Olive Press Costa Blanca South and Murcia Issue 88

COSTA BLANCA SUR / MURCIA

FATAL WAIT

A DOCTORS union claims a man’s life could have been saved if an ambulance ‘just five minutes away’ had been sent to an emergency call. Instead, an ambulance was sent from Elche, 25 minutes away, with the man dying before it arrived.

The tragedy occurred as Alicante’s emergency coordination centre was closed in January and all calls were routed to Valencia.

In the alarming incident a woman dialled the emergency number at 3am over Easter saying her husband was unconscious at her home in La Marina village, near Elche.

The situation needed a rapid life-saving response, but the Valencia centre decided to mobilise a SAMU ambulance from Elche, some 30 kilometres away.

Death

Meanwhile, an ambulance was available across the municipality border in Rojales - a mere seven kilometre drive.

The Medical Union has filed a complaint following the man’s death which it described as a ‘very serious matter’.

A union representative said: “It takes 25 minutes to travel from Elche crossing towns with local roads and speed bumps that prevent fast driving, with the man having died by the time paramedics arrived.

“The result could have been very different with the Rojales ambulance just five minutes away,” he added.

SAMU said they regretted what happened which is why they were opposed to centralising emergency dispatches in Valencia and it agreed that despite La Marina being part of Elche, ‘due to its proximity’, a Rojales crew should have been dispatched.

Somewhat worryingly, the SAMU spokesperson pointed out that ‘this type of incident has already occurred several times’ since January.

APRIL FOOLED

How an Olive Press reporter’s joke tortilla caused a national outrage

The Naked truth

Campaign groups vow to battle developers invading final green space in Orihuela

CAMPAIGNERS have vowed to fight on, despite Orihuela council finally approving controversial plans to build 2,200 homes ‘for foreigners’ at scenic Cala Mosca. They are hoping to take their case to Alicante’s regional court, as the Gomendio group now gets set to develop ‘the last virgin kilometre of Orihuela Costa’.

Protest groups, including Salvemos Cala Mosca, are raising funds via a Crowdfunding campaign to contract a team of environmental lawyers to help in their battle.

“We are all very sad at this news, but we are still hoping to stop it,” Salvemos spokesman Angel Barcelo told the Olive Press, this week.

By Alex Trelinski & Alberto Lejarraga

“In particular, we are disappointed with all the politicians who have made this development possible but we are still hoping to stop it.” He continued:

“The development is an attack on our town, against nature and yet another instance of the council damaging the coast.” In particular, the group lays the blame

HAND S OFF OUR COSTAS

at Orihuela town hall and the Valencian Generalitat, which have both been blaming each other instead of listening to the local population.

“It’s simple, the majority of local people do not want this. They want to keep it natural and a place to enjoy nature, without concrete,” he continued.

“All the expats we know around the area are in total support of our campaign. We are going to crank it up over the next few months.”

mayor Carolina Gracia had actually been to Brussels to oppose it at the time.

“But now she is approving the development, ignoring unfavourable reports from the Spanish Ministry of Public Works,” he continued. Ironically, Gracia had claimed to be against the project when taking office last year.

Claims

She even claims to have appealed to the giant developer to see if it would be prepared to take another local site instead, but was rebuffed.

It did, at least, lead to a slightly changed Gomendio plan submitted for public consultation in February.

LOOK OUT: Naturists are lining up for battle

PROTEST: On the beach

WHO AM I?

But after seven years of negotiating you can’t see the Master of Light

See page 12

He explained the project had already once been suspended by the European Parliament in 2007 in an attempt to protect the endangered species

of the area. He pointed out that current

The tweaked project includes an expansion of a protected micro-reserve area for the cat head plant and a reduction in the number of homes to be built. It led to a favourable environmental impact study commissioned by the Valencian government.

After this, Gracia insisted she

could not refuse to submit the project for approval after technical reports saw no grounds to block it. She claimed she was

being harassed by Gomendio's solicitor to speed up approval as work on the site had to start before the end of May to ensure building permits did not expire.

And she admitted that blocking Gomendio would have made the council liable to compensation payments of allegedly around €200 million.

Naturist

Other protest organisations joining the battle include the Spanish Naturist Federation.

President Ismael Rodrigo told the Olive Press: “Cala Mosca is a lovely area, very natural and one of the last areas for nudists on the coast,” he said.

The group has already held a number of naked protests in front of a group of apartments also built by Gomendio nearby.

Opinion Page 6

Gender bender

A MAN accused of attacking his ex-partner has undergone a sex change in a bid to escape justice.

He is using Spain’s new ‘Trans Law’ to claim he cannot be tried for gender violence as he is now a woman.

He is currently under investigation for breaking a restraining order and already facing trial for attacking the same woman, with whom he has a child.

The new law however, makes it clear the crime will be judged on the basis of the legal sex that the person had when the offense took place. Confusingly the accusations were initially made when the Alicante man was male, although new crimes have taken place since he became a woman. Alicante court has had to reach out to the Supreme Court on advice on how to proceed.

Beware of pirates!

POLICE at Alicante airport have stepped up surveillance of vehicles that may be operating as illegal taxis. Clandestine services threaten the livelihoods of licensed cabbies who in recent years have had to contend with fewer passengers during the pandemic and huge hikes in fuel prices, while maintaining existing tariffs.

HEARTBROKEN

A LEADING expat restaurant has temporarily closed as a tribute to a doorman who died at the weekend.

Olivia’s La Cala, owned by popular British TV celebrity Elliott Wright - who also owns Eduardo’s in Villamartin on the Costa Blanca - shut for two days after popular employee Jose Pisani was killed during a fight. The 55-years-old father-of-

TOWIE’s Elliott Wright makes moving tribute to his restaurant doorman who died trying to break up a fight

two, who had recently married again, was said to have been punched and fell over banging his head when trying to break up the fracas on Saturday.

“This weekend we lost a much loved and valued member of our team,” a statement for the restaurant, read on social media.

“Our hearts are broken and we have closed today and tomorrow out of respect. We are supporting our staff and the family whilst awaiting news of further investigations.”

An Englishman was arrested on Tuesday over his involvement in the fight, a Guardia Civil spokesman told the Olive Press

By Alberto Lejarraga

It is believed that Pisani - a personal trainer and bodybuilder from Venezuela - attempted to break up the row that started when two clients began to cause trouble after midnight. Allegedly, a punch made Pisani ‘lose his balance’, hitting his head against the corner of a table as he fell. According to sources, an ambulance took ‘up to an hour’ to arrive and he was rushed to hospital and sent to intensive care with a serious head trauma, but doctors were not able to save his life.

An autopsy was carried out to

Faking it Bank robbery scam

FIVE fake paintings claiming to be originals from Spanish masters Goya and Velazquez have been seized by Valencian police. The works were being sold for a total of €76 million with ‘Portrait of Mariana of Austria’ by Valazquez being given a price tag of €50 million. This was despite the original currently being on display at Madrid’s Prado Museum. The other four works were claimed to be Goya paintings. Four people are being investigated for fraud.

SIX people have been arrested in Aspe and Benidorm for being part of a cyber scam gang that netted €1.1 million - most of it from an Elche bank. The Spaniards were part of a group that specialised in computer fraud. An Elche bank manager told police that his branch computer systems had been hacked to obtain a personal loan worth €950,000. Investigators uncovered a well-structured criminal gang that scammed at least 51 victims and controlled over 60 bank accounts.

BACK TO FACE JUSTICE!

AN Irish gangster has appeared in court over an extradition request after he skipped Spain last year.

Darren Gilligan, 47, was scheduled in the dock alongside his father John - the man allegedly behind the infamous murder of journalist Veronica Guerinand seven others in Torrevieja last October.

certify the exact cause of death, while a funeral took place in Marbella on Tuesday night.

“We cannot reveal any more information as the results of the autopsy have still not been made available,” a police spokesman told the Olive Press

Jose Rafael Pisani Pardo was born in Caracas and was ‘happy’ having married ‘the love of his life’, Romina Acuna in November in Las Vegas. He was previously married to another woman, with whom he has two children. The fallout of the attack led to the restaurant being graffitied on Monday night. It is not known who daubed the restaurant in red paint, but the words, including ‘asesino’ and ‘mafia irlandes’, were in Spanish.

The gang are accused of smuggling cannabis into Ireland hidden among flip-flops, as well as a variety of firearms charges. But the no-show put the trial on hold as an international arrest warrant was put out for Gilligan, finally being issued in Ireland last week.

However, in a bizarre twist, Gilligan was already taking to the stand in a Dublin courtroom before the warrant arrived. So instead he was quickly detained on a Schengen Information System (SIS) alert at an address in Dublin.

Gilligan told the court he had been intending to return to Spain but had not been able to afford the flights. He has been remanded in custody and will be extradited shortly. His dad John, 71, faces over eight years in jail if convicted of the charges. He served 17 years behind bars in Ireland for running a largescale drug trafficking gang in the nineties, but was acquitted over the murder of Guerin in 1996.

