Olive Press Newspaper - Issue 219 by Olive Press Newspaper Spain

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August 6th - August 19th 2015

Pink champagne was on ice! Tributes pour in for ‘true friend to the Costa del Sol’ Cilla Black, who was set to dine in her favourite restaurant on the night she died THE pink champagne was on ice and her favourite corner table was laid and waiting for the first night out of her holiday. Set to dine with her eldest son Robert, 44, and a close friend, Alex, by all accounts Cilla Black would have been excited about the night ahead. A three-decade visitor to theatrical Robbie’s restaurant, in central Estepona, the table had been booked for some time. Everything was set for the start of her traditional summer sojourn on the Costa del Sol.

Untimely

But then, just one hour before she was due to arrive at 10pm, restaurant owner Robbie Anderson, 72, received a short, poignant phone call from Robert to cancel the booking. “He said he was really sorry but Cilla was not well and they wouldn’t be coming to eat that evening,” revealed Anderson, clearly close to tears. Now realising that the feted call had come just hours after the superstar’s untimely death at 72, the Australian added: “I am completely numb as we had the pink champagne on ice, as ever, and we always had so much fun.” He continued that the British TV and singing star had been

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Accident

However, he added, that over the last year her health had somewhat deteriorated and she had not been her usual ‘bouncy, robust self’. He continued: “The last time I saw her last August she was clearly in pain. She wasn’t the usual Cilla I knew and I was hoping she would be better this time.” Clearly, however, that was

Complete glasses from 59€, plus…

Criminal training ground A DEVIOUS method of setting up bogus training centres overnight has become central to a massive €3 billion Junta fraud investigation. It has emerged that a lorry would be dispatched from Sevilla full of desks, beds, computers and other office furniture, once a tip-off about an official inspection was made. Set up rapidly, the centre would then be disbanded the next day and packed off for inspections in other parts of Andalucia, a Cadiz judge has been told.

EXCLUSIVE by Iona Napier a ‘very special friend’ to him and the pair regular lunched together. The former Blind Date host had also been dining at his popular restaurant for an incredible 35 years. She regularly brought her celebrity pals, including Cliff Richard, Jimmy Tarbuck, Michael Parkinson, Christopher Biggins and Paul O’Grady. “They were excellent friends to her and particularly cheered her up after her husband’s death. “She was a brilliant client and always used to joke that rather than doing exercise while on holiday she needed to drink from heavier glasses. “She was always such a good laugh and very warm. She really came alive when she was here.”

MINISTER: Ojeda made €50 million

PALS: Cilla and restaurant owner Robbie Anderson not to be. For after an accident on Saturday afternoon, Cilla passed away in her Estepona villa in the upmarket El Paraiso area. The results of an autopsy examination were unofficially released by her sons yesterday showing that she had suffered a stroke after falling over and hitting her head. Spanish authorities confirmed to the Olive Press last night that her body was due to be picked up as soon as possible for burial in the UK.

Cilla Black had been a longterm visitor to the Costa del Sol since the 1980s, when she bought her four-bedroom villa Casa Roll in a ‘rocked-up’ play on the word ‘casserole’. “She could never bring herself to sell the house even though it became a burden towards the end, the kids would protest saying it was their home,” explained Robbie. “When she first bought it, it

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Fraudulent

By this method, former Junta minister Angel Ojeda alone is personally said to have gleaned €50 million in grants. The setting up of government-subsidised courses, around Andalucia, rarely involved any teaching or instruction. They were mere vehicles to scam grants from central government and the European Union. Substantial sums of money were granted once an official inspection was made.

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CRIME NEWS

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Wanted man Brit arrested in Mijas pub murder is on the run from a conviction in the UK

Caught Shaw-t

ONE of Britain’s most wanted criminals has been arrested in San Roque. Police tracked down Stephen Michael Shaw in the area of Taraguillas after the British authorities put out a search warrant for him over 30 violent robberies. The 41-year-old from Yorkshire was arrested after routine inspections across the area’s hostels revealed his whereabouts. Shaw, who appeared on Crimestoppers with a €1,400 reward, checked into his accommodation without using a false identity and made no measures to avoid being tracked.

A BRITISH man arrested in connection to the death of a German in Mijas is wanted in the UK. Ross Moore, 30, fled to the Costa del Sol in December 2014, after he was found guilty of assaulting his girlfriend at their Devon home. Now, Moore and another Brit, not yet named, are being probed following a bar fight in La Cala de Mijas which resulted in the death of 46-yearold Ingo Dewitz. A source close to Moore told the Olive Press he fled to Spain from his home in Exmouth to ‘escape his past’. “Moore is running away from

EXCLUSIVE By Rob Horgan

himself,” she said. “It doesn’t surprise me that he has got himself in trouble.” Another source confirmed that Moore had been convicted of a number of other offences, including assault in a separate pub brawl in 2012. Dewitz reportedly died from head injuries sustained in the fight at Captains Bar. Eyewitnesses report that Moore and the other Brit fled the scene in a ‘panic’ after Dewitz collapsed. Moore is in police custody in Alhaurin, while his friend has been released on bail.

Amy’s final steps

A HARD hitting TV documentary by investigator Donal MacIntyre is expected to blow open the case of missing expat girl Amy Fitzpatrick (above). Retracing Amy’s last steps, MacIntyre met with those who knew the 15-year-old best before she disappeared on New Year’s Day in 2008. As well as visiting her Mijas Costa home, Irishman MacIntyre spoke with Amy’s best friend Ashley Rose before interviewing Olive Press journalists about the case. “The Olive Press has done a great job keeping the pressure on and I

August 6th - August 19th 2015

now hope to finally get to the bottom of this,” MacIntyre said. In particular, his team probed her lifestyle at the time she went missing, as well as her relationship with her stepfather Dave Mahon, who is currently awaiting trial for the murder of her brother Dean in Ireland. He added: “Crucially we are trying to establish if she made it home that night and what might have happened. “The case certainly goes down as one of the most tragic unsolved crimes in Europe.” The documentary will air on CBS DREAM TEAM: Editor Clarke Reality in September as part of a with MacIntyre and crew, 12-part series. and (inset) Rose

MISSING: Agnese disappeared in September 2014

Brits probed over Agnese ‘killing’

A BRITISH pair arrested over the disappearance of missing expat Agnese Klavina are now being investigated for ‘unlawful killing’. Privately-educated Westley Capper and friend Craig Porter had initially been probed for kidnapping after they were seen bundling the 30-year-old Latvian into their car after a night out. Millionaire expat Capper, 38, and Porter, 33, were spotted on CCTV outside Aqua Mist nightclub, in Puerto Banus, on the night she disappeared in September. The Marbella judge investigating the case has now upped the investigation to ‘unlawful killing’. It comes after DNA samples were taken from a yacht which belonged to Capper’s father - a millionaire Marbella-based property developer from the UK, known locally as ‘Fred’. CCTV footage showed four unidentifiable men loading a ‘heavy bag’ onboard the boat, the night following Agnese’s disappearance. Police suspect that Agnese was killed and then her body dumped in the sea, before the boat motored on to Murcia. The results of the test are still unknown, while Porter claims to have fallen asleep in the car on the way home and Capper insists that he dropped Agnese back home.

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the Olive Press August 6th - August 19th 2015

Endless love for Lionel

HE may be the ripe old age of 66, but Lionel Richie shone brighter than ever when he performed at Marbella’s Starlite festival. The US crooner won over the crowd, which included Antonio Banderas and girlfriend Nicole Kimpel, with all the favourites from his Commodores repertoire. “I asked Diana Ross to fly out and sing her part in the duet for Endless Love,” said Richie, to gasps from the crowd. “But she turned me down, so you lot have to sing her part instead!” Other stars to so far wow the crowds at the festival include rock legend Lenny Kravitz and Spanish tenor Placido Domingo. The only big disappointment was Julio Iglesias cancelling his appearance at the last minute due to chronic back pain.

LA CALA Elliott Wright puts playtime on the backburner to focus on work and kids

A true showbiz trooper

C Local star

illa Black was a real Marbella regular. She died at her El Paraiso holiday home over the weekend, and tributes from the local area have poured in. Just like fellow household names Jimmy Tarbuck and

From Front Page

was surrounded by countryside, absolutely stunning.” He continued: “I often got invited me to her magnificent summer parties there.” A true patron of the Costa del Sol, the Liverpudlian, who had a string of Top Ten hits and was a friend of the Beatles, regularly dined at local restaurants. These included Peggotty’s and Live Lounge bar (formerly Beaky’s Gig Bar). Local residents said she was never seen out without her high heels and was always immaculately turned out.

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MY PAL CILLA: Giles with star in Banus

Bruce Forsyth, she bought near Marbella and was often spotted in Puerto Banus, especially at Old Joys where this photo was taken. Several local old-timers remember Cilla and the late Andy Anderson belting out showstopping numbers in the piano bars of Banus and remarked they would be enjoying a few more in heaven tonight! The queen of Saturday night TV with millions tuning into her shows will be remembered fondly by young and old both here in Spain and all over the world. RIP Cilla. See Olive Press opinion - Page 6.

ROCK ‘N’ ROLL: Cilla’s villa Casa Roll and (inset) card Cilla’s death ended up being fitting, given that last year she said she did not wish to live beyond the age of 75 and was suffering from arthritis and hearing problems.

While the international community grieves this loss, local residents in Spain will always remember the national treasure who, in Robbie’s words, ‘refused to be the big star.’

Trip to the Ballet

HE last two weeks have seen progress on the restaurant Olivia’s boom and better still my kids have been over to visit. Of course me being me, I’ve also had the opportunity to go out a few times. A trip to the polo in Sotogrande being a highlight. It was my first time to see polo and I thoroughly enjoyed it, although I’m not sure I’ve quite got the gist of the rules. Most of my time has been split between my kids and the restaurant. The kids are great, although I’m not getting to see them as much as I’d like as things are getting really taxing with the opening looming on August 18. It’s looking amazing and everything’s thankfully falling into place and - after all this stress - I’m looking forward to the real pressure of running things smoothly.

PIC: Johnny Gates

TRIBUTE: Cilla Black was a big friend to the Costa del Sol, writes Giles Brown

IT’S True! Spandau Ballet are returning to the Costa del Sol. The massive 80s band, led by Gary and Martin Kemp - who starred in the hit movie The Krays - are set to play in Marbella’s Puente Romano on August 21. Gary is a keen visitor to Spain, regularly cycling between the various inland white towns.

EXCLUSIVE

Best bet

CELEBRITY heartthrob Calum Best is set to get pulses rating when he lands for a summer holiday in Marbella. The model/actor will be the guest of honour at the Love Life Retreat, which will be hosting a VIP pool party on August 16. Food at the bash is to be cooked by DJ Calvin Harris’s personal chef.

Model mum SHE’S gone from giving birth to modeling swimwear in a mind-boggling two months — and Abbey Clancy’s never looked better. The wife of football superstar Peter Crouch made jaws drop when she showed off her flawless physique during a sexy swimwear photoshoot in Mallorca. The 29-year-old model’s slashed black Agent Provocateur swimsuit showcased her toned torso and mile-long legs.

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NEWS

July 23rd - 5th August 2015

NEWS

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VICTIM: David Rowe A BRITISH expat has been left in limbo after a notorious website failed to remove slanderous, incorrect claims about him. David Rowe had never heard of the Ripoff Report until 2012, when the American site published an anonymous post accusing him of everything from fraud and theft to drug use and sex with prostitutes. After attempting to take legal action, property expert Rowe discovered what countless others have found: removing posts from the website is very expensive and often impossible.

August 6th - August 19th 2015

Ripoff ruined my reputation! In fact, Rowe, from Bristol, was told to pay €1,820 just to have his complaint considered. “It’s complete and utter lunacy,” says Rowe, 47, who has lived in Spain for 17 years. “All of us should have the right to arbitration. “But they make you pay so much money directly to the site that smeared your reputation.” Rowe claims the post was most likely put up by alleged Costa del Sol conman Philip Cottrell after Rowe and some of his clients

Expat property expert hits brick wall in fight to remove slanderous sex and fraud comments from controversial website the Ripoff Report sued Cottrell for fraud. The victims claim that Cottrell poses as a property, fine art, wine and car dealer, dupes people into handing over their money and then pockets the cash himself without delivering on his

promise. Rowe claims that Cottrell has scammed him and others out of ‘millions of euros’. But his investigation and attempt to prosecute him has so far failed and, worse, led to the counterattack on Ripoff Report.

Our battle with Ripoff Report THE Olive Press found itself in a similar predicament last year, when the Ripoff Report published defamatory claims against the newspaper, its editor Jon Clarke and several of its reporters. It followed a hard-hitting investigation into a three times convicted fraudster Nigel Goldman, who fled the Costa del Sol owing millions to a string of new victims. Goldman, who changed his name by deed poll to Howard del Monte, awaits trial in Marbella and meanwhile continues to defraud people from his tiny rented home in Berkshire.

Incredibly he was able to post a string of libellous and entirely unfounded posts about the Olive Press on Ripoff Report. But when we appealed to the website to remove the slanderous content, we were told that we would have to pay thousands of euros for arbitration. So we, like Rowe, were forced to publish a series of rebuttals as an appendix to the original posts. Almost immediately after posting their rebuttals, we - like Rowe - were contacted by suspect legal companies offering their services in minimizing damage from the Ripoff Report posts.

CREEP: Ripoff Report boss Ed Magedson

Rowe told the Olive Press he has now spent the past three years desperately trying to remove the comments but is now at the end of his tether. He suspects that legal companies that solicited him by email to help him remove the post are linked to the website. The Olive Press has discovered that at least 30 companies pay around €2,000 to ‘redact’ posts, money which is then shared with the website’s owner, millionaire Ed Magedson. The website, which incredibly is protected by privacy laws in the USA, is run by the reclusive ‘consumer advocate’ from an unknown hideout in Arizona. Convinced that his life is at risk, his ‘high-security’ home is said to be surrounded by cameras and high fences and he rarely goes out. “I am not surprised, he must be in a lot of danger,” said Rowe. “People mention they have seen my name on the site which is embarrassing and completely untrue. “The problem is that the Ripoff Report ranks high on Google there is little you can do. “I really hope you can help.” See opinion Page 6

NEWS IN BRIEF

Trumped-up charges SPANISH chef Jose Andres is being sued by American billionaire Donald Trump for backing out of a business deal after Trump made offensive comments about Mexican immigrants.

