Olive Press Andaluica - Issue 491

THERE has been no change at the top along the Costa del Sol during local elections.

Only Benalmadena ousted its socialist mayor Victor Navas, in favour of Juan Antonio Lara, whose PP party took 13 seats.

In Marbella, Angeles Munoz kept an overall majority with 14 seats, while Estepona dynamo Jose Garcia Urbano snared a staggering 70% of the vote. There was also a landslide victory in Torremolinos where the PPs Margarita del Cid grabbed a stunning 17 seats for the PP.

Meanwhile, in Fuengirola, the PP’s Ana Mula has held on for another four years, while in Nerja Jose Armijo won again for the fifth time.

There was both joy and surprise in Malaga as 80-year-old Paco de la Torre regained the absolute majority he lost in 2015.

The only towns bucking the trend to the right were Manilva and Mijas, where Josele Gonzalez’s socialists got two more seats.

In Manilva, Mario Jimenez’ Compromis party got the most seats (5), but will have to form a pact again with either the PSOE or PP.

In Ronda, Maria Paz Fernandez stays in power with an absolute majority, while in Coin, PP mayor Francisco Santos, will also remain. Similarly, in Antequera, PP leader Manuel Baron got an overall majority, the fourth since 2011, while in Alhaurin, Joaquin Villanova stays in power for his seventh term.

The socialists at least had some joy in San Roque, where the PSOE got an overall majority.

UNINSURED

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

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

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

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

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

“It’s about time she paid for her

Rental scammer exposed by Olive Press also sold bogus insurance policies

EXCLUSIVE

By Alberto Lejarraga

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

Another victim from Holland, suffered a similar fate.

Was this the spot?

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

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

“We could not believe it,” she said. “It was only then we realised we had been driving uninsured for years. And even with two kids in the car!”. She added: “It was a horrible time but when I went to talk to Juliette and demanded she give me €3,000 she said she would sort it all out, but never did.”

Eventually, they took De Courcy to court and, this month, after 10 long years they finally learnt they will be getting their money back.

Under the settlement, De Courcy and husband, David Withey, were found guilty of ‘misappropriation’ and handed prison sentences, according to Olive Press legal sources.

“While Withey tried to take the blame, the court did not buy it and sentenced both to two years in prison, suspended over the next

five years,” said their lawyer.

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

Meanwhile, two other expats Gill and Glyn Williams, from Kent, recently discovered from Caser that their car had been uninsured for the entire period they had paid De Courcy.

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

Tricked

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

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

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

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

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

Crack and pop

SOME 322 kilos of cocaine hidden in sacks of popcorn have been seized at Algeciras Port after police were tipped off about the illicit cargo.

Not guilty

A LIVERPOOL

Crown Court jury has acquitted David Ungi, 31, who was arrested in Coin and extradited to the UK on murder charges over a 2015 killing.

Cop shot

A POLICEMAN was shot in the foot during a threehour standoff against a wheelchair-bound gunman in La Cala de Mijas. The 21-year -old was left paralysed when he was gunned down in Dona Lola last October.

Safe crackers

POLICE have arrested a man accused of stealing cash and valuables worth €172,000 from luxury hotels, including an unopened safe found in his suitcase at Madrid airport.

EXCLUSIVE

IT was his secret camp that he called his ‘little paradise’.

Hidden in a copse overlooking Arade lake, this was the Portuguese hideout that Christian Brueckner would come to ‘cleanse himself’ alongside lots of beer and marijuana.

As well as a rudimentary table, hewn out of a log, the Madeleine McCann suspect even sculpted a stone bench down by the water’s edge.

But what most intrigued German detectives, who spent 72-hours scouring the area last week, was a perfect stone circle, now dismantled, that was made beside it.

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

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

Granada

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

The convicted rapist and paedophile particularly liked Arade lake.

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

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

GROUND ZERO!

clues’

clothes in the lake.

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

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

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

A former flatmate, Michael Tatschl, told the Olive Press in 2020 that Brueckner ‘loved’ spending time by the lakes with his friend Christian Post, an IT technician, who now lives in Cambodia.

“He loved the isolation at the lakes… and he was definitely a pervert and more than capable of snatching a child, for sexual kicks or money,” said Tatschl, from his home in Austria.

“He was always bragging about making money. He even talked about selling kids maybe to Morocco, and I think he probably sold Maddie to someone –maybe a sex ring.”

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

tain it was him. I think he found (Madeleine) by chance and took her,” said Post.

This is a theory that German detectives have been working on since they unearthed a stash of 8000 photos and videos, including child abuse, at

a Brueckner property, in 2016

The files came with various other items, it can be revealed, some of which ‘directly implicate’ Brueckner in the abduction.

Yet remarkably, while he was twice extradited from Portugal for sex crimes against children, Portuguese detectives never considered he could be involved.

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

It was German cops who dis-

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

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

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

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

Maddie cops cover up, p6

Photos by Jon Clarke

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

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

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

He refused to identify himself to officers and Jagger was reported to have intervened to ‘defend her partner’, and in doing so ‘assaulted’ and insulted a female officer.

After two nights in the cells the pair appeared

Taking the Mick

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

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

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

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

NO GENT

Bridezilla strikes

KING Felipe VI and Queen

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

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

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

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

Princess of Wales BEST EVER

By Dilip Kuner

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

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

THE man considered as the world’s greatest-ever marathon runner - Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge - has run off with the 2023 Princess of Asturias Award for sport. It is one of eight €50,000 prizes handed out for outstanding work in fields like the arts, communication, scientific research and literature which will be presented at a ceremony in Oviedo every September. Kipchoge, 38, who won Olympic gold in the marathon in 2016 and 2020 and was the world 5,000 metres champion in 2003 ‘is considered a legend in world athletics and the best marathon runner of all time’, said the Princess of Asturias foundation.

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

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

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

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

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

Inspirational run

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

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

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

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

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

Water woe

RESERVOIR levels in Andalucia continue to fall despite heavy rainfall around the region.

They sit at 27.2% of storage capacity, or 0.4% below a week ago, while they are at half the level of a decade ago when they sat at 64% in late May.

Malaga’s levels lie at 33% (down 0.3% on last week) with key reservoirs, such as Lake Vinuela (10% full) remaining at a critical level.

Sevilla’s reservoirs are 29% full, Jaen’s at 25%, Granada’s at 27% and Cordoba’s at 18%.

The worst affected are in Almeria where levels sit at just over 11%.

The region is currently suffering the worst drought for 30 years, with Junta Environment minister Ramon Fernandez describing the situation as ‘dramatic’ for the economy, employment, and residents.

Spain’s weather agency (AEMET) said the region needs ‘at least one more month of rainfall’ to reverse the drought crisis.

The current unstable weather is set to bring heavy rainfall for the next week or two.

Snow drop

SPAIN’S Sierra Nevada ironically received its biggest snowfall a month after the ski season ended.

The good news is that the snow will now melt slowly ensuring the rivers around Granada and, in particular, the Alpujarras have water all summer.

SNAP ELECTION

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez calls general election for July after heavy local election defeat

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

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

It comes after the countryand even shockingly Andalucia - mostly turned blue in the May local elections.

Around the country, the right wing Peoples Party (PP) share rose by 9%, snaring 31,5% of the votes, compared to 28.2% for the PSOE socialists.

In Andalucia, it grabbed 1,486,396 votes, while the PSOE only got 1,434,953, some 13,000 less than last year.

The giant 400,000 increase on 2019 translates to 880 more councillors, or a 26% increase for the PP in Spain’s largest region.

The party gained enough seats to control all the key cities of Andalucia, apart from Jaen.

This included taking power in Sevilla, the capital, for the first time in a decade.

They also unseated the social-

CAT-TASTIC!

By Alberto Lejarraga & Simon Hunter

ist mayors in Granada, Almeria, Cadiz and Huelva, while holding power in Cordoba and Malaga, obtaining an absolute

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

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

The figures for 2022 are in stark contrast to over two decades ago when there were less than 100 Iberian lynxes alive, with the species facing extinction. Some 563 cubs were born last year helped by captive breeding centres. Most of the species (84%) are found in Spain with the rest in southern Portugal. They have spread around large parts of mountainous Andalucia, while work was recently begun to reintroduce them to rural districts, near Lorca, inland Murcia. European Union funding, through various Life projects, has played an important part in the running of the programme.

Stuck on plane

By David Anderson

BRITISH holidaymakers were furious after being left in their plane for nearly two hours at Malaga airport, as no buses were available to take them to the terminal.

majority in both. Voter turnout was similar to 2019, with a 61.4% turnout.

In Malaga, the PP gained more than 100 new seats, while the PSOE lost over 40 seats.

The right-wing party has 510 councillors along the Costa del Sol, snaring an extra 50,000 votes.

Nationwide, the PP benefited from the collapse of centre-right Ciudadanos, taking seven of the 12 regions, overthrowing PSOE in Aragon, Valencia and Rioja.

The PP is likely to need support from Vox to form various regional governments.

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

“The best thing is for Spaniards to have their say to define the political course of the country,” he said on Monday.

To make matters worse, the Ryanair flight from Newcastle had left in brilliant sunshine but touched down during heavy rain. The angry passengers demanded action and threatened to open the doors and jump out. “People were standing in the aisle with their bags as soon as the plane touched down, but they had a hell of a long wait,” pensioner Margaret Ramsay told the Olive Press. “The crew kept announcing that the bus would be here in about 10 minutes, but it was almost two hours before one came.” Margaret, 74, from Sunderland added: “It was awful. Children were playing up and babies were crying.”

When passengers eventually left the rain-lashed airport some of the roads outside the building were flooded. And the forecast for the week .... more rain!

FACING OFF: Vox´s Abascal and PM Sanchez

Voted top expat paper in Spain

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

OPINION

Merry-go-round stops dead

WHILE Spain has seen a definitive growing groundswell for change at a national level, this has not translated for change locally.

On the Costa del Sol, the merry-go-round almost completely stopped, with only Benalmadena kicking out its mayor. But is this lack of changes a good thing for the coast?

There is certainly a lot to say for continuity - it brings certainty to public office and businesses can feel more confident in planning for the future.

But there is a downside too. Change is often needed to inject new ideas and fresh impetus into the political landscape.

After all, there is a tendency for politicians who have held office for decades to get complacent, lazy and in some cases to ‘cut corners’.

We know well from past experience that power has corrupted in many town halls.

While we are not suggesting that present incumbents are walking on the wrong side of the legal tightrope, this has by no means always been the case.

Just look at Marbella, where since 1991, almost every single leader has been investigated or sent to prison for bribery, money laundering, cooking the books or more.

The last two are the only exceptions, although Angeles Munoz’ links to the Swedish mafia has been well documented.

Ultimately it is the job of voters to hold their political leaders to account. So why hasn’t the wish for change led to more mayors biting the dust?

Well, a clue is the large share of the vote the conservative PP has snared in traditionally socialist Andalucia.

