A larger and most Modern Ship for the Ferry crossing from Motril to Melilla.......

Armas incorporates a greater and more modern ferry to cross between Motril and Melilla on the North African Coast.

 “ a greater ferry for a growing Port ”  quoted the President of the Harbor Authority, Angel Diaz Sol, at the moment at which berthed in the East wharf the ship Volcano of Tinamar, property of shipping company Armas, and which came to replace the Volcano of Timanfaya.

The Volcano of Tinamar  arrived  Sunday night at the Port of Motril, coming from Las Palmas of Gran Canaria after stopping previously in Melilla where it realised the first manoeuvers.

 Its entrance in service is going to be immediate once all the tests of mooring and the inspections of the Maritime Headquarters have been satisfactory, according to a company representative. 

 The Volcano of Tinamar  has capacity for 1,500 passengers,  50% more than the Volcano of Timanfaya.

 In addition, it is one to the most modern ships of the company, with only ten months of life, with which the company hopes to catch a good part of the passengers which now cross the Strait.

 In less than a year, the passage between Motril and Melilla has turned out to be a great  success. Since its inauguration, in July of 2011 until April this year  have been carried more than 110,000 passengers and 32,000 vehicles have been transported.
 Figures that justify the incorporation of a ship  more modern and of greater capacity. 


The main features of the new ferry is the length of 175 meters and a payload of 1,850 meters with capacity of over 300 vehicles.

Europe's 'Maquina Infernal' has crippled Spain.........

Spain is spiralling into the vortex of debt-deflation. This has nothing to do with Greece. It is not the result of fiscal extravagance over the past decade, or other such Wagnerian myths.

In Spain, unemployment has reached 24.4pc, or 32pc in Extremadura. More than 1.5m households have no earner at all.

The country’s collapse is the mathematically certain - and widely predicted - result of ferocious monetary and fiscal contraction on an economy struggling to deal with a housing bust.

Monetary tightening by the European Central Bank caused Spanish real M1 deposits to fall at an 8pc rate in mid-to-late 2011, guaranteeing the crash into double-dip recession that we now see.

Indeed, the ECB even let the broader M3 money supply contract for the whole eurozone late last year, badly breaching its own 4.5pc growth target. This was not purist hard-money discipline. Let us not dress it up with the bunting of ideology, or false authority. It was incompetence, on a par with the errors of 1931.

Spain’s Bankia fiasco has merely brought matters to head, though the details are shocking enough. A €4bn bail-out in mid-May. A €23bn bail-out two weeks later. You couldn’t make it up.

Investors have noticed that Deloitte exposed the rot, not the regulators. Bankia is the creation of the ruling Partido Popular, thrown together from regional cajas under its control. It was a sink for €30bn of bad debts from property developers, an instrument to "extend and pretend", to cover up the systemic awfulness of the housing crash.

Clean-up chief José Ignacio Goirigolzarri says Bankia is unique. The debacle tells us nothing about the rest of the Spanish banking system. Let us hope so. Standard & Poor’s is not waiting to find out. The agency downgraded five banks to junk. It raised its alert on Spanish macro-imbalances to “very high risk”. 

Edward Hugh from Spain Economy Watch says Spanish banks have made €2 trillion of loans from a deposit base of €1.2 trillion, a sobering figure for lenders largely shut out of global capital markets. 

The Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS) thinks Spanish banks will need to write off €270bn, implying “Irish” damage to Spain’s debt trajectory. If CEPS is right, public debt could jump towards 110pc in short-order. 

For now the ECB is holding the line with its three-year lending blitz. Spanish banks have taken up €316bn, allowing them to avert disaster as their debts comes due. But there are toxic side-effects. Banks must provide collateral at a steep haircut, “subordinating” other creditors - that Ebola virus infecting EU rescue schemes. 

Spanish banks are parking the ECB money in Spanish bonds for the time being, a costly form of patriotism. The latest spike in yields has devalued their holdings, leaving them nursing a big loss.

There is another insidious effect. As the banks buy the bonds, foreigners sell. External holdings of Spanish debt fell from 50pc to 37pc between December and March. This does at least mean that much of the rising cost of debt payment is recycled within the Spanish economy, limiting the macro-damage. But it also makes it easier for Spain to leave the euro. Investors have noticed this, too. The eurozone is disintegrating. 

As for the Spanish economy, it is literally imploding. The budget deficit was 8.9pc of GDP last year, barely down from 9.3pc in 2010. 

We now learn that the regions have flattered their accounts by failing to pay suppliers €17bn. Valencia is 765 days late on bills, mostly to pharmaceutical companies and healthcare services. The debt of the regions has reached €135bn, or 12.6pc of GDP, chiefly because they look after the elderly and bear the brunt of Spain’s demographic burden. 

Catalan chief Artur Mas tossed nitroglycerine into the mix last week by warning that his fiefdom would run out of money by the end of the month. Skittish markets have little feel for the game of brinkmanship between Barcelona and Madrid. They don’t know that rich Catalans keep Spain afloat, not the other way round. His mischievous comments pushed the 10-year yield spread over German Bunds to a post-EMU record of 496 basis points. 

Yet at the end of the day, such unforced errors are details. Spain is prostrate because EMU policy settings have been ruinous for most of the past decade.

 Interest rates in the mid-2000s were far too low for the needs of a dynamic catch-up economy. Real rates were -2pc for year after year. That is, 750,000 homes were built in 2007 for an annual market of 250,000. 

