and covering up his officers’ dirty work, while two of them also received a prison sentence for the attack.

“After months of trial, we were able to prove that Leonor was brutally tortured by the Portuguese Judiciary Police (PJ) forcing her to sign a false confession saying that she had killed her own daughter,” Correia explained. The father-of-four added he was supported by both the Portuguese Bar Association and Amnesty International in the long miscarriage of justice, which only saw the mother exonerated after over a decade in prison.

Lawyer

This came, despite shocking photos showing Leonor with appalling injuries after two days of interrogations in an Algarve police cell.

He added Amaral had overseen the entire 48 hours of beatings and Leonor later picked him out in an ID parade.

And incredibly, Correia added: “The same Portuguese State that admitted the torture but refused to arrest any of the convicted officers, then accused me of defamation for having said what the Courts had already ruled… that is, that Amaral was involved in the torture of Leonor and covered it up.”

He eventually won the case, forcing Ama ral to apologise and pay his costs. Now based in his native Madeira, he has left the legal profession to support his children and set up a museum for his father, a famous writer and poet.

He insists that ‘protection’ of his children is his main concern, after years of battles with the Portuguese judiciary and police.

“We cannot count on the State, especially the Portuguese State, to help us if something bad happens to our children.

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REMARKABLE SIMILARITIES: Joana (left) vanished just 10 miles from Praia da Luz, some three years before Maddie vanished. Her mum, Leonor, sparked a desperate hunt and appeal, but not one clue was ever found

“After 16 years of institutional ne glect, only a miracle could now find Mad eleine McCann’s remains.” His remarkable insight came after police searched the large reservoir and surrounding area of the Arade lake. It comes after a good new tip off about the main suspect, Christian Brueckner, came in to the chief prosecutor leading the search in Braunschweig, in

First made aware of the plans for ‘an action’ on May 7, the Olive Press chose to stay quiet, after requests from German police.

SHOCKING TORTURE:

Rather than consider the probability of a kidnap by a predatory paedophile, Portuguese police instead beat a confession out of mother, Leonor, as well as her brother and uncle over a horrific 48hour period

who pinpointed Portugal lake where cops just searched for Madeleine McCann’s remains, links the case to another missing girl, 8, whose parents’ were ‘also framed’

COVER UP

Coordinated between a female prosecutor in Portimao and her counterpart in Braunschweig, Hans Christian Wolters, around 10 German BKA detectives worked with over 20 Portuguese police and ‘up to five’ detectives from Operation Grange, in London.

During the course of the 72-hour search at least three sacks of materials were sent back to the BKA’s headquarters in Wiesbaden.

Sources claimed photos of main suspect Brueckner had appeared of him beside the lake, while police were allegedly

specifically looking for fibres of the pink pyjamas Madeleine was wearing on the night she vanished. While sources in Germany told the Olive Press the new tip was ‘entire-

ly credible’ and came from a totally different source, it ties in closely with ‘underworld sources’ who had told Correia about the lake in 2007.

The lawyer had first heard the claims that Madeleine had been killed and dumped in the lake within 48 hours of her kidnap, on Sunday, May 6, just three days after she vanished.

He had first visited the lake with Spanish investigators from Metodo 3, based in Barcelona, in December that year and had finally identified the site where he thought she

was dumped on December 10.

While he immediately told police investigating the case he claimed they ‘did nothing’.

He also claimed (and sued the Portuguese Post Office) that a recorded letter with information on the kidnap which he sent to the McCanns’ home in Rothley, in the UK, had been seized by Portuguese police.

This week, he once again recalled his anguish, revealing: “The clues I received shortly after Madeleine disappeared pointed to her having been kidnapped, raped and murdered and her body thrown into a lake in the Algarve.

“I didn’t know at the time which lake it was, but I soon communicated all this data to the Portuguese Judiciary Police, who completely ignored it, and then to Metodo 3, which did its best to search for Madeleine and discover what had happened to her.

“The work that Metodo 3 was carrying out in the field gathered several clues from different sources that also reinforced that Madeleine had been kidnapped and murdered and she would never have left Portugal.

SHINING A LIGHT: All the hard work and investment by lawyer Marcos Correia into Maddie’s disappearance (which unearthed a bag of bones and a child’s sock, left, in Arade lake), was ‘totally ignored’ by Portu- guese detectives

“After exhaustive research, I therefore hired a private company of divers from the Algarve to carry out searches in the Arade lake, however, as we did not have the support of the Portuguese police (although I had requested this), our means were quite limited and the budget I

NERVE-CENTRE: The Olive Press visited the Arade lake site, last week, where Marcos Correia searched for Maddie twice in 2008 Pictures by Jon Clarke

had offered quickly ran out, so a few days later we were forced to abandon the search.

“However, very suspicious material was found, such as bags with small bones tied with heavy stones, which was handed over to Method 3.” The searches, that had cost €1,200 per day, took place in February and March, 2008 and included mostly British divers, who lived in the area. Among items found was a child’s sock (left) and a 17-foot long piece of ‘knotted cord’ that Correia believed could have been used to tie up the toddler.

Metodo 3 later said they believed Madeleine had been switched from one vehicle to another at a parking spot nearby on the main road between Arade and nearby Silves.

A truck driver had later come forward to say he had spotted a woman passing what looked like a small child to someone at the time.

