Spanish news September 2008

September news of Spain and upcoming events

Now, more than two thousand British holiday-makers were left stranded at Tenerife and Mallorca airports, after the collapse of XL Airlines. The carrier was the UK’s third largest package holiday group. XL, which flew 2.3 million passengers last year, is the latest travel industry business to suffer from the economic slowdown and high fuel costs.

And staying with airline news, Iberia has suspended flights between Madrid and Gibraltar, a route which it says has been unprofitable. But it’s not just passengers who may suffer - the move has political consequences, as the route was one of the things that was signed in an agreement between the UK, Spain, and Gibraltar in 2006.

Back down to earth now… there’s been some freaky weather in Spain. In the Valencia region an unprecedented four hour downpour flooded streets, properties and car parks. Whilst Southern Andalucia, Huelva, Cadiz and Granada suffered with lots of rain, Ceuta and Melilla had the worst floods ever recorded!

And moving on to some brighter news….The Baroness Thyssen gave and undertaking to the city Mayor, Francisco de la Torre, to open her new museum in Malaga city within the next three years. Villalon Palace, once completed, will be the only museum in Andalucia to house her private collection.

After an anonymous tip off to the police a 27 yr old Malaga man was arrested for growing marihuana plants on his terrace! 40 kilos of plants were seized from the 2 rooms in his house that were adapted to grow the seeds of the plant, with 14 time switches, controlled heaters, ventilators and automatic watering systems.

And moving onto a business that is succeeding….
RENFE Spanish railways have said that their target of doubling the number of travellers between Málaga and Madrid has been met, with the introduction of the AVE high speed train. The first year target for the new service was reached over the first nine months of this year and will end with some two million passengers having used the service.
Now let’s look ahead to next months coming events, over to you Joanna……

Starting with R.E.M. who play in Madrid on the first of the month, while veteran musician Paul Weller performs in Barcelona and Madrid on the 17th and 18th of October respectively.

For the broadminded amongst you, the Barcelona International Erotic Film Festival gets down to business between the 4th and the 8th . This is closely followed by the International Gay and Lesbian film festival, also in Barcelona.

On the more traditional Spanish front, we can recommend a trip to the city of Zaragoza, which  comes alive on the 12th with the Virgen del Pilar celebrations – street processions, theatre shows, concerts and fireworks all add up to a cocktail of traditional fun and frolics.

And if you haven’t already ventured down to the Flamenco festival in Sevilla it is on until October the 11th. Enrique Morente a famous flamenco singer will be leading in the closing celebrations.
And then there’s the Cadiar wine festival from the 5th to the 9th, right up in the Alpujarras mountain range. It’s a bit of a trek, but well worth it, as the village fountains are filled with wine rather than water for the duration of the festival. Seems like a good idea to me!

Yes, we’ll leave you with that fine thought, until next month. Bye bye!