The Bank of Spain tried in vain to check the flood of cheap capital from North Europe. Madrid ran a primary surplus of 3pc of GDP in 2007. Public debt fell to 42pc (Germany was 65pc at the time). Yes, Spain could have done more. It could have adopted Hong Kong controls on loan-to-value ratios on mortgages - 80pc, 70pc, 60pc, etc, until you choke the boom - but that is not what the EU or ECB said at the time. The EU Council gave Spain three gold stars and commendation that year, saying its “budgetary strategy provides a good example of fiscal policies”. Honeyed words, even as intoxicating credit was reaching red alarm levels. 

Europe’s 'Maquina Infernal' has since switched tack, inflicting slow deflation instead. The ECB - not content with monetary blunders alone - has become the enforcer of a pro-cyclical fiscal blunders as well. 

It told Spain and Italy to slash spending as the quid pro quo for bond rescues last summer. Spain complied. Italy’s Silvio Berlusconi demurred, understandably since Italy was already near primary budget surplus. He was summarily toppled.

The damage from this double-barrelled contractionary shock on a fragile Spanish economy is before our eyes, conforming with precision to textbook time-lag theories. Private sector credit has fallen for 18 consecutive months. Industrial output fell 7.5pc in March. Brussels expects the economy to shrink 1.9pc this year, with the crunch yet to come. 

Unemployment has reached 24.4pc, or 32pc in Extremadura. More than 1.5m households have no earner at all. They have exhausted their benefits, surviving on savings and - for now - on €420 a month in back-stop support. 

Faced with such woes, any sovereign country would call for full engine reverse with every policy lever. The Faustian Pact of EMU allows no such escape. Europe has ordered premier Mariano Rajoy to cut the budget deficit from 8.9pc to 5.3pc in a single year, four times the therapeutic pace.

He cannot devalue. He cannot cut rates or print money. He cannot mobilize a lender of last resort to eliminate all risk of sovereign default. 

 He can only lament. "Europe has to come up with an answer because we can't go on like this for long," he said. 

It is hard to imagine Isabela I using such language; or Juan Cortes, who brought down the Aztec Empire with a few hidalgos by sheer grit and astucia. Yet Mr Rajoy’s words are prickly. My ear catches a threat, though I may be guilty of romanticizing the "levantamiento" against foreign insolence in 1808. 

There is, of course, a hint of revolution in Europe’s air. A Latin Bloc has come to life. Germany is on the back foot. Yet are the rebels willing to use majority control over the ECB to force an immediate and transforming shift in policy, against German protest? 

Will they risk a German withdrawal from monetary union?

If not, they deserve the fate that awaits them. 

  Ambrose Evans-Pritchard

 27 May 2012

Scrumptious Cordoba cuisine!

Lots of pork, olive oil, potatoes and vegetables make for a simple, delicious diet.

A favorite dish, which locals proudly laud as found only in Córdoba province (okay, maybe a little bit of Málaga) is called flamenquínes.

Flamenquín (say: flah-men-KEEN) is pork shoulder, called lomo, wrapped in ham, coated with bread crumbs and egg and deep-fried in pure Andalucian olive oil. Served with fried potatoes and a little mayo, this is a perfect dinner dish to go with a cold caña of beer any night of the week.

It can also be made with other fillings, such as cheese or sausage.
The size of the finished roll ranges from a small ball up to pieces 40 centimetres (16 in) long, and can be served sliced or whole.

Another favorite is a combo usually served as a summer first course for lunch.

Tortilla de patata, the Spanish omelette, is just potatoes, onions and eggs.

Andalucía’s version of gazpacho is called salmorejo (say: sahl-mo-RAY-hoe), a refreshing cold tomato soup made from tomatoes, green peppers, garlic, oil and vinegar.

 This is the easiest thing to make. Chop the ingredients, put them in a blender, ignore while chatting with a friend for four or five minutes whilst drinking tinto de verano, chill and serve.

The local secret? Dip your tortilla de patata in the salmorejo. Scrumptious.

If you’re not a cook, going out to eat in Córdoba is very inexpensive so it’s worth the walk and a few euros to have an experienced chef make these for you.

 ¡Buen provecho!

This is not about fishing!

An eye-witness account at sea

In an exclusive eye-witness account regarding Wednesday night’s incident off the Moles in British/Gibraltar Waters, between the local authorities and the Guardia Civil (GC), Panorama has spoken to someone who witnessed the scenes at first hand out in the bay.

The eye-witness who had planned to go out at the first sign of a Spanish fishing vessel appearing and being accompanied by the GC did not have long to wait. This was the case when our witness went out in his boat and positioned it very close to where this serious incident was already unfolding; his first reactions were ‘it was unbelievable’.

He went on: “These people (referring to the GC) arrived in force, there were about 4 or 5 Guardia Civil vessels, a small flotilla, I saw the very large GC launch that they use in the straits in anti-immigration and other large operations, there were also two of the more commonly used GC launches and at least one GC rhib, they arrived escorting three fishing vessels with 3 small 'lucero' boats, a total of six boats.

The Royal Gibraltar Police and the Gibraltar Defence Police were waiting also in the area, it was HMS Sabre from the Gibraltar Squadron. I arrived very shortly after all these vessels had gathered off the south mole.

They stopped by the detached mole but later ended by the south mole about 250/300 metres away from the mole. During this time and at various points two of the boats appeared to be fishing within the laws of Gibraltar by legal means, although the third fishing vessel started to get its fishing (net) gear ready to put in the sea, it was then that I saw one of the fast launches from one of the local enforcement agencies who came close to the fishing boat. The local enforcement rib appeared to be conducting manoeuvres to impede the Spanish fishing vessel from dropping its nets, which they succeeded to do for quite a while, a very dangerous but effective manoeuvre I must say.

The GC launches who were close then attempted to get in between the fishing boat and the local police manoeuvres in stopping these people from fishing with nets.

