Olive Press Mallorca Issue 154

Spain on report

AN expat teacher is taking the Ministry of Education to court for discrimination.

Serena Farr has lived in Mallorca since 1993, speaks Spanish and Catalan, is married to a Spaniard and her two children have Spanish nationality.

For the last decade, Serena has taught English in public schools, but her name and that of another Brition were excluded from a list of ‘available teachers’ ahead of the 2021-22 academic year.

Despite her work record, she was told that following Brexit the fact that she was not a European Union citizen meant she could no longer be employed by the Ministry of Education.

Appeal

She filed an appeal which was rejected and then took the issue to the European Commission.

It told education bosses that they were breaching British citizen rights covered under the UK-EU Withdrawal Agreement.

Serena was also sent a document from Brussels making it clear that she was allowed to apply for any job in Spain barring security or state positions.

Speaking to Ultima Hora, she said that the Ministry of Education only partially relented in that they allowed her to only apply for temporary teaching positions.

“I did not accept this and have now filed a lawsuit for discrimination,” said Serena. A legal advisory service of the European Commission told her that 'we strongly urge you to legally challenge this as it is unlawful discrimination on the grounds of nationality'.

Opinion Page 6

APRIL FOOLED

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

Page 6

SUCKERS

Holiday operator offers measly compensation to family terrorised by eight nights of bed bugs in fourstar Mallorca hotel

A BRITISH family were left flabbergasted by a derisory compensation offer from their tour operator after their dream Mallorca holiday turned into a bed-bug-infested nightmare.

Gary Turner, 57, and Jutta Turner, 55, suffered from being feasted on by swarms of blood suckers over the course of eight nights at a four star hotel in Puerto Pollensa. Gary suffered an allergic reaction to the blanket of bed bug bites on the back of his head, which ended with an ambulance ride to hospital and a painful emergency shot in his bottom.

When confronted over the Turners’ nightmare ordeal, operator Tui only offered them 10% off one of the two rooms they had booked with their two daughters, aged 31 and 24, as compensation.

They were given an alternative offer of 20% off their next holiday with Tui, but this was rejected and Gary and Jutta demanded a full refund of the trip.

“We paid for a four-star plus rated hotel, with good reviews and never ever expected to be sleeping with bed bugs for eight nights,” Gary told the Olive Press “We never expected to suffer like we did, this is not what we paid for.”

The Turners arrived with their two daughters at the Hotel Illa D'OR at the end of March expecting a relaxing 10-day sunshine getaway. But when Jutta and Gary started to notice bites on their hands and head after the third night, they assumed they were just from mosquitos.

Only a week into the holiday did the pair turn on the bedroom light at 3am.

To their undying horror, they saw dozens of little brown bed bugs crawling all over the fabric headboard and even the bed sheets they were sleeping in.

immediately brought insect spray to bear and moved the couple to another room where the bed had a wooden headboard.

While Jutta’s arm turned bright red in a sea of vicious bed bug bites, the back of Gary’s head became inflamed as dozens of the little critters had chewed up his scalp.

Bites

According to their account, Gary and Jutta could not sleep at night due to the itching, while exposure to the sun caused the bites to flare up. And the medication they got from the pharmacy - which the hotel paid for - left them feeling drowsy.

told the Olive Press. “We could not enjoy our holiday at all.”

A dispute soon erupted both with the hotel and Tui, the tour operator, over the level of compensation that was due to the Turners.

The hotel merely offered ‘a spa treatment or ride on their boat’. This offer was also rejected.

Gary and Jutta requested two complimentary rooms for two weeks in October as compensation.

The pair have also had to go to great lengths to make sure they did not bring any bed bugs back to the UK with them, including throwing out their suitcases.

the Olive Press: “We recognise that some services fell short of our usually high standards.

“We'd like to reassure all customers that we regularly audit all of our hotels in respect to health and safety, including hygiene.

“Whilst the family were offered compensation during their stay, they unfortunately declined.”

Meanwhile, Hotel Illa D'OR called the Turners’ request for a two week free holiday in October ‘unreasonable’.