Popu-less SPAIN’S population is slowly declining and is expected to drop by two million by 2050, down from the current headcount of just under 46 million people according to INE.

Wind power MALAGA is home to 23 wind farms, generating enough electricity to power 341,400 homes — an elevenfold increase from seven years ago.

Mayoral spat RONDA mayor Maria de la Paz Fernandez has accused a member of Ronda’s Socialist Party of posting sexist comments about her from a fake Facebook account.

Olive Press August- May 6th - August 19th 2015 thethe Olive Press May 2015 June13th 11th - June27th 24th 2015

FEATURE NEWS

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OPINION Destination drowning SPAIN is Europe’s hottest seaside destination, yet hundreds drown in its oceans, rivers and swimming pools every year. Even after highly publicised tragedies like the drownings of three Turkish tourists in Marbella in April, the problem seems to worsen, with 83 confirmed drownings in Spain in July alone. Without a concerted effort by holidaymakers and authorities alike, this seems unlikely to change anytime soon. As August gets in full swing, lifeguarding services should be stepped up, and swimmers should be aware of basic safety procedures.

Crooks canvas HOW websites such as the Ripoff Report survive beggars belief. Freedom of speech is an incredible thing, but when a convicted conman is allowed to voice his opinion above that of an integral newspaper or honest businessman then something is amiss. David Rowe’s tale of woe is a sad tale of the times where websites publishing complete untruths, funded by crooks, are allowed to exist. The Ripoff Report makes a mockery of investigative journalism and honest workers and instead offers a platform for the dregs of society… and it needs to stop.

Bye bye, Cilla SHE never wanted to live beyond the age of 75, and famously said ‘If I can’t wear tight jeans and high heels, I don’t want to be here’. So although the Costa del Sol mourns one of its most loyal visitors this week, we can see the (albeit untimely) death of the 72-year-old national treasure in a bittersweet light. We have all donned our rose-tinted spectacles here, in the UK and internationally and have glanced down memory lane at Saturday nights on the sofa watching Blind Date. Cilla, rest in peace, and thank you for entertaining us in such style, with such charisma, for so many years.

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Basquing in glory A SEPARATE study based on GDP per capita turns up two new names in the search for the richest and poorest places in Spain. The Basque Country in northern Spain comes out richest with salaries averaging €30,051 while, at the other extreme, Extremadura is the poorest at €15,133. The Basque Country has a GDP roughly 34% higher than Spain’s average, and the economy is traditionally centered on metal works, aerospace engineering and energy. In contrast, Extremadura which is famous for its wildlife preserves, and has a GDP of about two-thirds of the national average. In the study, as reported by El Pais, Madrid province was in the top third, and Valencia province was in the bottom third, respective homes to Pozuelo and Torrevieja.

One is Spain’s poverty trap capital, the other’s streets are paved with gold, according to the latest survey of richest and poorest places to live. A giant equality gap for Spain? Olive Press reporters Caitlin Quinn and Nina Chausow took one giant commute to see how the statistics stack up...

AFFLUENT AREA? A woman begs outside Pozuelo’s train station

Catalan collision course

With the Catalan referendum drawing ever closer, Artur Mas and Mariano Rajoy step up their war of words

ATALUNYA’S premier Artur Mas really believes that he will receive an outstanding response to his call for independence when Catalans go to the polls on September 27 in parliamentary elections. Mas called early elections after failing to muster the central government’s support to push for a sovereignty referendum in the northeast region. Now he faces a big challenge in helping convince voters that the independence movement is more alive than ever, even if current polls show dwindling support. The war of words and threats between Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and Mas over the Catalan leader’s plan to carve out a unilateral breakaway proposal if his pro-sovereignty bloc wins are getting heavier. Stopping short of calling out the troops, Rajoy has warned Mas that Catalunya will never become an independent nation. Period. Mas continues to insist that he and his supporters have been treated unfairly by the Spanish courts, which have rejected all his proposals to hold a legally binding referendum.

HERE are lies, damned lies and then there are the latest statistics which claim an enormous north-south/ west divide between Spain’s richest and poorest towns. In fact, according to Spain’s National Statistics Institute (INE) there’s a per capita income gap deeper than Ronda’s El Tajo gorge between the trendy Madrid barrio of Pozuelo de Alarcon and the popular Costa Blanca tourist town of Torrevieja. Pozuelo’s populace is sitting pretty on an average salary of €54,000, while the townsfolk of Torrevieja struggle to get by on a paltry €7,985 a year. The dole queue sits at just 12% in Pozuelo while in Torrevieja, where employees earn over eight times less, a staggering 31.5% are whistling for work. Pour yourself a nice cool drink, sit back and join us as we take you on a virtual tour to see whether this curious tale of two cities is all a bit rich.

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For richer for poorer

CONTRAST: Residents of Pozuelo de Alarcon (left) earn eight times more than those in Torrevieja (right)

MADRI MATTE D RS

He believes that the international community will take up his cause. Like a troubled child in a kindergarten classroom, Mas has pretty much alienated just about everyone except for the few rowdies who make up his Junts pel Sí bloc, which includes the radical Catalan Republican Left (ERC). This week, Rajoy made an unusual gesture to Catalunya by granting some €1,179 billion for its regional expenses next year. The Catalans have always complained that they pump more money into the entire Spanish economy than the rest of the regions so they should get a bigger share of the pie. While Catalunya isn’t set to get the most money budgeted, it will become the fourth-largest region to get the most amount of funding from the central government if Congress approves the 2016 budget figures as they were presented. No doubt another election strategy, Rajoy’s move is intended to settle the restless independence-drive seekers while at the same time banish Mas into political oblivion once and for all.

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FEATURE

In search of Pozuelo’s riches FIRST impressions clearly don’t count, I thought, as I hurried out of the train station, almost tripping over a homeless woman sleeping rough in the doorway, a dirty scarf tied around her head. I’d only gone one block before I passed a derelict bank daubed in graffiti, and a street beggar sitting down in front of it holding out an empty cup. Poverty is far from uncommon in any city but this was posh Pozuelo de Alarcon, the Madrid barrio that has been named the richest area in all of Spain. The very last place I expected to encounter blatant homelessness fromthe outset. A 15-minute train journey from the bustling city centre, Pozuelo was once a small pueblo sprouting vineyards and farmland, famous for its leather workshops. After an urban boom in the 1970s, the only proof that remains of the original town is the Camino de las Huertas, a road named for the orchards that once bloomed with ripe fruit, which now traces a

LEAFY: One of Pozuelo’s parks

route lined with vast concrete urbanizations. Normal, nice even in parts, but not exactly a playground for the fabulously super-rich and certainly several kilometres short of Marbella’s famous Golden Mile. What I saw just beyond the station seemed to be a quiet dormitory suburb built for Madrid’s commuting upper-middle class that had seen better days, with its boarded-up windows and hole-inthe-wall shops. I stopped in a little bakery to find out what was going on. A kind, bun-faced woman called Ana gave a little start followed by a hearty guffaw when I informed her of Pozuelo’s numero uno status. “If that’s true, I don’t feel the wealth at all,” she laughed. “If you want to see wealthy, go to La Moraleja [an affluent Madrid barrio]. Almost everyone who lives here travels into Madrid for work.” Armed with a €1 cream-filled napolitana for my fact-finding tour, I plunged straight into what ap-

CLASSY: Nina in Pozuelo ‘WHY?’ That was the reaction I got when I told friends and colleagues I was off to Torrevieja. No one had anything positive to say about the beach resort that recently made headlines for having the lowest per-capita income in Spain. So when I landed at Torrevieja bus station, my expectations were low, anticipating streets paved with scrawny stray dogs and down-at-heel folk. To my great surprise, it looked like a perfectly normal middleclass holiday resort boasting the usual suspects - restaurant-lined pavements and a beach-fringed paseo. However, dig below the surface and it’s a different story. “Of course it’s busy now, in July,” explained shopkeeper Alejandro Gracia. “But in the winter, this street is totally deserted.”

Seasonal

Nearly every person I interviewed told me the same thing: Torrevieja’s economy is chiefly seasonal, alive and kicking during the summer but as deserted as a row of beach beds in December after the tourism season ends. “There are no jobs here between September and May,” said Adriana Vargas, who works at a beachside ice cream shop. “When the tourists leave, everything closes.” I asked Vargas what she does during the winter. “Nothing,” she replied. So perhaps the statistics are true? I bought an ice cream and took a walk along the shore. It was a Saturday afternoon and the sun was shining. Crowds of tourists lounged under colourful umbrellas or splashed in the waves. According to the town hall, 52% of the city’s population is foreign. Some 100,000 people live

August 6th - August 19th 2015

Crunching the numbers While house prices match up to Pozuelo’s and Torrevieja’s rich and poor statuses, hotel rates flip the statistics on their head

BUSY BEACH: Caitlin goes digging in Torrevieja

Down and out in Torrevieja in the city permanently but several times that number come here in summer to enjoy their holiday homes. “My top buyers are Scandinavians, Brits and Germans,” said estate agent Ana Belen Sanchez. “And more and more of the foreigners live here year-round.” Among them are Mike and Ann Bissett, retirees from Milton Keynes who permanently relocated to Torrevieja 12 years ago. They were drawn by the cheap properties, low cost of living and sea views. “We could not afford this standard of living if we’d

stayed in England,” Ann told me as we sipped cold drinks at a bar. The Bissetts pay ‘a frightening amount’ in income tax on their pensions to the Spanish government. However, retirees who receive public-sector pensions pay taxes to their home countries, not to Spain, which distorts per-capita income calculations. Plus, according to the Bissetts, some foreigners remain under the radar and avoid paying it at all, which can also affect the statistics. Still, they can’t understand why Torrevieja is called the

poorest city in Spain. Neither can Rodrigo Villarroel Perez, who runs a bar and restaurant near the Bissetts’ home. “Maybe I live in a different reality,” Perez told me, shrugging. “My bar is full every night, all year long.” Evidently, the end of summer may not mean the end of work for all Torrevieja’s residents. Although listening to Perez talk about his success reminds me of Adriana Vargas, unemployed nine months out of the year. A different reality, indeed.

We compared two four-star hotels in each area and Pozuelo comes out much cheaper. Torrevieja’s higher room rates may be due to the fact that the majority of seasonal visitors in Torrevieja stay in their own holiday homes, as well as the status of Torrevieja as a summer beach resort. With few tourist attractions, Pozuelo is not exactly on the map for holidaymakers so its hotels are targeted at business travellers and tend to lack the perks of resort hotels like our four-star example in Torrevieja, which has a spa.

Price comparison chart: Menu del dia: €11 (Pozuelo), €5.50 (Torrevieja) Tinto de verano: €2.50 (Pozuelo), €2 (Torrevieja) Beer: €3.50 (Pozuelo), €2 (Torrevieja) Mojito: €8 (Pozuelo), €5.50 (Torrevieja) Hotel room (four-star): €65.50 vieja)

(Pozuelo), €117 (Torre-

Hotel room (two-star): €40 (Pozuelo), €55 (Torrevieja) Two-bedroom flat: €295,000 (Pozuelo), €49,000 (Torrevieja)

peared to be most typical of the surrounding residential neighbourhoods. House after identical house lined the silent streets. Flash motors and boy racers were conspicuous by their absence with nothing more exciting than a Toyota parked out front. The houses, faced in black and white brick, looked new and wellkept but lacked any sign of overt luxury, let alone inhabitants. Although no one in their right mind would walk through this hilly district at lunchtime in summer when the sun is at its most searingly hot. In a desperate search for shade, I stumbled upon one of Pozuelo’s primary attractions, a series of massive parks. Wandering along a pathway under a canopy of arching birch trees, I emerged at the entrance to the Hotel Pozuelo, a quiet red brick building topped by a Spanish flag fluttering in the welcome breeze.

Massive

The concierge looked anxious as I approached (my shoes were a bit casual for a four-star hotel with a marble lobby) but she relaxed when I enquired about tourism in Pozuelo, a question which seemed to strike her as ridiculous. “There is really no tourism in this area, almost all of our visitors are travelling for business,” she said bluntly, mentioning Microsoft, Santander and Orange among the business hubs in the area. And then the penny dropped... they’re the ones paying the fat salaries. So is there anywhere more interesting to go that would convince me that Pozuelo is really the Monaco of Spain in disguise? She shrugged, then suggested: ‘Back to Madrid?’

The Presidents Club International run by Presidents... for Presidents

THE COMMUNITY ADMINISTRATOR

ow many newly elected presidents are unhappy with their inherited administrator or decide to contract a different administrator? It is a difficult task to undertake and I have heard ‘it’s better the devil you do know’ or ‘I just don’t know where to begin’, and ‘how do I know if he/she will be an effective or ineffective administrator?’ This is virtually impossible to discern without previous knowledge of what should be expected of an administrator. Well, the first step would obviously be to look at what the legal role of the administrator is and Section 13 of the Law of Horizontal Property defines the governing bodies required legally of a community and then further goes on to detail the role of the administrator.

Section 13 1. The Governing Bodies of the Community shall be the following:

Section 19.4 has been included here because, as is often the case, the administrator also performs the role of secretary. Without an effective and proactive administrator and, in the event that the president is innocently unaware of the tasks the administrator should be fulfilling, proper management of the community will be difficult to achieve. Frequently, and with the increase in the number of non-resident presidents, all too often, I hear that the administrator does the bare minimum. In cases like that, he/she should be doing even more to help the president to achieve a properly managed and well-maintained community. I know costs are a big factor to be considered but it is not necessarily the case that the more you pay the better the administrator will be nor vice-versa. In Spanish, the community administrator is called an ‘administrador de fincas’ and you can check out the credentials of the professionals who are members of the Colegio de Administradores online www. cafmalaga.es So, what should you be looking for in an administrator? It is useful to ask yourself and the candidates a few poignant questions – - Is he properly qualified as an administrator?