FALLEN: Pisani

SAD: Elliott and wife Sadie

IBIZA’s world renowned club, Amnesia, will be host ing a series of huge techno parties this summer.

Running from June 11 through to October 8, with a teaser party on April 28, Pyramid will show case some titans of the industry.

Among the big names will be the queen of techno, Charlotte de Witte and housey Chaos in the CBD, as well as Caribou, whose sets are accompanied by a live band. The line up covers all bases of electronic music, from house beats and hard hitting techno to in dietronica, acid and synthy psychedelics.

THANK YOU VERY MUNCH

ANIMALS at a Spanish zoo are chowing down thanks to a high end department store.

El Corte Inglés has agreed to continue supplying BIOPARC Fuengirola with surplus fruit and vegetables at no cost.

Over the past year, El Corte Inglés has

provided the conservation centre with over 16,000 kilos of food, which is used as part of the daily diets of the animals in the park.

The zoo collects food from the department chain’s stores on the Costa del Sol twice a week and prepares personalised menus for its collection of animals.

In total there are nearly 150 different diets which add up to a total of 100 kilos of food per day.

King Felipe and Queen Letizia will be at King Charles III’s coronation in break from tradition

Royal appointment

By Simon Hunter

ing the coronation of King Charles III in London on

They add to the steady stream of guest confirmations for the historic event that also includes royals from Belgium, Denmark and Sweden, among other countries.

The invitation of foreign monarchs to the coronation is a break with tradition. Among those reported to be attending include King Philippe and Queen Mathilde of Belgium and Crown Prince

Joining the cub

FIVE Iberian lynx cubs have been born at the El Acebuche breeding centre in Almonte (Huelva). They were born in two litters and are all in good health.

These are the first lynxes born this year at the centre, where seven cubs were born in 2022.

A total of 43 of western Europe’s largest cat were born in Spain last year (20 male and 23 female), most of them in Andalucia.

The Iberian lynx is classed as endangered. In 2002 there were only 94 lynxes but now there are more than 500.

Gran’s the word

Akshino and Crown Princess Kiko of Japan. Felipe and Letizia, who were also in attendance at the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II in September of last year, are planning to arrive in London the night before the coronation and stay in London for around 24 hours.

Exile

While there was speculation that Spain’s former king and queen, Juan Carlos and Sofia, could also attend the coronation, they are reportedly not among the 2,000 invitees.

Juan Carlos, the disgraced self-styled ‘emeritus king’ who has been living in self-imposed exile in Abu Dhabi since 2020,was due to meet in private with King Charles III this week in London. He is then scheduled to make only his second visit to Spain since a series of financial scandals forced him out of the country. The former king in tends to compete in the Spanish Cup sail ing regatta in Sanxenxo in Galicia, with the Bribon crew in the six-metre class before leaving for Abu Dhabi on Sunday.

SHE was slammed for being too old to be a mum when she had a baby via a surrogate mother. But the revelation that 68-year-old Ana Obregon is in fact going to be a grandmother has done little to calm the storm.

The celebrity has received significant criticism not least because surrogacy is illegal in Spain. But she has now revealed that the baby, Ana Sandra, is in fact the child of her son, Alejandro Lequio Obregon, who passed away three years ago from cancer. When Alejandro was diagnosed, doctors recommended that he freeze his sperm, as is common with many cancer patients that undergo chemotherapy. Before he passed away Alejandro expressed his desire to have children even if he wasn’t around to bring them up.

Obregon has now explained that the only thing that kept her going was the thought of one day bringing her grandchild into this world.

Obregon is legally the mother of her grandchild who was born to a surrogate of Cuban heritage in the US.

Leave those kids alone

COLOMBIAN warbler Shakira has made a plea for her two children to be left alone as the three of them begin a new life in Miami.

“My children, Milan and Sasha, have gone through a very difficult year, suffering relentless harassment and persecution with no respite by the paparazzi and several media outlets in Barcelona,’ she wrote on her social media accounts.

“Now that they are starting a new stage of their lives I earnestly call on the media, in the name of my children, to please respect their right to privacy,” she continued.

Shakira has been constantly in the headlines since her high-profile split 10 months ago with former Barcelona football player Gerard Pique.

Liberty

I

your needs and I’m here to help YOU Let’s talk!

EASTER Monday marked the launch of Valencia’s trial of the four day working week.

Taking place for a month, the city council will analyse the effects of a 32-hour week on health and social well-being of its staff.

It will also closely study the effects on the climate and economy.

The concept of the four day working week has been touted as a feasible way to increase employee satisfaction and improve productivity. It would allow companies to slash a day off of the schedule while not reducing pay. Valencia’s trial does not actually provide employees with extra days off, instead it takes advantage of existing national and regional holidays: April 10, Easter

Monday; on Monday, April 17, San Vicente Ferrer; on Monday, April 24 (the festivity of San Vicente Martir was moved from January 22) and on Monday, May 1, the national holiday.

LESS IS MORE New cop shop

WORK has started on building Gran Alacant’s first police station which will be located next to the shopping centre.

The €118,000 facility has been a long-standing demand of residents, who have had to travel over five kilometres to Santa Pola to see the Policia Local. Construction will take four months and the station will serve around 9,000 people that live all-year round on the Gran Alacant urbanisation.

DRAGON SIGHTING

BLUE Sea Dragons have been discovered off the Alicante coast for the first time in over 300 years.

A number of specimens of the sea slug have been found at Torrevieja, Orihuela Costa and Guardamar beaches. The last sighting of the creatures in the area was in 1705.

“This is an extraordinary discovery that adds to the mystery surrounding the presence of this small marine invertebrate on our coasts”, researchers Juan Antonio Pujol, Raquel Lopez and Nicolas Ubero said.

The creatures are usually found in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. They feed on jellyfish, including the feared Portuguese man-of-war. They may be only three centimetres long but they pack a punch. They store stinging cells from their prey in their own tentacles which can then be used against careless people.

Forced to eat!

Worrying warning signs lead Brit to stop hunger strike over Spanish residency refusal after 11 days

A DIZZY spell on a staircase has forced a British man to end his hunger strike over a Spanish residency row.

Mark Saxby was advised to stop his protest on medical grounds after just a week and a half.

The 55-year-old, from Safor, near Valencia, took the extreme action after being refused residency despite submitting all the correct paperwork.

In just 11 days he shed an alarming eight kilos from a starting point of 80 kilos.

“I was really running out of energy and on day 12 I nearly fainted and fell down

Easter death rise

A TOTAL of 34 people died in traffic accidents this Easter in Spain.

This is seven more than the 2022 period and the largest number over the last eight years.

The two most deadly accidents were in the Galician province of Lugo, where four young people died, and in Cantabria another crash saw three people lose their lives.

So far this year, there have been a total of 231 fatal accidents in which 258 people have died.

Unhappy campers

RESIDENTS on a Torrevieja urbanisation appear to have won a long-running battle to close a private car park where motorhomes stayed overnight - in breach of its operating licence.

The council has ordered the shutting of the park at Mar Azul urbanisation.

The Eliseos Playa community

association covering 420 homes has continually denounced the overnight stays since 2018, with the council previously closing the park for the same reason.

Site operator - Camper Park Torreviejathen took the council to court in 2020 and won the case over the area being used solely as a car park.

A recent Torrevieja council report said that overnight facilities were being provided with the company openly advertising facilities like running water, waste water

Memory lapse

DOGS, surfboards, suitcases, motorcycle helmets, and crutches were among 2,297 items left behind on TRAM d’Alacant services last year. It means an average of six items per day were lost with October (390 items) being the most forgetful month. The summer peak travel months of July and August - along with January - saw the lowest number of items handed in.

By Alex Trelinski

my stairs,” he told the Olive Press “It was a definite sign that I needed to stop and, in any case, the authorities are seemingly uninterested. “Do I need to make myself seriously unwell to get any official response? Making myself ill was not the ultimate goal!”

Devastated

Saxby, an English teacher by trade, was devastated when the Spanish authorities rejected his residency application, as we reported in our last issue.

He was particularly angry as he had submitted it before ‘Brexit Day’, January 1, 2021, but was denied residency as he didn’t have private medical insurance, which he immediately acquired. Despite appeals to the European Commission and the Ombudsman for help, he has still been unsuccessful. His residency battle revolved around delays caused by the pandemic

PLUMMETED: Saxby lost an incredible eight kilos

which cut down any time to rectify the health insurance omission.

“There were difficulties accessing websites to log in my details and then I kept being referred to different offices for appointments across the Valencia region due to Covid delays,” he explained.

Insurance

“On top of that under the withdrawal agreement, we were promised a threemonth period to deal with any problems which would have identified the insurance issue,” he added. The hunger strike was a last throw of the dice, but not surprisingly health issues started to kick in, before anyone in power took any interest. He began eating again, little by little, and is hoping not to have suffered any long-term health problems.

discharge areas, electric power sockets, showers, and vending machines.

The firm markets the site as a ‘very quiet area just 50 metres from the sea’ and is regularly mentioned in motorhome publications and websites as ‘the best site in Torrevieja’.

