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With September, and the start of a new school term just around the corner, what better time could there be for parents to research into private schooling in Marbella?

Two new schools from The British Schools Network are being opened in Spain during the next month, they are “The British School of Marbella” and “The British School of Navarra” The British Schools Network is one of the largest and most famous networks of British International schools in the world.

“What about the economic crisis?” I hear you say. Michael Elms, the Groups Development Manager, implies this is not an issue and was quoted as saying “Despite the current economic crisis, we believe that a quality proposition will eventually succeed in Spain; a market that has all too often been satisfied with schools that merely teach in English”.

“Is it worth sending my child to a private school?” is the question on every parent’s mind. However, unless you’re fabulously wealthy, this is a decision not to be taken lightly. Read more »

The current heatwave in the south and the centre of the country is expected to last longer. Maximum temperatures will hit at least 42ºC in the shade and will cool down to night temperatures reaching around 24ºC. The state meteorological agency, AEMET, says that the weekend could even be hotter than ever. The hottest parts of the country will be Andalucía, Murcia, Extremadura and the south of Castilla-La Mancha with temperatures reaching 40-42ºC. By next Monday the summer temperatures are expected to cool down a bit, at least in the north of Spain. Summer is still not over.

When it comes to talking about the Costa del Sol, you’d be forgiven for thinking that tourists only choose to visit in the Summer, as it’s name suggests, the “Coast of the Sun” is famous for its scorching hot weather and chilled out beach bars, or “chiringuitos”. However, this is far from the case – and we will see shortly, in times like these the best plan of action is to promote year round tourism for the country.

The objective for the Head of Tourism in Andalucia, Luciano Alonso is to maintain the province’s position as the most popular destination for visitors from the rest of Spain, and indeed the rest of the world. He has chosen the Wine Museum in Malaga to present the plan to promote tourism in Andalucia for the coming autumn/winter season. In yesterday’s visit to Conil de la Frontera, Cádiz where he came to see the building site of a 4 star hotel by hotel chain “Hipotel” Luciano Alonso declared to the waiting press: “Andalucia needs quality tourism”. Read more »

As per my previous article on bullfighting, the region of Cataluña has recently passed a bill to forbid bullfighting as of 2012, although there were whispers heard afterwards that the decision was based as much on politics and separatism as it was on any concern for the rights of animals and cruelty towards them. On average, the annual revenue accrued from bullfighting is £2.2bn and 13,300 bulls are killed in official bullfights every year (which is the equivalent to 36 bulls every single day) However, the total number killed is estimated to be 3 times as high.

The reaction from the rest of Spain to the historical ban has been completely the opposite to Cataluña, with many regions defending the “fiesta nacional“. However, the true home of bullfighting has always been Andalucia. It is here that much of the industry that surrounds the Spanish tradition is created. Read more »

A trip to Marbella Port would not be complete without a visit to the amazing “Patagonia” Argentinian tapas bar. (so named after an actual region of South America in Southern Argentina and Chile extending from the Río Colorado to the Straits of Magellan and from the Andes to the Atlantic Ocean.) The study of its original inhabitants, the Tehuelche (“the Patagonian giants”), and its unusual wildlife have attracted many scientific expeditions, including that of Charles Darwin between 1831-1836.

The tradition of Tapa‘s (meaning lid or cover in Spanish) is somewhat confusing, as some say it dates back to the reign of King Alfonso 10th, between 1886 and 1931 when due to an illness, the King had to take small bites of food with some wine between meals. Once recovered from the disease, the king decreed that no wine was to be served in any of the inns of Castile, unless accompanied by something to eat. This was indeed a wise precaution to counteract the adverse effects of alcohol on those people who, through lack of money to buy a nourishing meal, drank alcohol on an empty stomach.

Alternatively, you could choose to believe what may be a more logical theory, since “tapar” literally means “to cover”. The name could simply have come from the olden day tradition of covering a cup of wine with a small piece of food to keep the flies away. Read more »