The state system in Spain, an hilarious insight!
Well, you cannot keep a great gag down and my Spanish lawyer has just sent me a fabulous (short and hilarious!!) video about the state system in Spain. In fact, I featured this video in an article on Culture Spain earlier in the year entitled Bureaucracy in Spain – but I think I am more than justified in highlighting the [...]
The most perfect Art Déco house in Spain
Just occasionally, perhaps only once every four or five years, I come across a house in Spain that is truly extraordinary – somewhere that really does have the ‘Wow!’ factor. Frankly, this is rare in Spain as many Spanish properties lack personality and this applies even to expensive villas on exclusive estates. The latter can appear wonderful but often boast [...]
Gandia, Valencia Province, Spain
Gandia is a town located on the mid eastern side board of Spain. It is within Valencia Province (one of the three Provinces of the Autonomous Region of Valencia Comunitat de Valencia) and is situated some 70 kms south of Valencia City. The immediate area around Gandia is known as La Safor which comprises a number of small towns and [...]
Summer holidays in Spain – 10 things not to forget!
Are you going to be spending your summer holidays in Spain? If so – then make sure that you are well prepared beforehand and pack everything that you need. After all, there is nothing worse than setting out for your holidays and arriving at the airport to find that you have left behind something critical! So, what should go on [...]
Spain, rabbits and the Iberian Lynx
Did you know that there is a really interesting connection between the name España and rabbits – and that the devastating decline of the Iberian Lynx is intimately bound up in both? Well, there are good reasons to believe that the name of Spain (España) derives from the Phoenician word ‘ispanihad’ which evidently means ‘land of rabbits’. This word was [...]
Valencia City of Arts and Sciences
I defy anyone who comes to Valencia city not to be entranced by the City of Arts and Sciences. It is, justifiably, one of the greatest tourist attractions in Spain and a tribute to modern Spanish vision and design. Indeed, the City of Arts and Sciences is such a triumph that, alone, it makes any visit to Spain worthwhile. However, [...]
Culture Spain, Running of the bulls Pamplona – the rules!
The first thing is never consider running with the bulls in Pamplona if you have not seen the encierro before. Even if this is only the Spanish TV1 broadcast (excellent coverage every day of the feria de San Fermín from 7.30 to 8.30 am) which first transmits the run live, then has commentaries, then a re-run with a commentary, and [...]
Las Fallas Valencia, the most incredible fiesta in Spain!
Las Fallas must rank as one of the most extraordinary fiestas in Spain. Indeed, over the past few years it has gained international recognition as one of those remarkable events that you should see – at least once in your lifetime. Certainly, the sheer scale of La Fallas is astonishing with the main festivities taking place over five days (15th [...]
The Alhambra and the Moors in Spain
Some years ago, I was commissioned to write an article which ended up entitled ‘What did the Moors do for us?’. This was, needless to say, a ‘take’ on the famous scene in ‘The Life of Brian’ where the same question was asked about the Romans. Before I started my research my answer to ‘What did the Moors do for [...]
Culture Spain: La Tomatina (the greatest tomato fight in the World!)
Few people would argue that Spain has some pretty incredible fiestas. However, one of the most bizarre has got to be La Tomatina – which is a massive tomato fight. Amazingly, some 30,000 people a year crowd into the village of Buñol to hurl rotten tomotoes at each other. The mess is simply beyond imagination but taking part has become [...]
Culture Spain : MARBELLA VILLA OR BARRIO?
Marbella villa or barrio? The doorbell rang. It was Perla carrying a bucket full of fish. They were small dorada and they were still wriggling. When I had met him in the street yesterday he had asked me if we wanted any fresh fish and I had said yes. This is what he normally does, as he has no phone, [...]
CULTURE SPAIN: THE SAGRADA FAMÍLIA, GAUDI AND BARCELONA
I have to say that whenever I find it difficult to get things done in Spain I think of the Sagrada Família in Barcelona. This fabulous building was started in 1882 and is still not finished – with the projected completion estimated to be sometime in 2026. This means that if this date is actually met(!) the Sagrada Família will [...]
CULTURE SPAIN – BULLFIGHTING IN SPAIN
I am sure that most Spaniards would think (probably correctly) that few people outside Spain have the faintest clue about bullfighting. Most non-Spaniards instinctively dislike it – and are shocked by the bloodletting and apparent savagery. And yet, bullfighting in Spain remains popular and is considered by many Spaniards to be a fundamental part of the very culture of Spain. [...]
LIFE IN SPAIN – TEN REASONS FOR MOVING TO SPAIN
I think, like everyone else, I often tend to get too wrapped up in Spanish property and the state of the Spanish property market. It is important, undeniably, but, within it all, I think the whole reason for moving to Spain (or buying a property in Spain) – can be lost. Indeed (and this I have stated countless times), living [...]