Concluding, the length of time it has taken to return to the lake, Correia insisted the Madeleine case had taken ‘far too long’ to solve and was a ‘abandoned at the highest level by the Portuguese State, and her parents, clearly innocent, were persecuted’.

“Thank you very much for your interest in the work I have done over the years,” he added. “Many people directly donated money to Madeleine’s parents. I donated my work, time and also money. After the searches again at Arade dam, I hope you can disclose everything in the name of public interest and bit by bit more of the truth will come out.”

“

After 16 years of institutional neglect, only a miracle could now find Madeleine McCann’s remains

I’m an expat Broker for Liberty Seguros I understand your needs and I’m here to help YOU Let’s talk!

MYSTERIOUS MASS

15km2 of Mar Menor lagoon waters affected by puzzling white cloud

A ‘WHITISH mass’ of water measuring 15 square kilometres has appeared in Spain’s Mar Menor lagoon.

Satellite images analysed by the Spanish Institute of Oceanography (IEO-CSIC) have revealed the worrying phenomena in Europe’s biggest ‘ínland sea’.

The mass extends between Los Alcazares, Los Urrutias and Perdiguera Island with the IEO-CSIC saying that the area is registering chlorophyll concentration values ‘up to four times in Murcia higher than in other parts of the lagoon’.

IEO-CSIC researcher, Juan Manuel Ruiz, said: “The presence of phytoplanktonic proliferations is common, but not with colouring.”

Phytoplanktons are a key part of freshwater and sea ecosystems creating organic compounds from carbon dioxide dissolved in the water.

Solar first

IBERDROLA has been given government permission to build its first solar energy power plant in the Valencian Community.

Previous project submissions had been rejected in the area due to their negative impact on the environment.

The FV Alhorines facility in Villena will cost €24 million to set up on 70 hectares of empty land next to existing power substations. The plant will produce energy from 92,000 photovoltaic modules and generate around 84,000 megawatt hours of electricity per year.

Iberdrola says that that's the equivalent of supplying 25,000 homes and saving 11,500 tons of carbon dioxide emissions.

STORAGE NEEDED

NEW targets for renewable energy being set by Spain are likely to be missed, unless supporting infrastructure is rapidly built.

By Alex Trelinski

Satellite photos have shown the mass in the Mar Menor has been present for around two months.

The IEO-CSIC report says that the concentrations of phytoplanktons are lower than previous measurements especially in past instances when some of the water appeared to be murky or ‘green soup’ in colour.

This is thought to have led to several mass die-offs of sea creatures and vegetation in the area over the past few years. The growth of these types of planktons is thought to be associated with fertilisers and

slurry run-off from farmers bordering the lagoon. As the planktons proliferate in the nitrate-rich water, oxygen is removed and other life is suffocated.

At the moment the scientists are still trying to work out the cause of the white colouration, and are uncertain on the impact it will have on the environment.

This is the message from consultancy Afry after the government pledged to raise its targets for installed solar and wind capacity to 75 GW and 60 GW by 2030.

The current targets are 39 GW for solar and 50 GW for wind, with currently 20 GW and 30 GW, respectively installed.

There have been persistent calls for the Spanish government to do more to hit climate-related energy targets and for massive investment, with the raised figures welcomed by many in the renewable energy industry.

But Javier Revuelta of Afry claims the latest targets are ‘completely unrealistic’ unless energy storage solutions are found quickly.

If not, the price of renewable energy may plunge as installed capacity shoots up, leading to surpluses with no way of storing the extra energy during times of high output.

This in turn could affect the stability of the marketparticularly long term purchase agreements (PPAs) - making future investment less likely.

IN 2015 government leaders from around the world met in Paris and committed to enacting measures that would limit global warming to a maximum increase of 1.5C.

Surprise surprise, they have failed.

Last week researchers stated that this critical threshold will be passed BEFORE 2027. Breaking this limit proves that global warming is accelerating and not slowing down.

The 1.5C figure has become a symbol of global climate change negotiations.

We all know the consequences…longer heatwaves, more intense storms, wildfires, flooding and

PARIS ACCORD IN TATTERS

drought.

Yet still, effective action to prevent and reduce disaster is lacking. Carbon emissions from human activities continue to rise. When will governments wake up and have the balls to make the right decisions?

ME FIRST MOVEMENT

We are all familiar with the Me Too Movement. Allow me to introduce you to the Me First Movement.

It’s a worldwide pandemic that affects the vast majority of those capable of making a real difference in the fight to reverse damage caused to our environment.

Politicians and governments everywhere suffer from this debilitating disease that leads to putting self interest first.

PRIME EXAMPLE IS AUSTRALIA

Last year the newly installed government was elected on the back of a climate action platform.

Last week it approved a new coal mine.

Scientists have repeatedly warned that any new fossil fuel projects ARE NOT COMPATIBLE with global climate goals.

The new coal mine, north of Brisbane, will produce over 2.5 million tonnes of coal over the next five years. That amounts to over 7 million tonnes of greenhouse gases.

Shame on Australia.

Shame on the world for watching.

Green Matters

By Martin Tye

MORE COAL: New mine like this one in Australia approved

DRONE RESULT

A TEAM using a drone has found 7,000-year-old Neolithic paintings in two shallow caves in an inaccessible mountain region.

Three archaeologists from Alicante University climbed as far as they could towards the caves in Castellet-Barranc de Salt and Port de Penaguila before setting the drone on its way.

It recorded videos of walls in 18 shallow shelters set in the mountain face and discovered paintings in two of them.