In a quirk of history, most of the sitting mayors are already from the PP.

So the swing to the right - strongly reflected in national opinion polls, and indeed voting patterns - did not have much of an effect locally.

The long-running billion euro ERE corruption scandal at the Junta under the socialist PSOE certainly didn’t help.

The desire for change is far more likely to result in change at the national level.

Which is perhaps why Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has called a surprise general election.

Perhaps he wants to go to the polls before the swing against the left gets too big.

It may just be possible he would rather lose to the PP before the far right party Vox gets too strong.

PUBLISHER / EDITOR

Jon Clarke, jon@theolivepress.es

Dilip Kuner dilip@theolivepress.es

Alberto Lejarraga alberto@theolivepress.es

Jo Chipchase jo@theolivepress.es

John Culatto

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

MADDIE COPS

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

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

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

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

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

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

“It is totally shameful that the Portuguese government, led

EXCLUSIVE

By Jon Clarke, in Silves

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Lawyer

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

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

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

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

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

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

Simon Hunter simon@theolivepress.es

Alex Trelinski alex@theolivepress.es

Cristina Hodgson cristina@theolivepress.es

Walter Finch walter@theolivepress.es

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

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

NEWSDESK: 0034 951 273 575

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

HEAD OFFICE

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

Deposito Legal MA: 835-2017

AWARDS

2016 - 2020

Best expat paper in Spain

2020

Google News Initiative gives the Olive Press a substantial grant.

2012 - 2023

Best English language publication in Andalucia

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

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

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

SHOCKING TORTURE:

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

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

COVER UP

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

was dumped on December 10.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“

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

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

Pictures by Jon Clarke

FROM southern Spain’s battered Costa del Sol, a serpentine road loops up and up into the Sierra de las Nieves.

After the best part of an hour, by which time you’ve negotiated dozens of heart-stopping arabesques, you at last drop over to the northern side of the Puerto del Madroño pass.

It’s here that Ronda first comes into view, one of Europe’s most spectacular urban inventions.

A line of whitewashed buildings fans out along a high cliff to either side of a 100 me tre-deep tajo: this is the plunging gorge that Joyce wrote of on the final page of Ulysses. The town came to epitomise the Romantic movement’s idyll of travel

Ancient footpaths and kindly shepherds

and was depicted by the Scottish artist and traveller David Roberts in a series of his most exquisite engravings. Faced with his first sight of Ronda in 1912, the poet Rainer María Rilke declared, awe-struck, that he’d at last found ‘the city of dreams’.

More than a century later the town still retains an undeniable Xanadu factor.

I first visited the town on two wheels in the late 1970s. I’d bought an old, three-speed push bike in northern Portugal with the idea of riding south through the cork forests to Cabo Sao Vicente: after all, I’d just missed the last bus of the day. I was so taken with life in the saddle that I rode on, crossing Spain via Sevilla, Granada and Almería, sleeping in olive groves, hilltop castles and abandoned farms.

Laurie Lee was my

mentor, the open road was beckoning and Spain had the allure of an exotic femme fatale.

Three nights in Sevilla, drinking cheap red wine in crowded bars and stumbling across impromptu flamenco song and dance could only reinforce that impression.

Leaving the city in the early morning I was in high spirits as I wound my way via potholed roads through gently rolling countryside and fields of wheat, sunflowers, lentils and cotton.

By midday, my eyes began to make out a series of blue-violet ridges rising steeply up to the east and I realised that I was heading, quite literally, for ‘them thar hills’.

In tribute to Guy HunterWatts, who has passed away following a road accident, we republish this article he wrote for the Olive Press in 2016

They’d be my constant companion for the next 300 miles and I’d just gained my first, fundamental insight to Andalucía: there are mountains, and pretty high ones, nearly everywhere. Nothing had quite prepared me for the magnificence of the terrain through which I was puffing my way, following the route taken by Washington Irving in the 1840s. Arriving in Ronda, looking out to a cirque-like panorama of jagged limestone peaks, I was struck by the narcotic thought that I might one day set up home here. I knew for certain that I had to return and explore this wild swathe of sierra. But the next time it would have to be on foot: a three-speed situp–and-beg bike and 3,500-foot passes are uneasy bedfellows.

First came a series of escapades, alone and with friends from university, with each trip leaving me wanting more. Every new path explored seemed to suggest half a dozen others whilst the villages that they connected – the pueblos blancos or ‘white villages ‘– were as beautiful as any I’d come across in Europe.

So, a year after graduating, I sunk all my savings into buying an old tile factory in a tiny village west of Ronda.

Montecorto felt like stepping back in time: the women still washed their clothes in the water channel, there was just one phone in the village whilst the nearest bus stop was a 2km hike up to the ridge top road that connected the sierra and

Sevilla.

With each new path discovered, I felt more connected to my adopted village and country. Many were ancient drovers’ paths, transhumance routes linking the flatter farmlands round Sevilla and Jerez with the summer pastures of the Grazalema and Ronda mountains.

Others followed the course of the old Roman roads whilst a number had been built during the Moorish period by Berber shepherds who had settled the mountains of Andalucía that so resembled those they’d left behind in North Africa.

Then there was the intricate web of footpaths that linked these high mountain villages with local market towns like Ronda, Ubrique and Jerez.

But these ancient byways were often all but lost, overgrown with dense briars or ploughed back into fields in order to gain an extra few metres of land for cultivation.

Local people no longer walked to market, as they’d done just 40 years ago: now there were cars and buses, whilst any live-

stock to be traded would be loaded onto a lorry.

Many was the time I set out in search of what looked like a perfectly defined path on my old, military maps to quickly find I’d strayed off piste.

When I questioned villagers as to where the paths might run, and whether they were bona fide rights of way, everyone seemed to know of them yet none would know of their exact location.

That was when Andrés Duarte stepped into my walking story... Andrés was a bright-eyed and kindly shepherd who had grown up in a village south of Ronda. We soon struck up friendship: he would come every day to the spring that rose behind my home to replenish his water bottles and to throw down grain for the chickens and bantams he kept in small pens next to the gurgling water.

Andrés had never learned to read or write – he signed documents with his thumbprint – yet he was one of the wisest men I’ve met.

When I told him of my misadventures and wrong turnings he said, in his disarmingly direct manner, ‘I’m a shepherd and I know the paths. And I will show you them all’.

So began a series of excursions with Andrés that will always remain a treasured memory. Often the footpath I’d been looking for would be just yards from where I’d intuited, but would be completely hidden from sight by a thick stand of greenery. At a point where I’d stumbled forward to become lost in dense undergrowth, Andrés would show me how the path looped back on itself in order to pass by a spring or an ancient oak with sweet, roasting acorns.

He’d show me which plants were edible, which grasses could be used to make espadrilles and had a tale to tell about every isolated farmhouse.

He spoke of the bandoleros who worked the passes through of the Ronda mountains, of Republicans and anarchists who took to the hills here during the Civil War and told me Lorca-like

The high sierras of Ronda have been offering a breath of bracing fresh air to visitors ever since Gibraltar garrison officer Charles Rochfort Scott penned his 19th century travel guide, Excursions in the Mountains of Ronda and Granada. Late walker-cum-author Guy Hunter-Watts took on the baton after arriving in the 1970s

KINDLY: Shepherd Andres Duarte was a wise man despite not knowing how to read or write

OFF THE BEATEN TRACK: Guy Hunter Watts leads the way

Ancient byways often all but lost, overgrown or ploughed back into fields

HISTORIC: Statue of Rilke stories of unrequited love and its often tragic consequences. With Andrés as my compañero, the Andalucían landscape came alive in a way that it could never have done without his anecdotes and folklore.

He possessed that deep knowledge of nature and the seasons to which only a shepherd, or anyone spending a large part of their waking life up in the hills, is privy. Andrés is no longer around yet

when I take people on guided walks through the Grazalema and Ronda mountains he’s still very much present when we talk about the animals, plants, farms, mountains, streams and springs we encounter along the way.

MYSTERIOUS MASS

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

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

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

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

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

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

Long summer days

NEW climate change

data has revealed that Malaga summers are now five weeks longer than they were in the 80s.

According to Predictia, a spin-off company from the data mining group at the University of Cantabria, summers in Malaga now last on average almost 40 days longer than they did last century.

In fact, a year can no longer be divided into four equal-length seasons, and research suggests the seasons will continue to shift even more over time.

By Alex Trelinski

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

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

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

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

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

Surprise surprise, they have failed.

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

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

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

STORAGE NEEDED

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

PARIS ACCORD IN TATTERS

drought.

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

ME FIRST MOVEMENT

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

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

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

PRIME EXAMPLE IS AUSTRALIA

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

Last week it approved a new coal mine.

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

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

Shame on Australia.

Shame on the world for watching.

Green Matters

By Martin Tye

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

MORE COAL: New mine like this one in Australia approved

LA CULTURA

DRONE RESULT

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

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

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

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

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

NOBEL TASK

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

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

New dinosaur species discovered

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

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

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

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

ROYAL RARITIES

By Simon Hunter

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

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

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

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

the crossroads of fiction and the visual arts.

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

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

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

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

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

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

EYE-CATCHING: South African JM Coetzee

ON THE TAPAS TRAIL

The history and tradition of free drink accompaniments in Granada

AGIFT traditionally offered by bars in Granada province, tapa has a long history. Exactly how it was invented depends on the source you believe.

One legend says that, in the 13th century, King Alfonso X - ‘The Wise One’ - passed a decree forcing taverns to serve a small portion of food with wine to reduce drunkenness. Whether it worked is anyone’s guess, but Spain clearly has less of a public borracho problem then some other countries, including the UK.

In pre-19th-century Andalucia, the posadas, alberques and bodegas (roadside bars and hostals) were said to offer small samples of their dinner options, in the form of tapas. This was, apparently, because few proprietors could read or write, and could not create a menu board.

A salty lid to prevent flies

The most credible explanation is that the original tapas were ‘tops’ of bread or meat. Drinkers placed these over their wine, to prevent buzzing flies from falling into the glass when they weren’t sipping. Sometimes, the drink would be covered with local meat products, such as Serrano ham or chorizo. As these are salty, they made clients thirstier, which – in turn –increased drink sales. The meaty items expanded into other types of tapas, such

By Jo Chipchase

as carne en salsa or potato dishes.

Eventually, the tapas became as important as the alcohol. Today, the choice is endless, and the savvy drinker knows which bars, in their town, will serve the best tapas

In 2022, the mayor of Granada threatened to end free tapas but, to date, this hasn’t happened. It is one of the major attractions of the province.

Traditional and seasonal tapas

Tapas can be hot or cold. What’s served can depend on seasonal factors. For example, when baby broad beans are in season (soon), these are used in habas con jamón. In summer, you might receive pipirrana (a type of salad combining cold tomatoes, peppers, etc.), as well as potaje de hinojos when fennel is in season, and meatballs in almond sauce when those are abundant. Cold tapas, served all year round, frequently includes olives, nuts, cheese, chorizo, ham, Russian salad, tortilla, potato crisps, or – if you’re unlucky – crab sticks.