At one stage I saw the fishing boat which was successful in lowering a small type net into the water, although I’m not sure if they actually caught any fish, as it was dark and as there was so much activity between the enforcement agencies, things were extremely tense!

I also saw the local police launches who went alongside the GC launches, I could see that at this point there was a period of some very tense conversation going on between our boys (police) and the GC. During this time there were instances were the boats, as they were alongside each other, were touching or hitting against each other, normal when you come alongside another boat at sea because of the state of the sea. Although I did not see any intentional ramming of vessels with one another, but I have to say, that the potential for something like that to have happened was certainly there!

Then the GC helicopter came over with a thunderous noise and hovered above all of the boats, again using very intimidating and dangerous manoeuvres ignoring our air space, it all appeared like a pre-determined plan by the GC.

Such was the atmosphere that at one point we were approached by one of the local police crafts, who informed us that we were too close to the incident proper and advised us to move away ‘just in case we got rammed.’

Although I did not see the Gib Squadron vessel within the area where all the activity was taking place, I did see that they were close at hand.

The two local police launches from the RGP and GDP in my view acted very professionally, they tried their best to stop the Spanish boats from fishing, even with the presence of a number of GC launches which really outnumbered the local police forces.

It is my opinion that after seeing all this at first hand that this problem is not about fishing anymore! It may have started out like that, but it is now politically motivated by Spain."

  25-05-12      'Panorama'  Gibraltar's on-line Daily

A visit to Granada in Andalucía.......

Granada, Andalucía, is home of the most important single historical site in Spain.

 There are few places as beckoning as the Alpujarras when approached from the south.
 On the drive up, the whitewashed villages play hide-and-seek, one minute appearing to sneak out from behind a ridge on the mountainside, the next moment sitting proudly, and spectacularly high, on the slope beneath a gigantic peak.

 The three superstars are Pampaneira, Bubión and Capileira, which ascend like polished steps towards the highest points in mainland Spain. Tourism has had an effect here but the villages remain perfect examples of rural Andalucía, in the most immaculate setting in the southern foothills of the Sierra Nevada. 

 I first crossed to Lanjarón, an agreeable one-street town whose spring waters are drunk nationwide. There’s a splendid old spa here, fed by six mineral springs and where an array of liquid therapies can be tried. 

 But it’s the Poquiera Gorge, with its three glistening pueblos, that captivated me.

 From up here on a clear day, some claim to be able to see the mountains of Africa. I couldn’t, but there was plenty else to beguile me, not least the walks along the gorge with the peaks of Veleta and the 11,400ft Mulhacén wearing white capes above.

Take the road round to the west of the Sierra Nevada and you’ll come to Granada, home of the most important single historical site in Spain. Here, in the 13th century, the Moors chose to create an extraordinary monument that remains virtually intact today.

The Alhambra is a one-off, hovering like a mirage from a glorious past on a hill just above the city. Its fortress, palaces, church and monastery are each deserving of serious attention, so to find them all within the same formidable walls is remarkable.

The range of architecture and decoration here is breathtaking, especially in the exquisite Nasrid Palaces where I was mesmerised by the intricacy of the wall carving and mosaic work, and the genius of a design that allows an ethereal light to float through the rooms and patios.

It would fill an encyclopedia to detail all the Alhambra’s treasures, but to record the place in a single image in the mind, go up to the equally splendid Generalife Palace and gardens, slanted across the narrow valley, and look back at the complex, honey-gold against the backdrop of the white city. Better still, view it from the San Nicolas mirador up in the old town, with the snowy peaks behind. Those are views I won’t forget easily.

With such a rich experience, it would be easy to overlook the rest of Granada city, so I walked down to seek out other possibilities.

In the narrow streets around the cathedral, I heard mournful singing and the unmistakeable chords of flamenco guitar. I followed the sound to find a busker, an elderly gent whose earnest voice and fluid playing created a haunting ambience in front of the huge church, with its impressive Baroque façade.

Close by in the old town, in the shadow of the Alhambra’s Alcazaba fortress, I came across the Arab Baths, an important social meeting place 900 years ago, and today’s equivalent, the authentic tapas cafés by the small river.

Granada’s Moorish past remains a strong influence and shops selling rugs, spices and lanterns are more redolent of a Middle Eastern souk than a Spanish city.

With time, I’d recommend the short bus ride to the La Cartuja monastery, which has a truly extravagant Baroque interior; the statues, gilding, marble and frescoed cupola are breathtaking.

From the city I headed west, crossing the remote high plains to Alhama de Granada. The familiar name denotes Arab origins but the most strident feature is the yawning canyon, on the edge of which the town abruptly ends.

I walked through the old quarter to the picturesque 16th-century church of Carmen, from where there is a wide-angle view of this natural wonder. I noted the various paths down and through the chasm, something that will have my full attention on my next visit.

Driving through the north part of the canyon brought me to the town’s Balneario, where a smart spa hotel takes full advantage of ancient thermal springs.

The hotel — which houses original Muslim baths — was closed, but a few local families were enjoying bathing in the river, in early January, where the warm, therapeutic waters exit the building. Very Moorish.


By John Wilmott
The Telegraph

End of an era for Retiro's cafes en Madrid.....

For decades, the 11 cafes in Madrid's Retiro park have been family-run establishments, originally set up in the late 19th century as franchises to employees of the royal household. They started out selling lemonade and sugared anise.

But in November 2011 the owners of four of the quioscos, or chiringuitos, as they are called in Spanish, were told by Madrid City Hall that with the end of their 10-year concessions in December the previous year, their rent would be taking an almost 600-percent hike from around 10,000 euros to 45,000 euros a year.