Succumb

BITES: A real pain in the neck

But the nightmare was only just beginning for the British - German couple. Apologetic staff at the hotel

But, worst of all, the meds also meant they could not enjoy an alcoholic drink on their holiday.

“It all left us feeling tired, run down and exhausted,” Jutta

“The only lucky thing was that our daughters were not in that room, otherwise we could have taken one of them back in a coffin if she had had the same reaction as my husband did,” Jutta said.

“She is disabled and immune suppressant due to a kidney transplant.”

Gary added; “The whole experience has left us completely exhausted and stressed, due to the lack of sleep caused by constant itching and becoming rather paranoid about checking our bed for bugs in the hotel in the middle of the night.

“We were also worn out by the annoyance and upset caused by the indifference and lack of compensation so far offered by the hotel and TUI.”

A spokesperson for Tui told

Although they did not deny the presence of bed bugs in the room, they said they would not ‘succumb to pressure from any guest seeking to receive free accommodations.’

“We want to emphasise that our hotel takes pest control very seriously and we have a company contracted to provide preventative and control services,” they said in an email to the Olive Press. “In none of their reports has the presence of bed bugs been detected in our hotel.

“Furthermore, the room in which the guests stayed had been occupied by other guests previously without any complaints of this nature.”

Gary has started the torturous process of making a legal claim with Tui.

Opinion Page 6

EXCLUSIVE By Walter Finch

BAD REACTION: Holidaymakers were covered in bed bug bites

Sneaky builders

SIX Colombians face 33 years jail for burgling

12 luxury apartments in Palma, which they had performed maintenance work on before returning to rob.

Green car

A 38-year-old man has been arrested in Palma for having three bags of marijuana in a car in which a child was also travelling.

Migrant debt

A 42-year-old Algerian man has been jailed for seven years after he smuggled a 15-year-old boy to Mallorca by boat then forced him to commit robberies to pay for the crossing.

In port

MEGA yacht Koru, the 127 metre, €455 million sailing ship owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, has moored in Mallorca’s Club del Mar on its maiden voyage.

A MAN was so angry when he was refused a refund for a set of defective earphones that he picked up his bicycle and threw it at the shopkeeper. The 35-year-old Moroccan was enraged after a refund for the item he had bought at an internet shop just

Angry biker

minutes earlier was refused because ‘the packaging was open’. The bicycle struck and shattered a glass screen in front of the till, with

shards flying and cutting the hand and forehead of the owner. The attacker fled the scene but was arrested shortly after. He was found to have an arrest warrant outstanding for drug trafficking offences in Madrid.

FATAL ATTRACTION

A WOMAN who was under 24-hour police protection after her abusive husband managed to escape from jail was discovered to have been harbouring her aggressor in her squat. She was deemed to be at ‘extreme risk’ after her ex-partner, whom she had a restraining order against, escaped Palma penitentiary centre.

The prisoner had managed to remove the electronic tag on his ankle while on prison leave and make good his getaway

By Walter Finch

despite triggering a number of alarms.

The victim was assigned a patrol car with two surveillance and security agents 24 hours a day by the UFAM (Family and

Unwelcome return

A CRIMINAL, who was banned from entering Palma after racking up 20 arrests for thefts and robberies has struck again.

A court imposed an order barring Bartolome C, 46, from the city.

Barely a week into the measure, the thief struck again when he shoplifted a pair of trainers from a Palma shopping centre. He spent a night in the police cells and after officers woke him up the next morning to take him for another courthouse appearance, the thief said he could not walk and was taken to hospital.

Women Attention Unit).

Over the next 12 days, more than 20 officers from the Citizen Security Brigade took it in turns to be stationed at the door of the old Palma prison where she was living as a squatter.

After an initial review of the fa-

Vandals tagged

TWO men aged 30 and 31 face jail sentences of two years for spray painting graffiti and ‘tags’ on a train in Marratxi. The duo were caught red handed in 2019 on CCTV as they vandalised the carriages at the Es Figueral station, with their trial due to start in the coming days.

