costablog.com

Earlier this week (20^th October 2011) Costa del Sol was named by the Post Office as the best value-for-money destination for families in 2011, and it’s easy to see why. The survey looked at 10 common purchases across 12 popular destinations before ascertaining that despite a 15% price rise throughout Spain that Costa del Sol was still the cheapest European destination.

So aside from the price, what is it that makes Costa del Sol such a tourist hot-spot with Brits? Not to overuse a cliché but this area of Spain really does offer something for everyone; from sandy beaches and an active nightlife to historic castles and old cobbled towns, the Costa del Sol has it all. There are so many activities and sights to take in within Costa del Sol that it wouldn’t be practical to list them all, so here is a collection of activities you may like.  Read more »

Just five month after the Volvo World Match Play Championchip at Finca Cortesin, big time golf returns to the Costa del Sol this month with the Andalucia Masters at Valderrama. For the second successive season, Andalucía will host the final European Tour event of the year to be held on European soil with the staging of the Andalucía Valderrama Masters from October 27 to 30. The prestigious Club de Golf Valderrama will be play host to the tournament, which will feature a field of top class players competing for a 3 million Euro prize purse.

The world-famous Valderrama course has hosted 16 Volvo Masters events, the first two editions of the American Express-World Golf Championship and The 1997 Ryder Cup, when the late, great Seve Ballesteros led the European Team to glory on home soil. The club is haven for dozens of species of wild animals and birds and is populated by over 2.000 cork trees, 500 olive trees and 3.000 Halipi pines. The course record is 62, held by German Bernhard Langer, the first time in 1994 and again in 2002. Under the revised par 71 layout, a new course record of 66 was set by Angel Cabrera and equalled by David Howell.  Read more »

Spain’s Duchess of Alba got married today, Wednesday 5th October, to a man 25 years younger than her. María del Rosario Cayetana Fitz-James Stuart y de Silva Falcó y Gurtubay has married civil servant Alfonso Diez Carabantes in Seville in what is the third marriage for the 85-year-old aristocrat. The wedding ceremony took place in the Palacio de las Dueñas, in the centre of the Andalusian city, in front of about 40 intimate friends and family members. Despite their initial objections to the marriage, four of the Duchess’ six children were at the ceremony. Their opposition was so bad that their mother divided up much of her estate among them, although she still has control over the assets. The bride wore a salmon pink dress with a moss green sash by Spanish fashion designers Victorio y Lucchino who was present as well and shoes by Pilar Burgos.

This wedding was a dramatic change from the Duchess’s first marriage in October 1947 to Don Pedro Luis Martinez de Irujo y Artacoz (1919–1972), son of the Duke of Sotomayor, when the 21-year-old bride had 1,000 guests and wore gems reportedly worth nearly 1 million Euro even then. Estimates of her wealth range from 600 million euro to 3.5 billion euro. Besides fabulous and historic real estate sprinkled around Spain, the family treasure boasts paintings by Goya and Velazquez, a first-edition copy of Cervantes “El Quixote”, and letters written by Christopher Columbus.  Read more »