Hot dishes commonly include: patatas a lo pobre, potato chips (a lo rico), migas, meatballs, pork strips in creamy sauce, carne en salsa, lorganiza, cod, squid, prawns, paella rice, aubergine in honey, croquettes, sardines or boquerones and, sometimes, puchero or other stews. Callos is a stew with chickpeas that you then discov-

er contains ‘some form of unidentifiable offal’, that might be pig’s feet. In old-school bars, visitors might still encounter cuts of meat that aren’t so noble. This has scared a few Brits, who aren’t accustomed to ‘strange’ animal parts. One reader, Frances Shaw, reported being served ‘garden snails in Almegijar – I couldn’t eat them’.

Expat, Richard Kayshan, said:

“At a hotel in La Alpujarra, I was literally served a pig’s trotter on a plate.” Another unfortunate Brit, Jane Ryder, was served ‘nostrils’, but in a different region of Spain.

“I once had Haribo sweeties on a bed of beef flavoured crisps in Pinos del Valle,” said Heather Sutherland. Although this is hardly haute cuisine, at least it’s not offal.

Contemporary tapas and chef’s specials

Some bars have adapted to serve tapas with a decidedly modern twist – whether it is a mini-tortilla or hamburger, a contemporary salad, or something of their own invention. Many times, you will sample the chef’s special, especially if they have over-provi-

sioned for the lunch guests and have leftovers in the kitchen. Turning up at 3pm Sunday is a good way to get whatever delicious, hot food remains unserved in the pan. International restaurants might offer samples of their main menu. For example, a pizzeria might serve pizza slices, if you are lucky.

One venue in Alhendin, Granada - called Bar Santi - has served entirely fish tapas since the 1960s. This is great but can be a bit re

TRADITIONAL: And tasty Tapas at Bar Piki in Cañar

PHOTO CREDIT: Jo Chipchase

HOW THE GARDEN GROWS

ESTEPONA is a town undergoing ceaseless transformation. But that’s nothing new.

From the day the seafaring Phoenicians first sailed in and established a colony on the Iberian coast nearly 3,000 years ago, the Costa del Sol resort has been the subject of change.

Be it the Romans, the Vandals or the Moors - or the Catholic reconquest or pirate raids from

The so-called ‘Garden of the Costa del Sol’ has seen constant change for centuries and is now roaring ahead of its near rivals

By Walter Finch

Africa in the 18th century - it has frequently been in a state of flux.

In the last 50 years alone it has gone from being a sleepy fishing

village, known for its pongs, to becoming one of Spain’s premier upmarket resorts.

After a tumultuous history of constant change and evolution, Este-

Continues on next page

From front resorts on the costas.

pona is entering its latest incarnation, driven by wealthy international visitors, now flocking in all year round. And its real success story is having staved off its once likely fate of becoming just another whitewashed mini-Marbella, full of celebrity yachts and designer brands. Nor has it imitated a ‘Little Britain’ takeover seen in other parts of the costas, such as in Benidorm or Magaluf.

Instead, its idyllic outdoor spaces and the colourful flower-filled streets of the old town are perhaps why Estepona has managed to retain its image as one of the last ‘authentically’ Spanish

Estepona Authentically Spanish

And despite this, the pace of transformation continues, under its current mayor Jose Garcia Urbano, a former notary, a man who clearly doesn’t like to stand still.

His greatest recent transformation has been the total redesign of the street system along the beach promenade.

Urbano - who by now will know if he is still mayor after Sunday’s May elections - has chosen to favour pedestrians, pushing cars and buses to the periphery.

And he has spent well over €100 million on public works since he took over power for his PP party in 2011. Much of it for the good, plenty of it though viewed as controversial.

What is certain though is how he has transformed the town into a green paradise as part of his ongoing ‘Estepona, Garden of the Costa del Sol’ project.

Anyone arriving in Estepona can be forgiven for rubbing their eyes at the sheer number of plants and trees that line the streets, its central reservations and its roundabouts.

There are tens of thousands, in fact, prob - ably hundreds of thou-

sands, of flowers bedecking almost every available surface from both extremes of the main town. Meanwhile, thousands of potted plants have gone in on every street in the old town.

The profusion is hard to ignore and even the locals less enamoured with Garcia Urbano’s whims and schemes begrudgingly, mostly agree, it is impressive.

The latest additions to the city’s skyline have been a modern and sustain-

able town hall, and a new 45 metre-high mirador near the port. And now, the once traffic-heavy Avenida España along the beachfront has become a sedate and gentle promenade, dotted with restaurants, cafes, shops and, surprise, surprise, elaborate flower installations.

Estepona also

boasts one of the most exquisite city beaches in Spain, its Playa de la Rada (above) stretching for over 2 kilometres in the centre.

Known for its clean, soft sand, crystal-clear waters and excellent facilities - it has good views towards Gibraltar and Africa on clear days… not to mention 12 beach chiringuitos.

One chiringuito owner, Erwin Vanderdonck, 56, who owns Palm Beach is already gearing up for the summer. This is the beach bar where chart-topping girl group, Las Ketchup, recorded their video for catchy one-hit wonder Asereje (or ‘The Ketchup Song’). Originally from Amsterdam, he made the jump 23 years ago, swapping the ‘mayhem of finance’ in London for the ‘authentic feel’ of this Costa del Sol gem. “The main centre for nightlife used to be the port,” he says, “but now there is a shift towards the centre. A lot of new bars have opened.”

But Estepona’s bright young things still flock to visit the bars and clubs in the port on weekends, where bartend-

Eco-friendly adults only boutique hotel, three minutes walk from the beach, set in a restored townhouse in the heart of Estepona historic centre featuring a rooftop bar overlooking the mountains and Estepona skyline.

book@theoldtownestepona.com

www.theoldtownestepona.com

+34 673 713 032 94 Calle Caridad, Estepona AN 29680

SKYSCRAPER: The new Mirador del Carmen

ers free-pour drinks according to ye old Spanish ‘say when’ system. Louie Louie’s is always guaranteed for a good boogie or if you prefer to watch, El Patio puts on a colourful feast of flamenco.

Just up the promenade a little way back into the centre sits British expat Dave, underneath the awning of his Scottish pub Fergusson’s.

Although he approves in general with Garcia Urbano, he is in two minds about the changes to the traffic system.

“It’s great for the tourists, that’s for sure,” he insists, gesturing to the new

elegant pedestrian boulevard. “But trickier for us residents. Now you’ve got to walk everywhere. And all the cars have to go on a big detour around Avenida Andalucia to get from A to B.”

Almost as baffling as his football team Chelsea, he continues: “I’ve been living here six years and this is the biggest change in my time.

“And all the new apartments they’re building on the outskirts of the town, what with so many people coming here now and growing so much…But it’s still a pretty good life here, in my book” he concludes.

Fellow drinker Barry, 72, arrived here

as a teenager. “I first came here as a 17-year-old chasing a girl,” he explains. “Her dad was renovating a villa. Then, later in the 80s, I decided I wanted to come back and buy a property of my own here.

“But the thing is, I couldn’t remember what it was called. The town. There was no Google Maps in those days. All I could remember was two things: There were lots of flies in September, and the place smelled ever-so-strongly of sulphur.”

Armed with these two clues, Barry set about trying to find the tranquil town he had fallen in love with as a teen-

ager.

The clue of the flies offered little help, but there were not many places that smelled like sulphur.

On a return trip to Spain, Barry drove along the coast asking people where would smell of sulphur. He travelled for miles and several days, receiving mainly shrugs from the locals. And then finally he got an answer.

‘Try the Roman baths’, located along the nearby Manilva river, which were famed for their therapeutic properties - and their stinky pong.

It is believed that Julius Caesar himself bathed in the sulphurous waters,

famed for their healing properties. And the nearby town of Casares is named after him.

Following the directions given to him, Barry drove west and finally found Estepona again.

“It had changed, yes,” Barry agrees. “But not that much.”

Take a short walk from here along the marble pavements of Estepona’s Calle Terraza and you’ll arrive at the charming, aptly named, Plaza de las Flores (Flowers Square).

In this charming hive of activity you Continues on next page

CONTRASTS: The town centre and the port

IARRIVED in Estepona in 2003 to check out the coast, and like many before and after us, ended up staying.

The Costa del Sol in 2003 was in full boom mode although all the action was mainly taking place outside the town centres, off plan in innumerable building sites. Estepona centre, whilst a vibrant Spanish town was a little depressed, immersed in debt and corruption with the construction of the underground parking on the main avenida heavily delayed. The town was full of cars and parking was a nightmare.

We opened our first office the following year in 2004, in Calle Real which we shared with a clothing repair shop. Our trade was outside the town, and our first sale in town was in fact to ourselves when a year later we purchased a dilapidated old house in the old town of Estepona from a German flamenco dancer. Surprisingly, the regeneration of Estepona began in the depths of the financial crisis, in 2011

From page 15

will find the tourism office, with maps for all kinds of excursions, including the murals tour and a host of reasonably-priced restaurants and cafes.

Also nestled among the flowers, and spilling out onto Calle Terraza, are a handful of stylish clothes shops, mixing independent and quirky with more famous brands such as Mango. Strolling around, you won’t help but notice that a number of buildings are decorated with incredible street art, bringing the façade - and the surrounding streets - to life.

Murals as high as the buildings - some thought to be among the largest in Europe - paint ed with incredible skill and daring will take you aback.

The largest one, by artist Jose Fernán dez Ríos, depicts a fish on a line covering six separate building façades and measuring almost 100,000 metres squared.

Further into the town, past its historic centre head for the exotic glassdomed orchidarium - the

Orchid paradise

is home to more than 8,000 species of orchids, three waterfalls, streams and a butterfly house. Staff care lovingly for these delicate and beautiful plants, watching them bloom and flower and then fade away every three months, to start the cycle anew.

Another spot worth seeking out, near the port, is the Plaza de Toros, which isn’t the oldest, biggest or best in Spain but it’s one of a kind – the only asymmetrical bullring in the world.

tors more seating in the shade than under the hot Spanish sun, and it has hosted numerous sport and cultural events

Just a short hop from the bullring you will find the cella lighthouse, which has been blinking away its light to ships and boats up and down the coast in its present incarnation since

ing for nature and green spaces, there are plenty of other beaches up along the coast, not to mention excellent tennis clubs, like Forest Hills, plus great golf courses, including El Paraiso, now 50 years old.

APPETITE FOR CHANGE

In the past 20 years Adam Neale has seen Estepona boom

when the current mayor Jose Maria Garcia Urbano was voted in with what appeared an absurdly optimistic programme to reduce the debt burden (a staggering 304 million euros) whilst at the same time investing in the regeneration of the old town.

The subsequent story is well known.