The owners appealed against the decision but the courts have ruled in favor of City Hall.

 Last month the first of the four pulled down its shutters for the final time and is now awaiting a new owner.

 "Do you see that lady there, next to the quiosco? That is my great grandmother," says Pablo Jimeno, pointing to a black-and-white photograph from the early 20th century.

He is the last of his family to run one of the emblematic green-painted establishments that mostly ring Retiro's boating lake, attracting customers to its outdoor tables throughout the year. "It's the end of an era," Jimeno says, as he tries to fight back the tears welling up in his eyes. With him were the owners of other quioscos, who will also soon be handing over their businesses.

In another quiosco, municipal workers who had come to collect the keys found that the owners were not there. "He's an old man, aged 72, and has been very badly affected by the decision," says Ana Corchero, the spokeswoman for the organization that represents quiosco owners in the city's parks. 

The workers decided to drill out the locks, and placed padlocks on the shutter before leaving.

A municipal workman breaks the lock to the door of a quiosco before padlocking it shut

  

Almudena Peña, another owner, explained that she had grown up in the park. "My cradle was an old ice refrigerator. My great-grandfather set up here in the 19th century." She too will soon be leaving.

Dionisio Ruiz, who works in another quiosco nearby, said that he had been in the park for 34 years. "Where are we supposed to go now? What are we supposed to do?" he asks.

The quiosqueros say that the new rent is not only abusive, but that it will be impossible to pay while still making a living. "How can we make that kind of money when all we serve is potato chips, beer and soft drinks?" asks Ana Corchero.

Municipal regulations forbid the quiosco owners from serving hot food. They are not even allowed to make sandwiches and rolls on the premises but must bring them in pre-prepared.

Pablo Jimeno says that only large companies that already run other franchises could afford to pay the rent that City Hall is demanding. "Some of the bids that have been put in talk about employing 18 waiters," he says.

Most establishments manage to get by with one or two waiters at present. City Hall explains that it is giving priority to offers that will employ the maximum number of people, as well as to those that are prepared to improve the premises.

However, given that the quioscos are listed buildings, the new franchise owners will have little margin to add their own stamp.

City Hall says that it cannot reveal the names of bidders for the new concessions until May. It also explained that the rent increase is as high as it is because the previous figure was based on estimates of the value of the land taken in 1988.

City Hall said in a press release that the quiosco owners were out of touch, and expected to be given preferential treatment because of their historic links to the park.

 "The Retiro is one of the finest parks in the world, so we want to have the finest quioscos," it read.

Spanish carry out their fishing as no one protects British territorial waters.....

18.05.2012

At least 10 Spanish fishing boats arrived from the direction of Algeciras last night accompanied by a Guardia Civil Launch, they positioned themselves a short distance off the Detached Mole between 250 to 300 metres and commenced fishing, rolling out drag nets and going through the normal routine practised by these people, all of which is not allowed by Gibraltar laws.

On this side of the bay two marine units from the Royal Gibraltar Police and Gibraltar Defence Police were clearly waiting, they remained at a distance from the fishermen, although were seen to get close to some of these boats where eye witnesses suggest that words were exchanged between the police and some of the fishermen.

The anticipated arrival of the Spanish fishermen caused great interest in Gibraltar where local social networking sites were buzzing with activity. Emotions were running high.

Members of the local fishing fraternity were also prepared and at least two or three fishermen went out on local boats as observers, although armed with equipment to record events out in the bay. Panorama was in ‘constant contact’ with one of these local boats that relayed information to our reporter as it happened regarding the ensuing activity.

There was also a sizeable number of people who left their homes with cameras and video equipment and made their way to vantage points overlooking the bay so as to get a better view of events; one place was the area of Europa Rd opposite the old casino.

Reports coming in said that the RGP and GDP launches were patrolling up and down the area were the fishing was taking place, but appeared somewhat overwhelmed due the amount of fishing boats that had arrived (we were told) and with the Guardia Civil acting as minder of the Spanish boats, the local enforcement agencies appeared to be deploying a non-confrontational stance!

Whilst the net fishing activity increased, emotions on Facebook and those posting comments out in the field around the Rock increased substantially.

As local emotions got even higher there were calls for a large demonstration to be organised, and for Gibraltarians to unite and put aside party politics and for the British Government to intervene!

At about midnight, reports came in that a Gib Squadron launch had arrived on the scene and had approached the Guardia Civil warning the Spanish crew that they should leave.
 A short time after, it was seen that the Guardia Civil also appeared to be telling the Spanish fishermen to up nets or whatever they were doing, and leave the area., which shortly at about 0015  they did and headed back towards Algeciras.

The fact is that the Spanish were allowed to fish contrary to Gibraltar laws, and the local enforcement agencies, the police and the Gibraltar Squadron, did not intervene.

So, questions are being asked as to who is protecting Gibraltar territorial waters…....

                                                     ..........................................................

 Separate Article - 'Panorama'     18-05-12 

Gibraltar and the UK must get their heads together again (if that is not already happening) as the situation out in the waters can easily get ugly, particularly with gun-packing Spanish enforcement agencies brained-washed about what their position is and what they should be doing.

Spain cannot be allowed to think it can bulldoze its way into Gibraltar and exert its unlawful authority over the Jurisdictional and Sovereign Control of the local authority and representative bodies of Her Majesty’s Forces.

Gibraltar (this if matters deteriorate further) must express its utter disgust and dissatisfaction, because in 2012    ‘WE CANNOT BE BULLIED’ 

Spanish royals snub the Queen's Jubilee bash claiming their attendance is inappropriate in row over Gibraltar.........

