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. 

The duchess has more titles than any other noble on Earth, according to Guinness World Records, and as head of the house of Alba has the right to enter Seville cathedral on horseback. She is a distant relative of Queen Elizabeth and Winston Churchill.

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After all it not only covers you against the possibility of astronomical medical costs, the cost of re-patriation in the event of illness or death, but the right travel insurance cover will also provide for such eventualities as legal expenses, loss of money, passport, baggage etc. cancellation and curtailment and personal liability. 

So how do you choose a travel insurance policy? There are a variety of Spanish and international insurance companies out there that fill every need. So first, you need to think about what you would like to have covered.

• Medical and accident coverage
• Hotel cancellation
• Lost luggage
• Lost passports or personal possessions
• Emergency evacuation
• Legal expenses
• Bankruptcy of a travel organizer
• Costs of travel delays
• Terrorist acts

The first recommendation when buying travel insurance for your trip to the Costa del Sol or Marbella is to compare prices. There are many different policies to choose from, so once you have identified your special needs you need to get out there and start comparing quotes. Coverage can vary depending on your needs, length of stay, how many family members you cover, and of course your age. There is travel insurance to cover you for a short term stay, annual insurance for multiple trips that are cost effective and flexible, medical only insurance, and even winter sports coverage when you go skiing to the Sierra Nevada that cover medical, equipment or pass loss, damage, delays, and ski run closures.

It is also helpful to know that EU citizens generally are entitled to free emergency medical treatment in Spain. However, you need to be prepared. UK citizens must fill out an E-111 form and have it stamped at the post office before you leave. Do not forget to check if your current universal healthcare is covered in Europe. Even so, you may still want to supplement with additional cover just for the length of your stay.

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The most important thing to remember is to avoid your local bank. In a lot of cases, people trust their bank on exchange rates because they use them for other financial services. In fact though, banks provide terrible exchange rates compared to those available elsewhere. This is, in brief, because banks aim to make as large a profit on the transfer as possible. 

So what’s the alternative? In fact, foreign exchange brokers provide much better exchange rates than the banks. This is because, unlike banks, brokers are experts in foreign exchange, dealing on a constant basis with people transferring funds. For instance, Pure FX has saved clients literally thousands in the past, on large sums intended for purchases abroad.

In addition, brokers provide specialist guidance on transfers abroad. Let’s imagine, for instance, that you’re about to purchase a home in the Costa del Sol, but want sterling to strengthen against the euro first. To make this simple, brokers like Pure FX can watch the market, and let you know as soon as a good rate becomes available. It means you can rest assured of a good rate, because you’re taking advantage of expert guidance.

So in short, if you’re about to purchase a home in the Costa del Sol, be sure to transfer funds with a foreign exchange broker. You’re assured the best exchange rates available, in addition to great service. Of course, if you’d like to find out more, feel free to leave comment below, and I’ll respond as soon as possible.

Peter Lavelle at foreign exchange broker Pure FX

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The plans for the re-vamped port include a 200m quay for cruise liners and a five-star hotel on the marina, as well as new shops, bars, restaurants and supermarkets. The extended pier will not only be able to berth cruise liners, but also an exclusive pier inside the marina is to be set aside for 26 boats, with a further 541 berths for private craft. La Bajadilla’s capacity will increase from its current 262 quota to over 800 boats. A new underground car park will also give space for 450 vehicles in addition to the current 683 places on the surface. 

The eastern coastline on the outskirts of Marbella has been “in the works” for decades, in diverse states of industry. The aim is to overhaul it completely, creating an area of more urban development including various green spaces. Future aspirations for the area include direct links to the rest of Spain through high speed trains, making travel more comfortable and efficient.

Marbella Town Hall owns a 3 per cent stake in the consortium which will build “the best private port in the Mediterranean” with space for 1,220 moorings, as well as 155,000 square metres of land. The massive project has been described as “the most important urban development” in Marbella’s history and there are plans to make it truly “emblematic” Indeed, once fully completed (with construction estimated at within 2 years) La Bajadilla should be able to rival the famous Puerto Banus in the west.

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This drastic measure has come into effect only this week, but the actual deadline to abide by the law that has been passed is May 26th of this year. By this date all cigarette sales must be accompanied by these images, or the tobacconists will risk serious fines.

The question now is, do they really work? Do graphic pictures of smoking-related diseases deter anyone from smoking or do they just look disgusting? 

Belgium was actually the first country to introduce picture warnings on cigarette packets back in 2006, and according to health officials, “experience in countries that have introduced tobacco containers with such warnings has proven more effective for reporting the risks of smoking, has helped reduce their consumption and aided many smokers to quit permanently.”

In Spain the images have received mixed messages, with some agreeing that it would deter smokers but still deeming the campaign “exaggerated” and “scary” and others declaring it made not one blind bit of difference.

