costablog.com

Tenerife is the largest and most popular island of the seven Canary Islands. The Canary Islands also known as the Canaries (Spanish: Canarias) is a Spanish archipelago located just off the northwest coast of mainland Africa, 100 km west of the border between Morocco and the Western Sahara. Daily temperatures on Tenerife seldom fall below 20 degrees Celsius due to the island’s location just off the coast of Morocco and it’s that reliable weather that draws the visitors. Tenerife holidays are incredibly popular with British holidaymakers. Read more »

The US consumer giant Apple will open an Apple store in La Cañada shopping center in Marbella. But not just any store, it will be Spain’s biggest Apple store. This will be the first Apple store in Andalucia or even south Spain and only the fourth in Spain. September last year the very first Apple store in Spain opened in Barcelona in the shopping center La Maquinista with a size of 1300m2. Two more stores are in Madrid Parquesur and Xanadú, both with a size of only 800m2 each. They all opened to long queues of people eager to get through the doors. The Apple store in La Cañada is due to open mid November or even earlier with a size of 1700m2. It will be located on the ground floor opposite the main entrance where Habitat was before. Preparations for the new Apple store Marbella are being carried out in secret and the windows and access to the store are covered with black screens. It has been said, that they already have 65 employees.

Tourism looks to be one of the sectors that will boost Spain’s economy this year, as forecasts for growth are more than two percent. Around one million more tourists are expected to visit Spain this year, with a vast majority of them being northern Europeans who originally intended to visit regions that unfortunately have become natural or political disaster zones. Of course, these re-scheduled trips are music to the ears of a country which is emerging from a long financial downturn.

Spain is currently the world’s third largest tourist destination behind France and the United States however, experts still say that Spain’s prices need to become more competitive for any sustainable growth to be recorded. Indeed, when compared to other “fun in the sun” destinations like Turkey or Greece, Spain is continually the more expensive option. There are many strategies currently being talked about by the tourism board and one of them is upgrading accommodation and facilities to distinguish Spain as a quality destination for higher-spending visitors.  Read more »

Ronda is a small town famous to tourists from all over the world. It is located about 100km Northwest from the city of Málaga and 50km North of the Costa del Sol in an elevation of 723m in the hillside called Serrania de Ronda. The Old Town or in Spanish just La Ciudad is stamped with moorish characteristics. Since the 5th century the islamic dominated this part of Spain. Ronda was very important due to its elevated situation.

The Old Town is situated on an all around steep sloping plateau and is separated from the younger district called El Mercadillo, through a 100m deep gap called El Tajo, built by the river Rio Guadalevín. There are three ways to cross this gap, the Puente Romano – Roman Bridge, the Puente Viejo – Old Bridge as well known as Puente Arabe – Arab Bridge, and the well known Puente Nuevo – New Bridge, which was built between 1761 and 1793 and is the tallest of all three bridges and still in use for cars. The Puente Nuevo is the main photo object of Ronda.  Read more »

What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas? …Well, not for very much longer it would seem.

If recent reports are to be believed, then Spain could very soon have it’s own Las Vegas-style strip.

Sheldon Adelson of Las Vegas Sands Corporation (LVS) has confirmed he is “very seriously considering” plans to create a massive Las Vegas strip-style development in Spain. The US casino resort operator confirmed last Thursday that he was in talks with the town halls of both Madrid and Barcelona, which were two of the cities he visited when he came to explore his initial idea in 2008. It has also been confirmed that Mr Adelson has been in touch with the authorities in both Valencia and at undisclosed locations within the Costa del Sol.

The chairman and chief executive for Las Vegas Sands Corporation said last week that Mr Adelson wanted to create “a mini-Las Vegas strip resort” in Europe with 20,000 hotel rooms and millions of square metres for retail outlets and conference facilities. He was quoted as saying “I hope to use the name Europe Vegas or Euro-Vegas”

Promotors say that the project’s estimated total cost is between 10 and 15 billion euros and could create 180,000 jobs.