The Garden of the Costa del Sol project was wildly ambitious and involved the pedestrianisation of the old town with over 9,000 potted plants distributed throughout the streets. However, the town hall's appetite for change did not stop there and over the next 11 years enormous investments were

appearance, infrastructure and services with a new theatre, sports stadium, hospital, and town hall to name but a few of the seemingly endless improvements that have been made to the town. At the same time, by 2021 77% of the inherited debt burden had been repaid, an impressive feat.

In 2011 from our relocated office in Calle Caridad we still had few to no customers visiting our office but over the next five years this began to

GIANT: The orchidarium is the largest in Europe

change. Clients suddenly began to trickle into our office interested in buying a property in the Old Town. Then more and more came, increasing year over year until eventually becoming a daily occurrence.

The news of the transformation of Estepona has travelled far and wide. Only last week American clients from Texas were telling me how they heard about Estepona´s regeneration and wanted to retire here. The benefits are obvious: how many towns offer such a high quality of life? Situated on a wide sandy beach, Estepona is a very safe town with convenient access to all manner of amenities and health care.

We are proud to have contributed in our own small way to the regeneration of Estepona, being involved in the construction of two new hotels in

the historic centre: one already built and running - Estepona Plaza Hotel in Plaza Ortiz - and another one opposite our new office in Calle Caridad that will begin construction soon.

Not surprisingly, given all the improvements, Estepona has become a magnet for tourism and for people who want to live in the Costa del Sol.

As we wrote last month, Estepona has seen the highest growth in revenue per hotel room, or RevPAR, on the entire Iberian Peninsula. It’s also the fastest growing city in Malaga province, which is the fastest growing province in Spain. And the real estate sector is outselling popular Marbella on a per capita basis. And yet despite such radical change and abundant tourism, it is still a very Spanish town that has preserved its authenticity and traditions.

The Property Insider by Adam Neale

made in improving the town’s

3 BED TOWNHOUSE FOR SALE IN A GATED COMMUNITY WITH PRIVATE PARKING AND STORAGE, ESTEPONA OLD TOWN

EXCLUSIVE AMAZING PLOT FOR SALE IN THE OLD TOWN OF ESTEPONA

EXCLUSIVE TOWNHOUSE FOR SALE WITH PRIVATE GARAGE, ESTEPONA OLD TOWN CENTRE. CLOSE TO THE BEACH

NOCKOLDS Lawyers Spain officially launched its first Spanish office in Estepona in April this year.

An affiliate subsidiary of Nockolds Solicitors in the UK, established in 1831, with offices in Bishop’s Stortford, Hertfordshire and the City of London, it is a tremendously exciting addition to the Nockolds Group.

Our portfolio of services encompasses, but is not limited to conveyancing, wills and estate planning, visas, and sworn translations. We pride ourselves on the provision of excellent client care as well as offering comprehensive services that other law firms here cannot, such as dealing seamlessly with British citizens’ assets and/or problems in both Spain and England by means of a cross jurisdictional joined-up approach.

Nockolds has been providing legal advice on cross-border matters between Spain and England for over 10 years.

In current times, more people are opting to live in two countries, or spend a lot of time in one country and have their base in the other. This can create complications when crucial life events occur, such as planning for your family in the event of death, making wills, effective tax planning, or sadly where there is a family breakup.

We have found that without the benefit of the knowledge of the two different law systems,

mistakes can happen. For example, making a will in Spain.

Without careful drafting and knowledge of the English system, you could inadvertently

revoke your wills in England, leading to a situation of intestacy, which can be complicated and expensive for the beneficiaries to sort out. Vice versa, making a will in England with a solicitor who is not aware of any Spanish asset, or the Spanish system, can also frustrate the will in Spain.

Many people do not know that whilst Spain applies the law of the country of residence of the person either going to Court or making a will, English law does not allow such consideration. This has a particular impact on divorce, for example. A British couple living in Spain have a choice as to where they start their legal proceedings, and this can be critical.

Families who have assets in Spain, but are based in England, will also need to consider the relevant tax implications as they reach their later stages of life.

This may involve change of residence or selling assets in a tax effective way. This has become more complex after Brexit, to the extent that the English now cannot enjoy the more favourable European taxation rules.

For those in business, or wanting to set up businesses, it is important to know the rules of the two countries, especially regarding employment rights, property rights, and entitlements. An advance warning about how they differ can assist preliminary plans.

In the case of court action for non-payment of monies or breach of contract where one party is situated in one country and the other in

another, there are complicated cross jurisdictional issues, which may need to be determined and considered beforehand. Even where a judgment is obtained in either Spain or England, there must be expert knowledge as to how that judgment can be enforced in each country. Again, since Brexit, this has become more complicated, because we cannot use the streamlined European system which automatically recognised judgments from a European member state. By working in the two countries and across both legal jurisdictions, we know there LAUNCH

are different attitudes and cultural norms, which can be very confusing to the Brits in Spain or the Spaniards in England. Knowing how local courts operate, what is expected, and having a full command of the lan-

guage as well as the knowledge of both legal systems, is paramount in assisting our clients. These are just a few of the examples we have come across in our practice, which informed our decision to open the office in Estepona.

SUCCESS: The Nockolds team at the April lift-off party

WALK OF THE TOWN

Discover the sights – and cafes and bars – of this traditional town on foot

WHILE Marbella and Malaga are held up as the key spots to visit on the Costa del Sol, Estepona offers sights and sounds to rival its neighbours, and has a much more tranquil ambience. It’s high time the town

THE WHEEL DEAL

No job is too big or small for Premier Bodyshops, from full car restorations to small scratches

FROM classic cars and exotic sports models to your daily driver and family runabout - Premier Bodyshops has you covered.

Their team is dedicated to getting your wheels back on the road at high speed. Probably the largest motor vehicle repair shop in Estepona, they operate from a 700sq.m. fully-equipped workshop on the town’s industrial estate.

They undertake all types of accident repair work for vans and motorhomes as well as cars - from vandal scratches to major collision damage and convertible roof replacement to windscreen and glass replacement.

Premier also has approved repairer status with all major insurance companies operating in Spain and in some cases they can start repairs on your vehicle immediately without prior estimates or inspections, thereby cutting the time you

are without your vehicle.

Better still, you get use of one of their fleet of courtesy cars while your repair is being carried out – totally free – and a free valet service on collection.

All work is guaranteed for one year.

The business also specialises in classic restorations, from bare metal to fully-trimmed and painted running vehicles.

It has also produced some rare classic conversions such as the Rolls Royce Silver Cloud II four door convertible and they have also converted a Bentley MK VI from hardtop to two door convertible. And not only that, they are fully equipped to convert your classic car to electric power.

Aiden and his team are all car enthusiasts who love classic and exotic vehicles. So much so that they organise car events for fellow enthusiasts. Watch out for their next one this September/October.

To have Aiden and his team take care of your car, contact Premier Bodyshops on 951 90 11 55 email – aiden@premierbodyshops.es

Opening hours: Mon-Fri 8.30 – 17.00

C/ Juan de Herrera 23, polígono industrial Estepona. 29680

Instagram @premierbodyshop

Facebook @Premier Bodyshops

Youtube Premier BodyShops

had its day in the sun. With friendly locals and a vast array of tapas bars along its narrow cobbled streets, Estepona is the ideal town for a stroll.

Begin at the north end, in Avenida Andalucia where many of the residential

buildings are adorned by enchanting murals. Continuing onto Calle Terraza, you’ll pass a glass-domed building with white facade – the Estepona Orchid House, where more than 1300 species of orchids are on show.

Stop for coffee and pastries at nearby Tahona de Chana.

The cafe has an ideal central location, but just before the hustle and bustle of the bars.

There’s a fish and seafood restaurant with a decent hearty Spanish menu opposite, but further down you’ll arrive at Estepona’s busiest plaza – the Plaza Antonio Guerrero – where both the Freiduria and La Taberna de Juan make perfect spots for a beer and a bite to eat.

From there, walk a few hundred yards down the road and to the right, and you’ll find the charming Plaza de los Flores. The early afternoon, when it is quiet, is the best time to enjoy the peace and appreciate the full spectrum of colourful

flowers around the ornate fountain. Later, the plaza is transformed into a hotspot for sangria-drinking Brits and other tourists. Veering left after the plaza, onto Avenida España, you are confronted by an endless succession of restaurants and ice cream parlours. Try El Rincon Toscano, a delicious and unpretentious Italian restaurant, or Mexa, an excellent Mexican with especially good food for vegetarians (make sure to get the jackfruit tacos).

Hipsters out there can get a flat white to go at Manila Café Bar, before entering into the old town and passing the stunning Parroquia Nuestra Señora De Los Remedios, a beautiful church with a distinctly Andalucian flavour.

Ready for refreshment?

Drop into the Gran Vino, an excellent wine bar specialising in Italian wine.

It’s the kind of place that will tempt you into acting like a

ANDALUCIAN AMBLE: (From top left) the old town, Plaza Antonia Guerrero, La Rada beach and Plaza Antonio Ortega Vela

STUNNING: (Clockwise) Walking map of Estepona, Plaza de las Flores, Parroquia Nuestra Señora De Los Remedios, Parque del Calvario and statue in Plaza Ortiz

connoisseur before you are sussed out as an ignoramus by the expert waiters. I can recommend the Valpolicella Verona. Or if cervezas are more your thing, then a few hundred yards further along, you’ll find El Capote on Calle Viento, a secluded bar that is great value for money. After that, head down to the beach.

The view of the sea remains glorious. Walking along this beach never gets dull. Return to Avenida Andalucia, passing the understated but decent Cafeteria Delta, and finish at Parque el Calvario. The park makes a fitting end to a 5 kilometre walk that takes about an

hour and a half and allows you to do more than scratch the surface of this traditional yet vibrant town.

FABULOUS 50

IT’S no laughing matter, but El Paraiso is the real celebrity golf course of the Costa del Sol.

The Holy Trinity of British TV comedians Bruce Forsyth, Jimmy Tarbuck and Ronnie Corbett have all graced the privileged fairways of the Estepona course, which hits 50 this Spring.

Opening in 1973, the stunning fairways have also seen some of the world’s best golfers play a round or two, including Seve Ballesteros and Tony Jacklin. But given it was designed from scratch by the world’s best known golf designer, Gary Player, that is no surprise.

The South African, who has constructed more than 400 golf courses in 35 countries, always had the same philosophy: courses must be suitable for both professionals and amateurs.

He certainly left his mark on the beautiful Paraiso Valley, where he created what is rated as one of the best designed courses in Andalucia.

The El Paraiso story is one of people who had a vision and carried it through, and of those who have continued to develop it; in partnership with the members who love golf, but also a club that has united them throughout their lives; in short, the stories of the peo-

El Paraiso, one of the Grande-dames of Spanish golf hits its half century in Estepona

ple who have made this anniversary possible.

It was in 1968 that a Belgian family, the Mols, bought 200 hectares of the valley alongside a business partner Fernando Gillis.

Construction began and through the 1970s it became one of the most popular courses on the coast.