As well as the jail term, prosecutors are asking for them to be fined a total of €5,400 as well as being ordered to compensate train operator SFM €1,634 in damages.

Tax. Inheritance planning. Investments. Pensions.

So many questions!

„ Why do I need to think about taxes in Spain?

„ Will my family be affected by Spanish succession tax?

„ Why may my assets not end up where I want when I die?

„ How does Brexit and the changes to Spanish taxation of pensions affect me?

„ Why is inflation impacting my investments and income?

„ What does 2023 have in store for my investments?

No cell for Monk

AN Irish gang boss extradited from Spain three years ago has been acquitted by a judge of murder.

Gerry ‘The Monk’ Hutch, 60, was found not guilty of the killing of rival Kinahan clan member, David Byrne, this week. Byrne, who lived on and off in Spain, was gunned down during a boxing weigh-in at Dublin’s Regency Hotel in February, 2016.

cility, police took their position at the entrance, and whenever the woman entered or left her residence, she had an escort. But the gig was up in the early hours of Friday morning when the officers stationed outside the old prison heard noises and shouting coming from inside. They rushed into the premises to protect the woman from the man who had been violently abusing her, only to be told that everything was fine. Suspicious of her protestations, the officers searched the house. And there, hiding under a kitchen counter, they found the fugitive. The woman had duped her guarding officers while being escorted walking her dogs to let her violent ex-partner into the old prison. She also misled investigators about the man’s whereabouts.

Hutch was arrested in a joint operation between Irish and Spanish police in August, 2021 when he went out for a walk near his home where he was hiding out in Fuengirola.

The former crime lord had masterminded a bloody feud with the then-Costa del Sol based Kinahan clan, who now live in Dubai.

The vicious gang war led to at least 20 deaths, many on the streets of Andalucia, as well as in Mallorca. Innocent Trevor O’Neill was gunned down in front of his family while on holiday on the island in a case of mistaken identity.

Despite being a massive target of the Kinahans, Hutch is expected to leave for Spain - possibly returning to Fuengirola or going to Lanzarote, where he lived for over a

Squatter under 24-hour police protection from escaped violent ex in Mallorca found to have been sheltering him all along

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.

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 restau -

Good mews!

MIA, the abandoned cat who was horribly scalded with boiling oil in an appalling case of animal cruelty, is doing well and has a new expectant owner lined up. As the Olive Press reported last issue, a Good Samaritan brought the poor moggy to Cat Protection Pollensa after finding her in the street. Volunteers at the cat shelter were horrified when vets told them that it seemed the friendly feline had been deliberately attacked.

Mia is having her bandages and dressings changed every two weeks and is on the mend.

“She is being amazing,” volunteer Toni Beech told the Olive Press.

“Just really chilled and loving still. She’s eating and drinking great.”

Once she’s ready, Mia will go to a loving new home after a woman was chosen to adopt her.

There is still no word on catching her attacker, however.

Food fight

rant was full and the reservation had been for the night before. 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.

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 my stairs,” he told the Olive Press

“It was a definite sign that I needed to stop and, in any

Pink Referees

By Alex Trelinski

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!”

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 ac-

PLUMMETED:

Saxby lost an incredible eight kilos

quired.

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 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.

PRINCESS AND THE PORSCHE

BILLIONAIRE Austrian car tycoon Wolfgang Porsche, 79, has been holidaying in Mallorca with his 59-year-old girlfriend, Princess Gabriele of Leiningen. The pair have been staying at the luxury hotel complex St Regis Mardavall after arriving on the island by private jet.

Luxury real estate agent Marcel Remus has reportedly been accompanying the couple on property searches. On his Instagram account the celebrity property broker revealed that he had an appointment at the 5 star hotel and, according to Bild, showed the couple properties in Son Vida and the more tranquil Costa de la Calma. The chairman of the supervisory board of Porsche AG recently separated from Claudia Hubner, 74, his wife of four years, following her struggle with dementia.