Camper Park Torrevieja said that despite receiving the closure notification, it will not shut as its purpose is only a car park business and maintains that it asks users to sign a declaration to that very effect.

He is now being forced to return to the UK to prevent being arrested and extradited. As a non-resident, non-EU passport holder he must adhere to the ‘90 days stay within 180 days’ rule.

The Valencian authorities have not replied to questions from the Olive Press “I really appreciate you covering this on your front page and I am still hopeful someone upstairs will take note,” he concluded.

Opinion Page 6

Food bank shock

A LOCAL food bank has reported that 47% of its users are full-time employees whose wage does not cover their basic needs.

Malaga-based NGO Asaec claims that high food inflation has tipped many minimum wage employees over the edge when it comes to affording to feed their families.

Boss Antonio Paneque told the Olive Press the number of people his organ -

Wallets and purses containing ID cards, passports, driving licences, bank cards and cash dominated the list along with keys, glasses, bags, folders, and umbrellas. Official documents and IDs are handed to police, while bank and credit cards are destroyed to prevent fraud. The rest of the items - presumably not including animals - are kept at a local station for at least a month before being transferred to a lost and found facility at the Luceros station in Alicante.

Food fight

A JUDGE has sided with a Spanish restaurant after it charged three diners €510 for failing to turn up to their dinner reservation.

The clients had been staying at the Hotel Villa Favorita, in San Sebastian, where the Amelia restaurant is located. While they had changed the reservation date for the hotel stay they had forgotten to do so for the dinner. When the group arrived for their meal, they were told that the restaurant was full and the reservation had been for the night before.

Credit

They were offered the chance to rebook a few weeks later, but opted not to, leading to the restaurant charging the amount to the man’s credit card account.

“We host a maximum of 20 people,” manager Xabier de la Maza explained.

“So if the client has any problem, we always charge for the reserved menus. But we usually arrange a voucher so that they can come at any time for the rest of the year or give it away as a gift.”

In this case the client was so angry he filed charges arguing the cancelation policy was not clear when the reservation was made.

He added the amount charged was ‘disproportionate’, both arguments being rejected by the judge.

isation is helping has exploded by 40% since the start of 2020.

“There are people with salaries of €1,100, €1,200, €1,300, but these are wages that have not kept up with inflation.

He added: “Some people need to choose between paying for electricity or groceries. We are getting a number of people asking for canned meals because they cannot afford to switch on the oven.”

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.

Voted top expat paper in Spain OPINION

Fight the good fight

WHILE all seems to be lost in the fight to stop yet more concrete desecrating the Costa Blanca, campaigners have vowed to never give up.

Orihuela council has finally approved plans - apparently reluctantly - to build 2,200 homes at scenic Cala Mosca.

A move by Mayor Carolina Gracia to offer a land swap deal with developer Gomendio came to nought.

Now - despite visiting Brussels to personally oppose it way back in 2007 - she has given the green light, claiming the town would be bankrupted by the €200 million compensation it would have to pay the developer.

But local campaigners remain unimpressed by the political shenanigans that have seen the hot potato passed to and fro between the council and the Generalitat for years.

As campaign group Salvemos’ spokesman Angel Barcelo told the Olive Press: “The development is an attack on our town, against nature and yet another instance of the council damaging the coast.”

It is right that he points this out. The only people who actually want to see the development go ahead are the developers sniffing for yet another golden pay out.

But for some reason the politicians have been unable to halt the scheme.

So it now falls to the campaign groups to pick up their cudgels and stand in defence of the Costa Blanca coast, physically and in court.

But they need money to pay for a lawyer to take on the Goliath developer which is awash with cash. We urge people to support Salvemos in any way they can.

They are the last line of defence against Fat Cat developers with no concern for the coastline of this beautiful region.

PUBLISHER / EDITOR

Jon Clarke, jon@theolivepress.es

Dilip Kuner dilip@theolivepress.es

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Jo Chipchase jo@theolivepress.es

John Culatto

ADMIN Sandra Aviles Diaz (+34) 951 273 575 admin@ theolivepress.es

TAXING TIME

Crypto earnings, new deal for working mums…What you need to know about your 2022 tax return

IT’S that time of year again - the period in which to do your tax return has started.

As usual with these processes, it is highly recommended to turn to the services of a gestor if your financial situation is a complicated one or if you don’t understand the language of the forms necessary.

There are, however, steps you can take yourself and things you need to know. Read on for all of the necessary information.

How to get your ‘borrador’ or tax form

From today, taxpayers can download the 2022 fiscal data held by the Agencia Tributaria (Tax Agency), a draft tax return known as the borrador. To do so, you will need to be signed up to the Cl@ve Pin system, or have an electronic certificate that proves your identity on the website. The draft will contain all of the information on the Tax Agency’s system related to your income, taxes already retained, assets, capital gains from property sales, and so on. This information can be modified by the taxpayer if something is missing or incorrect.

What happens next?

If the information is correct, you can confirm it online and the return will be filed. However, gestores warn that some 35% of these drafts contain errors, meaning it is important to carefully check for mistakes or omissions. If the final figure is negative, that means the Tax Agency has to pay you money. If it is a positive number, you will have to pay that amount. The tax return contains a field where you can enter your bank account number for either of these transactions.

What are the important dates for this year?

From today, taxpayers can file their tax returns directly online. If you want to file over the phone, you can do so from May 5 to June 30. And for those who want to do so in one of the Tax Agency offices, the dates are June 1 to June 30. The final deadline is June 30.

How do I book an appointment?

You can get an appointment with the Agencia Tributaria via the website or by calling the following phone numbers: 91 535 73 26, 901 12 12 24, 91 553 00 71 or 901 22 33 44.

What has changed for the 2022 tax return?

The government changed the limits for pension contributions last year. They currently stand at €1,500 for a personal pension plan, and €8,500 for company plans. These amounts correspond to the deductions that can be applied via your tax return. What’s more, working mothers can retroactively benefit from a larger deduction for the years 2020 and 2021 on their 2022 tax return. And women with children under the age of three and who are not working are now eligible for a €100 monthly benefit that previously was only available for working mums. This year’s return also contains for the first time a section where taxpayers can register their losses or gains from cryptocurrencies.

When should I file a joint tax return with my spouse?

If both you and your partner have a reasonable income, it is usually better to file separate returns. If your partner has no income at all or it is very low, it may be in your interest to file a joint return. In this case, all tax information of your family members must be included.

Does everyone have to fill out a tax return?

Not necessarily. Usually, they are only needed if the taxpayer has earned more than €22,000 over the year in question. If you have been claiming the government’s guaranteed minimum income scheme (ingreso minimo vital), you must also file a return.

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LADIES MAN

IMAGINE for a moment an individual who witnessed his family burned at the stake for their beliefs.

Then, rather than seek revenge, have the fortitude to dedicate his life to a culture of tolerance, learning and a study of the human soul.

That person would later shape some of the world’s most influential psychologists and philosophers… a man who assumed the moniker as perhaps ‘the world’s most influential advocate for humanistic learning’.

What follows is the relatively unknown backstory of a Spanish scholar named Luis Vives.

Vives was born in Valencia, in 1493, during the dark chapter known as the Spanish Inquisition. Most of his extended family were executed (burned at the stake) as ‘crypto-jews’ or jews who were suspected of having a secret adherence to Judaism rather than Christianity.

Orphaned, he attended the University of Valencia - a prestigious Medieval school that emphasized dialectic reasoning, metaphysics, debate, and diplomacy.

In his studies he discovered the works of Aristotle and the intellectual movement that began to dominate the educational thrust of the earliest European universities.

After graduation he left Spain - never to return - first studying in Paris (1509-1512), followed by a professorship at the University of Leuven, Belgium.

From there, he often traveled to England where he established strong ties to Oxford University and the court of Henry VIII and fellow Spaniard, Cather-

IF there’s one thing I’ve learned in my 23 years living in Spain, the locals take their food very seriously. So perhaps I shouldn’t have pranked them on Twitter on April Fools’ Day this year… for the reaction was, well let’s just say, nothing short of spectacular. It all started as we were readying the house for our Semana Santa trip to the mountains of Leon (a good remote place to hide, as it turned out, from pitchfork-wielding Spaniards). I hate wasting food, so I decided to chuck my son’s leftover dinner (peas and choppedup sausages) into an omelette, along with some chunks of Spanish cheese.

ine of Aragon.

He later became the personal tutor to their only surviving child Princess Mary, teaching her Latin, French, Spanish, Greek and the philosophy of the ancient Greeks.

Impressed by his tutelage, Catherine commissioned The Education of a Christian Woman which was one of the first books advocating education for women of all classes.

It became the most authoritative pronouncement to date for universal education for women and his writings brought him close to British Humanists such as Sir Thomas More. However, he would fall out of favor with Henry VIII by siding with fellow countrywoman Catherine over the matter of divorce.