The Queen was dealt an extraordinary and calculated snub last night that threatens to tarnish her Diamond Jubilee celebrations.
Just two days before Her Majesty was due to welcome the crowned heads of Europe’s royal houses to an elaborate Windsor Castle lunch, Spain’s Queen Sofia dramatically pulled out of the event.


A spokesman for the Spanish royals snootily declared that Sofia’s presence would be ‘inappropriate in the current circumstances.’ 

The 11th-hour cancellation, engineered by the Spanish government, came just a week after it made a formal protest to Britain over Prince Edward’s visit to Gibraltar.
The Prince and the Countess of Wessex are due to make a three-day visit to the fiercely British rock on June 13 as part of a Commonwealth-wide effort to mark the Jubilee with royal events.


Last night the decision was still being digested, but royal insiders say the Queen will be dismayed that what should have been a joyful celebration for her royal kinsmen and women has been hijacked by political machinations.

 A Buckingham Palace spokesman said ‘No Comment’ on Wednesday night, neither Buckingham Palace nor the British Foreign Office will make any comment.

 

   

It is not the first time Spain has jolted the royals — in 1981 King Juan Carlos stayed away from Prince Charles’s wedding to Lady Diana Spencer because on their honeymoon the Royal Yacht Britannia was to stop at Gibraltar.

There is also discord between the two governments over the Gibraltar authorities’ impeding the Spanish fishing fleet based at Cádiz from entering the waters that surround The Rock.
 Furthermore, Spain was also not amused to find that the official band of Gibraltar is to perform as part of the Jubilee program!


But this time it seems somehow more personal.
Like the Queen, Queen Sofia is a direct descendant of Queen Victoria — she is a great-great-great-granddaughter - and the two are cousins.


Her brother is the exiled King Constantine of Greece, who lives in London and is close to Prince Philip and the Prince of Wales.


The decision is going to strain family relations.
Queen Sofia was due to attend tomorrow’s lunch alone because her husband Juan Carlos is recovering from a fall following a controversial safari.


The lunch for sovereign monarchs - plus the Emperor of Japan - is the biggest royal event since the funeral of the Queen Mother in 2002 and the Queen’s Golden Jubilee celebrations.

 The Spanish Royal House will be the only monarchy completely absent from the Jubilee celebrations.

The Zarzuela palace in Madrid  sent out SMS text messages to give the news, indicating that the Government had considered the visit ‘hardly adequate in the current circumstances’ for Doña Sofía to attend the celebrations.

However,  a week ago the Foreign Minister, José Manuel García-Margallo, said that the visit of Doña Sofía to London was of a ‘private’ character, and therefore there was no reason to stop her attendance, despite the formal protest by the Foreign Ministry over Gibraltar on Thursday last week.

Now that has changed, with the latest incidents involving Spanish fishermen, and the new revelation that the Gibraltar Military Band would be playing at the Queen’s party in London.

Will Spain now boycott the Olympics?


UPDATE  18-05-12

An article in TheTelegraph by Tom Chivers says....

Queen Sofia of Spain, apparently, has decided not to attend a big lunch for the world's surviving monarchs at Windsor Castle tomorrow, held in celebration of the Queen's Jubilee, in what appears to be a pathetic childish tantrum over Gibraltar. Apparently the fact that the Earl and Countess of Wessex plan to visit the flyspeck peninsula on Spain's south-west corner has so upset the Spanish government that it would be "inappropriate in the current circumstances" for Queen Sofia to join the various other bejewelled toffs for lunch.

He adds: If the people of Gibraltar wanted to be a part of Spain, then they should be entitled to it, as is their democratic right, but,  10 years ago they were asked in a referendum whether they wanted Britain and Spain to share sovereignty, and they rejected it by a slender margin of 99 to 1.
Why should it matter if some minor members of our Royal family wander over there as part of the Jubilee celebrations?
Gibraltans like being a British Overseas Territory. If they want to have a posh man come and wave at them, they are allowed to.

Going around pretending your country has some divine right to ownership of some other bit of the world is just stupid.

It was private visit.

Questioned about the Spanish veto of Queen Sofia's attendance at Diamond Jubilee lunch, an FCO spokesperson said: “It was a private commitment. We do not comment on private visits.”

La XIV Feria Gastronómica abre sus puertas este fin de semana en Almuñécar........

 El parque El Majuelo de Almuñécar volverá a ser escenario de la más amplia muestra gastronómica del municipio sexitano, en la que será la decimocuarta edición de la Feria Gastronómica que celebra la ciudad, con la organización de la Asociación de Hosteleros, Restauradores, Pubs y Discotecas de Almuñécar y La Herradura; el patrocinio del Ayuntamiento y el Patronato Municipal de Turismo almuñequero y la colaboración de Caja Rural, Coca Cola, Alhambra, Ecomsa y la Denominación de Origen de la Chirimoya.

El evento, que será inaugurado este viernes, a las 13 horas, por la alcaldesa, Trinidad Herrera y el presidente de los hosteleros, Eleuterio , aglutina casi una treintena de empresas relacionadas mayoritariamente con la gastronomía local.

El horario de la feria, que se celebrará del viernes día 18, hasta el domingo, día 20, se ha fijado desde las doce de la mañana hasta las doce de la noche, a excepción, precisamente, del domingo que cerrará a las 19 horas.