The owners’ general meeting The president and, where applicable, the vice-presidents The secretary The administrator

- Is he approachable and accessible?

The community statutes or a majority vote at the AGM of owners can establish other governing bodies of the community but only if this does not result in any other impairment to the functions and responsibilities.

- Does he speak your language? And don’t forget that often your community members will need visit him so they need to be able to understand him too

The functions of secretary and administrator should be carried out by the president of the community except where the statutes, or the community at a general assembly with a majority vote, agree that such posts be held separately from the President.

The post of secretary and that of administrator can be held by the same person or it can be by persons appointed separately. The position of administrator and, where applicable, that of secretary-administrator can be carried out by any owner, or by persons with the necessary professional qualification and legally licensed to perform such duties. A corporation of other person can also undertake this role.

7. The term of office shall be of one calendar year unless otherwise written into the community statutes and that the persons appointed may be removed from their roles before the end of their term by a resolution at an EGM.

- Does he take your phone calls and reply promptly to your emails?

- Does he have knowledge at his fingertips? - Does he consult you or work autocratically? He should be consulting and advising you on topical issues and prob lems that arise. Don’t forget, he works for you, he is not the legal representative of the community; the President is the only legal representative so you are placing great trust in his decisions and guidance - Will he request 3 independent quotes for any works that need to be done so that you have something to compare to enable you and your community to make an informed decision? - Will he visit your community or just come to the AGM? - Will he prepare the accounts monthly/quarterly or just annually? It depends what you require and the frequency of your fees and, obviously, his costs - Will he actively chase the debtors? - Does he show due interest in your problems?

Section 19.4 The Secretary keeps the general meetings Minutes book, Calls for meetings, notifications, proxy forms and other relevant documents for five years.

Section 20 The duties of the administrator shall be: To ensure the proper management of the community, its installations and services, and to advise and reprimand unit owners. To prepare the budget of expenditures with sufficient notice and submit it to the general assembly, proposing ways for the expenses to be covered. To take on the upkeep and maintenance of the property, arranging for urgent repairs, and to report promptly to the president or, if appropriate, to the owners. To carry out the agreements adopted for maintenance work and to make and receive payments. To act, where applicable, as secretary to the general meeting and to keep community documents for perusal by the owners and, Any other function conferred by the general meeting.

- Does he advise you or leave you to find out for yourself? - Will he also willingly undertake other functions conferred upon him by the community and at what cost? - All of these are good questions to ask when considering the validity of an effective administrator. For any communities that are considering appointing a different administrator I would recommend that they personally interview at least 3 of them, ask for confirmation in writing of the specific duties they are offering and the costs. It is always wise to ask around as well and to also ask him which other communities he works for because recommendation is valuable. The Presidents Club International is happy to ask our members for feedback on their administrators but we do not make recommendations though we can provide you with, for example, 3 names and it is then for you to choose. All too often on the Costa del Sol, the administrator receives bad press but they are certainly not all bad! They are professionals who should be capable of managing your community and fulfilling the role for which they are elected. So Presidents, do you have a good administrator? If so, we, and other members, would love to hear from you.

The Presidents club International On Global Radio Tuesday 15:30 Wednesday: 17:30 Friday: 16:30 Now on Spectrum FM & Malaga City Radio

NEWS

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GLOWING: Diaz

Crooked minister From Front Page

According to four ex-employees of Ojeda, the former minister and ex-tax authority boss, received advance notice of the inspections through his connections at the Junta. One employee admitted: “After the inspections the same truck would pick up the furniture and take it away, I think to Sevilla.” It is part of the on-going investigation by the police’s anti-fraud unit UDEF, which is estimated could be the biggest corruption investigation in Spanish history.

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Clean hands for Podemos founder

Baby joy for Diaz

JUNTA leader Susana Diaz has given birth to a baby boy. Diaz had a scheduled c-section to give birth to the 2.9 kilo baby, and both are in good health. Diaz plans to split her maternity leave with her husband, with vice-president Manuel Jimenez Barrios taking her place until she returns.

August 6thJune - August 2015 www.theolivepress.es the Olive Press 11th -19th June 24th 2015

FRAUD charges against Podemos founder Juan Carlos Monedero have been dropped by a Madrid judge. The judge explained that Monedero had in fact properly declared his earnings from consultancy work in Latin America with the tax authorities. The lawsuit, brought by right wing group Manos Limpios, accused Monedero of collecting €700,000 across three separate bank accounts with false documentation.

Ratted out INNOCENT: Monedero declared income

THE former boss of disgraced bank Bankia has been accused of laundering money through a network of German and English businesses. The tax authorities insist Rodrigo Rato, an ex-government minister, used a number of companies to move money around.

Former Bankia chief laundered money in Germany and England By Nina Chausow Rato, who also formerly led the International Monetary Fund (IMF), is now to face

Spanish staycation IT’S a ‘staycation’ this year for President Mariano Rajoy, who will spend his holiday close to home. The PP leader and his cabinet normally all go on holiday during the month of August, but this year, forthcoming elections require his team to remain nearby and on call. Processing of the national budget will begin in August, two months earlier than usual, in order to finish the amendment and approval process before Parliament dissolves in October, prior to national elections in December. It’s not all work and no play, however; Rajoy plans to holiday in Donana and Galicia with his family.

a further money laundering probe. The National Office of Fraud Investigation has discovered links between Bagerpleta GmbH, a German hotel proprietor of which Rato is a trustee, and Kradonara SL, the sister company to the Rato-owned British business Vivaway Ltd. Investigators suspect that the money invested by Kradonara into Bagerpleta came from illegal origins. The Madrid judge in charge of the case has requested that the case now be transferred to Spain’s highest court, the Audiencia Nacional, which has jurisdiction both in Spain and abroad.

IN HOT WATER: Rato

The Audiencia Nacional already has two cases open against Rato for his mismanagement of Caja Madrid and Bankia, as well as one regarding the so-called ‘black cards’ corruption scandal.

ANGRY: Alaya on warpath

Judicial warfare CAMPAIGNING Sevilla judge Mercedes Alaya has slammed her replacement in the huge ERE corruption case. Alaya accused Maria Nunez Bolanos of lacking the seriousness and rigour necessary for handling such a case. She insisted Bolanos’ previous job in family courts left her with insufficient knowledge of criminal jurisdiction. She also criticized Bolanos’ close relationship with Junta Minister of Justice Emilio Llera, citing the possibility of distraction and bias from their friendship. Alaya criticized the decision to remove her from the case after three years, describing her knowledge as vital to bring a fair judgement. Minister Emilio de Llera slammed her comments as ‘inappropriate for a judge’.

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NEWS

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Grave discovery brings relief FOR 79 years, the families of nine miners executed during the Spanish Civil War searched for the bodies of their loved ones, to no avail. Until now, that is. The miners’ remains have been finally exhumed from a mass grave in Sevilla, where on July 19, 1936, the men were ambushed by pro-Franco forces while attempting to defend their city from the fascists. The victims’ families have expressed relief at the opportunity to finally give their loved ones a proper burial.

August 6th - August 19th 2015

Drownings triple in a year

SPAIN has seen a shocking increase in drownings this summer. Nearly triple the number of people drowned in July this year, compared to last year. A total of 83 people died last month, compared to just 32 in July 2014.

Shocking figures reveal 83 people died in Spain’s waters in July It comes after the Olive Press ran a damning feature on the shortage of lifeguards and signage in many resorts in May (see The cost of saving lives at

Don’t kill our cats EVERY stray, non-microchipped cat in Estepona faces extermination according to enraged expats. It comes despite repeated attempts from the Cats and Friends Association (AGYA) to collaborate with the town hall to manage a series of growing cat colonies. “We’ll fight together to save the cats of Estepona and stop these people who try to shatter our hard work and exterminate innocent animals,” said Jacqui Ross.

www.theolivepress.es). So far over 200 people have drowned in Spain this year, according to a recent report on drowning by the Spanish Royal Federation for Rescue and Lifesaving. Andalucia and Catalunya are the regions with the highest number of drownings. Typically around 400 people drown in Spain each year, the majority on beaches without proper lifesaving services. See opinion - Page 6

ANGRY expats are picking up the pieces after over 50 Chinese lanterns landed in the Manilva countryside following a Sabinillas Full Moon Party. Despite Manilva town hall’s attempts to ban the candle-lit lanterns, which are a massive fire risk, numerous revellers flouted regulations by releasing them. USA expat Ronald Rosenfeld, who lives near Duquesa, said: “They are so dangerous and can cause huge damage in an area already prone to fires. “The council banned them but too little was being done to stop people releasing them.” Manilva councillor Dean Tyler Shelton, however, insisted 90% less lanterns got released this year than last year. “And next year it should only be a handful – and hopefully zero,” he added.

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GREEN NEWS

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Toxic protest

the Olive Press August 6th - August 19th 2015

Greenpeace sails in to Huelva over ‘forgotten’ toxic marshes GREENPEACE is protesting in Huelva over controversial toxic marshes. The environmental agency sailed the Arctic Sunrise protest ship to the area, which is just 500 metres from the city, after four years of inaction. In 2011, the fertilizer business Fertiberia was court-ordered to stop dumping toxic and radioactive phosphorus waste

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By Nina Chausow into the marshlands next to the Tinto river. The Environmental Ministry, however, has taken no action so far and is still trying to decide how to deal with the problem. The Fertiberia proposal is to bury the waste several centimetres below ground. It is the least expensive option but Greenpeace, and the courts, have urged the company to take responsibility and clean up the entire area.

PROTEST: Greenpeace’s flagship sails in

War and Greenpeace FOUR Greenpeace activists have been arrested for scaling a Madrid building in protest of the ‘sun tax’. The bill, which is set to tax the energy people generate privately, was ironically mooted on International Environment Day in June. The four campaigners climbed up a building next to the Ministry of Industry with signs while another four made their discontent known at the ministry’s main entrance.

Green-go THEY say every cloud has a silver lining, and this has certainly been true for Madrid’s green-fingered townies. Because abandoned housing plots that stood as empty monuments to the crisis are being turned into vegetable patches. Spain has gone from having around 2,500 such urban gardens in 2006 to over 15,000 today.

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Monkeying around MONKEY business is encouraged with the arrival of two Roloway monkeys to the Bioparc Fuengirola. The Bioparc is the only zoo in Spain to house this species of monkey. Hunted nearly to extinction in Africa because of their colouring and loud calls, a pair of extremely-endangered monkeys are happily settling down in the Bioparc habitat with some gorilla neighbours.

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Pollution problem MALAGA is Andalucia’s most polluted area. The province was named the number-one polluted area by Spanish environmentalist group Ecologistas en Accion. Malaga was placed in front of five other contaminating areas in the region, including Granada and Huelva. The main cause determined was high traffic levels in the city.

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MORE than 13,000 flamingoes have been born at Malaga’s Fuente de Piedra Lagoon this year. The baby flamingos will be inspected, measured and fit with identification rings by a regiment of more than 425 volunteers beginning on August 8. Since 1986, nearly 190,000 flamingos have been born at the nature reserve, located near Antequera.

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the Olive Press June 11th - June 24th 2015

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AXARQUIA

August 6th - August 19th 2015

15 the Olive Press August 6th - August 19th 2015

MAN’S BEST FRIEND: Dogs at Nerja therapy programme

WEAPON: Crutches

Death by crutches AN 83-year-old woman has been arrested after she allegedly bludgeoned her husband to death with a crutch. The Rincon de la Victoria woman contacted the authorities to report that her husband, also 83, had fallen off the sofa, after which he was taken to the hospital and died the day after. However hospital staff told to police that the injuries suffered didn’t match a fall. When blood stains were later found on the husband’s crutch, it became apparent she had hit him over the head. The woman is now being held in police custody.

Barks of laughter Heatstroke tragedy A 36-YEAR-OLD man has died in Velez-Malaga after suffering from heatstroke while cycling. The Junta’s regional health delegation confirmed the man’s death, adding that he was engaged in ‘very intense physical activity’ around midday when he collapsed. The man suffered seizures and a fever above 40 degrees and was rushed to Comarcal Hospital, where he later died.

ELDERLY residents in Nerja are being urged to join a new therapy program involving man’s best friend. So far ten local residents have benefitted from the scheme, which aims to cheer up older locals through socialising with dogs. Psychologists have long cited the benefits of canine company for elderly residents. They say it can lead to a rise in self-esteem, and a reduction in anxiety and depression.

Hung out to dry! EXCLUSIVE by Rob Horgan & Iona Napier HUNDREDS of people have been left without water as the worst heatwave in over a decade continues in Spain. Residents, including pen-

Thirsty expats call on town halls after hundreds are left without water for weeks sioners and children, have gone for as long as eight weeks without water across

DRYING OUT: Expat Tony Byford has been without water for weeks

parts of the Axarquia. As many as 100 people are reportedly waterless in Colmenar, while homes in Velez-Malaga have also been left dry. A lack of preparation by new mayors, Antonio Ferrer and Miguel Novoa, is now being blamed for the water outage. “It is utterly outrageous,” British expat Tony Byford, 63, told the Olive Press. “It is not safe to let people go without water for so long, especially the elderly and children.” He added: “They promised us water supplies two weeks ago, but the taps are still dry and the water trucks are nowhere to be seen. “The mayor should have had a solution in place.” A spokesman for Colmenar town hall said that there are ‘always problems with water in the area’ and confirmed that workers are trying to restore water flow back to residential areas. However he declined to comment on exact support for those cut off. Velez-Malaga town hall declined to comment.

NEWS IN BRIEF

Flying high for mangos THE National Police have assigned a helicopter to night patrol in Velez Malaga to reduce incidents of mango stealing during the harvest.

Load of debt VELEZ-MALAGA has reported that the previous mayor left behind €110 million in debt, with €72.5 million owed to banks.

Soup-er time THE town of Alfarnatejo celebrated its 15th gazpacho festival, which attracted politicians from the surrounding areas.

Trashy Torrox WORKERS at the Torrox Court are protesting the poor conditions of the facilities they work in, asking the Junta to build a new building.

Drawbridge down SALOBRENA Castle, one of the main tourist attractions of the area, has reopened after a 15-month renovation.