The El Salt discoveries include female figures and archers, as well as deers and goats - some wounded by arrows. The pictures at the second site are yet to be interpreted.

The Penaguila area has produced a series of findings, including some outstanding discoveries back in the 1980’s.

NOBEL TASK

Writer’s Prado stay will collide art with the written word

NOBEL Laureate and twotime Booker prize winner JM Coetzee is moving to Madrid to write about the Prado museum’s collections. The 83-year-old will spend three weeks in the capital as part of a new Prado programme.

EYE-CATCHING: South African JM Coetzee

New dinosaur species discovered

FOSSILS found in Castellon may have revealed the existence of a previously undiscovered species of dinosaur.

Scientists said they had unearthed a partial skeleton of a species at Cinctorres that helps provide a deeper understanding of a highly successful group of carnivores that hunted on land and in the water.

The discovery suggests the Iberian peninsula may have been a diverse area for medium to large-bodied spinosaurids and sheds light on their origin and evolution.

Living about 126 to 127 million years ago, the bipedal dinosaur, named Protathlitis cinctorrensis , was about 10 to 11 meters long and weighed about two tons.

ROYAL RARITIES

By Simon Hunter

The acclaimed writer will make the Prado his centre of activity and ‘contempla-

PAINTINGS, tapestries, sculptures, decorative art pieces, armour and weapons, and royal furniture collected by Spanish monarchs will be put on show at a new museum. It opens at Madrid’s Royal Palace on June 28 and will feature collections dating back as far as the Middle

The inaugural exhibition will feature 650 of the more than 150,000 pieces managed on behalf of the government by Patrimonio Nacional, including works by Velazquez, Goya, Caravaggio, Titian and Tintoretto.

In a joint venture with the Loewe Foundation, it is inviting internationally renowned writers to engage literarily with the museum’s collections. tion’. This summer. He will write a story related to his time at the Prado, the first of a story collection that the Museum will dedicate to exploring the potential for creative expression at

the crossroads of fiction and the visual arts.

JM Coetzee, born in South Africa in 1940, has published nineteen works.

He is regarded as one of the most acclaimed and decorated English language authors.

Much of his work questions apartheid, under which he grew up, and challenges all forms of racism.

He now lives in Australia, where he is a Professorial Research Fellow at the University of Adelaide.

He’s also had visiting appointments over a long academic career, at US universities such as Harvard, Johns Hopkins, and Stanford.

WHY

The newly discovered dinosaur has been identified from a partial skeleton – the right upper jawbone, one tooth, and five vertebrae.

MANAGERS

If you have placed your pensions, savings and investments with a financial adviser there is a strong possibility you are invested in a model portfolio service (MPS) whereby you delegate the execution of an agreed investment strategy to an investment house.

The 60/40 model portfolio, which consists of 60% equities and 40% bonds, has been a popular and successful investment strategy for well for over 50 years.

A combination of growth and income providing a safe way for investors to grow their investments without taking excessive risk.

However, in recent years, experts have questioned whether these models can continue to deliver risk adjusted positive returns moving forward. The criticism centres around a lack of diversification to mitigate risk.

because shares and bonds were negatively correlated delivering a diversification effect. The equity element performing well in good times with safer assets like bonds appreciating in value and providing a yield during bad times.

Keeping interest rates artificially anchored at zero has destroyed that inverse relationship. In recent years equities and bonds have become more positively correlated resulting in both asset classes moving in the same direction more often which has made these portfolios more susceptible to market downturns.

Equities and bonds have become more positively correlated

There have only been a handful of occasions in 100 years, generally considered as ‘Blackswan Events,’ (abandonment of the gold standard and World War II) where bond prices haven’t gone up in value when equity prices have fallen.

Interestingly, the current macro-economic environment is frighteningly similar to stagflation in the 1970’s; where the strategy also proved ineffective!

The 60/40 model worked well in the past

In conclusion, while the 60/40 model portfolio may have been a reliable investment strategy in the past, its relevance in today’s market is being questioned.

As a result, you may need to explore alternative investment strategies to achieve your investment objectives. An actively managed portfolio which invests in a broader range of asset classes may offer potential benefits and may be worth considering for investors seeking better returns and more effective risk management in a debt ridden, slow growth, inflationary environment.

If your investments have produced a negative return in 2022 please take the opportunity to book a second opinion consultation.

Taxi hailed

SAN JAVIER council has replaced the grounded Mar Menor ferry service with a fleet of water taxis.

For reasons unknown, the popular ferry between Santiago de la Ribera and the Tomas Maestre port at the north of La Manga ceased operation in December.

That’s despite the operator, Mar Menor Ferry, qualifying for a €75,000 per annum subsidy from San Javier council.

Transport councillor, Antonio Martinez Torrecillas, said the latest subsidy had not been paid and added the service stoppage was down to ‘an internal problem within the company’.

The three replacement water taxis will begin operating from June with a capacity to carry 12 people in each of them - well down on the 70 travellers that could be accommodated on the ferry. The councillor said they would run more frequently than the ferry and operate between 10am and 10pm, but no timetable has been declared nor details of fares, which were €5 for the ferry.

JETTING IN BUSY SUMMER

Prices soar but holiday rentals selling fast

By Alex Trelinski

SPAIN’s tourist rental homes have already reached an average occupancy of 82% for this summer with prices averaging €172 per night - up 13% on last year.