He has since been seen in the company of the Princess of Leiningen, who gained her title after marrying Karl-Emich, prince of Leiningen and head of the Romanov house - claimants to the Russian throne.

More famously the former model, philanthropist, Unesco advisor and television executive is also the ex-wife of the Aga-Khan with whom she has a 21-year-old son, Aly.

NEXT weekend will see hordes of beach-seeking visitors descending on Mallorca as usual, but these ones won’t just be hunting out sunbeds and mojitos. Hundreds of rugby players, both casual and a little more serious, will descend on Magaluf beach to crunch tackles in this year’s Mallorca Beach Rugby tournament.

What started as a ‘boy’s holiday’ for former England and Leicester Tigers tighthead prop Steve Redfern in 2007 has become one of the hottest weekends in Mallorca’s international calendar.

“We had the odd French team but it was mainly Brits when we first start-

ed,” Steve told the Olive Press. “But as the years have gone on, word of mouth has spread about how good the tournament is.”

Steve takes pride in keeping the competition fun and social first and foremost, where people make friends and stay friends.

“We don't pay a prize and I think it's just the friendliness of it that brings people back each year.”

London-based podiatrist Vicki Tapley, 35 - Tappers to friends and strangers alike - first brought her local rugby club, Hammersmith & Fulham, over to take part in 2016.

“I’m so excited for this trip, this is one of the best tournaments I’ve ever played in,” she said.

“It’s so much fun - the referees wear pink outfits, if they give you a yellow card they make you kiss the other player.

“They make light of things, it’s not serious at all.”

Things kick off on Friday April 28.

“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. 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.

Double rescue

A 50-year-old man has been rescued after being lost for four days in the mountains of Sa Coma de Andratx.

He is believed to have fallen and injured his leg during a hike.

Firefighters were advised at 4pm on Tuesday that a man was shouting for help in the woods. They were able to find him later that evening and carried him to an ambulance that had been waiting nearby.

The rescued hiker was quickly taken to hospital in Palma, where he is said to be recovering ‘favorably’.

On Monday, another man was rescued at a beach in Betlem, in the northeast part of the island. The young man was also assisted by fire-

The Porsche family already has ties with Mallorca. Wolfgang’s brother Hans-Peter bought land in Alcudia where he opened the Alcanada Golf Course, also known as the ‘Campo Porsche’.

Street death

A 24-year-old ‘foreign’ man was found dead in Palma city centre on Wednesday morning. His girlfriend called emergency services around 9.50am when the man collapsed in Calle Ocells unable to breathe. Medics quickly arrived at the scene, but he had already passed away.

Police suspect the death is drugs related, and an autopsy will be held. The man’s nationality has not been disclosed.

RESCUE: From Na Clara beach

fighters after he crawled out of the sea exhausted at Na Clara beach. He had been swimming and was suffering from hypothermia and initial symptoms of drowning.

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

Rules breached

THE bizarre story of long-standing teacher Serena Farr having to go to court to prove she can work full-time in Mallorca public schools borders on being unbelievable.

The Brit, who has lived and worked on the island for 30 years, was fine to be employed teaching English to children until a month before the 2021-22 school year when she made her annual application for work.

The education ministry deemed that she could not be taken on because she’s not an EU citizen.

It’s total nonsense, with the European Commission saying exactly the same, adding that it contravenes the UKEU Withdrawal Agreement.

Even crazier, the ‘powers that be’ then climbed down but only to the extent of offering Serena temporary contracts to do relief work.

The EU rules are 100% clear and perhaps some bureaucrats in the education ministry need some lessons themselves on how to read them.

To any fair-minded person, this is a case of blatant discrimination.

Do the right thing

SWARMS of bed bugs don’t just materialise overnight.

The images produced by Gary and Jutta Turner showed an entire colony of the little brown insects.

These are awful creatures that don’t just leave you with horrible itching bites, but they get into your mind at night.

And worse still, they can travel with you and take up residence in your home and give you a nightmare problem. One that you might pass on in turn to your friends and family.

Sprays and half measures do not cut it. Only professional fumigation, and the enormous hassle that entails, can eradicate this plague.