951 273 575

www.theolivepress.es 16 the Olive Press June 11th - June

NEWS IN BRIEF Economic explosion STUDIES show that Gibraltar ranks amongst the world’s fastestgrowing economies, with annual salaries increasing 20% in the last four years.

Stolen time THE Government of Gibraltar main website was hacked in order to sell fake luxury watches, forcing them to take the site down.

High tides GIBRALTAR Customs seized over 1.5 tonnes of cannabis resin, worth over £5 million, off of a boat, and arrested three crew members.

24th 2015

Gibraltar NEWS

August 6th - August 19th 2015 16 www.theolivepress.es

Argy bargy

ON the Rock July 8-August 21

GIBRALTARIANS are up in arms about the safety of their waters. Following a clash with a Spanish boat, Gibraltar officials are petitioning the government for increased military protection. It was the 173rd report of an unauthorised incursion on Gibraltar’s water in the last month and has proved to be the final straw.

Bald beauty

FORMER Miss Gibraltar Shyanne Azzopardi is set to chop off her locks for charity. The 24-year-old beauty will take to the razor if she raises £10,000 by August 22. All money raised will go to Cancer Relief Gibraltar. To donate visit www.justgiving.com/Shyanne-Azzopardi

Sex offender nabbed

August 8

A tour of the Alameda Gardens begins at 10:30 and concludes with a question and answer session with the guide. Tickets £5. For more info, call +350 20041235

August 21

The annual Gibraltar Beer Fest will include a selection of beers and ciders from around the world. For more info, call +350 54005729

Taxi driver stops sex offender as he flees to Spain with 11-year-old boy

Muddy waters

By Rob Horgan A CONVICTED sex offender has pleaded guilty to child abduction. A quick-thinking taxi driver thwarted Karim Rudge’s attempts to flee to Spain with a friend’s child. Gibraltarian Rudge has admitted to abducting an 11-year-old boy as well as breaching a Sexual Offences Prevention Order by having contact with a minor under the age of 16. Rudge, 26, spent three months in prison last year for having sex with an underaged girl. He has now pleaded guilty to taking an 11-year-old boy into Spain against the wishes of the boy’s mother. A taxi driver reported Rudge to Spanish police who worked

The Fine Arts Summer Show exhibition featuring works by artists from Gibraltar and abroad is on display at the Fine Arts Gallery, Casemates. For more info, call +350 20052126

APPREHENDED: Rudge with the RGP to have the man detained. The driver acted quickly after he noted the boy was acting ‘nervous’and Rudge being ‘suspicious’. He is set to appear in court on August 13.

THE EU has opened an investigation protection of Gibraltar’s environmentally protected zones. Both the Rock and the southern waters of Gibraltar are designated Special Conservation Zones. The committee is investigating whether England has instated the proper measures for conserving the protected ecosystems amid rising tensions between England and Spain over Gibraltar’s waters. If the UK’s efforts prove insufficient, the European Commission investigating will be able to denounce London in the EU’s Court of Justice, after a two month response period.

Gold for Gib

QUEING UP: New security measures blamed

Get in line

WORKERS and holidaymakers walking across the border are facing inordinately lengthy queues. Queue times for those walking into Gibraltar have rocketed to up to an hour, after electronic gates were introduced.. Pedestrians must now scan passports or ID cards as well as undertake fingerprint and face-recognition checks. The Deputy Chief minister Dr. Joseph Garcia said these delays primarily affect people who work in Gibraltar and commute every day from Spain.

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IT’S a windfall for the Rock. Gibraltarian athletes won 31 medals, three of them gold, in the 2015 Special Olympics, which concluded August 2 in Los Angeles. Gibraltar is not eligible to compete independently in the Summer and Winter Olympic Games, though Gibraltarian athletes can compete for Team Great Britain.

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the Olive Press June 11th - June 24th 2015

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Gibraltar’s next great landmark The World Trade Center construction site is now a hive of activity with the iconic superstructure beginning to emerge from the ground. Ready for occupation in mid 2016, the building will set new standards for quality and become the hub of Gibraltar’s business community. With only 12 units left however, you need to move fast if you want to secure your space. Another good reason to contact us now t: +350 200 74724 • e: enquiries@worldtradecenter.gi • w: www.worldtradecenter.gi

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Olive Press August - August 19th 2015 thethe Olive Press June 11th -6th June 24th 2015

POTTED POINTERS ANDALUCIA RESERVOIR LEVELS This week: 68.49% Same week last year: 73.72% Same week in 2005: 56.05% AIRPORTS Gibraltar 00350 22073026 Granada-Jaen 958 245 200 Jerez - 956 150 000 Malaga - 952 048 844* *For English press 9 Sevilla - 954 449 000 EMERGENCIES Police 091 Guardia Civil 062 Medical service 061 Fire 080 EURO EXCHANGE RATES 1 euro is worth 1.10 American dollars 0.70 British pounds 1.44 Canadian dollars 7.46 Danish kroner 8.49 H Kong dollars 8.49 Norwegian kroner 1.51 Singapore dollars

Praise over Gay Pride DEAR OP,

LETTERS

www.theolivepress.es www.theolivepress.es

Crazy craze

EXCELLENT! I was so pleased to see the Olive Press’s first ever Gay Pride supplement. I read it with a smile stretched across my face. Although Spain has been quite progressive on its stance towards homosexuality, I have always found that it has remained hidden from the public eye. I lived in Estepona for years and always felt the Costa del Sol had a great gay scene to tap into. It really is about time somebody started to provide this kind of info and well done Olive Press for doing so. Adam Armstrong, Wales

THE people who jump from their balconies in this new craze known as ‘balconing’ do it because they don’t care and they don’t worry that their insurance won’t pay out (Holiday horrors, issue 218). They are drunk out of their heads, everyone is doing it and like sheep they follow. It is tragic when you hear about the injuries and I feel sorry for the families but I have no sympathy for those who do it. Chris Smith, Torremolinos

Kids will be kids

I CAN completely understand why these kids do this. Sure it is stupid, sure it is dangerous, but - if it goes according to plan - it also looks exhilarating. Kids do stupid things. Most of them will be away from their parents for the first time. They will drink too much, they will do stupid things but 99% of them will return home in one piece. Claire Booth, London, UK

ADRENALINE HIGH: The new balconing trend

Rock on

Here to stay

IT is very difficult to understand why it has taken so long to discover and announce the Alhambra ticket sale irregularities (Supercourt for Alhambra scandal, issue 218). Are there no annual audits? Hopefully through the courts with full discovery the position will be fully revealed and any wrong-doing dealt with accordingly. La Alhambra is a UNESCO World Heritage site so the investigations and court case are of international proportions and should be splashed across the world’s front pages!

GREAT news on the Gibraltar front (Enough is enough, issue 218). It is about time the government fought back against the unfair comments made by Spain. I agree wholeheartedly with the Olive Press opinion piece in the last issue about the misrepresentation of the Rock in the Spanish press. Of course, we are not all money launderers and cocaine dealers. We are in fact a pretty nice bunch who would love a better relationship with our Spanish neighbours. Lets hope this is a sign of things to come.

Michael Ward, La Linea

Vicky Bell, Gibraltar

FRANKLY, the hotel industry needs to re-think its business models. Vacation rentals and home sharing are here to stay and sites like AirBnB will no doubt become more and more popular. In this environment, why do the big hotel groups not convert some of their properties into short-term vacation rentals and make the most of this blossoming market. In London during December 2015, we got a great deal at a four-star property near Westminster that combined traditional hotel rooms with a short-term residences. This is something I think

So scandalous

No sympathy

Spain could benefit from and it would lessen the tensions between the hotel groups and short-term rental websites. I hope the Spanish government doesn’t cave in and change the law to please hotel managers.

the (very welcome) lower petrol prices as well as higher demand for goods and services. I do feel sorry for the Tunisians, they have worked hard to make a go of their tourism industry only to have it wiped out by a bunch of lunatics.

Harry Wright, Torremolinos

Jane Garrett, Ronda

Busy beaches TUNISIA and Greece’s losses are definitely Spain’s gain. It is busier now than it has been for years and not just in restaurants and bars. We have seen a huge increase in lorries, delivery vans and hire cars – it seems very sudden and no doubt helped by

Clarification THE Olive Press would like to clarify that the website HomeAway, which appeared in our front page story (Holiday hell, issue 212) is in no way connected to Estepona-based company Home and Away Property Management.

Thirst quenching thoughts Proper whine

Tio time

THERE’S more than enough sweet wine on the market. As for the wine industry needing a revolution, where have these guys been for the last 25 years (Feeling blue? issue 218). French vin ordinaire was undrinkable vinegar 25 years ago and then came the young Aussie and New Zealand winemakers. The French listened and now you have to seriously question spending serious money on wine, red,white or rose. Why don’t these jokers try Valdepenos/ Galician or the excellent subtle whites from south of Sevilla, not to mention the wonderful tropical fruity Sauvignon Blanc from Segovia or the Catalan wines from around Tarragona – the wine industry needs a revolution – no they just need a kick up the proverbial – how dare they diss so many excellent Spanish wines that don’t need to be technicolour blue to have a chance of selling to mug punters.

I’VE been reading about ways of making Tio Pepe more popular amongst a younger audience for at least the past 30 years (T&T time, issue 218). With this year being predicted as the year in which this delectable speciality will finally achieve its breakthrough in the youth market. The consistent lack of success has meant that fino has remained relatively inexpensive for the quality offered to the sherry connoisseur. I expect this latest tipple will achieve a certain ‘cult status’ for a while. I’ve added Vichy or Badoit, or more occasionally tonic, a few times in the past, but have always gone back to a lightly chilled straight fino.

Stuart Crawford, Coin

Bill Cameron, Marbella

Letters should be emailed to letters@theolivepress.es. The writer’s name and address should be provided. Opinions are not necessarily those of the Editor.

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la cultura

the Olive Press June 11th - June 24th 2015 1919 4 PAGES OF CULTURE August 6th - August 19th 2015

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Chueca change

Bulls shelved for bookshelf

A CASTILLA-LA MANCHA town has scrapped its bullfighting festival so it can spend more money on school books. The town hall of Villafranca de los Caballeros has taken the decision to cancel the annual festival and direct the €18,000 savings towards school supplies, instead. A spokesman for the town hall said that it was a matter of ‘priorities’ rather than a stance against bullfighting. “It’s a question of priorities,” he said. “There’s a lot of unemployment in this town and many people simply don’t have money to buy school supplies for their child.”

CHEERS: Ernest Hemingway remembered

US artists in Ronda TWO of America’s most famous 20th century artists are to be honored with a pair of €18,000 statues in Ronda’s bullring. Both author Ernest Hemingway and film director, actor and screenwriter Orson Welles, spent many summers in Ronda and admired the town’s beauty and bullfighting tradition. Welles is buried on a near-

by country property. Welles wrote, directed and starred in Citizen Kane, widely regarded as one of the best films ever created. Hemingway is remembered for such novels as The Old Man and the Sea and For Whom the Bell Tolls, the latter of which features a climactic scene inspired by real-life events that took place in Ronda during the Spanish Civil War.

PRIDE: Remembering a late activist

A SQUARE in Madrid’s Chueca neighborhood will be renamed after Spanish gay rights activist Pedro Zerolo. Following a Madrid Town Hall vote, all but the PP party approved the notion. Zerolo died in June 2015 of pancreatic cancer after serving as a crucial gay rights advocate, lawyer and politician on behalf of the National Federation of LGBTs The naming of the square in the heart of Madrid’s gay district follows a change.org petition with 84,800 signatures gathered in just one month.

Lorca’s lost literature

Money laundering, falsifying documents and now unfit conditions… the dispute around Lorca’s cultural centre rumbles on AFTER years of construction and delays, the Centro Federico Garcia Lorca in Granada opened without its most important part... Lorca’s manuscripts. Accusations of money laundering and falsifying documents have long delayed the opening. And now a dispute over the conditions of the room due to store Lorca’s manuscripts has yet again scuppered progress. Overlooking Granada’s cathedral, the library on the top floor of the centre houses a rustcoloured safe, equipped with fingerprint sensors, which stands empty as the architects of

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the building battle with Lorca’s family over the conditions of the room. The architects claim that the building is fully equipped with the appropriate humidity, temperature and light fixtures but Lorca’s niece and head of the Garcia Lorca Foundation awaits the approval of the Residencia de Estudiantes in Madrid, where the manuscripts currently reside. The centre will remain open to Lorca enthusiasts, however, they will have to continue waiting to get their hands on the literary icon’s works.

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la cultura

20 20 the Olive Press June 11th - June

British expat, restaurateur and now esteemed author, Paul Hickling bares all in his enthralling book My Roman Oasis

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24th 2015

How the Oasis nearly killed me... A

Chiringuito See all our Summer events on Facebook For reservations and bookings call: 600 654 286 Open every day Aldea Beach, Manilva - Málaga

Rom

FROM A FIELD TO FUN, FUN, FUN: The Roman Oasis ha

Uplifting tail for lu

35-YEAR Costa del Sol rollercoaster, featuring a whole host of celebrities, fast cars and fast girls has been penned by British expat Paul Hickling. With no shortage of amusing anecdotes, Paul tracks his time on the Costa and maps out how he came to create the Roman Oasis, one of the most unusual restaurants in Spain, found in Manilva. Jotting down the trials and tribulations of being a restaurateur for the past 33 years, father-of-three Paul has finally revealed all in his book, My Roman Oasis. Here are three extracts which capture the comical tone throughout Paul’s page-turner. If you like what you see, Paul’s book is available to download on Kindle or to buy at Miel on Sabinillas seafront, The Business Centre in Estepona Port, Skakespeare Bookshop in San Pedro, Bookworld Book Shop, Puerto Banus and The English Bookshop, Sabinillas.