The figures come from a survey conducted by holiday rental portal Holidu which interviewed 2,471 holiday home owners on its books.

Some 52% of owners expected more bookings than last year and 48% planned to increase charges.

The greatest number of reservations have come in Catalunya and the Valencian Commu-

nity at 88%, closely followed by the Madrid region and the Balearic Islands on 87%.

Tourist flats are one of the main accommodation options

Liverpool link

AIRLINE Jet2 will launch a service from Liverpool to Alicante-Elche airport for the 2024 summer season.

The carrier is opening a new base at John Lennon Airport next year and will operate up to four weekly services from March 30 on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday. It will provide competition for Ryanair and easyJet who already provide flights to and from Liverpool.

Next year's opening of Liverpool means that Jet2 will have services from 11 UK airports to Alicante-Elche airport.

2022 SPANISH INCOME TAX, RATES AND OBLIGATIONS

Calling all Spanish tax residents!

Remember you must submit your tax return before June 30, writes

Gonzalez

THE filing period for personal income tax for 2022 started in April and will last until June 30.

The obligation to declare is for tax residents who, according to the law, spend more than 183 days during the calendar year in Spanish territory.

Not all residents however are obliged to file an income tax return.

Only those who receive an income of more than €22,000 per year if they receive it from a single employer, and €14,000 if they have two or more employers.

Pedro

etc. may also be subject to the obligation to declare even if no other income is received.

This tax is proportional and is levied according to the principle of economic tax capacity, which is constitutionally recognised in article 31 of the Spanish constitution. It basically means that those who earn more pay more.

For income obtained from salaries and pensions the general tax scale must be applied and the tax rate varies from a minimum of 19% for the lowest incomes to 47% for incomes exceeding €300,000.

savings section and these rates tend to be significantly lower than the general scale.

It should also be noted that all taxpayers, depending on age and family circumstances, are entitled to family and personal allowances to reduce the amount payable.

for holidaymakers followed by luxury villas with a swimming pool and small apartments in city centres.

The Canary Islands, Extremadura and Galicia appear to offer the lowest rental prices of between €104 and €105 a night - well below the national average of €172.

Other bargains include coastal areas of the Murcia region at €110, while inland mountainous destinations like Asturias and Castilla y Leon, come in at around €114 to €115.

Popular tourist areas like Andalucia and the Valencian Community are reporting average prices of €141 and €134

respectively.

The most expensive summer season prices are €253 per night in the Balearic Islands, followed by Madrid on €180 and the Basque Country with €178.

Domestic

Most of the Holidu holiday home reservations - 66%have been made by domestic travellers, maintaining an upward trend which started during the Covid-19 pandemic Foreign bookings are led by Germany with 12%, France with 8% and the United Kingdom at 4%.

OP QUICK CROSSWORD

BUDGET air carrier easyJet will open a seasonal base at Alicante-Elche airport in 2024.

It will be the airline's fourth base in Spain, with the company saying it will create 100 new pilot and cabin crew jobs.

The airport will be home to three A320 aircraft, each with a capacity to carry 186 passengers.

Alicante-Elche joins two other seasonal bases at Malaga and Palma de Mallorca along with the all-year facility in Barcelona.

The company said Alicante-Elche was the airline's most popular Spanish destination that did not have a base.

Flew

The operator first flew into Alicante in 1999 with a connection to London Stansted, and has transported 27.5 million to and from Alicante-Elche airport since then. easyJet added that it plans to increase summer seat availability to Alicante by 16% compared to this year with a capacity of 1.62 million seats, which includes links to other European cities including Amsterdam and Geneva as well as British locations.

Across

1 Obstacle (4)

4 If you’re on the Stump here, you’ve got a good view (6)

8 Buffoons (6)

9 Small purple plum (6)

10 Obliterate his model, reconstructed (8)

11 Central part (4)

12 Runs into (5)

13 Foe (5)

17 Vomit (4)

19 Free from evil spirits (8)

20 Dusky? (6)

21 Line on a weather map (6)

22 Of inferior quality (6)

23 Ultimate (4)

Down

2 Aw! Hustles Owen about in Australia (3,5,5)

3 Idle talk (6)

4 Enlightened one, literally (6)

5 Only half knocked out? (4-9)

6 Scent (5)

7 Swindle (6)

14 Lose (6)

15 Well-bred people (6)

Other income such as dividends, interest, real estate income or capital gains must be declared in the

If you have any queries regarding the filing of your income tax return, we recommend that you contact Pedro from My Lawyer in Spain who will be happy to advise and assist you.

In addition, individuals who receive an income from interest, dividends or rental income, Email: pedro@mylawyerinspain.com and visit www.mylawyerinspain.com for more general legal advice in Spain

YOUR LEGAL

Here to help with your

16 Kind of climber (6)

18 Rate of expenditure of energy (5)

All solutions are on page 13

Interest, real estate income or capital gains must be declared

IN an age of international style, global trends, and ‘one-size-fitsall’ interiors how can you create a stunningly stylish Iberian-flavoured home? How do you distinguish Calvia or Cadiz from California?

The simple answer is to shop local and enjoy all the associated environmental and cost benefits this brings. Most notable among Spanish handicrafts are our textiles and ceramics, so let’s hit the road, and drop in on a couple of areas with the richest heritage of artisanal crafts.