From the 1980s it changed hands a few times until finally it became subject of a successful members’ buyout.

The majority owner of the club was by then UK construction giant, Wimpey, but it had made a commercial decision to concentrate its interests in the UK and relinquish ownership.

The company was persuaded that the members could finance the purchase. So the committee, with more than the required 50% approval, moved forward with the purchase.

May 21, 1996 was the big day when after more than a year of negotiation, they were successful in buying the club- house and golf course and

converting it into one of the few member-owned golf courses on the Costa del Sol.

The key upside being that all profits were reinvested into the club and course improvements.

By 1993 the club had over 400 members and, apart from golf, offered a very active social life. Today the club’s membership is made up of more than 23 nationalities and it has become an international club with an extensive calendar of events.

Throughout these 50 years, the history of El Paraiso has been linked to its members' generosity both with money and time.

In particular, the ladies clubbed together to raise money to refurbish their changing rooms while many have purchased trees for the course.

But perhaps the most valuable thing that members give to the club is their time. From the board to the club committee, to the many committees required for social activities, handicaps and the organisation of other events. A lot of it is unseen but it is the mainstay of the club and its ethos.

SEVE AND

JACKLIN COME TO PLAY AS THE EUROPEAN TOUR COMES TO EL PARAISO

IT was a real coup for the first owners of El Paraiso when the European Tour chose to come to the course in 1974 for an inaugural tournament of the PGA Tour.

The tournament had a prize purse of three million pesetas and 156 national and international players took part.

The competition was won by Peter Oosterhuis, a former British amateur champion who became a successful professional golfer and member of the Ryder Cup team.

Among the Spanish players were legendary names such as Piñero, Gallardo, Barrios and a very young Seve Ballesteros at the age of 16, plus international players, such as Tony Jacklin and Roberto De Vicenzo.

Over 300 new trees in a decade

The course started out with only seven holes, the

CELEBRITY LINKS: (Top to bottom)

Bruce Forsyth, Jimmy Tarbuck, and Ronnie Corbett

CHANGES: Half a century has seen massive alterations, with the addition of thousands of trees

UPGRADE: The clubhouse (today) and (right) in the 1980s

first of which was on the current 4th hole. It soon became nine holes at the end of 1973 and finally 18 holes.

In those 50 years the course has been updated, especially in recent years as part of meeting the goals of saving water and sustainability, for which the club has undertaken reforms and investment in facilities and machinery.

Some minor changes were also made to the design and aesthetics of the course. Although funds were not available for major works, the greens’ chairman encouraged members to make private donations for trees, plants and bridges and, between 2010 and 2018, 334 new trees and large shrubs were planted.

Between 2014 and 2019, a lot of work was done to increase the visual appeal of the course, particularly with the laying out of new tees and more bridges.

A healthy €27,000 was raised from private donations from members to enable the bridges on the 9th, 12th and 18th holes to be rebuilt in Casares stone.

Casares stone was also used to build walls and flowerbeds to enhance the entrance to the driving range.

In 2015, the course was graced with a pair of rare Tetraclinis Articulata trees, which are now a protected species.

At that time the main priority was the replacement of the greens, which were by then more than 40 years old. The first was a simple replacement of the existing one, followed

by the 2nd and 12th.

At that stage, the board decided that it would be desirable to have consistency in the redesign of the remaining greens, and an approach was made to Gary Player Design (GPD). Its vice-president Steven MacFarlane, a Scottish architect, agreed to prepare the designs and oversee the construction of the remaining 15 greens, and also many of the course bunkers.

The course today

All new greens have been built to USGA specifications, as was the new enlarged putting green in front of the clubhouse and the new short-game practice area and green next to the 10th tee.

The practice ground also received attention.

An improved artificial surface was provided for the shaded practice area and a members-only grass area was identified.

Meanwhile, the company Surtec produced a comprehensive technical report highlighting what was needed to take the course to a sustainable next level.

Areas for improvement were identified and procedures, costs, staffing levels and closure times were quantified.

In addition, a major investment in machinery and technology was made at the time. Following this report, it was agreed to create ‘naturalised’ areas to reduce maintenance and improve appearance, kikuyu grass contamination was eradicated from fairways, tees and rough and a comprehensive review of greens and collars was carried out to measure consistency of performance.

As a result, all collars were renewed in 2020 and work began to fix an inner collar to prevent contamination of the greens.

General work on the course continued through 2021 and 2022 with improvements to the paths, tee surrounds and drainage.

Golfing paradise

THE Tarbuck Classic golf tournament boosted the image of the Costa del Sol and brought in 25 teams each year, captained by various England stars and managers such as Matt Busby, Nick Faldo and actors such as Robert Powell.

It took over four courses, including the El Paraiso and Valderrama and did around four tournaments a year.

It was a must-attend for so many celebrities and

MEMORIES: Les Dawson played in a 1982 tournament, while (left) Matt Busby and Nick Faldo

SCENIC: The thousands of new trees and lakes created have made the course one of the most beautifal in Andalucia

A major investment in machinery and technology was made

really helped to raise the profile of the coast.

Pirates and Plants

Find out how this booming seaside town is so much more than sun, sea and sand, writes Pablo

Balbontin

DID you know pirates regularly attacked the coast of Estepona in the 1700s? Or that its bullring is the only asymmetrical structure of its kind in the world? This gem of the Costa del Sol is

packed full of history and amaz ing facts and those two are just for starters. Here are 11 stupendous Este pona assets that easily make it one of the coolest resorts on the coast.

IT’S OWN WEREWOLF

Among the many sculptures gracing Estepona’s streets, one soars above the rest: a creature that’s half wolf, half man. It’s a homage to the Spanish actor Paul Naschy for his contribution to Spanish horror films of the 70s, when he was cast in his most famous role as a werewolf.

Tombs intact

attack by sea, known as almenaras , which still stand today.

Rare species

The Sierra Blanca mountains backing Estepona and the rest of the Costa del Sol are the only place in the world to find forests entirely composed of rare Abies pinsapo Spanish fir trees.

The first traces of human existence in Estepona can be found in the mountains in the shape of the Corominas Necropolis, whose dolmen cave tombs and graves remain almost exactly the same as they were 5.000 years ago.

INDEPENDENCE

One of the most valuable documents kept in the Historical Archive of Estepona is the Villazgo letter. Written and signed by Felipe V in 1729, it grants the title of independence to Estepona, previously controlled by Marbella since 1552.

Europe’s Biggest Orchidarium

Not only does it hold the size record at 15,000 cubic metres, this monster glass house houses an incredible 8,000 different species of exotic orchids.

A remarkable tower

The Lisbon Earthquake of 1755 was the most devastating earthquake known in the history of southwest Europe, triggering a tsunami that spread to the Med. Estepona’s church didn’t make it, but the tower did and it’s still standing today, although it had to wait until the 20th century to get its famous clock.

A TREND-BUCKING BULL RING

Estepona’s plaza de toros isn’t the oldest, biggest or best in Spain but it’s one of a kind - the only asymmetrical bullring in the world. Its clever shape was designed by Juan Mora Urbano to offer spectators more seating in the shade than under the hot Spanish sun, and it has hosted numerous sport and cultural events since it opened in 1972.

No Micky Mouse town

If things had been different, Eurodisney Estepona would have been coining it in from millions of visitors around the world. The resort was the original choice for Eurodisney back in the early Nineties before the project was finally awarded to Paris for political reasons. But frankly we prefer it that way.

A GHOSTLY PAST

Estepona was once a ghost town like many of the depopulated pueblos in inland Andalucia today. After years of war, it was conquered and then abandoned by King Enrique IV of Castille in 1461, when it became a wild and dangerous place to be. It was rescued from near extinction in 1502 when 30 families were encouraged back to reboot the town we know today.

A split personality

Estepona has been inhabited by many civilisations down the centuries - Phoenicians, Romans Muslims - who all called it something different: Alextebbuna, Asttebbuna, Estebbuna and its present name, christened by Enrique IV.

MODERN VILLA ESTEPONA, MALAGA

4 Bed | 5 Bath | 330m2 Build ref. LVN-0005

The best location on the New Golden Mile, just 10 minutes drive from Puerto Banús and 15 minutes from the center of Marbella or Estepona.

APARTMENT ESTEPONA, MALAGA

2 Bed | 2 Bath | 100m2 Build ref. 100739656

Beautiful fully furnished apartment with sea and mountain views in the Playa del Angel urbanization.This property has a spacious living room from which you access the balcony.

APARTMENT ESTEPONA, MALAGA

3 Bed | 1 Bath | 82m2 Build ref. 100739654

Bright renovated apartment in the Parque Antena urbanization. Located in a residential area with a swimming pool and green areas, 5-10 minutes by car from the city center.

SEMI-DETACHED HOUSE CASARES, MALAGA

3 Bed | 2 Bath | 151m2 Build ref. LVN-0035

Fantastic townhouse in Marina de Casares. A 3-minute walk from the beach, quiet environment. Private garden and swimming pool.

APARTMENT MANILVA, MALAGA

2 Bed | 1 Bath | 70m2 Build ref. LVN-0006

South west facing, first floor apartment in Manilva old town. Communal pool ,air con, marble floors.

APARTMENT ESTEPONA, MALAGA

2 Bed | 2 Bath | 97m2 Build ref. LVN-0007

Luxury living at its best in the Mirador de Estepona Hills. Class and sophistication await you! Live the luxurious life in this elegant oasis nestled in nature in one of the most prestigious areas of Estepona.

APARTMENT BENAHAVÍS, MALAGA

2 Bed | 2 Bath | 170m2 Build ref. YR-00001BIS

Discover the ultimate luxury living experience in the heart of Marbella’s golf valley in Lomas del Marqués, an exclusive residential neighborhood nestled between the most soughtafter locations in Puerto Banús, San Pedro de Alcántara and Benahavis.

GROUND FLOOR APARTMENT NUEVA ANDALUCIA, MALAGA

3 Bed | 2 Bath | 137m2 Build ref. LVN-00025

Beautiful and cozy furnishings: living/dining room. Exit to the big sunny terrace. 1 master bedroom, with fitted wardrobes and a bathroom (en-suite).

No one in the world sells more properties than REMAX

WHITE-WASHED: The area surrounding the beautiful centre was once grazing ground for cattle

SELLING THE DREAM

Laurens Van Noten explains the advantages of using a real estate professional when selling or buying

IN 2023, many people, especially the younger generations, are trying to sell a home through social media or online marketing.

After a few weeks, they often come to the conclusion that they are not reaching their target group. Furthermore, selling a home is not something you do every week. Most individuals do this no more than once or twice in their lives, so they have little or no experience in such negotiations.

Building promoters for their part often have an internal sales department, but certainly during the early years they do not yet have an extensive file of potential customers.

For all the reasons mentioned above, approximately 82.7% of sellers

Life on the seas

Estepona’s seafaring tradition is the salt adding seasoning to its tourist offer

STILL a working fishing town, much of Estepona’s cash flow surges from the port.