CHEERS: Paul and Keith Floyd

he other story concerns a feral cat from Manilva, a black and white cat that used to come into the restaurant unless of course Laurence, our St. Bernard dog, was about. Laurence loved cats until some years ago he approached a little wild kitten that proceeded to leap on his head, scratching wildly and deeply wounded both his head and his ego. After then it was WAR! He chased them, treed them, had them on top of barbed wire fences, but never actually managed to get hold of one and thus take his revenge for the indignity that he suffered at their claws. That is, until he was having a casual wander around his domain and spotted the cat down in the play area being petted by a host of admiring children, which just added insult to injury as being petted by children was his main job and perk. Eighty kilos of enraged dog defied the laws of acceleration and in a blur he was upon the cat and in another triumphant second, had it in his jaws. Only my shouts of ‘Drop!’ and the shrieks of horrified children outdid the cacophony of growling, hissing and spitting that was heard. Despite my orders, in this moment of victory against the foe, even the impeccably-trained Lau-

rence refused to it but before it c three legs that the castigating ever, his body la look upon his fa The following ev for years, arrive which was down Maria and Diete here, but live in would be difficu The children fell and some plead to Sotogrande. ken leg, was op week flew to Ge new life as the f A true life ragsto you courtesy ‘WILD KITTEN F DESTINED TO S FAT CAT IN MUN

Late summer Xmas

ho would have Christmas day on the 30th of September? Well, I would, of course. It was one of the last nights of our season. I decided we needed to do a traditional dinner with turkey and all the trimmings, followed by Christmas pudding. The logistics of doing this in Spain in September was daunting especially with our cooking facilities which were barbecue-orientated. Thankfully, I had a professional hand in the guise of my friend Legendary TV chef Keith Floyd who was staying with me at the time. We had a huge Christmas tree, the restaurant was bedecked with icicles off the internet, presents for everybody on the tables along with hats and crackers. An enormous amount of planning and money went into making the night special. As the customers arrived at the gate they were met by ‘Summer’, aka my son Jason dressed in beach clothes sitting in a deck chair with a parasol on a pile of sand. As they walked up the long path they went through ‘Autumn’ because they had to shuffle through piles of brown leaves and onto the ‘Rainy Season’, where we had garden sprinklers showering them, the staff leading them through with umbrellas. They arrived at ‘Winter’ with ski stuff

littering the path to a curtain when they passed through the tain, it was indeed Christmas. T was a snow machine, creating cading flurries of snow and there Christmas carols playing. I greeted them in a Father Christma fit. They were given a glass of hot wein (by one of the staff dressed reindeer harnessed to a Russian sle Unfortunately we couldn’t find a J in any department store as they all been nicked. The first Chris I tried to buy a nativity scene fo children all the baby Jesuses missing; believed stolen. The evening was an enormous suc but we did have a problem with Christmas puddings. I managed t them flown in. They were pre-co and vacuum packed but the pro was how to heat 140 puddings. As we had no way to do this I tu to Keith Floyd for expert advice sat down, and Keith had a coup Johnny Walker Black Labels to the thought process. Eventually had a solution and asked, ‘Have got a commercial dishwasher?’ Of course we did. And we had na it Peppa as like many applianc the restaurant it had a nickn ‘We’ll put them in Peppa then an them through her a couple of t and that should do it.’ Brilliant!

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the Olive Press June 11th - June 24th 2015 August 6th - August 19th 2015

man Oasis in the making:

as changed a lot over its 30-year genesis

ucky cat

o release the cat. Eventually, he released could be examined it ran off rapidly on its were working. Laurence was oblivious to I gave him for this act of violence. Howanguage spoke of his finest hour and the ace was of sheer doggy satisfaction. vening a family, who had been customers ed at the restaurant and noticed the cat n by the river. er are German and have a holiday home n Munich and I must say a nicer family it ult to meet. l in love with the cat and so after pressure ding it was put in their car and taken home The next day it was found to have a broperated on and at the end of the ermany with them to begin its family pet. -to-riches story brought y of dear old Laurence, FROM MANILVA, STARVE, ENDS UP AS NICH.’

and, e curThere caswere

as outgluhd as a eigh). Jesus y had stmas or the were

ccess h the to get ooked oblem

urned e. We ple of help y, he e you

amed ces in name. nd run times

The wolf attack

EASY TIGER: Paul with big cat

usk was falling as we settled him in for his first night alone, and by way of a joke, I said, ‘I don’t know why you’re worried about a silly mat when there are much more important things to worry about living out in the country, like the wolves for example.’ Harry, who I had just hired as our manager from England, looked really worried, and said, ‘You mean there are wolves here?’ All the others who had been to Spain before knew there were no wolves in that part of Spain light coming from Harry’s and began joining in the joke. room. Alan said, ‘Yes, there are packs Creeping past the window, we of them up in the hills but you then went around the back to should be all right as they only the car park onto which Harry’s come down at night. Keep your door faced. My wolf impression door locked and you won’t is pretty realistic and once on have any trouble.’ a trip to London Zoo I even Jeff looked pensively at the gained the attention of the norwindow, before adding, mally dormant wolf pack there. ‘Maybe we should put some And so, in the utter silence and bars on the window, what the still of the night, I began to do you think, Paul?’ howl. ‘Good idea, Jeff,’ but look- Without wishing to appear ing outside, I said, ‘Hey it’s conceited, I would like to think getting dark gang. We’d bet- that if you were listening to my ter make a move.’ rendition you would see in your As we left we heard the sound mind’s eye a large grey wolf of a key being turned firmly in standing on a high rock, silhouthe lock and a bolt being rap- etted by the moonlight and the idly shot into place. ‘You are a leader of a large pack gathered rotten bastard, Paul. It’s my un- below, howling eerily in a precle after all,’ said Jeff, laughing lude to the hunt. as we sat having a jar or two in After this we scurried and a bar down the road. scuffed around the gravel car It was now Alan, of course, park with our feet and then, who suggested that we went as one of us scratched at the back later to the restaurant to door, the other knelt down and impersonate a wolf pack. Clos- put his mouth to the crack uning the car doors as quietly as der the door and huffed and we could, we walked stealthily puffed, as it were. Yells of terto the restaurant which was in ror and what sounded like darkness except for a strip of some kitchen implement being

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banged against the wall in the hope of frightening a wolf pack followed us back to the car where we rolled around nearly wetting ourselves with laughter.

2121

la cultura

22 22 the Olive Press June 11th - June

T’S a tired old joke that Spain is the home of macho Iberico. But after an online poll to select ‘Seven Spaniards who changed the world in recent history’ was releasedit seems the ugly rumour may be true. There was just one problem with the list, voted for by 21,000 Spaniards. There wasn’t one woman on it. To rectify this egregious overlooking of half of the population, the Olive Press has created its own role call of honour - seven sensational Spanish senoras who deserve a list of their own. These women have not only been outstandingly successful in their fields; they first had to break down every sexist barrier and macho mindset - which apparently still exists to some extent in Spain - to gain their place on the international stage. Clara Campoamor Rodriguez, the only woman shortlisted during the recent poll, was an Emily Pankhurst of her time. Born in Madrid in 1888, she was the lead advocate on women’s rights and suffrage during the creation of the Spanish constitution in 1931. After receiving her law degree from the University of Madrid, she was elected to the 1931 Constituent Assembly, despite the fact that women couldn’t vote at that point. She is credited with insisting upon the clause in the constitution that ensures gender equality today.

FROM LEFT: Montseny, Salas, www.theolivepress.es Montero, Mena, Larrocha, Campoamor and (below) Amaya

24th 2015 August 6th - August 19th 2015

In full praise of Spanish women

As macho Spain votes in a Magnificent Seven of influential Spaniards, every one of them male, Nina Chausow asks: where are all the women? Federica Montseny was a unique combination of revolutionary and dedicated social reformer who became the first female cabinet minister in Spain. Born in Madrid in 1905 to anarchist parents, she worked for several anti-establishment journals before being appointed to the position of Minister of Health in 1936, a lone woman in the then allmale world of Spanish politics. As a minister, she improved orphanage conditions, created schools for prostitute rehabilitation, and attempted to safely regulate abortion. Carmen Amaya was responsible for gaining worldwide recognition for one of Spain’s most be-

loved traditions - flamenco. Born in the poverty-stricken Barcelona slum of Somorrostro in 1913, at age five she began to accompany her guitarist father to flamenco tablaos in order to put food on the table. Discovered by critic Sebastian Gasch, he described her as the embodiment of ‘pure soul’. Fleeing the war, her subsequent tour through Latin America and the US was a sensation, landing her on the front cover of Life Magazine and taking her to meet President Roosevelt at the White House. Pianist Alicia de Larrocha immortalised the works of great Spanish composers through her adept and extraordinarily long fingers. Born in

Barcelona in 1923, she was one of the most renowned interpreters of Spanish composers of her time - Isaac Albeniz, Francisco Granados and Federico Mompou, to name a few. At five, she made her solo debut at the 1929 International Exhibition in Barcelona. She was the first Spanish artist to receive the UNESCO Prize in 1995. Margarita Salas continues to forge her astounding path through the field of biochemistry. Born in 1938 in Asturias, she received her BSc and PhD in chemistry from the Complutense University of Madrid in 1963. Four years later, she travelled to America to work with renowned Spanish scientist, Severo Ochoa. She holds the patent on the DNA synthesis of bacteriophage phi29, which has long-reaching consequences in biotechnology and medicine. In 2008, she received the

noble title, Marquise of Canero (her hometown), from King Juan Carlos I. Rosalia Mera Goyenechea’s incredible trajectory from humble beginnings to explosive success rivals the best rags-to-riches stories. Born in La Coruña in 1944, she left school at 11 to become a seamstress but died the richest woman in Spain in 2013 and the richest self-made female entrepreneur in the world. What happened in between was Zara, which is now part of Inditex, her and her husband’s multi-billion euro corporation, known for its unique production and marketing techniques. A renowned philanthropist, Goyenechea launched the Paideia Galiza Foundation to assist marginalised groups, and fought against anti-abortion laws. Rosa Montero broke completely new ground for female journalists working in Spain. Born in 1951 in Madrid, she suffered from tuberculosis as a child, when she developed her passion for reading and writing. She started working for Spanish national newspaper, El Pais, in 1976, and was the first woman awarded the prestigious Manuel del Arco Prize two years later for her Sunday edition interviews. She was later awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Press Association of Madrid, a Spring Novel Prize and two Que Leer awards.

Property

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the Olive Press June 11th - June 24th 2015 thethe Olive Press August 19th 2015 Olive Press June 6th 25th- August - July 9th 2015

Prices building up

Junta takes first step towards saving thousands of rural expat homes THOUSANDS of expats are holding their breath for long-awaited changes to property regulation across Andalucia. The Junta approved a bill last week to amend the LOUA u r b a n planning law, which could save thousands of homes built on illegal land from demolition. E x p a t campaign

HOUSE prices in Spain are on the up, although they remain below pre-crisis levels, according to the latest figures. In the first quarter of 2015, property prices rose 1.6% on the same period last year. This increase nearly doubles the overall Eurozone figure of 0.9%. Further afield, some countries have seen much higher increases in housing prices. In Ireland, prices are up 16.8% over the same period, and in Sweden by 11.6%.

11+

years experience in

NO MORE: Protesters gather over housing demolitions and (left) Maura Hillen

Almost home group AUAN president Maura Hillen is lauding the change in law as ‘revolutionary’.

“We estimate that it will benefit 60% of our members, and the regional government estimates it will benefit some 25,000 homes,” Hillen told the Olive Press. The group was set up following the construction boom in the late 2000s. During which time many illegally constructed homes were unwittingly bought up by British expats who thought everything was in

order. Consequently thousands of expats faced the prospect of their homes being destroyed, and many have already been torn down. The changes proposed, which will now go through the Andalucian parliament, would allow owners to obtain a licence of first occupation, a step towards legalising properties over six years old.

Licence to let SPAIN’S HOMES: Being bought up by Brits

Housing is not such a pain in Spain AS house prices in England and Wales hit all-time record highs, experts predict home ownership in Britain to continue to fall throughout the next decade. By 2025, the average UK home may cost more than €500,000 and half of Brits under 40 years old are ex-

23 23 23

pected to rent rather than own their homes, according to PwC Accountancy. This is good news for the Spanish housing market, as many young Brits are drawn to cheap Spanish properties, choosing home ownership abroad over a rental home in the UK.

CALLS for regulation of Spain’s holiday rentals market have been bolstered by a new UK tax law that will give the British government access to information on internet vendors. The European Union is now being pressured to follow the UK’s lead and introduce the law across the continent. Spanish hoteliers have long complained of plummeting profits as customers turn to websites like Airbnb to book accommodation. Under the new law, the UK revenue and customs office (HMRC) will have access to internet vendors’ names and addresses and the value of transactions, which will allow authorities to spot and prosecute tax evasions. In Spain, as many as 49% of holiday rentals are unlicensed and untaxed.

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Property

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the Olive Press June 25th - July 9th 2015

Tired and over-taxed

Fee free, international payments

BRITISH property owners are finally starting to receive refunds, almost a year after Spain changed a discriminatory policy on inheritance tax for foreigners. Up until the European Court of Justice’s ruling last September, Spanish residents paid 1% inheritance tax, while expats were charged up to 35%. Despite being promised refunds, the expats saw no results all year, forcing many to sell property both in Spain and England. Finally, the government has started to pay up, although the promised average amount of €25,000, property owners have reported receiving closer to €10,000.

for personal and business transfers

EQUALITY: For expats

Green house The ‘home of the future’ that churns out more energy than it uses

EFFICIENT: Home

THE first home to produce more energy than it uses has been built in the UK by a Spanish architect. Dubbed the ‘home of the future’ the house is built out of solar panels and utilises a number of energy storage systems and insulation techniques. For every €144 of electricity the house uses it will push approximately €251 worth of energy back into the grid. “This home could easily be the model for green homes of the future,” said project manager Phil Jones. tenants have been pres“It is a massive step to consured to sign new conserving energy.” tracts that would push Constructed in Cardiff, them out of their homes in Wales, in just 16 weeks, the the event of a sale. three-bedroom house was the As many as 70 families had brainchild of Spaniard Ester already been issued evicComa-Bassas. tion notices, but Carmena Originally from Madrid, has overturned those orComa-Bassas developed her ders and moved to protect green ‘solcer’ house at the the remaining families University of Cardiff alongfrom similar orders. side colleague Jones.