Las empresas participantes que son los restaurantes: Antiguo Mesón, Reina Sofía, La Ventura. A ellos se suman: Mesón Juanjo, Mesón Mari y Miguel, Mesón Gala, restaurante D´Carmen, Taberna La Antigua 1948, Mesón El Tinao, Bodegas Espadafor, Denominación de origen de la Chirimoya, Comercial Los Rebites, Chambao de Joaquín, Casa La Parra, restaurante Pizzería Porto- Fino, Mesón Caza Mayor, Mesón Curro Muralla, Cervecería Gambrinus, Cervecería Gambrinus, restaurante Árbol Blanco, restaurante El Kiosko, restaurante Kairos de la Flor, la Boutique de la Carne, restaurante Clípper, productos Surgalgae (Algas), Freiduría Lute y Jesús, Pastelería Costa Del Sol de Nerja y la Megaradio y Latino FM.



Translated (not very well) by Google.


The park's Majuelo Almuñécar will be the scene of the most extensive sample gastronomic sexitano municipality, which is the fourteenth edition of the Food Fair that celebrates the city, with organization of the Association of Hoteliers, Restaurateurs, Pubs and Clubs of Almuñecar and La Herradura, sponsored by the City Council and the Municipal Tourism Almuñecar and collaboration of Caja Rural, Coca Cola, Alhambra, Ecomsa and Designation of Origin of the Cherimoya.

The event, which opens this Friday at 13 hours, by the Mayor, Trinidad Herrera and the president of the hoteliers, Eleuterio, brings together nearly thirty companies related mainly with the local cuisine.

The schedule of the fair to be held on Friday the 18th, to Sunday, day 20, is set from midnight until twelve o'clock, except precisely that closes Sunday at 19 pm .

Participating businesses are restaurants: Old Inn, Queen Sophia, the Ventura. They are joined by: Juanjo Inn, Inn Mari and Miguel, Inn Gala, Carmen D'restaurant, Tavern 1948 Antigua, Inn The Tinao, Bodegas Espadafor Wine of the Cherimoya, Commercial The rivets, Chambao de Joaquin, The House Parra, Porto-Fino Pizza restaurant, Meson Game, Curro Inn Wall, Gambrinus Brewery, Gambrinus Brewery, White Tree restaurant, restaurant the Kiosk, restaurant Kairos Flower the Meat Boutique, restaurant Clipper, Surgalgae products (algae) , and Lute Freiduría Jesus Pastry Nerja Costa Del Sol and Latin Megaradio and FM.

Chris Stewart on ecology..........

THE fact that Chris Stewart gets regular visits from fans to his isolated mountain farm is nothing short of remarkable.
 On a recent visit to his 70-hectare Andalucian spread, the directions were so complicated that I was convinced he had sent me a curved-ball.

Not only were they in detailed Spanish, but halfway through, a five km dirt track took a near vertical turn uphill with not a building in site. And I hadn’t even reached the bit where the track got “malisimo”!

Finally after a 30-minute drive, into the breathtaking foothills of the Sierra Nevada south of Granada, the track came to a sudden grinding halt by a rickety stone bridge across the raging River Trevelez. The rest had to be done on foot.

Some 15 minutes later and I arrived (sweating and laden with bottles of wine promised as payment for earlier articles written for the 'Olive Press') at the low key farmhouse, hidden amid a sea of dense vegetation and with a cow bell at the gate.
The only signs of life were the bare footprints that led up to the portal. Everything else was quiet, even as the day’s 40 degree heat started to subside.

One clang of the bell though and out popped the author, bare-chested and looking like he’d just woken up from a four-hour siesta. Surrounded by a phalanx of rescue dogs, recently taken in from a centre near Granada, he straight away demonstrated his public school manners.
In a good mood, having recently returned from a promotional tour for a new book on sailing, 'Three Ways to Capsize a boat: An Optimist Afloat', he chuckled, as he set about preparing a fabulous supper of minced wild boar straight from his land with home-made pomegranate syrup and mashed potatoes.

 The wild boar, it turns out, are the bane of his life. There are hundreds of them, apparently, and they have been systematically tearing up his vegetable garden, crops and irrigation channels.
“A couple of them rollicking in a field makes it look like a huge tractor got stuck,” he explains. “I am actually going to buy a shotgun to keep their numbers down.”

I have come to meet the author – best known for his trilogy of books, starting with 'Driving Over Lemons', about life at this very farmstead – to learn about his drive to lessen his carbon footprint.
A self-confessed ecologist, Stewart, who moved to Spain over two decades ago, has written much about the local environment and campaigns regularly against “water-hungry” golf courses, quarries and the over development of the coast.

With the help – or should that be supervision – of his wife Ana Exton “I am just the erk, she gives the orders”, they have worked hard to make their rambling farmhouse as carbon-neutral as possible.
Speaking modestly of their achievements, Chris explains: “We are just seeking to have the lightest possible ecological footprint. To be honest we don’t use the term carbon-neutral because we don’t really understand the concept. It is very complex and baffling. We only need to go 100kms in our car and we have given off 70 kilos of carbon and that messes things up.”

But they are doing their bit in many other ways, attempting to live entirely off their solar panels, and by using a clever system of planting and shade to prevent the house from heating up.

As well as ivy creeping across every wall, they have cleverly installed pergolas on top of their roofs to keep the direct sunlight off the house.
Even better (and coincidentally the same method being used by his friend and former band-mate from Genesis, Peter Gabriel in London) he has planted lawns on top of his roofs to create more natural insulation.
He has also spent a small fortune installing the most stylish state-of-the-art reed pool below the home. After six years of fine tuning it is full of water – not to mention frogs and even grass snakes – that is good enough to drink.

a water wheel helps to move water around in his reed-bed pool

“We live in the coolest place in the Alpujarras,” he says sitting under his corrugated iron roof terrace, which is bedecked in jasmine, wisteria and bougainvillea. “We have created our own micro-climate like the Arabs did when they lived here. The key is creating shade and using water cleverly and carefully. We make sure we use all our grey water in the garden, which is why it is so green around the house.
“All the vegetation ensures that it is so cool we never have to consider air conditioning. We don’t even need to have fans, not even for my afternoon nap.”
 