For hotels, it is a worst-case scenario problem that involves shutting down business while they deal with it. But they have a moral and professional obligation to their customers to ensure that they are not sleeping with bed bugs - and that they are not taking them home either.

PUBLISHER / EDITOR

Jon Clarke, jon@theolivepress.es

Dilip Kuner dilip@theolivepress.es

Anthony Piovesan anthony@theolivepress.es

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.

Simon Hunter simon@theolivepress.es

Alex Trelinski alex@theolivepress.es

Cristina Hodgson cristina@theolivepress.es

Walter Finch walter@theolivepress.es

OFFICE MANAGER Héctor Santaella (+34) 658 750 424 accounts@ theolivepress.es

DISTRIBUTION ENQUIRIES (+34) 951 273 575 distribution@ theolivepress.es

NEWSDESK: 0034 951 273 575

For all sales and advertising enquiries please contact 951 27 35 75

HEAD OFFICE

Carretera Nacional 340, km 144.5, Calle Espinosa 1, Edificio cc El Duque, planta primera, 29692, Sabinillas, Manilva

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

LA CULTURA

STORIES HAVE LANDED

PROUD Mallorcan architect and writer, Jose Luis Pujol Reines (pictured) has launched his book Land 17 and other Mallorcan rondallas

The series of short ‘bitter stories’ examine various aspects of island life in an ‘acidic, ironic yet respectful’ tone.

The book’s title plays on the humorous suggestion from the 90s that Mallorca may as well become Germany’s 17th province, with one of the stories exploring the dystopian idea.

The other tales include two tourists hitting the town on a night they will never forget, a German couple obstructed from buying a plot of land by four clans, a Mallorcan finding himself as the last native in the village and a mysterious suicide phenomenon in which people drive their cars off Cabo Blanco.

It is described by publisher Caligrama as a ‘compendium of stories that address, humorously, some of the issues that plague this adrift island’.

Pujol Reines told the Olive Press that the novel ‘is not about pointing the blame at anyone, it’s more observational and doesn’t intend to stir up provocation’ although he admitted jokingly ‘that it might’.

Ancient trippers

Civilizations were using hallucinogens as far back as 3,000 years ago, according to the analysis

Sheeran in town

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.

FIRST CLASS

9 out of 10 customers would recommend us

TheOlivePress-256x170-CAR-4.indd 1

IN a recent survey of our customers after using Línea Directa’s Roadside Assistance and breakdown services, over 90% said they would happily recommend our insurance services to a friend or colleague.

Línea Directa would like to thank everyone who has taken the time to answer the questions in our survey as it has given us valuable feedback on our services and enabled us to integrate positive changes and continue to provide expert solutions for overseas residents in Spain.

ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING IS IN ENGLISH

Car, bike and home insurance, with absolutely everything in English. The emergency and claims hotline is fast and efficient, with quick no obligation quotes over the phone.

The customer service team will help you decide on the best policy and there are easy payment options so you can spread the cost of your premiums.

YOU KNOW?

DID

All Línea Directa insurance policies offer additional features specifically designed for expatriates living in Spain. Their home insurance includes Pet Assistance, IT Assistance, and Home Maintenance. All motorbike policies come with Replacement Motorbike, Technical Equipment cover and even Young Person’s Night-time Assistance.

And their car insurance includes helpful services such as Legal Assistance that can provide help when applying for or renewing your driving license in Spain.

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.

By Simon Hunter

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.

French connection

NEW DNA evidence has revealed that the famous prehistoric Gibraltar skull is more closely related to Neanderthals in the French Mediterranean than those in nearby Western Europe. A research paper by French archaeologist Dr Ludovik Slimak discovered the striking similarity its genome shared with that of a Neanderthal from Grotte Mandrin near Marseille. Slimak’s research concluded that the Gibraltar Skull 1, nicknamed ‘Nana’, was part of a smaller group that was isolated from classic Neanderthals in southwestern Europe.

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.