Carmena comes through PostOffice.co.uk/internationalpayments The International Payment Service is provided by Moneycorp. Moneycorp is a trading name of TTT Moneycorp Limited: Registered in England: No. 738837. Incorporated in 1962, Money Laundering Regulation (MLR) registration No. 12114128. VAT registration No. 897 3934524. Registered Office: 2 Sloane Street, Knightsbridge, London SW1X 9LA. TTT Moneycorp Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority for the provision of payment services. Post Office Limited is registered in England and Wales. Registered No. 2154540. Post Office and the Post Office Money logo are registered trade marks of Post Office Limited.

MADRID’S new left-wing mayor Manuela Carmena has moved to prevent the repossession of more than 2,000 social rental properties. Since 2012, Madrid’s social housing body has tried to sell the public housing blocks to private investors. Throughout the process,

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by Tancrede de Pola

HEN taking out a mortgage it is a good idea to know what you’re getting yourself into. It is not uncommon for people to be shocked and surprised when so-called ‘hidden fees’ arise without warning. At the Finance Bureau, we have taken the step to inform all our clients about what fees to expect down the line. And I strongly believe that it is integral to the broker-client relationship to be honest and upfront about costs from the get-go. Equally the Finance Bureau does not take any payment from a client until the mortgage process has reached completion… we effectively work for free until a client gets the deal they want. This also rings true of the fees I am about to outline, all of which are levied at completion (apart from the valuation fee). This (valuation) fee is only requested after your application has been fiscally approved. The cost is dependent on the value of the property, but is usually around 0.01% or between €300 and €1,000. The remaining fees are payable on completion at the notary and consist of: Bank opening fee: this will

Beware the hidden fees

The pathway to finding the mortgage for you can be littered with nasty surprises. Mortgage expert Tancrede de Pola reveals all to put the client in the know be paid directly to the bank and the charge ranges from 0.75% and 1.5% of the mortgage amount, subject to negotiations. Generally speaking the more properties included in the deal, i.e., when we are packaging an entire development, the more chance there is of negotiating a lower percentage fee. Next up, the AJD standing for Actos Juridicos Documentados, or (more simply put) stamp duty tax. This works out as 1.5% of the total amount repayable and therefore the actual fee is somewhat nearer to 2.5% of the loan amount. The only way of reducing this is by taking the loan over a shorter term as the total interest paid will be lower. It is important to know that at notary, the purchase and mortgage are considered separate entities. In other words there will be a notary, gestoria and land registry charge for both.

This means that the notary will need to draw up a title deed/escritura with a gestoria (who calculates the correct taxes and other costs to be included in the title). These notary costs vary depending on the length of the escritura, type of property, location, etc. Generally, expect to pay €400-600 for the gestoria, a similar amount for the land registry and, you guessed it, €800 -1200 (dependent on the mortgage amount) to the notary for drawing up the title deed. Again, one other thing to mention is insurance. As a condition of the loan, banks will usually require the client to take out building or life insurance, or in some cases both. It is compulsory to keep the insurance for a year; if it is then cancelled the bank reserves the right to raise the interest rate charged by up to 0.5%.

To contact Tancrede for all your mortgaging needs call 666 709 743 or email: tdp@thefinanacebureau.com

Top Dollar

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the Olive Press June 11th - June 24th 2015

4 PAGES OF BUSINESS

25 25

August 6th - August 19th 2015

Save your savings! Now is the time for all good men and women to come to the aid of their savings

Cheap ticket

Work in London, live in Madrid, British MP advises

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HOT PROPERTY: Investors look to Puerto Banus

Bent on Banus

A GROUP of Chinese, Swiss and Spanish investors is vying to buy Spain’s luxury party port Puerto Banus. The €200 million deal, backed by Credit Suisse and construction firm Fomento de Construcciones (FCC), is expected to see an extension of Banus with further development in the marina and port shopping areas. The so-called ‘cloak-and-dagger’ negotiations with the private company Puerto Banus SA that constructed the marina in 1970 are expected to be concluded by the end of the year. As one of the Mediterranean’s most valuable ports, Banus receives around five million visitors each year and has 870 berths that are especially geared to luxury vessels.

By Rob Horgan But new statistics suggest Londoners could save a fortune if they commuted to work from Spain. UK MP Tessa Jowell claims those working in England’s capital could save more than €5,500 a year by living in Madrid. Citing sky-high London rental prices in England’s capital, Jowell also factors in the travel costs as well as the cost of living in her study. “The housing crisis is getting worse all the time – and renters are paying the price,” said Jowell.

Crisis, what crisis? AFTER a painful recession lasting almost a decade, Spain’s economy is finally bouncing back. In the second quarter of 2015, the unemployment rate registered its largest fall since 2005, thanks to the creation of more than 400,000 jobs between April and June. And the European Central Bank has reported Spain’s growth rate at a substantial 2.7%, one of the highest in the Eurozone. In 2014, Spain’s GDP ranked 14th in the world, according to numbers published by the World Bank. Top five global GDPs: United States China Japan Germany United Kingdom

“Londoners are now paying so much to landlords that they could be better off commuting from Madrid than staying in London.” Her research found that an average Londoner would save €575 a month, despite having to fly to work every day. The Labour mayoral candidate based her study on a Londoner who spends an average of €2,868 on rent and travel each month. She found the average Madrileno forks out just €750 on the same expenses.

NEWS IN BRIEF Letting go VODAFONE is preparing to sack 1,300 employees across Spain, affecting 21% of the company’s Spanish workforce and up to 60% of its subsidiary Ono.

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THE jobless rate in Malaga province has fallen below 30% for the first time since 2011.

Building woes ONGOING construction for the Vuelta a Espana cycling tour, set to begin on August 22, has caused massive losses for businesses along the race route in Marbella.

Mo to love MALAGA startup Evovelo has announced plans to debut a beta version of its solar vehicle “Mo” by the end of the year.

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the Olive Press August 6th - July August 19th 2015 10th -July 24th

Booming Barca

TOURIST HOTSPOT: Barcelona

ACCORDING to a recent marketing report by BRIC consulting group, Barcelona is the fifth most visited city in Europe in terms of overnight stays. The Catalan capital accommodates about 7.5 million tourists every year. Last year, there were more than 17 million overnight stays in the city. Barcelona was the top Spanish destination and the only non-capital city in the top five, beating out ri-

val Madrid. Eighty percent of Barcelona’s tourists are foreign, while 60% of visitors to Madrid come from other parts of Spain. The top five most visited European cities are as follows: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

London Paris Berlin Rome Barcelona

Bright as a Botin

CHOSEN ONE: Botin

SANTANDER bank president Ana Botin has joined Prime Minister David Cameron’s Economic Advisory Council. The 54-year-old banker is the only non-Brit to be included on Cameron’s council. She will be the only representative of a foreign business out of 19 new advisors appointed following Cameron’s overhaul of the former Business Advisory Group, ahead of the referendum on

David Cameron appoints Santander chief Ana Botin as only non-British economic advisor EU membership.The relationship between Botin and Cameron dates back to the British Premier’s first term in office, when the Spaniard was an advisor to the English branch of the financial group. Botin is the first woman to chair a major European lender, and previously

CASHING IN: Tech startups

Startup boom

FOREIGN investment in Spanish tech startups has exploded in 2015. In 2014, 85% of investors were Spanish, during the same period this year only 75% came from inside Spain, with investments pouring in from United States and Britain. The most popular startups to invest in also changed from the previous year, going from 18.3% ecommerce and 9.9% marketing companies in 2014 to only 9.9% financial and 8.8% eHealth ventures. Along with an overall rise in startup investment, the types of investments have also started to change, with crowdfunding numbers rising from contributing 0.6% to 3.3% of capital.

served as the president of Santander UK. She took the helm at Santander in September 2014, succeeding her father Emilio Botin.

Tuned in to clients THE coast’s longestestablished electronics operator is stepping up its customer service to offer new clients the latest in TV quality and choice. In a dream team collaboration between Electronics Experience (established in 1970) and Smartsat-TV, there is now a one-stop-shop for customers’ TV channel, internet and electronics needs. If you’re hankering for a taste of home, the Smartsat TV packages include the widest range of internet and broadcast TV channels, call 952 883 168 or visit the Estepona store in Centro Comercial Benavista.

Help for house hunters THANKS to a new crowdfunding website, anyone with €500 euros in their wallet can become a property tycoon.

Business boost THE number of businesses in Malaga has reached the highest it has been since 2008. The province reported 49,916 businesses had registered by the end of 2014, resulting in a 2.2% boost in economic activity. Business creation continues to rise in 2015, with 426 new businesses opened in May alone.

Housers.es, created by Madrid entrepreneurs Antonio Brusola and Alvaro Luna, allows anyone to invest a minimum of €500 in a share of a home, building or renovation project. Every investor receives a monthly return proportional to their investment, as well as a bonus commission on a sold apartment. The business encourages customers to invest small quantities in multiple properties through their system, which reduces the risk of the investment. The founders state that their website serves a dual purpose, to allow people who would not traditionally invest in property a stake in the market and to allow promoters of properties to not rely exclusively on banks for funding.

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the Olive Press June 11th - June 24th 2015

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August 6th - August 19th 2015

A foreign engagement

SHAPP OF APPROVAL: The minister on Malaga visit

The Olive Press meets Foreign Office Minister Grant Shapps on his whistle-stop Spanish business trip

Ferry nice earner MALAGA port reports record waves of passengers travelling through on ferries in the past month. Between mid-June and mid-July, 13,394 people and 2,096 vehicles passed through, a 41.2% and 79.5% increase on last year respectively. Numbers had fallen dramatically by around 40% during 2013 and 2014. Officials put the upsurge down to more frequent ferry schedules, as well as increased capacity on some boats.

WOULDN’T it be nice to know exactly how many British expats live in Spain? While it is estimated that there are up to a million, foreign office minister and Tory MP Grant Shapps was on the Costa del Sol last week presenting the latest FCO report (Helping British Nationals Abroad 2014/15) and urging expats to register for the local padron and take advantage of our stellar consular assistance. Malaga boasts one of only three worldwide call centres for the British consular service, and last year Spain topped the list of nations from where the British made consular enquiries, with a massive 28,759, followed by the US. This confirms the quantity

New air-rival

THE world’s largest commercial airliner, the double-decker Airbus A380, has arrived in Madrid for the first time. Emirates Airlines has launched a new A380

route between Madrid and Dubai to celebrate the five-year anniversary of the airline’s arrival in Spain. Madrid is Emirates’ 35th A380 destination.

By Iona Napier of Brits settling in Spain over anywhere else in the world. “It’s really important, especially with the referendum coming up, that you register to vote and declare yourselves in your communities so they can receive appropriate funding,” Shapps told the Olive Press in Benalmadena. “It’s really important that the voice of expats is heard, but to be heard you can’t shout from the sidelines.” Optimistic about the success of the Tory manifesto to scrap the 15-year voting rule – parliamentary agenda dependent – Shapps was adamant about the need for expats to engage with politics back home. “There are vast numbers of people who have lived here for under 15 years and are eligible to vote in the general election but didn’t register - even after we changed to law to make it even easier to vote.” Shapps also visited British nationals in prison, witnessed the call centre and met a variety of local expats. The MP for Welwyn Hatfield, although ruefully admitting he speaks no foreign languages himself, championed the benefits of learning Spanish in order to avoid integration difficulties.

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28 28

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Road to Riches, by Richard Alexander

EEPING money offshore and paying for everything in cash was - once upon a time - the way things were done in

Spain. Combined with non-disclosure of income, capital gains which should have been taxed in Spain would also go undetected and it seemed that even the tax authorities were fairly relaxed about the situation. Perhaps the authorities took the view that money pouring into the country courtesy of expats and overseas investors was driving the property boom and general economic prosperity which was hugely beneficial, even if the tax take was less than it should have been.

Meltdown

When Spain joined the euro in January 2002, it created a problem for those who had stockpiled pesetas, triggering a mini boom in spending on property projects amongst other things – was that really only 13 years ago? As with most booms, Spain’s property bubble burst five or six years ago in tandem with the global financial meltdown. Thereafter came the emergence of austerity measures to help stabilise and rebuild the fragile financial structure. Whatever your political persuasion,

Adios black Profit economy... cycle MONEY MAKER: Bikes

‘Living under the radar’ used to be the way of life in Spain but there’s no going back to black now

countries which embraced austerity as a necessary part of the recovery process seem to have made rather better progress than Greece and France, which did not. In Spain, the measures are clearly working. The economy is growing again at the fastest rate in Europe, with the exception of only Ireland and Poland. Some will say the recovery is fragile and unemployment remains one of the biggest concerns, as only around one third of the three million jobs lost have been replaced. But the effects

of recovery are being felt for sure. Part of the success can be attributed to the fact that Spain is making a much better job of collecting taxes and arguably, if everyone paid what they should, the overall rates of tax would not need to be as high. In fact, we have already seen some tax reductions intended for 2016 being brought forward, with new reduced rates of income and capital gains tax applying from July 12. Meanwhile, the quest to ensure people are declaring their income and capital gains continues, and where

non-disclosure is discovered, heavy penalties are being enforced. The sharing of information between financial institutions across borders is greatly assisting Hacienda, so much so that there has been an increase in the number of people wanting to rectify previous non-disclosure and voluntarily ‘owning up’ through the back-filing of previous years, in the hope of being dealt with less severely by the authorities. That has to be the best approach to ensure sleepless nights become a thing of the past!

Richard Alexander Financial Planning Limited is an appointed representative of L J Financial Planning Limited, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority in the UK. Contact him at Richard@ra-fp.com

BOOMING bike sales are proving a tour de force in the recovering Spanish economy. AMBE, Spain’s national cycling production association, reported that 1,088,548 bicycles were sold in 2014, up 5.2% from the previous year. And the association expects that figure to boom later this month as the Vuelta a Espana gets underway. More than 2,000 new jobs were created in the cycling industry last year, more than any other sporting industry in Spain. Sales of cycling accessories also rocketed 6.6%.