One tobacconist was quoted as saying “If they really want people to quit, they should just raise the price of cigarettes”.

I have always said that if smokers could see the damage that they are doing to themselves internally with these neat little soldiers of death then they would be closer to quitting than if the fact was never revealed to them at all. However, that said – while these measures might help people who already want to quit, or more “visually impressionable” smokers, I don’t see them assisting at all with “die-hard” (excuse the pun) smokers who actually enjoy it.

Did you know that?

• Tobacco is directly related to around 55,000 deaths a year in Spain. It is also the most preventable cause of premature death.
• A male smoker is 22 times more likely to die of lung cancer and 10 times more likely to die of bronchitis or emphysema.
• A female smoker is 12 times more likely to die of lung cancer and 10 times more likely to die of bronchitis or emphysema.
• Between 80,000 and 100,000 adolescents in the world become addicted to tobacco every day.
• 90% of all cases of lung cancer are smoking related.

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Not so, say experts. In fact, it has been proven time and again that umbilical cords could even save lives as they are imbued with stem-cell rich tissue which has the potential to cure a vast number of diseases. These truly amazing blood stem cells can be used to regenerate bone marrow and this makes them unbeatable in the treatment of leukaemia, genetic diseases that cause irregular blood formation, server immunodeficiency disorders and other diseases that require stem cell transplants.

If you think this is a novel idea though, you’d be mistaken. Private umbilical cord banks are said to have proliferated in Spain since 2006 when the Prince of Asturias took it upon himself to preserve his eldest daughter’s umbilical cord in a private bank of this type in the United States. These banks are pricey, and can cost up to 2,000 euros – however, luckily there is a free public alternative. The difference between the public and private umbilical cord banks is quite simple: private banks save the stem cells for the exclusive use of the patient or client, whereby the cords which are donated to the public banks by law must be made available to anyone in the world. 

However, despite this practically unlimited power to cure diseases, the sad fact is that many parents simply discard them after births never realising that their human “waste” could actually contribute to the health improvement of another human being. Indeed, the umbilical cord blood bank in Malaga provided cells for 52 transplants in 2010, an increase of 53 per cent over 2009 and the number of donations is growing according to awareness.

After a recent survey in Malaga, it was revealed that 20 per cent of expectant mothers offer to donate their baby’s umbilical cord, making it the Andalucian province with the highest number of donations.

Isidrio Prat, the director of the public umbilical cord bank (Banco Andaluz de Sangre de Cordón Umbilical) was quoted as saying “There is increasingly greater awareness of this life-saving practice, which explains why the number of donations has sky-rocketed” He went on to state that when the idea is proposed to them, 100 per cent of women choose to donate. “For those who don’t donate, it is simply because they are not aware”

So, how can you help?

In order to save umbilical cord blood new parents need only to state their intent to donate, sign a consent form and undergo an analysis with the aim of ruling out any transmissible diseases.

The hospital will then take care of the rest and you’ll be on your way to potentially saving or extending a life.

How about that for the humble body appendage commonly deemed “useless” after birth?

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The launch of the new terminal at Malaga Airport, the T3, (as mentioned in my previous article) has raised the transit of passengers and flight traffic over the past year. Specifically, the airport in the capital of the Costa del Sol operated a total of 105,631 flights from January to December, a 2% increase over the previous year.

This is also the first time since the onset of the economic crisis in 2007 that passengers and flight movements have increased at all.

This expansion has hit two years of consecutive decline on the head, to push Malaga airport through to the second place on the list of best performing airports of Spain. The only other major Spanish airport that experienced a better outcome was Barcelona.

Indeed, the 3.8% increase is not merely an increase for Malaga, but is said to represent a higher growth than in the average of Spanish terminals, according to data provided by Spanish Airports and Air Navigation (Aena).

In the international arena, Malaga airport received about 9.5 million tourists, most of them on flights from European Union countries. However, the United Kingdom still remains the leader. This market moved 4,280,672 passengers through the terminal in the capital of the Costa del Sol, followed at distance by Germany, with little more than a million passengers and Ireland, with 588,000 passengers.

The airline with most passengers (as predicted by its President Michael O’Leary in 2009) was Ryanair, which carried 2.1 million passengers in 2010 to and from Malaga, almost double the previous year, and overtaking Easyjet who have now been humbled to second place.

Ryanair currently has 47 connections to several locations in Spain and Europe.

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Please contact: elcamino@planeta-anmimal.org or call 699 316394. Planeta Animal invites everybody to take part in ‘El Camino 2011′. Find more information on www.planeta-animal.org

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A clinic in Mijas has come to an agreement with the local town hall to offer dental care to unemployed residents of the town through a project named Solidental.

For POLICLINICA ALEN the aim is to offer services which are not readily available on the public health system. Unemployed residents only have to show their unemployment card at any of the ALEN clinic branches and will be allowed to benefit from a 50 per cent discount on all basic procedures until March 15. All basic care procedures including cleaning, fillings and extractions are covered by this service.