SPANISH POLICE – THE POLICE IN SPAIN
Few matters are more confusing initially to someone coming to Spain than the array of police forces encountered around the country. It can be difficult to know who to go to when you are in trouble and why one police force will attend a crime in one place and another elsewhere. In fact, essentially, Spain has three police forces: the [...]
So, over the past couple of weeks the true state of the Spanish property market is becoming apparent and confirms what I have been saying for a long time. In short, average property prices across Spain have fallen by around 40% since the height of the boom in 2007 – not the 20% that the Spanish government has been steadfastly [...]
The INE (the Spanish Statistics Institute) has just released data showing that there are now some 5,639,500 people unemployed in Spain – a figure that is nothing short of disastrous. Indeed, some 4,000 people a day lost their jobs in Spain during the first quarter of 2012. A mind numbing figure. Indeed, with an unemployment rate in Spain of 24.4% [...]
So, Spain is formally back in recession, with the Spanish economy having lost ground in the last quarter of 2010 (by 0.3%) followed by a further loss (of 0.4%) during the first quarter of 2012. This is, of course, very bad news – but was entirely predictable. Needless to say, what is less predictable is when Spain will emerge from [...]
I am mildly surprised as to why anyone still seriously questions whether Spain will need a bailout from the EU. Why? Because the Spanish economy is in very, very deep trouble. That may seem an obvious statement but I fear the sheer, almost unresolvable, structural problem of the economy in Spain is not fully understood by many people, despite it [...]
It has just been announced that unemployment in Spain has reached 5.4 million people, amounting to an unemployment rate in Spain of 22.9% – some 400,000 people more than during the third quarter of 2011. Meanwhile, 48.6% of Spain’s 16-24 year olds have no work, creating a living tragedy and a ‘lost’ generation. Can anyone be surprised by this horrendous [...]
Did you see an interesting article in El Pais a while ago about working in Spain? The article is fascinating because it illustrates an extraordinary problem and one that you may not necessarily appreciate, least of all if you are thinking of coming to Spain to work. In short, Spain has an ‘over qualified’ workforce – with 31% of Spaniards [...]
So, as widely anticipated, the Spanish conservative party (the PP – Partido Popular) has won an overwhelming majority of seats in parliament after yesterday’s General Election in Spain. Meanwhile, the Spanish socialist party (the PSOE – Partido Socialista Obrero Español) has been badly defeated and has finally been punished by the electorate for its gross negligence in mishandling the Spanish [...]
Unemployment in Spain is now close to the five million mark, according to the Institute for National Statistics in Spain – with some 21.5% of the Spanish population out of work! This is terrible news and must come as the final death knell for the ruling socialist party in Spain (PSOE) who shortly face the electorate at the Spanish General [...]
Evidently, 39% of all Spanish men have used a prostitute, over 900 cases of stolen babies in Spain under Franco are being investigated and ETA have declared that they will no longer use violence to obtain the independence of the Basque country from Spain. The PP (conservative party) are still on course to win the General Elections in Spain on [...]
The past week in Spain has seen the wedding of the elderly Duchess of Alba, unemployment in Spain reach a 15 year high and a strike by Spanish teachers. Meanwhile, although the majority of Spaniards are Catholic, 57% (a figure rising annually) do not go to church regularly. Elsewhere, a residential home is being constructed for gay Spaniards and El [...]
Finally, the first overt signs of what I have been writing about for some time are becoming apparent and they beg the question of: how bankrupt is Spain? Certainly, you cannot have missed yesterday’s BBC headline screaming ‘Pain in Spain – southern town left penniless by the boom and bust’. This featured the small inland town of Moratalla in the [...]
The Spanish economy in 2011 is still reeling, as shown by the latest Spanish unemployment figures. These show that unemployment in Spain now stands at a horrifying 21.3% – meaning that some 4.91 million people are out of work in Spain. It seems inevitable that the feared 5 million mark for people out of work in Spain will be reached [...]
Unemployment in Spain is very high. Indeed, the Spanish government’s figures declare unemployment in Spain to be over 20% – with the reality being probably much higher. Of course, Spain’s black economy is very sizeable and that may help to cushion the affects of the current unemployment rate in Spain but, either way, a very significant part of the Spanish [...]
So, airport strikes in Spain are planned for 22 days starting from the 20th April (Easter!!) and then ending on August the 31st – right through the main holiday periods. For the planned dates: see this Post. What a disastrous prospect for Spain – a country reeling within an economic crisis that has led to unemployment in Spain being over [...]
I am afraid that it looks as though there are going to be Easter airport strikes in Spain – which may continue on into the summer. This, of course, is the worst possible news for anyone planning to fly over to Spain during the Easter holidays. Needless to say, it is also very bad news for the Spanish economy, for [...]