Vives returned to the University of Leuven where he commiserated with friend Erasmus - the infamous Dutch philosopher considered the greatest scholar of the ‘Northern Renaissance’. Over the centuries Vives’s works have been viewed as the gold standard on the principles of education for women, the study of the soul and its interaction with the body and its ethics and emotions.

Collectively, Vives and Erasmus combined these elements into what has been called ‘Aris-

Remember Jamie! If you’re going to joke about a national dish as beloved as a Spanish tortilla (potato omelette), you’d better be ready for some serious blowback, explains Simon Hunter

Luis Vives was the world’s first Renaissance Man and championed education for women in the 16th century, writes Jack Gaioni

TWITTER’S VIRAL TORTILLA

The result looked rather unappetising (although as my Spanish wife will attest, it did taste pretty good).

As I watched it cooking, the cogs of my mischievous mind began to turn. I snapped a picture, and posted it on Twitter with the caption: ‘Made a lovely Spanish tortilla this morning, yum.’ When I hit publish, I had an unnerving feeling I was lighting a blue touchpaper and it was time to stand well back.

The reaction was almost immediate: ‘Gastronomic terrorism’, read one response.

‘What an aberration!’ read another.

‘My dog’s vomit’ was a particularly graphic comment, while there was no shortage of Spanish Twitter users insisting I be deported.

DID YOU KNOW?

One pointed out that ‘wars have started for less’.

It was reminiscent of that other infamous culinary row, when Jamie Oliver - horror of horrors - put chorizo in a paella recipe back in 2016.

The British celebrity chef found out the hard way you don’t mess with a traditional Spanish dish like that one, and even re ceived death threats, ‘all because of a bit of sausage’, as he later told Graham Nor ton’s chat show.

HERE TO HELP!

THE Olive Press is always on the hunt for top talent and our latest employee hits the mark for his experience and professionalism.

Matt Jones not only brings his experience from a Who’s Who of the UK media - the Mail, Metro and Birmingham Evening News - but also over a decade in Spain working for the likes of Spectrum FM and Costa Blanca News

An extremely popular and well known local expat, he brings his friendly, sunny personality, not just to the Olive Press sales team, but also to our clients. While some newspapers in Spain go for a time-share style hard sell - which can be very aggressive - Matt and his fellow team are always happy to listen to their potential clients and make genuine friends among many of them.

Our clients are not just numbers to us, they are real people who deserve to be treated with real respect. We are the genuine community newspaper, after all.

This is something that defines the approach of Matt’s new commercial colleagues, Sam, Tina and Charlie.

Sam Adams has been with us for many years and is genuinely the smiling face of the Olive Press

When he is not out and about grafting and chatting to clients, the father-of-one brings his sense of humour and infectious laugh to the office.

As does Tina Brace, who is very well known around her home turf of Sabinillas and nearby Estepona. A loyal and hard-working woman, she is extremely kind to friends and family.

Not so often in the office, but larger than life, is Charlie Bamber - the Godfather of the team. Another, never without a smile, Charlie handles sales along the Costa Blanca and Mallorca with aplomb, bringing in some of our biggest contracts. The reason? He takes the time to get to know his customers, finds out what they want and arranges the advertising campaigns they need.

All in all, the Olive Press is very proud of its highly professional team - and there is room for more if you want to join the Olive Press family.

totelian Christianity’.

Along with personal, life-long associations with many of the great thinkers of his time, Vives directly influenced many of the great scholars in the centuries that followed.

Most influential philosophers (Rousseau, Sartre etc.) and psychologists (Freud, Jung, etc.) made references to his works and his beliefs on the soul and the human psyche, plus emotions, memory and learning are key tenets in how modern psychology is perceived today. Indeed, Luis Vives, who died in 1540, is often highlighted as ‘the father of modern psychology and the grandfather of psychoanalysis’.

● Princess Mary, Vives’s pre- cocious pupil while in Eng- land, would later become known as Bloody Mary or Mary Tudor. She ruled as Queen of England from 1553 to 1558. In a complicated turn of events, Mary would also rule as Queen of Spain with her marriage to King Phillip II.

● There are monuments to Luis Vives in many centres of learning throughout Eu- rope. Statues can be found in Bruges, Brussels, Paris, Madrid, Heidelberg, Rot- terdam and perhaps most meaningful, in the library courtyard at the University of Valencia.

To ensure I defused my own personal on slaught as soon as possible, as is tradi tion, at 12pm I put out another tweet mak ing clear that this was an April Fools’ joke. However, not only did that message get very little traction, I had clearly overesti mated Spaniards’ awareness of the day, despite it being celebrated not just in the UK and the US, but in Italy, Poland, Germany and even Turkey.

Mistake

In Spain and Latin America, of course, the time for pranks is December 28, the Day of the Holy Innocents.

Not only is this the day for practical jokes to be played out between friends and family, but a time when fake news stories make their way into the press and foreign journalists have to be particularly careful not to be duped.

One of the most recurrent comments I received was that I had made a big mistake by making the joke on April 1 and not December 28. I responded by saying the idea was to troll as much of Spain as possible.

And with nearly three million views for the original tweet, and thousands of comments and retweets, I think it’s fair to say that it went pretty well.

Follow me on Twitter @simoninmadrid for more recipes.

If you have the drive, personality and sales experience - and particularly if you speak Spanish (ED: note well, team) - drop us a line at admin@theolivepress.es

The top five most read stories on www.theolivepress.es in the past two weeks are:

1- Four Costa del Sol towns are among the 50 most expensive in Spain to buy property

2- Ryanair win lawsuit in their ongoing war with online travel agents

3- Explainer: What will the government’s planned housing law mean for tenants and landlords?

4- New UK driving licence deal with Spain excludes the Channel Islands and Isle of Man

5- British woman seriously injured after hotel balcony fall in Benidorm

Get in touch today at sales@theolivepress.es or call us at 00 34 951273575 for more info

COOKING UP A STORM: Our Simon’s tortilla caught the attention of Spanish media

Up to 1,000 illegal wells could be ‘regularised’ at Doñana National Park

THE Junta de Andalucia has ignored the European Commission to approve introducing a bill that may see 1,000 illegal wells bordering the protected Doñana wetlands made legal.

In a moment of political theatre during a recent debate in parliament, leftist politician Maribel Mora Grande dumped a jar of sand from Doñana on the parliamentary seat of the regional premier, Juanma Moreno Bonilla of the conservative Popular Party (PP), in protest.

The legislation won the backing of the governing PP and far-right Vox, with 72 votes in favour from a total of 109 seats.

But Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has vowed to do everything he can to save Doñana from the ‘hands of the PP and Vox, who want to plunder the environment’.

Teresa Ribera, the minister for environmental transition, said that she was ‘very

No rain in Spain

APRIL 2023 is on its way to being the driest since records began in 1961, with just five litres of rain per square metre detected in the first 16 days of the month.

That’s according to data from the Aemet state weather service, which has called the figures ‘extraordinarily low’.

Aemet has also warned that the risk of forest fires will be very high if the current conditions continue, due to the lack of rain as well as unusually high temperatures.

By Simon Hunter

angry’ with regional premier Juanma Moreno, saying that an increase to the watering of crops in the area would be ‘an outrage’ on the basis that there is not enough water there to do so.

Under the plan, agricultural land that is currently illegal would be regularised. Environmental NGO WWF estimates that there are around 1,000 illegal wells in the area that are being used to supply these farms.

The water levels in the aquifer are at their lowest in decades, while the reservoirs are currently at 25% due to

THREATENED: Millions of birds stop at Doñana

illegal wells, drought and the water supply for the nearby tourist destination of Matalascañas.

Doñana is a wintering site for half a million waterfowl and a stopover spot for millions

FOR a long time, many politically correct vegans and vegetarians have been expounding the virtues of a meat-free diet based on moral and ethical beliefs.

Science now supports this concept as cows produce massive amounts of methane (from both ends!), a gas that has more than 80 times the warming power of carbon dioxide over the first 20 years after it reaches the atmosphere. Even though CO2 has a longer-lasting effect, methane sets the pace for warming in the near term.

At least 25% of today’s global warming is driven

NET GAINS

ALMOST 80,000 kilos of plastic rubbish was fished from the sea in the Valencian region in 2022, according to a recent report from environmental NGO Ecoembes. The waste was recovered by 891 volunteer local fishermen as part of the group’s national programme ‘Upcycling the Oceans’.

Industrial packaging, food and cosmetic containers, and shopping bags are some examples of marine debris recovered.

more birds that migrate from Africa to northern Europe, according to news agency AP. It is also home to five threatened bird species, including the endangered Spanish imperial eagle.

Across Spain, a total of 189,844 kilos of sea waste were brought ashore in Spain last year as part of the initiative. This was possible thanks to 2,600 fishermen working on 600 boats in Andalucia, Galicia, Comunidad Valenciana, Murcia and Cataluña who took part.

Agricultural greenhouse emissions are a big deal COWS FART...SO WHAT?

by methane from human actions. For a long time, methane was overlooked in the climate change conversation. Now scientists and governments are acutely aware that reducing methane emissions is crucial. The evidence constantly surrounds us as to the results of global warming – wildfires, extreme weather, crop loss, and rising sea levels. Here in Spain the State Meteorological Agency has announced that the current warm and dry spell will lead to extensive drought conditions. May shows no sign of improvement.