And that’s not all…AGE CARE ASSOCIATION have announced that they are now offering free blood pressure and blood sugar testing at their Drop-In Centres in Calahonda and Los Boliches.

Age Care Association offers help and advice for pensioners on all aspects of living in Spain, with a variety of fact sheets on various subjects such as Hospitals, Interpreters, the Health Service and many more. These leaflets are available at all three drop-in centres, with timetables as follows:
CALAHONDA: Tuesdays: 11 a.m. – 1 p.m.; Pizzeria El Zoco
LOS BOLICHES: Thursdays: 10 a.m. -12:30 p.m.; Manila Bar, Paseo Maritimo
BENALMADENA: Mondays: 4:00 p.m. – 6 p.m.; Woodies Bar, Avenida de Bonanza, Arroyo de la Miel. Please be aware: The Benalmadena centre is NOT offering the free testing at the moment.

For the Helpline or for more information, please call: 691761088 / 655903182

The shop is situated in the El Zoco complex, Calahonda and is open from 10 am to 4 pm Monday- Friday. 10 am to 2 pm on Saturday.

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Pedro Marín, The Secretary of State for Energy said the increase would raise the average monthly electric bill by 3.20 euros (or 38.40 euros per year) although the OCU Consumers and Users Group has estimated the figure to be closer to 4.25 euros per month and both were unable to say what consumption those figures represented. During 2010, there was public outrage when electricity prices in Spain rose by 2.65 per cent in January and by a further 4.8 per cent in October, so the reaction for this hike is more than expected.

An estimated 17 million homes and small businesses will be affected by the rise in electricity prices which the Industry Ministry has justified citing higher fossil fuel prices (liquefied natural gas is the main source of power in Spain) and the falling value of the Euro against the US dollar. It was also purported that the change was in line with similar recent increases in other European countries, despite this being the highest percentage rise in price since the liberalisation of Spain’s power market in 1997.

Consumer groups reacted with outrage to the nearly 10 per cent increase on electricity prices, calling it unfair and abusive, and have launched massive letter and signature-collection campaigns against the hike. They say that not only households but also small businesses and the self-employed will suffer from this “scandalous and unacceptable” measure.

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In restaurants and bars  you will be allowed to smoke at outside tables as well as in the open air at university premises. But you better be careful in schools, children’s parks or in the doorways of hospitals and health centres which is obviously not the right place to smoke.

All this sounds quite good for non smokers but has a small side effect. The hotel and catering industry is set to lose around 7,000 million euros as a result, since many smokers will choose to drink at home instead.

This translates to 50,000 jobs, not counting those potentially lost by a reduction in takings at tobacconists’ shops.

Is this really a good decision?

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Here’s hoping that Santa Claus brings you everything you want this year – and hopefully nothing that you’ll put at the back of your cupboard and never wear or use.

Also, our writers would like to know – is there anything you have particularly enjoyed reading this year or anything you would to see more of in the future?

May everyone enjoy the festivities and have a great time with their family and friends!

Seasons Greetings
costablog

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A study that was recently carried out by the insurance business association UNESPA reveals that an accident involving material damage whilst driving occurs every eight minutes and 51 seconds on Málaga roads, while personal injury is caused in a road accident every one hour and 41 minutes.

These devastating figures mean that unfortunately, Málaga is the Andalusian province where most traffic accidents happen.

If you add to this the fact that around 150,000 cars are on the road in Málaga with no insurance (source: The Andalucian Institute of Statistics, December 2010), your chances of being hit in an accident caused by someone else, and not having the means to cover the costs incurred increases dramatically. Despite the fact that being caught with no insurance equals harsh fines of between 601 and 3,000 euros, when statistics from the database at the Traffic Department (DGT) were released last week they showed that only 897,180 owners had a valid insurance policy – and that’s compared to a total of 1,044,361 vehicles which were registered in the province of Málaga in 2009!

And all of this without a drop of alcohol.

So, what happens if you mix in a little “party spirit”?

You should know that :

A driver with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.10 or greater is seven times more likely to be involved in a fatal vehicle crash than a driver who has not consumed alcoholic beverages, and a driver with an alcohol concentration of 0.15 or greater is about 25 times more likely.

And as you drink more, so your BAC level rises… but it doesn’t just rise… it multiplies.

Put in simple terms, that means if you manage to drink through a six-pack of beer before getting behind the wheel, you’re 48 times more likely to have a fatal accident than a person who doesn’t drink at all.

With this in mind, stay safe this Christmas. Be sensible. If you’re going to drink, don’t drive.

If you plan to party away from home be sure to appoint a designated driver for the car or just get a taxi! Whatever you do, don’t get behind the wheel if you’ve been drinking.

Christmas is time to be with your closest family and friends, so enjoy yourself and keep safe.

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