“Considering the potential toxicity of the alkaloids found in the hair, their handling, use and applications represented highly specialised knowledge,” the study states. “This knowledge was typically possessed by shamans, who were capable of controlling the side-effects of the plant drugs through an ecstasy that made diagnosis or divination possible.”

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

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)

EXPAT2EXPAT REWARD PROGRAMME

When an existing Línea Directa customer recommends a new customer, they both receive 30€.

Línea Directa’s Expat2Expat programme is free and open to all existing customers. You can recommend up to 10 people and earn up to 300€ in cash per year.

Simply ask your friend to call 917 002 006 and quote your full name. Then once their application for car, bike or home insurance has been approved, Línea Directa will pay the reward straight into the bank account following payment of next or first premium. For more information, see terms and conditions at www.lineadirecta.com

LOWER THE PRICE OF YOUR INSURANCE

Change to Línea Directa and they will lover the price of your insurance.

Línea Directa has been providing comprehensive car, motorbike and home insurance to British expatriates and residents in Spain for over 25 years.

With over 3 million customers nationwide, Línea Directa makes sure you get the best possible price for the kind of insurance you really need.

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

Are you looking for a new property? We have the most unique listings in Mallorca. In addition to the properties on our website, we have dozens of pocket listings of premium properties that are not listed publically anywhere. We are here to help our clients from the first-time buyers to experienced investors to make the best possible deals in real estate.

If you are interested in selling or buying a property, our experienced agents at Strand Properties are trusted advisors and are happy to help with that. Contact us:

ALL THE FUN OF THE FERIAS

Across Spain ferias are celebrated (and how!) in every town between April and October, but perhaps the most famous - and most significant culturally - (with apologies to the Balearics) are those to be found in Andalucia

STARTING as cattle markets (or occasionally, religious ceremonies), ferias have evolved into the cultural highlights of the year in the South of Spain. They tend to be week-long

events in the larger cities, and run from midweek to Sunday in the smaller towns.

Expect food, drink, loud music and flamenco dancing until dawn, along with fairground rides, horse

Feria de Abril, Sevilla, April 23-29

THE season kicks off with the biggest, most famous and, many would argue, the best: Sevilla’s feria always begins two weeks after Easter Sunday. The pressure to create an event that’s at least as iconic as the last is huge, but there’s enough razzle-dazzle here to wow even the most jaded visitor. One word of warning, the majority of casetas are invite only, so dig out your contact book...but there are always the public casetas.

Feria del Caballo de Jerez, May 6-13

JEREZ horse fair is among the most traditional of the ferias.

The city is in the cradle of flamenco, and there is flamenco singing, dancing and guitar-playing year-round.

The feria is the chance to notch things up. Fewer people wear traditional dress when attending these events in touristy Malaga and the Costa del Sol, but almost everyone sports a spectacular costume (traje) in Jerez.

Aside from having fun and looking fabulous, the focus is on the horses (caballos). The finest of them from far and wide (some with riders, some pulling carriages) make mesmerising circuits of the fairground every day.

parades and, often, a bit of wrangling or a display of horsemanship. If you happen to be living or staying near the feria grounds, you can also expect little sleep, at least, not at night. The build-up starts weeks in advance, the events are spectacular, and the atmosphere is fantastic. Afterwards, everything goes quiet for a bit. Feria week is the perfect chance to experience Andalucian culture at its most exuberant and colourful best, so here are six of the top events to put in the diary.

Feria del Corpus de Granada, June 3-10

THOUGH less famous than Sevilla and Jerez, Granada’s version has everything an Andalucian feria needs. Its unique highlights include a recreation of one of the city’s famous monuments done in lights at the entrance to the fairground. And, unlike in Sevilla, where you need friends in high places to invite you in to enjoy the action in majority of the casetas (or large tents with drinks and entertainment), the casetas here are open to the public, free of charge.

Feria de Agosto de Malaga

August 12-19

MALAGA’S feria runs for a marathon 10 days and nights, with events taking place in the historic city centre during the day, and at the fairground (located in the Cortijo de Torres district) at night. The usually international and touristy capital of the Costa del Sol reverts to fullon Spanish culture for the duration, with horses and carriages trotting around, and the sound of flamenco rhythms in the air. At night it is famously rocking and, said to be, one of the most intense in Spain, up with Pamplona’s.