So back to cows!

An Oxford University study recently published in the Climate Change Journal shows that meat eaters are responsible for almost twice as many dietary greenhouse gas emissions as vegetarians, and about two-and-a-half times as many as vegans. Methane emissions from agriculture would be reduced if farmers produced more food from plants and less from livestock.

Science has a solution

This is genius.

ANTI-FART: Seaweed for cows?

Every year a single cow belches and farts about 220 pounds of methane. Wow!

Dairy cows could be given methane suppressants made from natural ingredients like seaweed to cut greenhouse gases. Methane suppressants are planned to be available by 2025. Let’s hope there will be a human variant launched at the same time, or certainly in time for Christmas.

What a stocking filler that would be.

Tye is the owner of Mariposa Energía, a green energy company specialising in solar panel installations.

Green Matters By Martin Tye

LA CULTURA

Ancient trippers Sorolla setback

Sheeran in town

RESEARCHERS have found that civilizations on Menorca were using hallucinogenic drugs as far back as 3,000 years ago.

The findings are based on analysis of hair from a burial site on the Balearic island. The study was published in the journal Scientific Reports, and concluded that this could be the earliest direct evidence in Europe of people using such substances, which were derived from plants and bushes.

Scientists believe that the drugs were used for ritualistic ceremonies.

The substances detected in three hair samples included ephedrine, atropine and scopolamine.

Ephedrine is a stimulant that can be extracted from shrubs and pines, and increases alertness, excitement and physical activity.

Atropine and scopolamine are found in the nightshade plant family and can cause hallucinations and altered perceptions, and even delirium.

The hair was found at the ritual and funerary cave of Es Carritx on Menorca, a site that was discovered in 1995. It is considered to be one of the most important Late Bronze Age sites on the island.

The cave is home to more than 200 graves and is thought to have served as a site for funerals and rituals for some 600 years, until 800 BC.

Cuban government turns down loan plan for Sorolla masterpieces to mark artist’s centenary

SEVEN years of talks with the Cuban government to bring 30 paintings by Valencian artist Joaquin Sorolla back to Spain for an exhibition to mark this year's centenary of his death have come to nothing.

By Alex Trelinski

Works by Sorolla are in Havana's Museum of Fine Art with Valencian politicians travelling to Cuba in 2016 and 2019 to secure a loan deal, which also involved other regional

Flamenco fervour

FLAMENCO dancing and music are being protected by a new law.

Andalucia’s regional parliament has passed legislation seven months in the pipeline to protect and conserve the artform, as well as its promotion as a regional cultural asset.

The law also legally defines concepts such as flamenco or peña, which are the places where the music and dance are usually performed, as well as incorporating the study of flamenco into school curriculums.

Flamenco peñas themselves have welcomed the law.

painters. Regional director of Culture and Heritage, Carmen Amoraga, who went to Havana four years ago, said that the Cuban government had suspended the loan, citing that the 'international situation' was unfavourable.

The Sorolla paintings, as well as those by Valencian artists like Mariano Benlliure and Julio Vila Prades, would have been cleaned and restored at the Valencian government's expense, which would also have covered all the transport costs to and from Cuba. Discussions down the last few years, saw the number of Sorolla paintings to be loaned reduced to just 10, with no room for the other Valencian masters.

A previous exhibition of works from Havana - personally approved by Cuban dictator Fidel Castro - ran in Madrid and Valencia galleries in 1985. Cuba holds the third-largest collection of Sorollas in the world, after those in Spain and the United States.

Debt

One reason put forward in some circles for Cuba's change of heart suggests that since the island is heavily in debt, there were government fears the paintings might not be returned and could be used as collateral.

Joaquin Sorolla was born in Valencia in 1863 and left more than 2,200 catalogued works.

ED SHEERAN shared new songs from his upcoming album with a tiny audience at an intimate gig in Madrid.

The English singer-songwriter chose the Círculo de Bellas Artes in the Spanish capital to play eight tracks from - (Subtract), accompanied by just a guitar and piano.

The Grammy-award winner is one of the world’s best-selling music artists and one of the most-followed artists on music-streaming app Spotify, and is more accustomed to playing to arenas and stadiums than the small crowd of 400 super-fans that saw him last night.

In fact, he admitted to the crowd that he felt ‘more nervous’ than usual playing to the tiny venue last Saturday. The new album is due to be released on May 5, and will be followed by a European and North American tour.

For now, there have been no dates announced for Spanish

MASTER AND MASTERPIECE: Self portrait (left)

Women on the Beach, Fisherwomen’

Mark Saxby’s hunger strike has had different responses from readers

IN response to your piece on Saxby’s hunger strike (My right to stay! Olive Press last issue) I would like to say that I stand with him and hope that something comes from this.

As a fellow British expat I feel his frustration. Thankfully I was granted residency but not without a lot of grief and waiting around.

MORAIRA PLUMBING HEATING www.morairaph.com PLUMBING 613 Central tification Energy Giastu R32 966491883 www.moraira-hamiltons.net Moriara•Calpe•Jalon•Javea•Denia•Altea Here to help including tax returns, property language! SOLAR PANELS www.mariposaenergia.es Serious savings on currency transfers to and from Spain your customised quote: Will it rain on the parade? expatsmight heavens this summer drought. you Santa. has his Mark Saxby ities’ deadonlySafor, mingham,55-year-old My right to stay! Expat goes on hunger strike after residency application is rejected due to Brexit withdrawal nightmare day the workteacher,but the year ver appointments deadline privateeventually medical told delays.have“Therewere sites kept Valencia three-month any problems everything submitted left with it,” his acquiredthe informed had thewould bother,” Arsonists thousands Eastern Spain set TERRORISTS! Saxby voice Spain www.theolivepress.es April O P LIVE RESS The COSTA BLANCA Altea

Call it bureaucracy or the Spanish mañana, mañana attitude, as far as I am concerned Brits who have been in Spain for years, sending their kids to school, paying their taxes and actively contributing to society, should not have to fight for their right to remain. Those of us who decided to emigrate did so because we love it out here, that alone should be enough. Brexit was not my choice, I doubt it was any expats’ choice, but when dealing with local authorities they do love to remind you that ‘you chose this’.

Ed Jones, Benidorm

Don’t be silly

I READ your front page piece about a Brit who went on hunger strike because he has not been granted residency in Spain.

Whilst I can appreciate that this is a difficult situation for Mark Saxby, he is not the only one and has to realise that once the state has decided not to grant someone leave to remain then unfortunately that is case closed for the time being. He can rebuke it of course, but to go to such extremes as starving himself seems ludicrous to me. If you are going to fight the fight then surely go down the official channels and save yourself the toll that a hunger strike will have on your body. I for one would not manage it!

David Willoughby, Alicante

Editor’s note: As our updated story in this issue tells, Mark has now sensibly come off hunger strike after making his point.

Good mews

Mia the cat recovering well after scalding horror

WITH regards to your story about the poor cat that was found badly scalded on Mallorca (the Olive Press Mallorca last edition).

I would like to say thank you for the coverage. Our social media posts seemed to have more likes, comments and shares than usual so the article helped there.

The news is good about Mia (the cat).

Rough justice

WHAT is going on with Spanish justice?

Sarah Hermitage (see Frontier Justice the Olive Press issue 416).

--

----Tel:

Sarah Hermitage has settled down in Spain and now been forced to sell up and move after being assaulted over a boundary dispute.

To make matters worse the son of the aggressor Vicente Gonzales is a Guardia Civil officer and accompanied him during the assault.

The result - Gonzales gets a €90 fine for aggression. This is not even a slap on the wrist!

Betty Johnson, Nerja

-----

She is eating well and is very loving and seems to be recovering.

Toni Beech, Cat Protection Pollensa

Editor’s note: Mia the cat was found having been severely injured after apparently being doused in boiling water or oil.

Easter present

THE differences between UK and Spanish traditions can be seen at Easter, The way in which it is celebrated here is in stark contrast to the UK. It is such a pleasure to see the processions that show us from the UK a different culture. So it was great to see your article on page 6 last edition (Spain’s Weirdest Easter Events, the Olive Press all editions. It was informative and interesting and something we do not find in other English publications in Spain. Keep up the good work!

Joan Williams, Javea

Editor’s note: Many thanks Joan. For many more articles giving a glimpse of Spanish culture take a look at www.theolivepress.es

Tapped up

I WAS interested to read in the Olive Press Online that Spanish beer Cruzcampo will soon be sold on tap in the UK.

FYI, The Tap in Ponteland, just outside Newcastle in the NE of England has had Cruzcampo on

draught since at least last June!

Best regards Mark Leonard

Editor’s note: Looks like the North East has stolen a march on the rest of England!