The importance of the maritime trade is obvious at the Ethnographic Museum, which showcases the ancient craft of boat making and the cornucopia of marine life living off this golden coast. Museum guide Mariano Jobreas, who moved to the town from Madrid, shows off a wall displaying dozens of complicated knots.

“To become a fisherman you have to learn to tie every single one of these.

“You have to be prepared for all eventualities out at sea,” he says gravely.

The models of fishing boats still in use look so real, he jestingly assures me that the working vessels are much bigger.

On a trip to the port Miguel Ferrer Gonzalez explains his boat trips.

“I came here because Estepona is more of a family town,” he beams, explaining that he spends his days sailing around in search of

HUB: The port is still a hive for fishermen, but also offers a melting-pot of bars and restaurants these days

dolphins.

It sounds like money for old rope as dolphins aren’t hard to find - beach goers often spot shoals of them frolicking offshore.

“It’s not an office job, and if you like the sea, this is the job for you,” agrees Miguel.

If you’d like a turn at the helm yourself, the Real Club Nautico houses a sailing and kayak school with a dry dock for sailboats and a nautically-themed restaurant for hungry sailors returning home from the sea.

Estepona is still home to hundreds of working fishing families whose ancestors have been casting their nets here for centuries. Now this great maritime tradition is continued by their offspring who brave the elements to this day to put fresh fish on

(eventually) count on the services of a real estate agency in Estepona.

Firstly, this creates more security and safety for them. In a private sale, the selling party often does not know who is coming over and can also be confronted with dubious practices. Other sellers give an interested buyer an option for a period of time until it turns out that the potential buyer does not have the resources to finance the

transaction.

Real estate agencies have added value for both parties. They supervise the home visits and take care of the integral administrative process, which relieves both buyer and seller.

LAURENS Van Noten (pictured) and his team set up RE/MAX Dream Home Estepona in 2022. The young entrepreneurs managed to make a name for themselves in the real estate market in Estepona and the surrounding area in no time.

“We continue to invest in innovations and guarantee fair and market-based valuations. To this end, we developed an application that calculates the value of a property based on a number of parameters and presents the esti-

Making a name

mate in a clear report. This quickly provides the customer with a transparent and correct estimate,” explained Laurens.

They are also skilled in conducting very specific negotiations. This often results in a compromise that works out better for the seller than hoped for, and which immediately earns back the commission for the real estate agency. Thanks to the intervention of the real estate office, the buyer can often negotiate more interesting conditions with banks and renovation contractors.

“Remax Dream Home now has 12 agents from Sotogrande to Marbella.

At the beginning of this year we also started a partnership with Real Estate agents in England, France, the Netherlands and Belgium.”

Building promoters who join forces with a real estate agency often see their properties sold faster, because such agencies have a broad customer base of people looking for a home.

HUB: The port is still a hive for fishermen, but also offers a melting-pot of bars and restaurants these days

VINTAGE: Estepona was once a quaint fishing village

GLOBAL GOURMET

IT feels like a hole in the wall, but you walk into a more charming space, lit up with Japanese lanterns and a simple pine wood counter.

This is Takeko, one of nearly a dozen restaurants scattered along the Estepona coast.

An original menu with plenty of sushi and hot ramen dishes, it sums up the international nature of the resort that three decades ago was only really good for fried fish.

Stroll up every backstreet in Estepona these days and you’ll find a new place to eat.

They emerge around every corner and on every sleepy flower-laden square.

Both at lunchtime and at night the place is heaving with tourists looking for a decent meal, so you really have to pity the poor lemmings staying at the all-inclu-

sive joints, like Ikos, on the outskirts. But the new influx of restaurateurs needn’t worry with a trio of new boutique hotels opening in the centre, not to mention a string of other places to stay.

Whether you’re after Thai, Mexican or Chinese you are spoilt for choice and there are plenty of good tapas joints and wine bars to

Continues on page 16

BAR OPEN: from 12:00

KITCHEN OPEN: 12:00-16:00 & 18.30-21:00 Closed Wednesday

Avda Luis Braille, Puerto Paraiso, Blq 6, Local 14, Estepona, 29680

Puerto

The melting pot starts coming to the boil as Estepona develops an international food scene, writes Jon Clarke

INSPIRING: And the 100-plus wines by the glass make Casa del Ray a real winner

NEW BROOM: Takeko and a delicious dish (right)

WHERE TO EAT

From front

Spoilt for choice

boot.

Heading in any direction from the two key squares of Plaza Ortiz and Plaza de las Flores, you will find a dozen interesting places to eat.

Top of the pile is certainly Casa del Rey, the trailblazer that set up just off Plaza de los Flores nearly a decade ago now.

It’s a stylish joint with high ceilings inside and a wall of amazing wines, an incredible 100-plus of them served by the glass.

It’s a tight ship run by capable half-Dutch expat Liliana, who has been running businesses around Estepona for over two decades. Another good wine bar with tapas (and

FEEL THE VIBE

Old Town Boutique Hotel offers the best of all worlds

MANY people choose Estepona as a place to visit for its charming old town as well as its kilometres of golden beaches.

While most of the town’s hotels offer the beaches as a standard attraction, they need a taxi or a long walk to reach a decent restaurant or enjoy the historic centre.

But the Old Town Boutique Hotel offers the best of both worlds.

As its name suggests, it is at the heart of old Estepona on Calle Caridad, one of the town’s prettiest streets. Not only are restaurants and the best of Spanish cafe culture just a step away, so is the beach at a five minute stroll.

The adults only hotel opened in 2021 after husband and wife duo Simone and Giusy undertook massive renovations on a once crumbling townhouse.

Their hard work certainly paid off. The selection of rooms - including a junior suite - have been thought-

fully redesigned while keeping original details, including and Alucian geometric tiles, and has stunning artworks handpicked by the couple. Modern furnishings, enormous showers, bright white cotton sheets, Nespresso machines and cava in the mini bar all dial up the luxury feel.

And the hotel prides itself on being as environmentally sound as possible with no throwaway plastics used at all. They even supply plastic-free toiletries in the room, including toothbrushes to help keep a smile on your face.

And it is also the perfect place to enjoy a relaxing pre-dinner drink on their rooftop terrace lounge which has spectacular views of the historic old town - as do all the rooms.

For a more up-beat vibe they have a bar on lively Calle Caridad where you can soak up the Spanish atmosphere.

For more information or bookings, please call +34 673 713 032, email book@theoldtownestepona.com, search www. theoldtownestepona.com or visit us at Address 94 Calle Caridad

Estepona AN 29680 Spain

sometimes music) is Take a Wine, in Plaza Manilva, which only opens in the evening.. A charming leafy square bedecked by orange trees and geraniums, it was set up by former Rioja businessman Anselmo, who combines his love of vino with music, particularly classical, an area he has worked for decades.

Also in the old town and great for lunch is Etcetera, run by expat business dynamo Alex and her mum, who’s one of the best cooks in town. Half way along Calle Real, it has a big range of international dishes, with excellent burgers and fabulous asparagus croquettes. In Plaza Ortiz,

REFRESH: Be sure to check out Palm Beach for a cocktail and spend the day luxuriating while (below) Take a wine

look out for Sur, a brilliant Argentinian, where owner Juan is a hands-on and hard-working cook, who usually has much of his family around helping. Among other delicacies you are guaranteed superb juicy empanadas and lamb tagine. For fish, take your pick from El Pescador or La Rada, which are long-running rivals, but both have excellent wild fresh fish. For chiringuitos the best place

to kick back and spend the day, hanging out on a sunbed, then enjoying cocktails at night is Palm Beach

A superb fish lunch with espeto skewers, it is run by friendly Dutchman Erwin, whose prawn pil pil samosas and crab spring rolls are legendary. Looking for good pasta? Up in the newer part of town look out for the excellent Italian La Carbonara where they make their own pasta fresh in the kitchens every day.

There are some excellent wines by the glass and always plenty of starters and mains off the menu.

La Alcaria de Ramos may be out of the way but it’s worth seeking it out,

somewhere between the two famous golf courses of El Paraiso and Atalaya.

An ancient coaching inn, it is charm personified with some amazing Spanish tourist posters and has wonderful views of the coasts sitting up in an enviable position. And for something completely different head for the coolest spot by far on the Estepona coast… the La Catalina restaurant and beer factory.

This is fast becoming one of the hippest places to hang out on a Friday night and over the weekend when there are a string of live events taking place. But the food is also excellent and the beer and wine is hard to beat, being local and organic.

YUM!: It’s a joy to eat out in the sylish old town

BOUTIQUE DELIGHT!

Estepona has two new kids on the block - right in the heart of town

ESTEPONA has been rapidly developing a buzzing hotel scene since it became the Garden of the Costa del Sol.

A duo of new boutique hotels have opened over the last few years in the centre, while the coast has seen a string of new four and five star joints.

The best are renovations of charming old buildings in the heart of the town. The Old Town Hotel, on Calle Caridad, one of Estepona’s prettiest streets, opened in 2021 after husband and wife Simone and Giusy undertook

SUPERB VIEWS: at the Old Town Hotel in the heart of Estepona

massive renovations on a once crumbling townhouse.

Their hard work certainly paid off. The entire building has been thoughtfully redesigned while keeping original details, including Andalucian geometric tiles and has stunning artworks handpicked by the couple. Modern furnishings, enormous showers, bright white cotton sheets, Nespresso machines and cava in the mini bar all dial up the luxury feel. Another excellent place to stay is the recent-

ly-opened Hotel Estepona Plaza, a beautifully reformed building on Plaza Ortiz. One of the old town’s most bustling squares, full of great restaurants, the hotel has been tastefully renovated preserving as much of the original building as possible. This includes the charming hydraulic tiles in the lobby, which are laid out in their original grids. The three-dozen rooms are well appointed and good value, while the highlight has to be the incredible rooftop pool with dreamy views across the town.

Tapas events and trails

Many municipalities, such as Lanjaron in La Alpujarra, have an annual ‘ Ruta de la Tapa ’ event. Visitors are invited to sample the tapa in qualifying

bars, and rate it on a marking sheet. The bar with the best tapa usually wins a prize, as do some of the participants. With maybe 20 bars participating, this is an event where you need a designated driver - if you don’t want to consume endless

Tapas hints and tips

● Avoid obvious tourist traps. Instead, seek old man bars (sometimes called the pensionista) and those popular with Spanish workers. Any venue with a busy terrace full of locals is likely to serve decent tapas

● Don’t turn up too early, before the kitchen is open, or you’re likely to receive crisps with olives rather than hot food. Around 2pm and 9pm are good timeslots.

● Don’t be shy to tell the barman if you have food allergies (sin gluten) or any strong dislikes. Once the prawns have arrived, it’s a bad moment to say you dislike seafood.

● Remember that tapa is a gift – so try not to cause offense by pulling awful faces or criticising the standard of cuisine.