Textiles

Our first stop is in the Alpujarra, on the slopes of the Sierra Nevada, where towns like Bubion and Capilera are a Mecca for textile-lovers. Here you will find Hilacar , which still makes traditional fabrics (and offers weaving workshops) using traditional methods. Check its website.

Historically tejido Alpujarreño is most familiar as ‘cortinas de calle’

GO LOCAL

When it comes to textiles and ceramics, the Iberian Peninsula has a wealth of amazing producers, writes Julia Begbie

(or street curtains), but Alpujarreño textiles are inexpensive and finding new design markets.

Where I live in Gaucin, the excellent local restaurant Platero & Co has crafted an excellent interior scheme around Hilacar fabrics (curtains, room dividers, and seat cushions), combining these with hessian and local natural materials for a distinc-

tive solution that feels just right in our mountain village.

Meanwhile in Madrid, Eduardo Rodriguez Turel, proprietor of Eturel , showcases Alpujarreño fabrics alongside hessian and Canary Island stripes in an explosion of colourful contemporary chic. See his online shop for design and colour inspiration, and for high quality yet relatively inexpensive finished products, such as tablecloths, cushions, bags, and storage baskets.

Historically, the Iberian Peninsula has Berber shepherds to thank for the wool that feeds their mills; the Spanish town of Grazalema grew rich on the wool trade, and iconic Grazalema blankets sit well in traditional and contemporary interiors. Visit Mantas de Grazalema to indulge a taste for the monochromatic. Colour lovers meanwhile, should investigate the premium mohair blankets so beloved of Spanish children; the iconic brand Ezcaray – based in La Rioja and approaching its centenary celebrations - is world-famous for its sumptuous, soft and fluffy, jewel-coloured investment pieces, woven from the hair of Angora goats (above).

Over the border

Crossing the border into Portugal, our next stop is Reguengos de Monsaraz, another hotspot of textile

production and home to Fabricaal , a business combining tradition with bold contemporary vision. Fabricaal’s range includes fantastic rugs, and blankets, and the arte facts (bags, cushions, and stools) they create from the product of their looms.

Ceramics

The Iberian Peninsu la is also justly fa

mous for heritage ceramics and tiles in colours and patterns to give your home instant regional recognition and personality.

In Spain, the town of Nijar is to ceramics what Bubion is to textiles.

Set the satnav for Avenida Federico García Lorca and browse stalls teetering with stacked pots and colourful plates. Chat to seventh-generation potters like Lorenzo Lores, the current custodian of family Alfareria

Angel y Loli

This family business has been operating since 1755, and Lorenzo still works with the most traditional brown, yellow, green, and blue slips and glazes (manganese, iron, copper, and cobalt, since you ask).

In Portugal, you might want to check out some of the excellent ceramics around the Sintra area.

Take our modernist new-build home in Gaucín, we have introduced contemporary Iberian ceramics to give a sense of location.

Our choice is Casa Cubista , a Portuguese brand that overlays simple designs on traditional base materials, and mixes well with old-style ceramics collected in nearby Morocco.

HILACAR

CHECKLIST:

www.jarapahilacar.com

PLATERO Y CO

www.platero-gaucin.com/es/

ETUREL

www.eturel.com

FABRICAAL

www.fabricaal.com/en/

MANTAS DE GRAZALEMA

www.mantasdegrazalema.com

EZCARAY

www.mantasezcaray.com

ALFARERIA ANGEL Y LOLI

www.instagram.com/alfarangelyloli

CASA CUBISTA

www.casacubista.com

WARM AND WONDERFUL: Grazalema blankets are multi-purpose items

BEST OF SPAIN: Shops include Casa Cubista, Alfareria Angel y Loli and Eturel

GOING UNDERGROUND

EXTREME athlete, Beatriz Flamini (inset right), recently caught Spain’s attention by spending 500 days in a cave in Los Gauchos, near Motril. Her idea was to write about the troglodyte lifestyle and attempt a world record for solo cave-dwelling.

Living 70 metres below earth, unable to differentiate between day from night, Beatriz journalled about living in isolation.

It wasn’t glamorous. There were no mod cons, no bathroom facilities and she emerged on April 14 saying that she ‘needed a shower’. While being confined in a dark space isn’t everybody’s cup of tea, everyone can enjoy the benefits of living in caves, in smaller doses… particularly in the heat of summer, or ironically, little known to most people, in the cold of winter.

For cave houses maintain an all round annual temperature of between 14C and 19C degrees, which is decidedly cool in summer and liveable in winter, with a jumper..

In various parts of Andalucia, you can rent your very own cave, to test out the lifestyle.

The options range from bijoux dwellings bedecked with traditional, Moorish-style soft furnishings to fully serviced ‘demi-caves’ (partially underground), and more luxurious hosted options with swimming pools and hot tubs.

Subterranean style might be a trend this summer!

Where are the caves?

You’ll find cave houses, cave hotels, and even cave restaurants in famous towns like Setenil de las Bodegas, in Cadiz, while many areas of Granada province, including Guadix, Orce, Huescar and Baza, also feature them. Meanwhile in the city of Granada, the Sacromonte area is famous for its cave homes, originally inhabited by gypsies.

According to National Geographic, cave dwellings were first adopted by inhabitants of southern Spain to shelter from storms and predatory

animals and, later, religious and racial persecution.

The idea of ‘shelter’ still applies today, with some people deliberately living off-radar in the caves of Sacromonte.

Some people were born in the caves and have remained there all their lives, sometimes cohabiting with animals.