OP QUICK CROSSWORD

Across

6 Model Five fired men at the moon (6)

8 Many canoes get upset (6)

9 Olivia Newton-John sang about its banks (4)

10 Scorn (8)

11 Vermin catcher (6)

13 Have the helm (5)

15 Nought (3)

17 Leash (5)

18 Twelve --- High (1949 Gregory Peck film) (6)

20 Short of a Beatles album? (8)

22 Movable barrier (4)

23 Bring in from abroad (6)

24 Las Vegas’ state (6)

Down

1 Greek spirit (4)

2 If it ever existed, it missed the boat in Noah’s time (7)

3 Attractive (5)

4 Statue support (8)

5 Crack (4)

7 Disturbed that war goes from side to side (7)

12 Stirrer (8)

14 Agitated (7)

16 Slackens (7)

19 Euro fractions (5)

21 Trees badly affected by fungal attack (4)

22 Donated (4)

All solutions are on page 14

Spanish invasion

ONE of Spain's top draught beers is launching in Britain with Heineken UK bringing Cruzcampo to the country.

The lager will be available exclusively on draught with Heineken describing it as a ‘great quality experience at an accessible price’.

Cruzcampo was first brewed in Sevilla in 1904, and experts describe it as having subtle hoppy notes and fruity characteristics, finished with a signature bitterness, to make it a fresh, crisp, easy drinking beer.

“People in the UK want Spanish lager, so we thought we’d make it more accessible by launching Cruzcampo into the mainstream,” said Heineken UK's Serena Smith. Spanish lager sales have risen by 73% in England alone over the last year with 20% of premium draught pints pulled being a Spanish originated brand like San Miguel, Estrella Damm, and Madri Excepional.

Going to Costa less

MERCADONA has decided to slash the prices of 500 daily products from this April until the end of the year. The Spanish supermarket giant intends to help fight inflation by making a few essential items more affordable. This discounts will cover items such as canned and dairy food, nuts, oils, household products, pastries and perfume.he discounted products will be identified with a yellow label marking their previous and current price. The company claims that the initiative will save each customer up to €150 a year.

SICK DAY

44 people left with food poisoning after eating dishes prepared during MasterChef

A TOTAL of 44 people were left with food poisoning after sampling dishes that had been prepared during an edition of the Spanish version of MasterChef. The episode of the hit show, which is broadcast on state channel La 1, took place at Valencia’s Oceanografic oceanarium, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the aquarium complex.

The contestants were given the challenge of preparing a menu for the 120 staff who work there, with ingredients that included seafood such as oysters and clams, as well as sea bass.

The alarm was raised about the food poisoning by one of the members of staff. With the user name Irene, she de-

Cinnamon alert

THE Spanish food safety agency has issued an alert about the possible presence of bacteria in the Especias Pedroza brand of ground cinnamon. According to Aesan, clostridium perfringens has been detected in 700 gram jars of cinnamon with batch numbers A220079 and A222605.

The alert was raised in the Madrid region, but it is not known how widely distributed the product has been within the rest of Spain.

The bacteria can cause gastroenteritis with symptoms including diarrhoea and abdominal pain.

By Simon Hunter

nounced on Twitter the fact that she and her colleagues were left with serious cases of gastroenteritis by the food. According to her messages, she had to be given an injection at the emergency room to stop her vomiting, and she claimed she lost five kilos in three days.

“Thank you MasterChef for the worst gastronomic experience I’ve ever had in my life,” she added.

She claimed that more than 70 people were left sick, but sources from the regional health department in Valencia said the number was actually 44.

Shine Iberia, the producer of the program, released a statement admitting that the reports were true but stressed that nothing like this had happened in the 11 years that the program has been broadcast in Spain.

The case will now be passed on to the health department in Madrid, which is where the production company is based.

TikTok no

A VIDEO on TikTok has gone viral for revealing an innovative tapa served at Bar la Cuadra in Ronda.

The clip, which has attracted comments from foodies and travellers alike, features a tapa of what appear to be croquettes. But after a punter takes a bite into the little round wonders it seems that these are in fact deep fried breaded olives.

These olives have the approval of the tiktoker, a unique take on the classic olives that are served automatically with a cold beverage along the Costa. But one commenter has slammed the snack saying ‘Just No! This isn’t Glasgow’.

GOOD AND NOT SO GOOD

ALICANTE airport recorded a record-breaking March for passenger numbers as all-time highs were achieved for a second successive month.

By contrast, Murcia’s Corvera airport continues to flounder due a much-lower range of flights. Alicante reported 1,045,004 travellers last period - up 4.9% compared to the same month in 2019, a year before the Covid pandemic struck. The airport’s cumulative rise on four years ago is 2.6% and a year-on-year increase of 15.4%.

Just 33,811 passengers used Corvera last month - 40% below 2019’s totals and a paltry 4.3% improvement on the same month last year.

Once again UK travellers dominated Alicante’s March figures with 375,537 passengers, with the Netherlands trailing a distant second on 86,044.

CULINARY DISASTER: The MasterChef team

FOOD,DRINK & TRAVEL

SWIRLING a glass of flinty French rose, he looked every bit the suave English gentleman you’d expect of Hugh Grant. Holding court with a group of friends on a warm early summer evening, hardly anyone batted an eyelid.

It was early June, after all, and Marbella was at its very finest; the scent of orange blossom in the air, the bougainvillaea in full bloom, candles on every table. There was so much else for the throngs of tourists to be taking in.

At the request of the restaurant owner I took a quick snap (left) of the Hollywood star on my iPhone, but declined to interrupt his convivial terrace bonhomie.

Grant’s regular trips to Marbella have sparked rumours over the years that he owns a house in the resort, in particular, in the luxury hillside enclave of La Zagaleta. But, when I was actually introduced to him recently in London, the Notting Hill star told me it was ‘merely a good marketing tool for local estate agents’. He certainly loves the place, he explained, but mostly he’s down, these days, on business or to film.

It perfectly summed up the resort, which has rightfully earned the reputation of being southern Spain’s playground for the rich and famous.

Full of tycoons, movers and shakers and, increasingly, tech billionaires, Marbella manages to remain Europe’s top location for a spot of business, alongside pleasure.

A town of over 150,000 yearround residents, it is almost uniquely a resort that never hibernates.

Indeed, as most locals will nowadays tell you, the best months are from October to May, when the tourist numbers remain manageable, while all the top restaurants are still open and the sports clubs buzzing.

Meanwhile, infrastructure-wise

Marbellous

Jon Clarke offers an insider guide to Marbella, the gem of Andalucia’s crown

it counts on dozens of excellent private schools, two cinemas showing VO movies and just about every shop you could desire for from Corte Ingles to the Apple store and Gucci to Specsavers.

Since the 1950s, Marbella has been the glamorous dream escape for movie stars, sportsmen and captains of industry. Photos of the glamorous destination fill glossy travel magazines around the world and it’s probably the most aspirational place to live in Europe, bar perhaps San Tropez, Mallorca or Ibiza.

An exclusive resort, it has long attracted celebrity visitors such Audrey Hepburn, Cary Grant and Sean Connery, while hundreds of sportsmen like Novak Djokov-

ic and Eden Hazard own houses here, and you’ll frequently find boxers, including Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua, in the gyms, or Harry Kane and Gareth Bale on the fairways.

The pandemic has only made things more pronounced, creating the opportunity for tens of thousands of digital nomads and entrepreneurs to decamp down here from northern Europe and further afield.

With the likes of Dragons Den’s Theo Paphitis and tycoon Alan Sugar already owning here and crooner Julio Iglesias with a giant estate in the hills, don’t expect any villas these days to be going for a song.

Since the resort’s five-star hotels were filled to bursting during the two years of Covid, dot.com millionaires can snap them up at asking price before siesta time. Prices have continued to soar this year to incredible heights and Marbella was one of the first places in Spain to return back to the levels of 2006 before the crisis kicked in.

Prices have nearly doubled in a decade and asking prices rose by 20% last year alone, while at €4,121 per metre squared it is the among the most expensive property in Spain.

There are simply not enough properties for sale, plots to build are far and few between and listings are becoming incredibly scarce to come by. Demand far outstrips supply.

“Marbella is almost bulletproof from a slowdown or crash,” explained estate agent Adam Neale, of Terra Meridiana. “It is almost unique in Europe.”

But what is certainly different about Marbella than other nearby resorts like Estepona or Mijas (or further afield in Javea or Ibiza, say) is its amount of history and culture on offer, when you know where to find it.

And let’s not forget to mention the superb walks in its nearby hills - it sits next to a National Park, these days, don’t you know - while it easily has the best concentration of restaurants in southern Spain.

History-wise there is certainly a fair amount to do from inspecting its Moorish walls in the cas-

co historico, to visiting a Roman villa or Visigothic church on its outskirts.

Indeed, rewind the clock several millennia, and you’ll find it’s always been a popular spot. Marbella’s earliest origins are as a palaeolithic settlement. Humans hunted and gathered over the very same land that now boasts Michelin-starred restaurants.