It is certainly a charming home. Distributed over two wings – a newer and older part – it is both modest and typical of the region. Built entirely from local materials, the floors are made from slate and stone, and cobbles line the terraces outside. Everywhere is deep shade.

The couple, who have been together for 34 years, are also becoming experts at recycling, in particular, their organic waste. And rather than have one big compost heap they have 20. “We start new ones all the time,” explains Chris. “They take so much longer to rot down than in the UK due to the low rainfall! So we start new ones every few months. I am also under orders to pee on them as it helps to speed up the process, and Annie even gave me a bucket to pee in for Valentine’s Day, so I don’t waste anything.”

 On the subject of urine, the couple are also now considering building a straw bale bathroom and even installing a “Turkish foot plate”, better known as a squat toilet.
“Let’s face it, they are so much healthier than sitting on a loo,” he insists, adding that they are even on the verge of banning toilet paper in a bid to save paper. “Let’s face it the world is divided into the washers and the wipers and where they squat to crap they are often much healthier than us,” he claims. “Using paper to clean yourself is anything but clean. Water is much more hygienic.”

It is the subject of water that has been of so much concern to the author and his wife over recent years. “We live in one of the driest areas in Europe and here, if it wasn’t for the snow melt from the Sierra Nevada, we would be in real trouble.”

While Ana has been carefully noting the number of rainy days they get a year over the last decade (it is often no more than 20), Chris has been campaigning against the spread of water-hungry golf courses, in particular a scheme near him at Gojay. He describes it as “a theme park”, where they want to build 2,500 homes right next to the Sierra Nevada national park.
He is also concerned about the over-use of aquifers for bottled water.
“It is amazing how much water is being taken from our nearby Lanjaron bottling plant. So many lorries leave there every day heading up north, where they have much more water. And think of all the fuel that is being used.”

He is also convinced that the increase of global warming and desertification from Africa into Spain is going to cause more outbreaks of leishmania and malaria.
“But ultimately mankind needs to be cut down by a plague,” he insists. “We are already too densely populated. Six billion people is far too many, and when we get to nine billion it is going to be impossible. We need a big leveller, like perhaps this swine flu.”

He also believes the recession has also come at a good time. “It has come as a blessed relief for the Spanish countryside,” he says. “But I think it will just be a brief hiatus and we must pray that the law catches up and gets stricter.”

Ultimately he believes that it would still be possible to turn the clock back and return the “disgraced landscape” of the Costa del Sol back – in part – to how it once was.
“The tourist boom that brought Spain up by its boots into the 20th century was a good thing, but it wouldn’t now be too late to take the concrete monstrosities down.
“Through clever landscaping and better uses of golf courses, they could bring the coast back from the brink. They have the know-how to to do it, but will anyone take the decision?”

Given half the chance he would love to be in charge of the region’s tourism. “I would put the ecology first. I would create thousands of jobs, replanting and landscaping. Trying to save the region and, above all, promoting and stimulating the inland areas, which are so wonderful.”

Ultimately, despite the dangers for the region, his long term plan is to stay exactly where he is.
“This is our garden of Eden and pension and in our old age I hope we’ll be stumbling around here on our zimmer frames plucking fruit from the trees and stooping down for veg.
“Eventually, of course, we both want to be buried under one of the old olive trees.”

 
adapted from an article in the 'Olive Press' first published in 2009, edited in 2010

Seven-Star Contradictions?

When it was first announced that Almuñecar was to be the home of a 7-star hotel – only the second in Europe – the announcement was met with both expectation and incredulity.
Was it a publicity stunt by the then Mayor, Juan Carlos Benavides, soon to be ousted from government, or was it a soon-to-be reality; something that would put Almuñecar definitively on the map?

When the new PP administration took over the reins of the Town Hall, many hoped that the affair would be clarified, so when the new Councillor for Urban Development, José Manuel Fernández Medina, announced that the 7-star hotel, Bahía Fenicia, would be a reality, the incredulity retreated. It wasn’t just smoke and mirrors, as many believed.

The new Administration declared that despite the difference in political colour between the Regional Government and themselves, they both saw eye-to-eye and were jointly working towards culminating this mega-luxurious hotel project.

However, according to a local, online, news source, infocostatropical, all is not so rosy – far from it, because the Junta had taken out a lawsuit to not only contest the urban development of the hillside (Peñon del Lobo) but even the licence for the hotel itself. The said news source provided snippets of a legal document to support this claim.

This Internet news source claims that it has tried to contact a representative of the hotel chain, (Bayan Tree) but that the company had not wanted to make any declaration on this alleged latest development.
Something that should be taken into consideration is that the Junta de Andalucia is now a coalition government and the new partners, Izquierda Unida, have reportedly been against this particular project from the start.

Whatever developments might be taking place, even without this latest development, the day that the hotel will open its door is pretty far off, as at the present, the project is pending an environmental-impact study, whose green-light is crucial.

Beyond doubt is the fact that if the promised hotel ever open its doors, it will make a gigantic impact on the local economy, not because its guests will water the town with their wallets – they won’t – but because the mere fact that Almuñecar was chosen as its location, which will serve as a beacon for other investors.

One last point to be taken into consideration, although the said online news source has an excellent reputation and has long provided extensive news coverage for the Costa Tropical, its relation with the present Administration is not exactly cordial.

News: Almuñecar, Costa Tropical, Granada, Spain

 

Building set to start on Spain's first seven star hotel......