Traditionally, cave houses were fa-

LOOKING TO BUY?

voured by the Gitano community, as mentioned. Today people of various nationalities invest in them because of the low impact on the environment and cool (literally) vibe. Many cave-owners report a strong sense of community and heritage, not dissimilar to the houseboat community in the UK, or Amsterdam, say. Some older caves are decked out with flamenco memorabilia and are strongly linked with gypsy culture.

Why would I rent a cave?

While Flamini described her time underground as ‘excellent’, most of us would prefer a few mod-cons in our cave. A subterranean paradise has its own bathroom!

A big advantage of cave houses is that they maintain a cool temperatu-

re in the summer. In winter, this drops to between 14 and 16 degrees, and for the coldest days, some caves are equipped with wood-burners and even central heating or underfloor heating. With silent and dark bedrooms –traditionally without windows - caves encourage peaceful sleep. This is certainly a compelling reason to choose a cave over a ‘hostal’ or cheap hotel.

CAVE houses can be a real bargain, and the good news is that there’s an option to suit every buyer’s budget.

Specialist agency, Rusticom, based in Baza, has sold over 1,000 caves to date.

For just €37,000 you can snap up a two bedroom rural cave home located outside the village of Los Laneros. This is furnished and includes a second, four-room cave next door for full renovation. (photo 1)

Increase your budget to €65,000 and you can bag a cosy, mid-range cave house in Galera, Granada. (photo 2).

Getting towards the higher end, €150,000 will buy you a business

opportunity, with a cave to live inside, and another to rent out.

you can get

1 2 3

in a cave house is incredible. The purchase price can be 20-30% less than for a standard build home and they make wonderful places to live.”

Especially in summer months, the city streets can be noisy. Even if your hotel room has double glazing, some light and noise pollution will creep through. Silence, in your cave, is golden. One incredible cave hotel, in Orce, north Granada, has 12 bedrooms. The amazing retreat, Casas Cueva el Mirador de Orce (www.andandoporelmundo.com), run by a Frenchman, even has chandeliers in some rooms and provides a mean breakfast. Meanwhile, at Cuevas Al Jatib (www.aljatib.com) , near Baza, you will find the most stylish cave hotel imaginable with an amazing pool, giant, warren-like suites and even with its own restaurant, once selected by the Olive Press in its popular section, Dining Secrets of Andalucia Longer

stays?

The Olive Press spoke to Amelia Michaelson, a British cave-dweller of Sacromonte, who lives there permanently. She enjoys life underground.

“It’s a great feeling, being inside the earth,” she explains. “A different kind of silence and a special, intimate space.”

She continues: “How much light you have depends on the size of the cave, where the windows and doors are positioned, and the material. The caves are all constructed with domed ceilings and archways, so they don't collapse. They must be ventilated, like any other house.”

Her cav is handily located on the doorstep of Granada’s thriving tourist centre, just a 15-minute stroll from Plaza Nueva and the cathedral.

There are guided tours of the main attractions in the caves of Sacromon te and tourists come from all areas, and many hikers and cyclists too. Lots of walking trails go from Sacromonte, up the valley, or across to the Alhambra area of Granada.

Pros and cons of cave living

PROS

9 Traditional cave areas, such as Sac- romonte, are steeped in history and tradition.

9 Being on the side of mountains, some of the cave neighbourhoods have stunning views.

9 Cool and tranquil.

9 Be a hobbit!

9 Resistant to earthquakes! CONS

8 Some caves don’t have mobile phone coverage inside, although rental caves will provide WiFi for tourists.

8 Some cave rentals are a long walk from the nearest parking (especially in Sacromonte). This isn’t suitable for people with mobility problems.

8 You might have to walk uphill after vis- iting tourist attractions.

8 Not ideal if you’re claustrophobic.

With Spain facing rising temperatures from global warming, a cave house is a cool option to buy, rent or holiday writes Jo Chipchase

(photo 3) Nick Wachter of Rusticom advises: “The value-for-money

COSY: Casas Cueva in Orce

EVOCATIVE: Cueva al Jatib gives a flavour of times gone by

OP Puzzle solutions

Quick Crossword

Across: 1 Snag, 4 Boston, 8 Clowns, 9 Damson, 10 Demolish, 11 Core, 12 Meets, 13 Enemy, 17 Spew, 19 Exorcise, 20 Twilit, 21 Isobar, 22 Trashy, 23 Last.

Down: 2 New South Wales, 3 Gossip, 4 Buddha, 5 Semi-conscious, 6 Odour, 7 Fleece, 14 Mislay, 15 Gentry, 16 Social, 18 Power.

Dear Jennifer:

FEEL SECURE

Have you protected your family in the correct way?

THE first question should be – have you taken out Life Insurance? You may have a Mortgage Protection policy, which means on your death the mortgage will be paid.

But of course, this has nothing to do with providing your family with some financial security when they really need it, whereas life insurance provides a payment to your family, to cover funeral costs, inheritance taxes, etc. Mortgage Protection is a good policy to have, as it will pay off any mortgage you have on your house, keeping your family secure in their home.

For example, Mortgage Payment protection, up to €100,000 of cover for a 50-year-old, can be as little as €305 per year.

But for fuller coverage you should look into a life policy. You can tailor a policy to your own requirements and create a bespoke life insurance – whether to cover the initial costs incurred on your death or provide your family with a lump sum to provide for their future.