San Pedro de Alcantara, which comes under Marbella, and at the Roman villa in Rio Verde.

for movie stars

The Phoenicians were here, before Its next incarnation came as a Roman port. You can see the evidence at the Termas de Las Bovedas Roman baths, near

The northern European Visigoths were frequent visitors to the coast and left their mark in the form of the Vega del Mar Basilica, a necropolis, also to be found in San Pedro. They, like the giant number of northern Europeans who live here today, would have been attracted by the excellent warm temperate climate, which rarely goes below 8 degrees, nor over 30 degrees, thanks to the protection it gets from the nearby Sierra de las

Nieves National Park and pointy La Concha mountain.

In contrast, the early Arabs, or Moors, who arrived in the 8th century found it a fair bit cooler than across the pond, spotting the town’s potential, calling it bien habitada, or ‘place of good living’. They eventually built a walled city in the old town in the tenth century and even a large Alcazaba castle.

The walls, some of which survive today, were dotted with around a dozen towers, including the Torre del Puente Levadizo (meaning the ‘Drawbridge Tower’) and the Torre de la Puerta de Hierro (or ‘the Iron Door Tower’).

It doesn’t come close to competing with Cordoba or Sevilla for ornate Moorish architecture, but it

Photos by Jon Clarke

TIMELESS GLAMOUR: Grace Kelly and Hugh Grant, while yoga class on the beach today

OLD TO NEW: Ancient and modern styles of worship from Marbella old town to nearby church

QUAINT: Old town street leading to the church

Marbella is the go-to glamorous dream escape

FOOD,DRINK & TRAVEL

STUNNING: The Puente Romano Hotel’s ancient bridge

BUILT BY ROMANS

MARBELLA began its life as a town in the seventh century BC, when it was a Roman settlement called ‘Salduba’. This is also the name of a well known bar at the entrance to Puerto Banus that has been there for centuries too.

SPECTACULAR: Mosaic at Rio Verde

came a close second to Ronda in terms of size and fell to the Christian Crusaders in the same year, 1485, just seven years before the Catholic Reconquest was complete. Marbella, to conclude, is a destination that has been a

lot of different things to a lot of different people over the years, but the cosmopolitan atmosphere, world-class restaurants and perfect climate look set to entice the world’s elite for decades – if not millennia – to come.

Ralli Museum

WE start our art tour at Marbella’s best known museum. Home to one of Europe’s most important Latin American collections, the Museo Ralli focuses on modern movements, particularly surrealism, with works from a wide range of contemporary artists. Its current temporary show is on show until April 2024.

WHERE?

Urb. Coral Beach, Rio Verde, N-340, km. 176, 29602 Marbella, Málaga

?

WHEN?

Tuesday to Friday 10:00 to 17:00

Saturday 10:00 to 16:00

Meanwhile an original Roman bridge still stands surreally in the middle of the Puente Romano Hotel and a few kilometres away is the restored Roman villa at Rio Verde with its beauti- ful mosaics.

DALI AND MORE!

It’s not just hen parties creating an exhibition in Marbella; these three picks will satisfy culture vultures

“

To fall in love with an artwork is to recognise your soul through the artist’s mirror” – or so said Marife Nuñez who founded the gallery, and probably knows about these things. Es.Arte is a contemporary gallery with a busy calendar of exhibitions and fairs. As well as exhibiting works by contemporary artists, the gallery also offers consultancy services, helping you find something to hang on your wall.

WHERE?

Av de Manolete, 1, Centro Plaza, Local 11, 29660 Marbella ?

WHEN?

Tuesday to Friday 10:30 to 16:00

Saturday 10:00 to 14:30

Es.Arte Gallery

A sleepy town during the period of Al-Andalus, Mar- bella was retaken by Chris- tians in 1485. The Plaza de los Naranjos (Orange Square) has been the fo- cal point of the town since then and the town hall is still located there today.

Avenida del Mar

FOR an outdoor gallery, head to Avenida del Mar to see some of Salvador Dali’s famous bronze statues. Located on this beautiful marble promenade near the waterfront, these statues include a depiction of Perseus beheading Medusa; the Roman emperor Trajan on horseback; and, changing the mood slightly, a statue of Dali’s wife looking through a window. Also look for nearby sculpture by Eduardo Soriano, a tribute to freedom of speech and expression.

?

WHERE? Avenida del Mar

WHEN? 24 hours a day!

VARIETY: Modern Banus and the Sierra de las Nieves hills behind, while a girl group plays in the old town (below) and a section of Arabic wall

Ryan-win

RYANAIR has emerged victorious from the latest battle in its long running war with online travel agencies (OTAs).

The low-cost airline has frequently complained about the ‘illegal’ behaviour of wellknown companies such as Booking.com, eDreams, Gotogate, Kiwi and Opodo.

Ryanair insists that OTAs sell its tickets without authorisation, apply extra charges to customers, obstruct direct communications between Ryanair and customers, and block refunds by not providing correct customer information.

Spanish travel agency association ACAVE filed a lawsuit in September 2021 over the Irish airline’s attacks ‘on the reputations of its members’. But a Barcelona court has stated that Ryanir’s accusations are ‘true, objective, and relevant.’

SMELL THE COFFEE

COLOMBIAN cafe chain Juan Valdez will be opening a flagship shop in Madrid as part of its plans to have over 100 outlets across Spain by 2027.

The coffee retailer will open its new store in Madrid’s 36-storey Torre Caleido skyscraper next month.

It already has four Juan Valdez Ex -

press stores in Madrid’s La Gavia, El Ferial, Príncipe Pío and Plenilunio shopping centres, primarily catering for take-away customers. However, the new flagship store will feature indoor and outdoor seating alongside a retail space and it will also offer a coffee-based cocktail menu during the evening.

CRYPTO TAX

Cryptocurrency earnings become subject to Spanish income tax

THE Spanish Inland Revenue has launched an investigation to identify bitcoin-related assets to prevent tax evasion and avoidance. The period for submitting

Small change

THE days of sorting through near-useless one and two cent coins among your change could soon be over as the European Commission comes ever closer to scrapping them.

Commissioner for Economy, Paolo Gentiloni, has said that possible changes include eliminating them altogether and introducing rounding-up rules across the EU. The EC carried out a public survey which showed that 70% of respondents were in favour of the abolition of the coins and the introduction of uniform rounding-up rules.

By Alberto Lejarraga

the income tax return declaration (IRPF) opened on April 11. Taxpayers are required to give evidence of their earnings in 2022. And these include any profit obtained from cryptocurrency. In 2021, only 35,2000 IRPF declarations for that year’s tax period included crypto profit. These made a total of €759 million.

Not every taxpayer is aware of this requirement. According to a study carried out by the Spanish Association of Financial Users (Asufin),

How to choose an ethical financial adviser in Spain?

FIDUCIARY Wealth has been shaping the wealth of the British expatriate community in Spain through unbiased tax-led wealth management advice since 2007.

CHOOSE A QUALIFIED PROFESSIONAL

Seek out a financial adviser with a UK level 4 qualification in financial advice or an equivalent qualification from the European Financial Planning Association (EFPA).

DO YOUR RESEARCH

When making your selection, carefully research all of the financial advisory firms you are considering. Looking online will help you gather information.

EXPERTISE

You should hire a financial adviser with extensive knowledge of cross border tax planning for British expats.

PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS

A financial adviser with a strong professional link to a prestigious, well-regarded law and accountancy firm/network is a safer bet.

COMMUNICATION IS KEY

The way a financial adviser communicates will tell you a lot of what you need to know, including any red flags. They should employ clear and easy to understand language, dealing in precise details rather than vague terms.

HONESTY IS PARAMOUNT

A crucial trait in any financial adviser is honesty. You should feel able to trust that your adviser is honest and that your interests are their key priority.

LISTENING SKILLS

Expect any good financial adviser to ask plenty of questions about yourself and your financial needs

Move over Barcelona

ALICANTE has overhauled Barcelona for the number of people staying in tourist apartments during 2022.

A University of Zaragoza study shows there were 155,726 stays in Alicante last year, compared to 145,501 in the Catalan capital.

It’s an impressive turn round for Alicante, which lies seventh nationally for holiday rentals, with Madrid and Benidorm continuing to dominate reservations.

4.4 million people invest in cryptocurrency in Spain. However, over 40% of them believe they do not need to declare these earnings. The gains are calculated deducting the purchase value from the sale value and are taxed at the following tax rates:

Less than €6,000 - 19% income tax

Between €6,000 and €50,000 - 21% income tax

Between €50,000 and €200,000 - 23% income tax

Over €200,000 - 26% income tax.

and goals. They should be interested in your personal circumstances, rather than simply talking about the products and services that want to push or a single product they would like to sell you, such as a ‘Spanish Compliant Investment Bond.’

THOROUGH ANALYSIS OF YOUR NEEDS

Steer clear of any financial adviser that offers a report that is short on content and detail.

SALES PRESSURE TACTICS

Avoid a financial adviser who uses high-pressure sales tactics to force you to make a decision more quickly than you feel comfortable with.

SINGLE PRODUCT VERSUS WHOLE OF MARKET

Do not engage with firms that offer the same products to everyone - Spanish Compliant Bonds. A good adviser should provide best advice rather than one-size-fits-all remedies.