● Don’t openly feed tapas to your dog – it’s more polite to put it in a serviette and take it home for Fido to enjoy later.

● Some bars don’t serve tapas with agua con gas or batidos. Check what qualifies before ordering a round of drinks.

rounds of alcohol-free drinks. In Granada central, you can find tapas tours with multilingual guides. This could be a good option for tourists who definitely want to eliminate any chance of receiving trotters or crab sticks.

Solar solutions

Improve your home’s efficiency with the experts at Eclipse Energy

AT a time when homeowners benefit from increasing the energy efficiency of their properties - reducing bills and increasing the resale valueEclipse Energy, based in La Herradura, has a range of solutions.

An award-winning solar panel company from the UK, Eclipse has come to Spain to help clients with energy-efficient home improvements. The company offers over 20 years’ experience.

It secures the best deals on solar panels and battery systems, with a fast turnaround, reliable service, and top-quality materials, guaranteed for 20 years.

A team of accredited installers creates the perfect solar system for your home, so you generate your own power and reduce your reliance on the national grid. They will advise on the most suitable system for your property, your individual needs, and how to benefit from your new technology.

A wealth of sunshine…

Within Europe, nowhere beats Andalusia for solar installations, as the

region receives 3,000 hours of sunlight every year.

A typical solar system will generate more than twice as much electricity annually than it would in other European countries, such as the UK. Home battery storage, combined with solar panels, is a popular form of generating and storing your own electricity in Spain.

This allows you to use the energy you generate during the day, whenever you need it. If you’re regularly at home in the daytime and use most of the electricity during these hours (maybe you work remotely or are heating a pool), a battery may not be the best choice.

However, if you want to use more electricity at night (for lighting, electric heating, or charging your electric car), a battery is the perfect way to maximise your solar panels, reduce your emissions, and save money.

The Eclipse team speaks English and is ready to help design the perfect system for your home. Use the code SOLAR445 to claim €1,000 off your new system.

For more information, please call +34 711 018 165; email: info@eclipseenergy.es; visit www.eclipseenergy.es or come and see us at C/ Sacramento, 5, La Herradura, Granada, 18697

Readers who were scythed from the electoral roll slam the authorities

Cut-off with no vote

WITH reference to your report on the ‘Brits voting in the Spanish local elections’ (all editions), I have no problem understanding the facts in your report.

I lived in the municipality of San Miguel de Salinas for a number of years and duly voted as and when necessary.

For personal reasons, unfortunately, I have been back in the UK for two years, and regarding these current elections I am led to believe that now

the ‘Brits’ have to register with the town hall to qualify to vote. Apparently VERY few Brits have done so. In your report you do not mention anywhere about the delivery of the voting applications by Correos, which were delivered way after the cut-off time for registering.

Alan Norris, UK

Not just Brits

MYSELF and my family are Icelandic and have been living in Spain, registered on the padron and electoral roll, since the year 2000.

We were also thrown off the list with zero notification.

We then received, via Correos, the notification that we had to re-register by January… in March!

And then we were told by the ayuntamiento that there was nothing that they could do for us. We have been living here for 23 years and voted many times.

We are very active members of the community, I myself being a board member of our local football club. Unlike with Brexit, there was no change in the relations between Iceland and the EU or Spain whatsoever during this time. We have received no explanation from anyone and we believe this to be a highly illegal act by the authorities.

Hans Birgisson, San Miguel de Salinas

RIP Guy

IT was such devastating news to hear about the death of Guy Hunter-Watts - my wonderful cousin and godfather to our daughter Amelia. We have many happy memories of Christmas and holidays spent together as children. He passed away in a place he loved, doing what he loved. May you rest in peace you incredible human. Always in our hearts dear Guy Sending love to the rest of the family.

Sarah, Andy, Alex & Amelia

ESTEPONA | 2 BEDS | 2 BATHS | 79 M2

REF: STRANDP2501 | PRICE: 152,500€

ANGELIQUE VAN LUIJN +34 663 852 188

EXCLUSIVE PROPERTIES FOR SALE

MALAGA | 1 BED | 1 BATH | 50 M2

REF: STRANDM2053 | PRICE: 240,000€

BEATRIZ VACA JIMÉNEZ: +34 687 680 556

MIJAS COSTA | 2 BEDS | 2 BATHS | 85 M2 REF: STRANDP5099 | PRICE: 271,000€ JORGE GONZÁLEZ: +34 653 80 06 72 MANUEL RODRÍGUEZ: +34 664 027 450

MARBELLA | 2 BEDS | 2 BATHS | 120 M2

REF: STRAND7551 | PRICE: 299,000€

ROBERT ALVÁREZ JOHNSEN +34 609 64 83 69

CARTAMA | 3 BEDS | 1 BATH | 253 M2

REF: STRANDM3517 | PRICE: 539,000€

MACARENA PATON: +34 635 11 95 79

OWEN BURKE: +34 649 379 015

BUENA VISTA, MIJAS 4 BEDS | 3 BATHS | 299 M2

STRANDP7500 | PRICE: 775,000€

BRUUN JENSEN +34 711 09 35 25

ESTEPONA | 3 BEDS | 3 BATHS | 200 M2

REF: STRAND2241 | PRICE: 1,272,000€

CRISTINA GALÁN +34 652 662 363

ESTEPONA | 5 BEDS | 4 BATHS | 494 M2

REF: STRAND3605 | PRICE: 1,990,000€

KATARIINA SALMELIN +34 629 91 72 94

FRIGILIANA | 6 BEDS | 5 BATHS | 420 M2 REF: STRANDM5502 | PRICE: 1,295,000€

JOE BYRNE: +34 694 44 85 59

MARBELLA | 4 BEDS | 3 BATHS | 330 M2

REF: STRAND5525 | PRICE: 2,650,000 € EMILE ISSA +34 663 44 29 80 ANA TARAZONA +34 672 726 220

MALAGA | 6 BEDS | 5 BATHS | 420 M2

REF: STRANDM5512 | PRICE: 1,650,000€

ADELA GIRÁLDEZ GARCIA +34 690 37 80 88

CAROLINE SYLFVANDER +34 613 241 313

MARBELLA | 5 BEDS | 5 BATHS | 459 M2

REF: STRAND9582 | PRICE: 4,250,000€

MICHELLE BENDEL +34 666 623172

CALL OR WHATSAPP OUR AGENTS TO BOOK A VIEWING TODAY! YOU CAN FIND MORE EXCLUSIVE PROPERTIES ON OUR WEBSITE. CONTACT US: +34 676 90 15 19 |

| STRAND.ES

Pre-paid Funeral Plans

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

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

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

Flat pack boost

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

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

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

Balancing the scales

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

By Simon Hunter

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

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

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

The draft law also states, howev-

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

CABIN CREW PAY DEAL

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

rises of 4% and 2.5% in 2024 and 2025.

Although a deal has been reached, the Air Europa conflict with its pilots is still active.

Eight one day strikes have been called, following the four-days stoppage that took place at the start of May.

Across

1 Obstacle (4)

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

8 Buffoons (6)

9 Small purple plum (6)

10 Obliterate his model, reconstructed (8)

11 Central part (4)

12 Runs into (5)

13 Foe (5)

17 Vomit (4)

19 Free from evil spirits (8) 20 Dusky? (6)

21 Line on a weather map (6)

22 Of inferior quality (6)

23 Ultimate (4)

Down

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

3 Idle talk (6)

4 Enlightened one, literally (6)

5 Only half knocked out? (4-9)

6 Scent (5)

7 Swindle (6)

14 Lose (6)

15 Well-bred people (6)

16 Kind of climber (6)

18 Rate of expenditure of energy (5)

All solutions are on page 20

Bumper year

MAX60%

was first announced by Socialist Party Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez in March, ahead of International Women’s Day.

Ministers have now announced further details that had been approved, which will affect panels

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

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

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

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

She added that the legislation, which will now be sent to Congress for debate and approval, will put Spain ‘on the cutting edge in terms of equality and in terms of the breaking of the glass ceiling’.

WHY HAVE DISCRETIONARY FUND MANAGERS (DFM’s) AND MODEL PORTFOLIOS (MPS’s) PRODUCED NEGATIVE RETURNS IN 2022?

WITH COVID-19 restrictions now a distant memory, the tourism sector in Spain is enjoying a bumper 2023. According to figures from the National Statistics Institute (INE), hotel stays were up 21% on the year before to 80.9 million during the first four months of the year.

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

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

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

Foreign

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

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

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

The 60/40 model portfolio, which consists of 60% equities and 40% bonds, has been a popular and successful investment strategy for well for over 50 years. A combination of growth and income providing a safe way for investors to grow their investments without taking excessive risk. However, in recent years, experts have questioned whether these models can continue to deliver risk adjusted positive returns moving forward. The criticism centres around a lack of diversification to mitigate risk.

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

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

The 60/40 model worked well in the past because shares and bonds were negatively

 Understanding domicile, avoiding UK inheritance tax, and positioning your assets.

 Andalucía’s improved succession tax rates and the benefit to your family.

 Ensuring your wills are correctly scripted to achieve your wishes.

Small group sessions, held in our local offices

We may hold more sessions, depending on demand.

correlated delivering a diversification effect. The equity element performed well in good times, with safer assets like bonds appreciating in value and providing a yield during bad times.

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

In conclusion, while the 60/40 model portfolio may have been a reliable investment strategy in the past, its relevance in today’s market is being questioned. As a result, you may need to explore alternative investment strategies to achieve your investment objectives. An actively managed portfolio which invests in a broader range of asset classes may offer potential benefits and may be worth considering for investors seeking better returns and more effective risk management in a debt ridden, slow growth, inflationary environment.

We are in the Costa del Sol fully available for meetings throughout the week from Sotogrande to Nerja and inland Andalucia.

FAIR’S FAIR: More equitable slice of the pie

Equities and bonds have become more positively correlated

FOOD, DRINK & TRAVEL

Safety first

ONCE considered the most dangerous gorge walkway in the world, the revamped Caminito del Rey is about to become one of the safest.

The crumbling path perched high up the El Chorro gorge was officially closed in the 1980s, but intrepid climbers still used it - with fatal results. Unofficially, some 27 deaths and 74 serious injuries are reported to have occurred until it was finally renovated and reopened in 2015.

Despite its excellent safety record since then, the Malaga provincial council and the Caminito del Rey’s operators have come together to improve safety.

They have commissioned geologists using drones and lasers to find which sections of the suspended walkway are most exposed to danger, and use the information to improve safety.

Busy summer

Prices soar but holiday rentals selling fast

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

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

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

The greatest number of reservations have come in Catalunya and the Valencian Community at 88%, closely followed by the Madrid region and the Balearic Islands on 87%.

Tourist flats are one of the main accommodation options

IT will be a gourmet’s delight - seven Michelin starred chefs from Malaga will be putting on a 14 course meal on the waterfront at Puerto Banus.

The June 18 event is designed to showcase Malaga’s cuisine in the third edition of the culinary event Unidos.