The hotel is being built by Banyan Tree Holdings in Almuñécar and is waiting for the last environmental report.

The Peñón del Lobo headland, Almuñécar.

The works to build what will be the first seven start hotel in Spain, the ‘Bahía Fenicia’ in Almuñécar, Granada, are awaiting the decision of the Andalucía Environment Council in their environmental report.

The works were forecast to begin at the start of this year, and now the Councillor for Town Planning, Public Works and Environmental Activities in Almuñécar Town Hall, José Manuel Fernández Medina, said the process would be complete ‘in a few days’ allowing construction to start on the Peñón del Lobo.

The councillor has underlined the ‘collaboration with the Junta de Andalucía after a 180º turn in Almuñécar with the departure of Juan Carlos Benavides as Mayor. 
The hotel is expected to employ 600 people.

Presuming the environmental report is a favourable one, building is expected to start in two weeks. 
The project is planned to take 36 months, and that includes the hotel, and 55 residential villas. 
The hotel will have standard 40 square metre rooms, and 50 private apartments. 
Facilities will include limousine, helicopter and private butler.

230 million € is being invested in the project by Banyan Tree Holdings which is located between Marina del Este and Cotobro.

Helicopter Service From Today......

Friday, May 4, 2012

The Motril Port Authorities will inaugurate the port-based, privately owned, helicopter service today at 20.00h.

The Helipuerto Puerto de Motril-Tropicopter is the first to offer tourist flights in Andalucía and only the second one in the whole of Spain.

The helicopter is a Robinson R-66 with a Rolls Royce turbine engine RR300, state of the art technology with maximum security and ecology.

This 5-seater has a cruise speed: 226 Km/h and a range of 700 Km. (3 hours minimum autonomy). The helicopter is also equipped with an integrated video camera to record each flight, as well as emergency floats for offshore missions.

A Question of Sovereignty........

Who said on 13th October 2010 that it is impossible for formal cooperation to take place between the law enforcement agencies of Gibraltar and Spain because they (Spain) does not recognise our jurisdiction?
 It was the GSLP/Liberals when in opposition.

At the time of the GSD government, there had been an incident - one of many - with the Spanish Guardia Civil physically preventing the Royal Gibraltar Police from taking a suspect into custody inside our territorial waters which showed that, far from respecting our jurisdiction, the agencies of the Spanish state were undermining it.

Just a few days ago another Spanish enforcement agency, the customs SVA (Servicio de Vigilancia Aduanera) was involved in a similar incident within British territorial waters, when they also physically prevented the RGP from arresting a suspect Rib.

The underlying Spanish concept is that Gibraltar does not have any territorial sea because the Treaty of Utrecht of 1713 does not say so.

However, what determines our territorial waters is not Utrecht but the 1958 Convention on the Territorial Sea and the Contiguous Zone, which is largely a codification of customary international law.

EXTENDS

The Convention states: "The sovereignty of a State extends beyond its land territory and its internal waters to a belt of sea adjacent to its coast, described as the territorial sea."

Says a professor emeritus of international law: "There is nothing in the Treaty of Utrecht which would make this general provision of international law inapplicable to Gibraltar."

He adds that there appears to be considerably more merit in, and support in both customary and conventional international law, for the British position than in that urged by Spain.

Besides, there are other land cessions - including in the Treaty of Utrecht - were there is no mention of territorial waters, yet it has not occurred to anyone to challenge whether or not the cession included the territorial sea.

This is because in many treaties in the 18th century, and to date, it is not the norm for there to be any mention of territorial waters in connection with a land cession where a sea coast is involved.

NO BASIS

During the first Anglo-Spanish talks over Gibraltar, held in 1966, Britain said that there is no basis for the contention held by Spain that the limits of the territorial waters of Gibraltar are fixed in Article 10 of the treaty of Utrecht and are confined to the waters of the port.

Britain added: "The fact that only the port of Gibraltar was specifically ceded to Britain under the treaty, without any mention of a cession of territorial waters, is irrelevant, since it has long been the position that a cession of territory automatically carries the cession of the appurtenant territorial waters unless the contrary is specifically stated."

In fact, the British Government has long held that "it is almost impossible to conceive of a grant of rights in wider terms," in respect of the terms of Article 10 of the Treaty of Utrecht as applying to Gibraltar.

Britain has been administering the waters surrounding Gibraltar for more than 300 years, which provides a prescriptive right to those waters quite apart from the fact that such waters have always been regarded by Britain as coming under British sovereign jurisdiction.

The UN Convention of the Seas entitles Britain of sovereignty of a territorial sea by automatic virtue of sovereignty of the land territory.

South View

Under the UN Convention of the Seas, whereas Britain has only claimed a 3-mile limit in respect of Gibraltar, a 12-mile limit has become almost universally accepted since the late 20th century.

Britain has always referred to a median line to demarcate the maritime boundary between Gibraltar and Spain as regards the bay, with the 3-mile limit of British Gibraltar territorial waters circling the rest of the Rock.

It was in October 1966 when Britain offered to submit the legal aspects of the Spanish claim, including territorial waters, to the International Court of Justice, but Spain never took up the offer.

During that period and beyond the closed frontier days, Spain did not make the kind of incursions that have become commonplace nowadays.

Then, the Spanish Government respected the territorial waters demarcations, even when imposing an air ban; now, her attitude is more active and aggressive, often repeating that, according to them, the waters around the Rock are Spanish as Gibraltar has no territorial sea.

That is why Gibraltar has to be specially careful in not entering into any agreement that could emasculate our rights over the waters around the Rock.


 by Joe Garcia  Gibraltar 'Panorama'