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August 6th - August 19th 2015

Putting ‘car’ into caring Altruistic expat gifts his fortunes for special-needs racetrack A BIG-HEARTED expat is investing his life savings in a Formula One-standard racetrack for young adults with special needs. Tenerife-based British businessman Derrick Hutchings sold his entire shareholding in energy company Canarias S.L. in order to fund the €17 million racetrack project. Hutchings, from Bristol, plans to build a Formula One-style four-kilometre track as part of a scheme inspired by his own 18-yearold autistic son, Harry.

WINNING FORMULA: Hutchings

Hutchings has been a strong advocate for autism education. In 2006, he donated €43,000 to a special school kitchen in Bristol for autistic children. In 2013 he launched a venture to create a hotel in Tenerife that

employs and mentors young adults with learning disabilities. Hutchings is searching for collaborators in the leisure industry in both Tenerife and Bristol to support his project.

Highest sales for two decades CAPTION: Caption here

CAR sales hit a 20-year high last month. This July was the best July for car sales since 1996, according to car manufacturing association ANFAC. Nearly 103,000 cars were sold in July, a 23.5% increase on July 2014. This marked 23 straight months of growth.

Auto industry zooms ahead EMPLOYMENT in Spain’s motor industry has revved up by 513,000 employees in the past year. The creation of more jobs corresponds to a zoom in car production in the last trimes-

ter, up 12.75% on the previous year. Spanish motor factories produce 11,000 cars every day to meet demand, which is a s surefire sign of the recovering economy across the country.

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EU driving licences are the topic of much debate for expats driving in Spain. The need to renew or change licence can be confusing, but here’s some tips: WHO NEEDS TO RENEW? The latest EU Directive 2006/126/CE states that holders of EU driving licenses that have expired or are about to expire need to renew their licence. Holders of EU driving licences that are valid indefinitely or for more than 15 years for Group 1 (AM, A1, A2, A, B & BE) or valid for five years or more for Group 2 (BTP, C1, C1E, C, CE, D1, D1E, D, DE) need to renew their licence providing they have been legally resident in Spain for twp years since January 19, 2013. TWO EXAMPLES EU license holders that are valid indefinitely or for more than 15 years, who are legally resident in Spain before or up to January 19 2013, should renew their driving licence. EU license holders that are valid indefinitely or for more than 15 years, who are legally resident in Spain since June 6, 2014, should renew their driving license from June 6, 2016. HOW TO RENEW This can be done in the local office of the Spanish Traffic Department, by calling 060 and making an appointment, or online at www.dgt.es DOCUMENTATION REQUIRED · Official application form (available from www.dgt.es) · Proof of identity and residency · EU driving license. Original and a photocopy · Results from psychometric aptitude tests from recognised and authorised centre · A recent photograph 32mm x 26mm For more info contact Línea Directa 902 123 282, or visit www.lineadirecta.com

GOLF In the swing of it

Birthday Botella AS security measures were increased around their Guadalmina mansion, Madrid’s ex-mayor Ana Botella joined husband Jose Maria Aznar in Marbella to celebrate her 61st birthday with a few rounds of luxury golf. While Botella and the former Spanish prime minister enjoy free membership at Madrid’s exclusive and controversial Casa de Campo golf club, the ex-alcalde clearly enjoys the relaxed environment of Marbella. She alternates long walks on the beachfront with time at the localities many golf resorts. The couple were spotted during Botella’s birthday celebrations at the Trocadero Arena, a Balinese-inspired chiringuito.

August 6th - August 19th 2015

Gilt-edged golf living INTERNATIONAL real estate developer Urbania International has announced plans to expand its luxury housing project at Santa Clara Golf resort. The development ICON, enabled by a €150 million American investor, will create 400 jobs and employ six architects. Out of the 200 super-luxurious villas planned, each valued between €1.5-2 million, almost 70% have already been sold, primarily to Scandinavians, Brits and Russians. Santa Clara neighbours Los Monteros, one of the most exclusive urbanisations on the Costa del Sol.

IDYLLIC: Beatiful scenery at the resort

Celebs in the swing

Golf Breakfast & Buggy Hire!

The world’s top celebrity golfers have been revealed

ALBA: Well above par

Memory lane

JESSICA Alba is the top female celebrity golfer in the world… and she picked up a trick or two from Spanish exboyfriend Sergio Garcia. Sin City star Alba topped the female list and came in at number five overall, with actor Bill Murray the handsdown top male celebrity golfer, according to golfing website bunkersparadise.com. While Alba is regularly spotted on the greens around Las Vegas, she teamed up with five-time Ryder Cup winner Garcia in 2003 to hone her skills. After being pictured in bars and casinos together in the USA, the pair ended their brief relationship. Other celebrities making the cut include musicianturned-actor Justin Timberlake (in third place), Samuel L Jackson (11) and model Kate Upton (12). Household names Matthew McConaughey (13), Cameron Diaz (14) and Harry Styles (20) also feature in the top 20. The list, which names the top 35 celebrity golfers, was based on individual handicap as well as success in amateur and charity tournaments.

SERGIO Garcia made a long awaited return to one of his ‘favourite courses’. Nine years after he last teed-off at Crans-sur-Sierre, the Spaniard returned to the course in the Swiss Alps as one of the favourites. In the end Garcia was unable to reproduce the form which saw him triumph in 1999, finishing sixth, with Brit Danny Willett taking the top spot. “It’s such a great place here, especially at this time of year,” said the world number 10. “The greens are not very big so if you are hitting your irons well you are going to Gaston Golf - Olive Press - revised:Layout 1 21/07/2015 16:47 Page 1 give yourself a lot of birdie chances.” GARCIA: Golfing superstar

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BUSY start to the summer has seen the Olive Press in high demand, with all the UK nationals picking up on countless OP exclusives. From tales about Rick Parfitt duped out of thousands of euros to the rollercoaster ride endured by British mother Stacie Cottle, we continue to shine as the go-to paper in Spain for the UK press. And when the Daily Mail needed someone to accompany their chief feature writer to Benidorm they called on us to assist. As they did for a feature on warring brothers Gary and Wayne Lineker. Other top-scoops read first in the Olive Press include Scott Harrison’s trashed Andalucian home and the tale of a sexual assault complaint lodged against one of Gibraltar’s barbary apes… Unlike the judicial system, there’s no summer break at the OP!

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OLIVE PRESS – Earpiec e 10th June

Rockstar Rick Parfitt and wife

Sunsearch Media, Lyndsay run by Stan Israel, is being after losing call in police non-payment chased for the of €8,000 dating back to 2013. Swiss kitch thousands in ROCK legend enware con Tecnographic, Rick printed Perfect in Sevilla, conned out of thousanParfitt has been ROCKED: Rick ds Homes, one falling for an of a range age-old trick. of euros after Costa conmen and Lyndsay Parfitt lost EXCLUSIVE magazines of large, glossy The Status Quo guitaris thousands to price as they produced by By Rob Horga group. his was duped into buying t and vocalist n Switzerland. can’t transport it back pans and cutlery ‘luxury’ pots, Israel, 53, to Having taken for launche “It is all very €1,465 of their photo slick conmen d a from company in police their believable,” and given posing as Swiss a pair 2014, called new men in Guadalm added. “They Lyndsa ply Media Group, Simquick convictidetails, she is hoping for salesgear while youshow you some genuin y SUSANA Diaz on. a whose cli- It was only whenina. ents allegedl “I has reached cannot believe y include Louis rocker returne the 66-year-old and then start are seated in your care agreement with an Vuitton, Bulgari British ness instructo that we both fell for it,” d Ciudada to claim her fit“When they throwing deals at you. and even that he realised to his Marbella mansio popstar Lady “Neither of usr Lyndsay told the Olive Press. second termnos n he start had Gaga’s perfum preside loading been Instead are stupid or as into the boot sold a dud. nt of the Andalu just goes to show e. became of ‘luxury Swiss gullible so it of your car the boxes Junta. cian finery’, it how professi legitimate. apparen it all looks The guys onal these load of old tosh’t that he had acquiresoon “Theyare. PSOE pact with Debt “It is only when d ‘a are dressed with ‘made Ciudadanos leader inscribed on When confron realise you’ve you get home that you Juan Marin the base of the in China’ luxury BMWs in slick suits and drive concluded with was bought a lot dog-lover Israelted last night, And if that pans. and claim to rubbish.” wasn’t of Switzer cheap be who of from bad enough land. three docume the signing drives Parfitt’s wife a Range Rover Always on the , Lyndsay was “They are very - initially ALSO tricked 72 policy points. nts regarding claimed to have lookout for good at their the Parfitts by the same so it is vital a bargain, The coalition act, with Sunsear nothing to do fraudsters comple married that people must is in Gibraltar 2006 in a £46 warned about tely by cobe was sold last ch, claiming it incidence. in anti-corruption based on an ceremony. them.” They now split The con involves agreem and Ciudada who ended upyear to someone Approached their time nos has told ent, between propert men’ approac the two ‘businessporters against in supNueva Andaluseparately in But he then ‘not paying’. hing their ‘target’ ies in AlhaurSpain it the pact that cia, two days Grande and while they will not merely still a ‘sharehadmitted he was before, Lyndsay in el Marbella. ‘watch and handed listen’. a stationaryare in over the same Either way, older’. car, usually in still fighting Tecnographic is her husband, amount as Election latestPage 4 payment, andfor the €8,000 Parfitts €2,930leaving the park, Lyndsaa car y exrael to court has taken Is- nothing to show down with plained. in Sevilla over The pair for it. the debt. From there have they police, after now called in the While insisting claim to have Lyndsay amazit had won lefta ingly then met the over stock from Turn to Page same men in IKEA’s car a nearby 2 park in Malaga a exhibition, week later. which

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JUNE 11: Status Quo star Rick Parfitt and wife Lyndsay duped out of thousands of euros

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35the Olive Press June 11th - June

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August 6th - August 19th 2015

Silly season my sweet asp! Spain’s ‘Snake Summer’ is enough to give you a hissy fit

respondingly scarce as MPs at Westminster, which also shuts down for August. But, in fact, it’s a worldwide phenomenon. The Germans call it sommerloch (summer hole), in France it’s la mortesaison (dead season), and the Dutch, Hungarians, Norwegians and Poles collectively term it gherkin season, perhaps because the stories are so hard to swallow.

ITH silly temperatures and even sillier trading hours, the Spanish have a lot of apologising to do for the month of August. Except there’s no one there to apologise. They’re all de vacaciones. August is Silly Season in Spain in more ways than one. It’s the month of short staff and even shorter tempers, mostly mine. The lack of parking… the lack of service… the coming to terms with bizarre summer opening hours…

Serpent

Whacked

Even when you get it right and the store’s open, nothing’s in stock because the manufacturers are also de vacaciones. Mañana? You’ll be lucky! In August it’s mes proximo. ‘Estamos en verano’ they all cry, as if working in heart-attack-inducing heat all day was only for locos and guiris. Too right. You try working in my A/C-challenged (disabled due to austerity) gaff, with every window open to every stray cat in the neighbourhood and not the whisper of a cross-breeze to be felt. But when most stores’ airconditioning is whacked up to

PLAYA-ING AWAY: Spain shuts shop and hits the beach in August nipple-erecting temperatures, do Spanish traders have an excuse to take a ‘heat holiday’ anymore? And don’t get me started about

PILING UP: Trash in Giles’ lake

UMMER up at the Casita means more visitors. I don’t just mean my guests who, in the style of Hotel California, check out any time they like but never leave. The recent jellyfish invasion of the coast also meant that more people than normal have been coming up to swim in the lake, along with the usual Eastern European fishermen. While I don’t have any problem with people enjoying nature (and the Casita is in a UNESCO-designated biosphere), I do have a problem with one thing. Litter. I don’t know what it is about people, but they seem incapable of taking their rubbish with them when they go. Last Monday, for example, I ended up clearing away three supermarket plastic bags, one ripped-up crisp bag (destroyed by the bull terrier that one group of Spanish guys was letting run around without a lead), a

my village’s ‘summer’ (i.e. ‘skeleton’) bus service, which is AWOL for the holidays too. There I was at the bus stop at an obscene hour (for a Sunday morning), hung about with cold boxes and sunbrellas - more beast of burden than beach babe - only to be told there was no 10.30 to Palmones beach. What’s a gal to do with an hour to kill while most people are still in bed? I grabbed a cerveza of course, as you do (in Spain). Silly Season was coined by the British as the time of year when newspaper editors scrape the bottom of the journalistic barrel because real news is as cor-

Here in Spain, they call it serpiente de verano - summer snake - because (I’m reliably told) serpentine Loch Ness Monster sightings are one of the hardy perennials of silly season stories. Although there mightn’t be any more of those since the poor chap who gave up his work, his wife and his life to find Nessie, 25 years ago, has finally realised she’s just a big ol’ catfish. But for me the real serpent in the Garden of Eden I call Spain is not the news coverage. (Call me biased but I think the Olive Press does jolly well for summer news coverage). It’s this mass downing of tools in August when half of Spain is on half-day closing and the other 50% are on the beach. Have they never heard of staggered holidays? You can’t even pay a multa on time because the Town Hall’s also on silly season hours… which means you get another fine on top for late payment when you can finally get some service, come September. Summer my sweet asp! I feel another hissy fit coming on.

Keep it Clean!

scrunched-up sun hat and two Heineken bottles, both in one of my boats. Now I may have been nicknamed the ‘Crankmeister’ by the Yummy Mummy, due to my ability to

I was blaspheming loudly back up to the Casita, unaware that two Guardia Civil were watching go from 0 to irritable in milliseconds, but I think that I do have a point. Who the hell do they think is going to clean their stuff up after them? A posse of trained black bass? Previous items that I have retrieved from

around the lake include used nappies, plastic chairs, toilet paper and even boxer shorts and bikinis. Though how someone forgets that they were wearing a bikini when they arrived is beyond me. Must have been one hell of a party. The litter isn’t just unsightly, it’s dangerous. I was lucky not to lose the Casita to a fire earlier in the year, and a discarded glass bottle can easily cause a fire in the dry shrub. One time, though, I lost it completely when I found plastic bags at the water’s edge filled with glass, fishing hooks and other rubbish hazardous to the wildlife. I was blaspheming loudly while booting the bags back up to the Casita, unaware that two Guardia Civil were watching. After that I gained a new name in the village. Not so much ‘Dances with Wolves’ as ‘Curses at Bin Bags!!!”