For example, life cover of €50,000 for a 50-year-old, can be as little as €155 a year.

You do need to be resident in Spain for these policies and there will be a simple health/medical questionnaire that you will need to complete online.

These policies are available with monthly direct debit payments, and our policies will be in English.

I understand that when you go to the bank, they will try to sell you life insurance, both for yourself and your mortgage. Be careful as they tend to be more expensive and you are unable to tailor these policies for your own particular needs.

Alongside the life policies, we can provide various Accident Policies to give you protection throughout your life and provide support should you sadly experience a life changing accident.

Planning Ahead With a Funeral Plan

Pre-paid Funeral Plans

A family experienced the unexpected loss of their beloved father. As they grieved their loss, they were also faced with the daunting task of arranging his funeral and covering the expenses that came with it.

Feeling overwhelmed the family remembered a conversation they had with their father that he had put plan in place. They reached out to the Compare Funerals, who helped guide them through the process of using their father’s pre-paid funeral plan to cover the costs of his end-of-life services.

Compare Funerals took care of everything, from arranging the funeral service to handling the paperwork and details of the cremation.

Flat pack boost

SWEDISH furniture and home decoration multinational, Ikea, is set to invest €60 million in its logistics centre in Antequera over the next 18 months.

The investment will position the centre at the forefront of Ikea’s logistics in Andalucia, where it is expected it will serve the entire regional market with an estimated delivery of 400,000 orders a year direct to the homes of its customers.

The company’s commitment to strengthening logistics in Spain also includes the opening of new centres in Illescas (Toledo) and San Sebastian de los Reyes (Madrid) and the reinforcement of the logistics capacity of its own shops. The total investment of €90 million is expected to lead to the creation of 450 new direct jobs.

Balancing the scales

New law will ban all-women boards in the name of equality

By Simon Hunter

A PROPOSED new equality law could see all-woman company boards banned.

The Spanish Cabinet has approved the second stage of a draft law that seeks to boost the presence of women in politics, business and professional associations.

Once it has been approved by the Congress of Deputies, there will have to be a minimum 40% presence of women in government, on the boards of major companies, the governing boards of professional associations and electoral lists.

The draft law also states, however, that neither gender can have a presence that is below 40% nor above 60%. This means that in practice boards of directors made up exclusively of women will not be permitted. The Equal Representation Law

CABIN CREW PAY DEAL

SPANISH airline Air Europa has agreed an 11.9% pay rise over the next three years for cabin crew. The company has reached a pre-agreement with the Sitcpla, Aacefsi and CCOO trade unions. Its approval would mean a 5% wage increase this year, backdated to January 1, followed by

rises of 4% and 2.5% in 2024 and 2025. Although a deal has been reached, the Air Europa conflict with its pilots is still active. Eight one day strikes have been called, following the four-days stoppage that took place at the start of May.

Bumper year

WITH COVID-19 restrictions now a distant memory, the tourism sector in Spain is enjoying a bumper 2023.

According to figures from the National Statistics Institute (INE), hotel stays were up 21% on the year before to 80.9 million during the first four months of the year.

This exceeded the level seen in 2019, before the coronavirus pandemic hit.

The INE figures show that there were 28 million hotel stays in Spain in April, which is an 11.5% rise on the year before.

equitable slice of the pie

was first announced by Socialist Party Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez in March, ahead of International Women’s Day. Ministers have now announced further details that had been approved, which will affect

panels in the judiciary, such as the Constitutional Court, the Audit Court and the CGPJ legal watchdog. These bodies will also have to ensure that women account for at least 40% of members.

Another of the modifications announced include a more flexible timetable to introduce the changes in the workforce.

Companies listed on Spain’s Ibex 35 stock exchange, for example, will have to have a minimum of 40% female board members by June 2024.

“With this law we are taking a major step toward effective equality without establishing disproportionate demands on large companies,” said Economy Minister Nadia Calviño.

For January to April of this year, there were a total of 80.9 million hotel stays.

Foreign

The major increase was thanks to foreign visits, which were up 16% in April compared to the year before for a total of 17.3 million.

The INE also reported that the preferred destinations for foreign visitors were the Canary and Balearic Islands as well as Catalunya, while the domestic market preferred Andalucia, Catalunya and the Valencia region.

FAIR’S FAIR: More

Younger smokers Health services resume

THE Valencian Health Ministry says that 17.6% of people aged 15 years and over classify themselves as regular smokers in the Community.

Some 2.6% of residents said they were ‘sporadic’ smokers in findings from the regional health survey. The average age when smoking starts among boys and girls is 14.1 years with females more likely to take up cigarettes.

The main group featured people aged between 25 and 44 years, while previous studies had the principal age group for smokers between 45 and 64 years. The health ministry says that there are more smokers among more disadvantaged people(28%) falling to 14.1% in wealthier and higher social class groups.

SWEET JESUS

Medical miracle, as baby is born to mother who received transplanted uterus

IN a medical first for Spain, a baby has been born to a woman who received a uterus transplant. The child, Jesus, was born to Tamara Franco in Barcelona, after the organ was donated to her by her sister in 2020 via a complicated operation that lasted more than 20 hours.

By Simon Hunter

“It was a very tough but at the same time very beautiful process, and despite all of the risks it was worth it,” Franco explained. Franco, who is from Murcia, suffered from a condition called Rokitansky

SUGAR, SUGAR

CHILDREN in Spain scoff more than two times the amount of added sugars recommended by the World Health Organisation.