Feria de Pedro

Romero de Ronda, August 28September 3

PERHAPS a little con troversial for many foreign tourists, Ron da’s feria is named for the bullfighter Pedro Romero.

The local population continues to embrace the theme and contin ue the Spanish tradition, with a series of bullfights known as the ‘Corrida Goyesca’. Away from the bull ring, the streets of the historic town come alive during feria week with singing and dancing and all-round family-friendly enter tainment.

Feria de San Lucas de Jaen October 15-23

JAEN’S Feria de San Lucas is a chance to see deeper Spain.

This is another of the more traditional fairs, with both male and female attendees dressed in fine flamenco wear, and it takes place against a stunning backdrop of hills and olives.

As in Malaga, the action takes place in the town during the day, and moves out of the centre to the fairground at night, where flamenco eventually gives way to the roar of fairground and reggaeton, for a real mix of the modern and traditional.

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’.

SICK DAY

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

By Simon Hunter

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 Oceanograf-

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.

CULINARY DISASTER: The MasterChef team ic 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 denounced 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.

Broadcast

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.

home

Kitchen, bathroom, living room, and bedroom decoration

elements

We produce and fit custom made woodwork – cabinets, furnitures, tables, doors also outdoor kitchens

kitchens

Modern concept, sophisticated designs, custom made in Germany

tel: +34 971 13 42 45

info@leanti-group.com

www.leanti-group.com

c/ Son Bugadelles, 9, Calvià, 07180 Mallorca

THE ULTIMATE IN LUXURY LIVING

ON a hilltop overlooking the port of Andratx in southwest Mallorca, this unique new development boasts unparalleled luxury and charm.

Andratx Hills has been designed by Mallorca-based architect Jordi Herrero, known for his iconic buildings around Spain. Herrero was given free rein to unleash his creative genius, and no compromises were made in fulfilling his artistic ambitions.

The result; a development that has been meticulously crafted with a keen eye for detail.

The organic architectural design comes from a combination of wood, glass and concrete, creating a visually stunning development.

The design also integrates seamlessly into the natural surroundings, providing a harmonious living environment that is unparalleled on the island. A total of eight apartments and one villa have the highest specification, providing the ultimate exclusivity and elegance.

Each luxury unit has its own garden, private pool, gym, spa, wine cellar and cinema room, a truly unique standard for a complex on the island.

Designed to maximize the breath-taking views of the valley of Andratx and the harbour and bay, below, all of them exude elegance and luxury, while providing the utmost in privacy.

The developers behind Andratx Hills have chosen to work alongside The Agency Mallorca to promote these one-of-a-kind units by utilizing their

Hills is a unique development overlooking Andratx Port

global network and in-house marketing team. The Agency are known for delivering exceptional service to clients and their for their long history of representing such unique listings such as the Walt

Disney Estate, The Playboy Mansion and The Private Residences of Four Seasons, in Los Angeles, an exclusive collection of 59 new designer homes offering an exceptional lifestyle in an iconic location.

Another recent exclusive are the Njord Superyacht Residences, which are on the world’s foremost private superyacht, powered by carbon-neutral fuel.

For more information on this and many more properties in The Agency’s portfolio, please visit www.theagencyre.com or telephone on +34 871 610 678

Andratx

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

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.

Avenida del Mar

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?

Ralli Museum ?

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

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 ?

Es.Arte Gallery

WHEN?

Tuesday to Friday 10:00 to 17:00

Saturday 10:00 to 16:00

WHEN?

Tuesday to Friday 10:30 to 16:00

Saturday 10:00 to 14:30

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), 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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Inflationary pressure

A STUDY from Spain's Organisation of Consumers and Users(OCU) says that 14% of Valencian Commu -

nity 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’.

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-

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.

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

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.

FIRST: Lung transplant by robot

O P LIVE RESS The

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.

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.