Participating will be Benito Gomez from Bardal with two Michelin stars and Mario Cachinero, from Skina with another two. Alongside them will be Jose Carlos Garcia from Jose Carlos Garcia Restaurante, Mau-

By Alex Trelinski

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

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

Other bargains include coastal

RICH FOOD

ricio Giovanini from Messina, Diego Gallegos from Sollo, and Fernando Villasclaras from El Lago. Rounding off the chefs is Diego del Rio from Boho Club who earned a star while at El Lago.

Remember to bring your wallets thoughtickets are €300 plus IVA a head if you book a table of 10, or €363 if booked individually.

Dear Jennifer:

FEEL SECURE

Have you protected your family in the correct way?

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

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

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

Come and check out this exciting new restaurant found on the road up to Mijas Pueblo!

Set in its own grounds, El Muro Mijas has a relaxed atmosphere and offers ample private parking.

We have a chill out area as well as a terrace looking up to Mijas Pueblo as well as two other terraces and an inside dining area.

Our menu has many different dishes including meats, fish, pasta, pizza, Asian cuisine and others to suit all, including various vegetarian options.

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

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

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

Domestic

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

FOR MORE INFORMATION OR A QUOTATION, PLEASE CALL ONE OF MY OFFICES, EMAIL INFO@ JENNIFERCUNNINGHAM.NET OR VISIT THE WEBSITE WWW.JENNIFERCUNNINGHAM.NET

Wednesday - Friday: 17.00 - 23.00

Saturday & Sunday: 12.00 - 23.00

T: +34 951 104 424 www.aicorestaurants.com

IN THE FAMILY

Victoria Car Hire offer a great service from Gatwick airport

FOOD, DRINK & TRAVEL

UK Self Drive

£135 per week

Fully inclusive

No hidden extras Delivery

VICTORIA UK Self Drive Car Hire is a family run business started in 1979 in Horley Town and just a five drive to and from London Gatwick Airport. Popular vehicle makes such as Ford, Vauxhall and Nissan are used for the small and medium sized family cars available for hire, to include manual transmission with a limited number of automatics.

All cars are supplied in a clean condition and fully maintained with a full 24 hour breakdown coverage by the AA.

Our customers will be met outside the arrival terminals at both South and North collection points and will then be driven to our office in Horley, where after the paperwork, payment and a short demonstration of the car controls, the car will be handed over.

The whole collection process is very swift and efficient for the customers onward journey.

On completion, the car is returned to our office at the agreed time and our customers are driven to the departure terminal at Gatwick.

No Hidden Extras. Fully Inclusive.

Reservations Monday to Friday 9 am to 4pm. Prices from £135 per week. Fuel in the vehicles is on a like for like basis.

Credit and debit card payment accepted. Collection and delivery to Gatwick Airport only.

FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE CALL 0044 1293 432155

OP Puzzle solutions

Quick Crossword

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

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

Calentita returns

Get a taste of the best of Gibraltarian and Spanish food

By John Culatto

FOOD-LOVERS in Gibraltar and all the way along the Costa del Sol will be wetting their lips at the return of the ever popular Calentita festival.

Named after the Rock’s traditional dish, a greasy but tasty combination of chick-pea flour and olive oil, the food festival will take place on July 8.

Organisers Word of Mouth and Gibmedia will follow the same format as Jubilita last year, which saw three different squares on the Rock feature different food stands.

Apart from this Jubilita festival to celebrate the ill-fated Queen’s platinum jubilee, it will be the first Calentita festival since 2019.

“This year we are hoping to welcome back some of our regular stalls as well as entice new participants,” a Gibraltar Cultural Services spokesperson said. The festival normally features a combination of food eaten on the Rock, Spanish regional favourites and cuisine from all over the world including India, China and Europe.

“I am thrilled that this very popular social and cultural event will be back again this year,” Minister for Culture John Cortes said.

“It’s a unique way of celebrating and enjoying the diverse cultural identities that make up our wonderful community.”

Calentita has a long history in Gibraltar, is sold at local shops

Museum strike

STAFF at one of the world's most-visited museum - the Museo Picasso Malaga(MPM) - are going out on a threehour strike this Friday to protest against low salaries.

Some 85% of workers balloted backed the strike call and will walk out between 10am and 1pm.

Discover a new gastronomic concept at Candela Marbella, a restaurant right in the heart of the charming old town.

Enjoy traditional local and national dishes with unique international touches and flavours thanks to head chef Andy Zillner

tel: 646 88 84 31 candelamarbella.com

Pl. Gral. Chinchilla, 2, 29601 Marbella, Málaga

and is often enjoyed as street food or as part of a meal. Other dishes, such as Rosto (a beef or pork stew) and Torta de Acelga (a Swiss chard tart), also reflect the cultural diversity and culinary heritage of the region.

The organisers will shortly open an application process for those wishing to put on a stall at the local festival.

They say an 8% wage rise does not wake up for modest rises in recent years that have not kept up with inflation. The protest has been timed to coincide with the first annual meeting of the Museum's foundation.

The MPM works council says it carried out a survey at 10 other major Spanish museums including Malaga's Museo Carmen Thyssen and the Museo Picasso in Barcelona.

They discovered that salaries and employment conditions at the MPM were significantly inferior to those elsewhere.

Liverpool link

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

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

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

And what about a dream day out with a gourmet lunch on Candela’s stunning new yacht?

“A choice of four distinct menus, one vegan, perfect for a fun - or romantic - day out on the high seas!”

ALWAYS POPULAR: The Calentita festival

FOOD,DRINK & TRAVEL

Full Marxa

Chiringuito holds its tasty inauguration party at SO/Sotogrande Spa & Golf Resort

GIANT brochettes of beef, wild turbot and exquisite canapes marked the opening of one of the most exciting new restaurants in Sotogrande for years.

Hundreds of high society guests were treated to a night of entertainment and glamour at the launch of MARXA Chiringuito.

The vibrant party, attended by local dignitaries and artists, perfectly captured the essence of the new restaurant at five star So/Sotogrande hotel.

As the sun set over the upmarket Costa del Sol resort, guests

were treated with trays of delicacies, including a delicious gazpacho made of grilled tomatoes and a refreshing tapa of melon with ham.

Meanwhile, tasty snacks of aubergine, mushrooms, cauliflower, pepper and tomatoes were the perfect vegetarian option.

Meat lovers were spoilt for choice with a range of grilled chorizo, tender pork and beautifully presented brochettes of beef.

“We have an impressive fivemetre-long-grill, which is excellent,” explained Executive

all kinds of things, in particular local fish. I would recom mend a fantastic wild turbot for two people. And of course, we have meat of the best quality such as Argentinian Angus beef.”

Fruity

The food was accompanied by a brilliant wine selection, including Monteabellon Verdejo, a fruity white from the Rueda, while guests had unlimited glasses of Gran Juve & Camps cava. Homemade sangria and caipirinhas were also well re ceived. The event was also a chance

SPECTACULAR: setting and, below, giant brochettes

for well-known local artists to show their talent.

Graffiti artist D.Darko, who has had his work displayed in Madrid, Venice and Berlin, spent all night spontaneously painting a three-metre giraffe sculpture.

“He is one of the best graffiti artists,” said Marta Bernad, artist and director of ‘Al Aire Libre’, a company that manages artists and projects around Spain. Make-up artist Cris Bueno was also giving the party her personal, different touch.

“I am the

creator of ‘Alouest’, which in French means that you live in your own world and that you behave in a different way. I did not want to do what every other make-up artist does, so I started my own creative project in which I ask people to be themselves and to do what they really want,” Bueno said. The three artists coloured the event with their energy and

personality, which combined with the ABBA songs played by the two DJs and the gorgeous mountain and sea views. Those wanting to enjoy a magical night at MARXA Chiringuito will be able to do so very soon.

“Our official opening is on June 1,” assistant manager Catalina Cueto told the Olive Press.

SKILLED CHEFS and lavish cocktails

Chef Leandro Caballero. “We will be focusing on

GOLF MEMBERSHIP

FOR SALE

x2 Villa Padierna golf club memberships

If you are interested, please send an email to: j.a.frerichs@oncodianova.com

ADVERT SALES

BIOLOGY • CHEMISTRY • PHYSICS

ONE-TO-ONE ONLINE TUITION

for International GCSE students by an experienced teacher and examiner.

For more information, please contact barbaratuition@gmail.com

JOB OPPORTUNITIES

NEW JOB?

DAY COMING UP NO EXPERIENCE NEEDED (3 days training provided)

All applications may apply under the strictest of confidence- Charlotte - +34 682 774 107

CAT AND DOG WORLD

KENNELS AND CATTERY RESIDENCIA CANINA Y FELINA ALHAURÍN EL GRANDE

LOW COST

CLÍNICA VETERINARIA DE CASTRACÍON PARA PERROS Y GATOS NEUTERING CLINIC FOR CATS AND DOGS

Pidanos cita y presupuesto Call us for prices and appointments

Tel: 952 11 29 78 – www.catanddogworld.com

Sweet Jesus

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

IN a medical first for Spain, a baby has been born to a woman who received a uterus transplant.

The child, Jesus, was born to Tamara Franco in Barcelona, after the organ was donated to her by her sister in 2020 via a complicated operation that lasted more than 20 hours.

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

By Simon Hunter

born with ovaries, but lacks a uterus and fallopian tubes.

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

Medical staff at the Clinic Hospital in Barcelona chose Franco as their first case for the pioneering surgery.

After the procedure was completed, the challenge was for her to become pregnant.

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

But the pregnancy was not

Sugar, sugar

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

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

without its complications, and Franco suffered preeclampsia – high blood pressure that could have been caused by the medication she has to take to stop her body from rejecting the organ.

At the seven-month point of the pregnancy, the baby was delivered via a caesarian, with no complications. The child, Jesus, was kept in a neonatal intensive care unit and was discharged once he weighed 3.2 kilograms and his lungs were sufficiently strong.

According to the doctors who oversaw the procedure, it was first carried out in Sweden. So far around 100 uterus transplants have been carried out worldwide,with more than 50 births recorded.

Smoke excuse

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

Smoking hot

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

Smokescreen

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

In hot water

Viral tweet sparks fierce debate about how much Spaniards shower

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

By Simon Hunter

inhabitants who shower every day.

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

The tweet had racked up more

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

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

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

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

He did this alongside his consulate-backed

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

HAPPY 100

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

data and others arguing that a daily dose of water and soap is unnecessary, according to scientific studies. Others pointed to the need in hotter countries for more regular ablutions. “If it’s hotter, you are going to sweat more,” wrote one user. And of course there were plenty of jokes from Spaniards about the high figure for their own country. “Then you catch the bus and you understand” wrote one user. Another user pointed to their experience at music festivals in the UK. “At the showers in Glastonbury it was just foreigners in the queue,” he wrote. “And the only Europeans were Spaniards!”

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

Smash and grabbed

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

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

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