They consume 55.7 grams of added sugars per day, while the WHO suggests they shouldn’t exceed 25 daily grams. These figures have been published as part of a study undertaken by Granada University, in which 1,775 adults who have children aged between seven and 12 took part. Around two thirds of this sugar came from white sugar, sweets, cocoa powder, soft drinks, ice cream, biscuits, industrial cakes, chocolate bars, biscuits and sports drinks.

syndrome, which is when a woman is born with ovaries, but lacks a uterus and fallopian tubes.

It is a condition that approximately one in every 5,000 women suffer.

Medical staff at the Clinic Hospital in Barcelona chose Franco as their first case for the pioneering surgery. After the procedure was completed, the challenge was for her to become pregnant.

After several attempts to implant embryos and one miscarriage, she finally fell pregnant last September.

But the pregnancy was not without its complications, and Franco suffered preeclampsia – high blood pressure that could have

been caused by the medication she has to take to stop her body from rejecting the organ. At the seven-month point of the pregnancy, the baby was delivered via a caesarian, with no complications.

Strong

The child, Jesus, was kept in a neonatal intensive care unit and was discharged once he weighed 3.2 kilograms and his lungs were sufficiently strong. According to the doctors who oversaw the procedure, it was first carried out in Sweden. So far around 100 uterus transplants have been carried out worldwide,with more than 50 births recorded.

A PATERNA health centre has reopened after it was forced to shut for 12 days following a series of violent attacks on medical staff. Workers took 'sick leave' following a string of incidents at the La Coma Health Centre, resulting in its closure on May 10. The last straw for staff was a patient lunging at a doctor with a knife.

Services resumed at La Coma on May 22 with two police officers standing a few metres away from the entrance.

Two private security guards are now scanning arrivals and looking at the contents of bags and backpacks. A person from the centre's administration team is also present at the front door to ask people about the reason for their visit and whether they had an appointment. The new security arrangements will remain in place on a permanent basis.

Smoke excuse

A MAN who pocketed €70 to man a voting table in Llaranes (Asturias) wandered off ‘for a cigarette’ and never returned, leaving more civic minded colleagues to count the votes.

Smoking hot

VILLARROYA (La Rioja) has broken its own record by three seconds as the whole village - all seven of them - voted in just 29 seconds in the May 28 elections.

Smokescreen

PSOE candidates in Mojacar (Almeria) called corruption when a PP councillor ‘overspent ‘ €200 on Ferrero Rocher chocolates at his dad’s petrol station using council funds, only to have seven of its members arrested for buying votes.

O P LIVE RESS The

COSTA BLANCA SUR / MURCIA

In hot water

Viral tweet sparks fierce debate about how much Spaniards shower

A VIRAL tweet has sparked lively debate about how often Spaniards shower compared to other Europeans. The answer? Less than the Italians but more than the French. But before Brits get too smug they come in even lower. The discussion began when a Twitter user named Xavi Ruiz shared a graphic based on data from The Global Index and Wikipedia with percentages of

By Simon Hunter

inhabitants who shower every day.

For Spain, the figure is 75 to 84%, while in Italy the figure was 95% and above. France and the UK, meanwhile, came in at 65% or below, while neighbouring Portugal was at 85 to 94%.

The tweet had racked up more

IF anyone deserves to reach a century it is Doctor Charles Betty.

The big-hearted British expat hits the landmark birthday tomorrow (Thurs).

Having set up the Costa del Sol’s Age Care Association in 2018, Betty went on to become the oldest person to earn a doctorate in the UK.

Betty, who lives in Benalmadena, landed his PhD from Birmingham University for 48,000word thesis on expats in Spain.

He did this alongside his consulate-backed

than 12 million visits within days, with 2,227 retweets and more than 14,600 ‘likes’. The tweet prompted a shower of responses, with some users questioning the validity of the

HAPPY 100

Support in Spain website, which earned him an MBE last year from Prince William. He received messages of support, from former consul Charmaine Arbouin and his ex-lecturer, Dr Kelly Hall, who said he had ‘done so much to support the British community in Spain’. He took early retirement as a UK schools inspector to move to Malaga to care for his ailing wife in 1986.

data and others arguing that a daily dose of water and soap is unnecessary, according to scientific studies. Others pointed to the need in hotter countries for more regular ablutions. “If it’s hotter, you are going to sweat more,” wrote one user. And of course there were plenty of jokes from Spaniards about the high figure for their own country. “Then you catch the bus and you understand” wrote one user.

Another user pointed to their experience at music festivals in the UK. “At the showers in Glastonbury it was just foreigners in the queue,” he wrote. “And the only Europeans were Spaniards!”

A WOMAN had a miraculous escape after a pallet carrying a ton of cement fell from a crane and crushed her car below. The accident happened after a cable snapped, sending the 1,000 kilos of material plummeting toward her Smart car in Granada. Incredibly, the 23-year-old driver was able to exit the car without assistance. She was taken to hospital for minor injuries.

Smash and grabbed

A DRUNK driver who raced off when confronted by a cop was not too hard to find - he crashed his car smack bang into a police station.

The 23-year-old was allegedly driving with an arm in a sling while four times over the legal limit.

An off duty cop identified himself at which point the young driver drove off - but he did not get far. He once more lost control of his car, smashed into the nearby police station in Cerro Amate (Sevilla) and was promptly grabbed by officers.