24th 2015

the Olive Press June 11th - June 24th 2015

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Chiringuito chic DRINK IN THE VIEW: Chiringuitos dot the beaches

End of an era MADRID’S most famous coffee house has closed after more than a century of service, marking the end of an era.

Cafe Comercial, a hotspot for Spain’s top intellectuals, artists, singers and bullfighters for 128 years, has mysteriously shut its doors, to the astonishment of employees and customers.

Local issue 42:The Local Issue 5 9/12/13 11:52 AM Page 51

Announced on Facebook, the café’s owners offer no reason for the closure. Employees report that their severance documents state only that the management didn’t want to continue running the business. Founded in March of 1877, the cafe has drawn a constant stream of intellectuals from journalist Cortes Cavanillas to actor Antonio Casals.

ANDALUCIA boasts three of the nation’s ten coolest chiringuitos - and that’s official - so you can sit back and sip your pina colada in celebration. Glitzy Marbella, rural Huelva and trendy Tarifa all have a winner in online hotel comparison site Trivago’s Hot Top Ten Hotel Beach Clubs in Spain. The Hotel Vincci Selección’s Estrella del Mar Club comes in at number two, praised for its Moorish influences, spacious chill zones, huge infinity pool and cornucopia of water sports and Balinese beds - not to mention two tasty eateries. In seventh place is Huelva’s SeaSoul Beach Restaurant and Lounge, part of the Iberostar chain, offering elegant, modern hangouts on the picturesque islet of Isla Canela. The stunning chiringuito at the Tangana resort, fronting Tarifa’s famous Valdevaqueros beach is in tenth place, rated for its eclectic retro bar with hip ‘slow food’ restaurant, bohemian hammocks and sunbeds. Top of the list was the Gran Hotel Sol y Mar’s beach club in Calpe, Alicante, cited for its world-class menu, relaxing spa and panoramic views. Clubs in Barcelona, Tarragona, Mallorca and Ibiza also made the list.

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OPEN: Jessie’s bar

Grand opening CHAMPAGNE corks were popping in La Cala de Mijas, as the hottest new venue officially opened its doors to the public. Following its soft launch, attended by fellow restaurateur and Olive Press columnist Elliott Wright, Jessie’s Wine Bar is now fully open to the public. For more information contact jessiesbar1@outlook.com

www.theolivepress.es FOOD & DRINK with DINING SECRETS of ANDALUCIA.com FLOWER POWER by Steven Saunders of the Little Geranium

We are sailing O

This week, columnist Steven Saunders, chef proprietor of The Little Geranium in La Cala de Mijas and previous star of the hit TV show Ready Steady Cook , shares a recipe cooked especially for rock star Rod Stewart

K so there we were working hard one Saturday evening at The Pink Geranium near Cambridge in the UK and at 8pm Rod Stewart and Rachel Hunter (the model) walk in. “We have booked a table in the name of Hunter,” he said. My then wife (I’ve not had as many as Rod!) said: “OMG of course come and sit in the lounge.” The lounge was full of people waiting to order, but you could hear a pin drop. It was dead silent, in total shock when Rod walked in with his long tartan coat and tartan scarf hanging around his neck to the floor. It was like time stood still. We are sailing, he said, and then he laughed out loud! I popped out of the kitchen and introduced myself. “Steve,” he said, “I love mussels and scallops and I love lamb, I don’t mind how you cook it.” “Leave it with me,” I said, and I went to create something for him. At the end of the meal he started talking football and the England vs Germany World Cup game of 1966. “I am more into football than my music,” he said and he cleared the table and with a marker pen he marked out the whole team of 1966, but not just the England team the German team too and he even included the reserves! He headed it up witth Class of 66. Impressed with his artwork I asked him to sign it. I planned to frame it so I hid the tablecloth under the reception desk and then we drove Rod home after he had a few brandys! The next morning Yvonne my cleaner came up to me and said ¨Mr Saunders, some people are just filthy, it has taken me all morning to get the marker pen out of this¨ she said holding up a pretty clean table cloth, clearly the one that Rod had signed. As you can imagine I was not too impressed and Yvonne didn’t stay with us long after that! Truffled mussels with squid ink spaghetti and tarragon This very simple recipe is currently on the menu at The Little Geranium restaurant in La Cala de Mijas. It’s a real show stopper!

Ingredients for 4 250g of squid ink spaghetti (or any type of spaghetti) cooked al dente in boiling water with a little olive oil and salt and then refreshed in cold water. 1 kg of fresh mussels washed and de bearded 2 cloves garlic chopped finely 1 onion finely chopped 2 glasses of dry white wine Some white truffle oil (approx. 2 teaspoons) 250 ml of fresh double cream bunch of fresh tarragon (leaves picked from the stalk ) Juice of 1 lemon or lime 125g of butter chilled and cut into chunks pinch of sea salt (or Maldon salt) A little fresh black pepper Firstly heat a large pan on the stove until very hot and drop in the mussels. Now add the onion and garlic and stir in well. Now add the wine and put a lid on the sauce pan and shake the pan well leaving it on the heat. After only a few minutes check the pan and stir well with a wooden spoon. Now add the double cream and the butter and stir in well and remove from the heat once you can see the mussels have opened. Allow them to cool by tipping them out onto a flat tray or dish but ensure that you reserve all the creamy liquor. Discard any mussels that haven’t opened. Remove the mussel meat from the shells and discard the shells. Now pass the creamy liquor through a fine sieve to catch all the bits of shell and grit etc. Pour this sauce into a clean frying pan and reduce a little, taste and season if necessary. Add the mussels and stir well and finally add the cooked and refreshed pasta. Finally add the tarragon leaves and stir in and then portion it out into 4 small bowls using tongs to ensure that you are serving the same amounts to each bowl. You should be serving at least 12 mussels per person and about 1 heaped tablespoon of spaghetti per portion and plenty of the lovely sauce. Squeeze a little fresh lemon juice over each portion and finally drizzle a little truffle oil over each and serve whilst steaming hot.

Steven Saunders FMCGB www.thelittlegeranium.com steven@thelittlegeranium.com 0034 952 49 36 02

the Olive Press June 11th - June 24th 2015

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Food fight frenzy

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The Spanish like nothing better than a good old foodie fisticuffs and everything from meringue missiles to grape grenades are weapons of choice for these culinary conquistadors, writes Helena Smith

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RESENT arms, take aim, fire! When it comes to food, Spain is a warring nation so watch out for that grapeshot - it really does come from the vine! From wine warfare to a ‘Battle of the Flour’, nowhere does it quite like Spain so if being on the frontline of a frenzied food fight sounds like good fun, you’ve come to the right place. Here are five of the nation’s biggest and best foodie affrays.

La Merengada , Vilanova i La Geltrú, Catalonia Part of Carnival Week in this Catalonian town, La Merengada showcases a free-for-all of flying meringues. It’s usually the messy soft sort, but boiled sweets are also thrown into the crowds which is why it’s also known as the Batalla de Caramelos and, ouch, they can hurt! This sweet celebration begins on the Thursday before Lent.

Batalla del Vino, Haro, La Rioja The Batalla del Vino, or WineThrowing Fight, has been ongoing for 800 years. Stare too open-mouthed and you’ll get very drunk very quickly. Starting as a land dispute, it seems the only way to resolve it was by the locals chucking copious amounts of wine at each other. Nowadays, thousands take part in this tipple-tossing event at the end of June.

La Tomatina, Buñol Other food fisticuffs pale into insignificance beside this blood-red, tomato-stained outdoor food fight. Today some 150,000 tomatoes and 125 tonnes of tomato puree are thrown between 45,000 in Buñol. The colour and smell lasts for days afterwards, although the fight itself lasts just half an hour and takes place on the last Wednesday of August.

La Raima Grape Throwing Festival, Pobla del Duc Head to Pobla del Duc on the last Friday in August and be prepared to be awash with grape juice! The arrival of four trucks bearing some 50-90 tonnes of Garnacha Tintorera grapes is the signal for the fun to start. Every citizen grabs handfuls of grape grenades and starts throwing them around until everyone’s the colour purple.

Els Enfarinats, Ibi As food fights go, Els Enfarinats in Ibi, Alicante, egg-cells itself, as participants engage in hand-to-hand combat with flour and eggs. The festival has been taking place for two centuries, imitating a mock coup d’etat. The Els Enfarinats Army advances on the town every December 28, collecting taxes which are then donated to a designated charity.

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A dog’s life,

Boys’ toys STOP PRESS!! S

DOG DAYS: Eddie loves visitors

INCE I do not have the parts that I was born with, there are only limited interests in my dog life. Food, walks, sleep and toys sums it up. She-who-is-mostly-ignored - the one who shares a bed with He-who-thinks-he’s-the-boss - often mentions the number of toys I have and how much room they take up. I find this slightly hypocritical from a person who has approximately a hundred pieces of apparel for every toy I have but, hey, I’m an orphan so I keep my mouth shut. But it is great to let rip in print. Anything bouncy is greatly valued – tennis balls are perfect. Things to tug are also favourites and give me the chance to practise blood-curdling growls. But there is something about a squeaky toy which I just can’t resist… I have a collection of four at the last count and the ‘boss’ can bring me running from anywhere with just one squeak at any time – although his aim is not always missile-precision sharp. This week has been bonus week for me: some guests returning to Molino del Santo brought me a present of a squeaky grouse. The noise is a delight but - even better - it’s fabric, not plastic. This means it gets covered in soil, saliva and irritates everybody – I am so happy. So if you are returning to Molino del Santo please feel free to remember an orphan dog. I’ll wag my tail for you.

To get in touch with Eddie, contact his owners Andy and Pauline at the Hotel Molino del Santo. Bda Estacion s/n, 29370 Benaojan, Malaga. 952 167 151 - 952 167 927. info@molinodelsanto.com

The Times rates Molino del Santo as one of the 20 best hotels in Europe for Foodies the only one in Andalucia

An article published in the travel section of The Times on Saturday the 1st August 2015 describes the award-winning Hotel near Ronda as follows:

‘‘

18. El Molino del Santo Ronda, Andalusia

An oasis of civility among the parched gorges of southern Spain, boutique hotel El Molino del Santo is no longer the secret it was when I first visited nearly 30 years ago (Jamie Oliver is apparently now a fan). You can have anything from barbecues to full-on, eight-course tasting menus beneath the willows and babbling stream. All tiled roof and white walls, it has 18 rooms with stone floors and bright decor overlooking the countryside.

‘‘

Eddie the hotel dog goes nuts for balls and things to tug

by Eddie the hotel hound

Details: B&B doubles are from €107 a night, five-course tasting menu, €50 (00 34 952 16 71 51 molinodelsanto.com)

Molino del Santo - recognised for its great restaurant

Reservations are always strongly recommended at Molino del Santo Tel: 952 167 151 or e-mail info@molinodelsanto.com Menus available at www.molinodelsanto.com

the

Covering Andalucia in 2015 with over 200,000 papers (130,000 digital) and around 500,000 visits to the website each month… The Olive Press just keeps growing!

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August 6th - August 19th 2015

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From riches to rags Warning whistle FC BARCELONA has been fined €66,000 for whistling during the national anthem during the Copa del Rey final in Camp Nou in May.

FINAL WORDS

Rafa resurgent RAFAEL Nadal won the Hamburg Open against Italian Fabio Fognini 7-5, 7-5, increasing his total of career titles to 67.

Dragon boy A BABY boy born in July was the first Spaniard in history to be named ‘Goku,’ an anime character from popular show Dragon Ball Z.

Quixotic error CATALAN historians are questioning whether Cervantes’ iconic novel Don Quixote was originally written in Catalan, not Spanish.

ROUGHING IT: Ronaldo’s disguise

CRISTIANO Ronaldo was knocked back countless times as he asked women for their numbers on a Madrid street. Disguised as a homeless man, the Real Madrid ace left onlookers in shock as he juggled a football. Pulling out all the tricks, Ronaldo was however less successful as he attempted to win round the ladies. The Portuguese winger finally unveiled himself to a little lad who stopped for a kickabout.

Wet and wild

NOT just a pretty face, Miss Universe Spain is also a doctor. Carla Garcia, 25, of Gran Canaria, was crowned Miss Universe Spain 2015 at Marbella’s Starlite festival. She will represent Spain at the 2015 Miss Universe pageant held in Florida, USA.

Delectable electables

By Caitlin Quinn

The Rock is treating its most famous residents with a place to splash around

AT long last, Gibraltar’s Barbary macaques have a place to cool off. Five new ponds have been constructed at the Rock’s peak in order to help the monkeys escape the relentless summer heat wave. The pools are among new renovations to the Gibraltar Nature Preserve, unveiled on July 29 by the Minister for the Environment. The works, which also include

the clearing of undergrowth and the installation of shaded feeding areas, are part of an effort to improve the macaques’ foraging behaviour and discourage them from entering urban areas. Gibraltar’s 300-odd Barbary apes make up the only wild monkey population in continental Europe. They are said to be Gibraltar’s top attraction, but sometimes they get out of hand.

JUMP IN: Macaques check out the pool

Love birds

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IT’S a racing certainty that parrots Ruby and Rocco know how to say ‘I do,’. Just as well, because a squawk might not quite cut it for their forthcoming wedding. An elaborate ceremony is planned for August 13, at their home, restaurant Roman Oasis, in Manilva. A popular vicar, who has officiated weddings up and down the coast, will wed the two lovers. Fortunately both have a wide vocabulary, thanks to their owners Paul and Kat, who have taught them a string of phrases.

VIRAL: Naked video

Lie back and think of England A MAN filmed semi-naked and sprawled out across the back of a moving car is being hunted by police in Marbella. The man, believed to be British, was filmed precariously balanced on a car travelling 100 km/h through San Pedro’s tunnel. The video went viral on Twitter after a nearby driver filmed the stunt.

THE hottest politicians in Spain have been announced. Pablo Sanchez, head of the PSOE, topped the list of hunky officials, compiled by Zeleb magazine. Newly minted politician and former Barcelona FC boss Pep Guardiola features on the list as do Borja Samper and Ines Arrimadas.