BE CLEAR ON PAYMENT

Avoid any nasty surprise charges by clearly establishing how much you will pay before embarking on a course of action. Always ensure all charges are disclosed upfront.

HOW IS YOUR FINANCIAL ADVISOR PAID?

Work with financial advisers that are being paid a salary. An adviser who is on commission is unable to offer impartial advice – as his objectivity is compromised. If getting paid is contingent on obtaining sales, you cannot expect a commission-only advisor to be working in your best interests. Before committing, ask your advisor to confirm in writing if they are commission-only renumerated or salaried.

We are in the Murcia/Costa Blanca area from 15th until 19th May 2023 and available for meetings throughout the area from Torrevieja to Murcia.

If you feel you would benefit from a second opinion please email enquiries@fwm.gi or call us on tel: +44 207 998 0570

Our financial advisers are fully licensed, qualified and regulated to provide financial advice in Spain and across the EU.

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Losses can also be declared and may translate into paying 25% less annual tax during the following four years. Those who have virtual currency but are not trading do not have to include them in the IRPF declaration form. This comes at a time when the Olive Press is doing an ongoing investigation on crypto company Globix. It is alleged that Globix bosses took out €11 million just before the company collapsed.

BIG BIO PLANT

OIL company Cepsa has formed a joint venture to set up a large-scale biofuels plant. Cepsa and Bio-Oils, which process vegetable oils, have announced that they will invest €1 billion at Cepsa’s La Rabita Energy Park in Huelva.

The facility is targeting the annual production of 500,000 tonnes of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and renewable diesel for aviation, maritime and land transport. The use of biofuels can reduce CO2 emissions by up to 90% compared with conventional fossil-based fuels Cepsa described the project as ‘the largest second generation biofuels plant’ in southern Europe.

OP Puzzle solutions

Quick Crossword

Across: 6 Saturn, 8 Oceans, 9 Ohio, 10 Contempt, 11 Ratter, 13 Steer, 15 Nil, 17 Strap, 18 O’clock, 20 Helpless, 22 Gate, 23 Import, 24 Nevada.

Down: 1 Ouzo, 2 Unicorn, 3 Bonny, 4 Pedestal, 5 Snap, 7 Athwart, 12 Teaspoon, 14 Excited, 16 Loosens, 19 Cents, 21 Elms, 22 Gave.

Before the Covid pandemic in 2019, Barcelona recorded 230,436 apartment bookings with Alicante well behind on just 88,723.

Alicante was over 3,000 stays behind Granada's total for 2022, with Madrid, Benidorm, Sevilla, and Malaga the top five locations.

Inflationary pressure

A STUDY from Spain's Organisation of Consumers and Users(OCU) says that 14% of Valencian Community households are suffering ‘serious economic difficulties’ due to high inflation.

The OCU report says inflation has ‘increased the damage caused by the pandemic on domestic income’.

Serious

The group interviewed 4,122 residents in Spain (373 in the Valencian Community) aged between 25 and 79 years to assess the financial solvency of households.

The average national figure of serious economic problems is 11% with the Valencian Community the third-highest region behind Extremadura and Andalucia.

AI snoops

SPAIN’S Social Security system is using artificial intelligence to try to predict whether someone who is taking sick leave is ready to get back to work.

That’s according to an investigation carried out by Spanish online daily El Confidencial Spain’s National Institute of Social Security deployed two machine-learning algorithms in 2018 to assess the health of millions of people on sick leave.

The aim was to detect which recipients were defrauding the state.

The investigation discovered that the system is very opaque and that its algorithms are considered to be ‘poor’ and ‘unbalanced’. It also alleged to generate a high number of false positives, which could potentially be pushing people back into work before they are medically fit to do so.

A cut above

Pioneering lung transplant operation carried out by robot

By Alex Trelinski

A BARCELONA hospital has carried out a pioneering lung transplant operation with a robot involving a less invasive procedure for the patient.

The four-pronged robot called Da Vinci was used at the Vall d’Hebron hospital in a surgery that no longer required opening up the chest and separating ribs.

Da Vinci cut through just a small area of the patient’s skin, fat and muscle to re-

Doctor Zoom

MEDICAL consultations carried out online could become the norm following a successful trial amongst nine medical centres across the Comunidad Valenciana.

So far the reception from patients has been positive, particularly amongst those who have to fit medical appointments around their jobs.

The Department of Health has suggested video consultations could be launched across the region but recognises that some cases will necessitate face-to-face meetings.

move the damaged lung and inserted a new one through an eight-centimetre incision in the lower part of the sternum, just above the diaphragm.

Besides being safer than previous techniques, which needed a 30-centimetre cut, the patient's post-op treatment involves less pain as the smaller wound closes far more easily.

Vall d’Hebron’s Lung Transplant head, Albert Jauregui, said: “We believe it is a technique that will improve patients’ life quality, the post-surgery period and reduce pain. We hope this technique will eventually spread

Casillas award

SPAIN'S World Cup 2010 winning captain Iker Casillas has been awarded a Gold Medal for services to cardiovascular health at the annual congress of the European Heart Rhythm Association (EHRA) in Barcelona.

The ex-keeper, 41, ended his playing career in 2020 after almost a year on the sidelines following a heart attack he suffered during a training session with his Porto teammates. He now works at raising the awareness of maintaining a healthy heart and spotting the signs of a heart attack.

to more centres.”

The procedure had only previously been used in lung cancer operations and was used on 65-year-old Xavier who needed a lung transplant after suffering from pulmonary fibrosis since 2007.

Pros

“I weighed up the pros and cons,” he told reporters. “I totally trusted the robot machines because they reduce human error,” added Xavier.

He backed up Albert Jauregui's analysis by saying that he woke up after February’s operation and felt no pain whatsoever.

“When the doctor told me I was having a heart attack, I couldn’t believe it. I do sports, live a healthy lifestyle, and was feeling good and strong, ” said Casillas.

FIRST: Lung transplant by robot

Dead giveaway

AN Alicante man admitted defrauding authorities of over €119,000 by collecting his grandmother’s pension, despite her being dead for over 16 years.

Trust issues

ALMOST two thirds of Spaniards no longer trust social media to get political news, a new study has found. And over 70% believe it promotes extremism in society.

Lock In

A MAN out for a drink in a Valencia pub fell asleep and woke up to find himself locked in. Police had to wake up the pub owner to get him out.

O P LIVE RESS The

COSTA BLANCA SUR / MURCIA

TASTY TATTOO

Unusual candidate

THE PP’s latest mayoral candidate is a departure from their usual professed traditional values: the former gay porn star Antonio Moreno. Six years on from his time known by his stage name Hector de Silva, Moreno is now standing for the mayorship of Carcelen, Albacete. He moved to the remote village with his partner after he hung up his movie set pass in 2017. The pretty, rural township of 652 souls comes complete

The PP stands ex gay porn star as mayoral candidate in rural Albacete village

By Walter Finch

with its own castle and is just 100km (60 miles) south east of Valencia.

The former gay porn star seamlessly moved into forest fire fighting after he retired and is now a livestock farmer.

"I was born in the city of Al-

bacete but when I arrived here I fell in love with this village and its natural environment, which is spectacular," the 38-year-old (pictured below) said. But the media attention that has come his way since the PP announced his candidacy has not surprised him.

“I knew that this could hap-

Painting with ploughs

AN artist has marked the 50th anniversary of Picasso’s death in a suitably surreal way by ploughing a giant portrait of the maestro in a field Dario Gambarin’s unconventional portrait spans over 25,000 square metres and is claimed (probably rightly) to be the largest depiction of Picasso in the world. Gambarin used a field in the Italian town of Castagnaro as his canvas and a tractor, plough and rotary harrow as his brushes..

pen since it's a part of my past, from six years ago.”

"I take my past as a porn actor normally because my family, who supported me, knew about it and I have always told them about it.

“It was a stage in my life that I don't regret because I learned a lot,” Moreno said.

“When I arrived in town, everyone knew about it and I've always talked about it as something normal,” he added.

He will face off against incumbent PSOE candidate and current 12-year mayor Maria Dolores Gomez

Piqueras on May 28.

A MAN from Sevilla has gone viral after having a tattoo of a sandwich inked onto his leg. And it’s not just any old sandwich - it is a picture of Andalucia’s famous Serranito. The ‘work of art’ is much more than a simple pictureit is so detailed that it could be used as a recipe.

Bread, tenderloin, green pepper, serrano ham, tomato and aioli are all labeled in the correct order.

Queen of curses

THE elderly Spanish woman may have been talking to Queen Letizia, but that didn’t stop her from using some colourful language when she got a chance to meet the royal in Cordoba.

“I love you and your husband and your children very much!” the ‘lady’ shouted from a crowd, in reference to Letizia, King Felipe VI and their daughters, Leonor and Sofia.

“The rest of them can go f*ck themselves!” she continued.

‘Wow,’ was the reaction of the queen, who also proffered several thank yous to the lady as she slowly backed away.