Renting your property in Spain

We've been working really hard over the past few months with Lisa Kilkenny to put together the ultimate guide for people looking to rent out their property in Spain.

It really is very good, and I'm not just saying that, but if you rent a property in Spain you need to read this:

Holiday rentals guide

Which shop would you buy shares in?

At the weekend I sat having coffee with a clever real estate agent, Andrew from Hamilton Homes- as I sat there sipping my coffee, Andrew was counting customers coming out of Zara and H&M – he counted 100 customers leaving Zara and then 100 people coming out of H&M. Out of the 100 customers leaving Zara , 40 people came out with a Zara bag having made a purchase of some sort- in statistics terms 40% of customers made a purchase. Andrew then counted that out of the 100 customers leaving H&M only 10 people came out carrying a H&M bag. There I was thinking that Andrew did not have anything better to do while we had our coffeee, but actuallty this pointless exercise really did have a real meaning. Read this recent news report.

In these uncertain times of credit crunch and financial crisis it is good to go back to basics and keep your eyes open and ears to the ground. Next time you are wandering around at the La Cañada shopping centre have a look around and see which shops are selling and which shares you need to be telling your bank or stock broker to buy and which to sell!

An Eye on Spain update

I recorded this video today about some of the things we're up to at Eye on Spain (well, it's easier than typing it all!!)

Please be my friend!

Having a bit of a play around with a few "social" sites this week. It's just a bit of fun but if you want to be my friend (how sad does that sound?) you can hook up with me on Facebook or Twitter.

Add me as your friend on Facebook

Follow me on Twitter

See you there!

Lepanto in Malaga

We went to Malaga last week during Spain's national day. Yes I know, I'm a bit late blogging about it!

But, I have to tell you about our favourite coffee place there. It's called "Lepanto" and it's on the main streeet. They do the most amazing cakes! If you go to Malaga you MUST visit it:



After some cakes it's quite normal to go for some lunch....of course! So we went round the corner to a restaurant, the name of which I can't remember, to have a healthy lunch...



OK, so not so healthy looking! It's called "huevos rotos" literally meaning broken eggs. It's essentially a base of chips and chorizo sausage and with fried eggs on top. The waiter then cuts the egg up, hence the "roto" bit in the name.

Even though it is far from healthy it is wonderfully delicious and filling. Another one to try out too if you get the chance. Just don't blame me if can't do your button up the next day!

Now, please ignore this bit as I'm just testing something! Holiday apartment El Valle Golf Resort.

After seeing that picture again I'm feeling very hungry all of a sudden. Right, off to get some lunch!

A great day for a wedding

It's seems hurricane season has hit Spain today! The wind and rain here in Manilva is just something else at the moment.

And today is a special day for my friend Selwyn who's getting married in Gibraltar this afternoon. And what a day he picked! Those wedding photos are going to be a little grey....

Christmas in Spain

In our newsletter this week we featured an article about Christmas in Spain.   This will be our fifthChristmas here and that article that Susan wrote really does sum up our experience of a Spanish Christmas.

In the article Susan mentions that Christmas is appearing earlier in the shops, like happens in the UK.  Well, today I went into Supersol and noticed that they've now brought in the "polvorones".  These are very fattening but lovely Christmas sweets.  They have a powdery feel to them and they break up really easily, and often get stuck in your throat too...but I can't resist them, and obviously neither can the Spanish.

I for one am not complaining that Christmas is coming early to Spain.  In fact, I really very much like it.

It's time to start praying

Walking to the office this morning I went through the usual morning ritual...I become a local rubbish collector.

Some of our roads here have still not been handed over to the town hall (for one reason or another) which means they never get cleaned. I'm not one to walk past a load of rubbish on the street and hope it all goes away. I get to the top of the road with bags of rubbish falling out of my arms.

But who throws their rubbish in the street anyway? Do people like living like pigs? I really can't understand it at all.

I have to say though, the Brits that live around here are very good at cleaning up the streets. They often turn out (me included) with brooms in hand to keep this area clean and tidy. If it wasn't for our efforts this place would be disgusting.

I'll come off my soap box now and get on my knees again....not to clean anything else, just to pray that one day we may have have someone who will clean our street, after all, we all pay our local taxes. It's not a lot to ask for in this day and age is it?

Appreciating the day

So you wake up in the morning, roll up the blind and you're briefly dazzled by the bright sunshine streaming in through the window.

You feel alive, happy to start this glorious day well so you....

go for a full English breakfast by the sea.

You soon forget about the calories when your view for breakfast is this



By the way, the full English at Miel is the best!