LIFE EXPECTANCY in Spain is above 85 for men and women in five towns, all in Madrid, according to the recent research report released by the National Statistics Institute (INE) – from Pozuelo de Alarcón (86.2) to Alcobendas (85.3) with Majadahonda, Alcorcón and Las Rozas in the middle, but does not differ greatly between the top 15 highest and the 15 lowest.

Completing the top 15 are San Sebastián de los Reyes at 84.8 and, jointly on 84.3, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Madrid city, Pamplona and Collado Villalba, with those in between being Getxo, Leganés, Getafe (Madrid), Sant Cugat del Vallès, and Guadalajara.

The lowest life expectancy in Spain is in La Línea de la Concepción, and is the only one of Spain's 126 largest towns and cities where this is under 80 – at 79.7 – and is even beaten by Ceuta's 80 and Melilla's 80 years and six months, two enclaves in Spain which have historically had some of the lowest life expectancies.

All the others in the bottom 15 are between 81years exactly, and 81 years and 20.5 weeks, or about five months – in ascending order, from precisely 81, are Cádiz, Arrecife, Telde, Algeciras (Cádiz province), Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Almería, Huelva, El Puerto de Santa María (Cádiz province), and jointly on 81.4 years, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Linares, Málaga and Torrevieja.

Even those with the lowest life expectancies in Spain are still, however, among the highest in the world.

Also below the national average of approximately 83 are Torremolinos, Cáceres (Extremadura), Torrelavega (Cantabria), Paterna (Valencia), Jaén, Castellón (Comunidad Valenciana), Reus (Tarragona province), and Chiclana de la Frontera (Cádiz province), but until Castellón inclusive, all of these are at least 82.

Above the national average of around 83, but not in the top 15, are Oviedo, Santander, Parla, Albacete (south-eastern Castilla-La Mancha), Ávila and Burgos (Castilla y León), with the latter being just short of 84, or 83 years and 11 months.

The research only briefly touched on mortality rates – the highest, at 13.69 per 1,000 annually, or 1.37%, is Ferrol, the town with the oldest population.

Children per woman

Birth rates were taken from figures as at the end of 2018, meaning they are showing as higher than they are now in reality – these have been constantly falling since before the end of the last century, so the mid-2021 average is likely to be below the late-2018 number of 1.26 children per women of fertile age.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

CRUISE liners will be allowed back into Spain's ports from June 7 – next Monday – which will be great news for the national tourism industry, although some restrictions or criteria will apply.

Passengers on cruises tend to spend more money in a port town or city in relation to the length of time they stay there compared with longer-term holidaymakers, and are usually keen to cram as much into their few hours on dry land as possible, including visiting main attractions, buying souvenirs and trying out the local cuisine, as it may be one of only two or three stops they are due to make in the country at all, and they have limited time to get the best out of it before they set off again.

Also, the relatively short time they spend in a town or city means there is less chance of their being a source of Covid contagion than if they were in destination for a couple of weeks and mingling with people outside their passenger 'bubble'.

Plus, cruise travellers are often among the 'luxury' end of the holidaymaker market, meaning more spending power.

All this, along with the fact that many jobs in coastal destinations are based around ports and yacht marinas, means it was vital that steps were taken to allow cruise ships to dock in Spain as soon as possible. 

As a highly-controlled environment, cruise ships are able to take steps that people on do-it-yourself or package holidays are less likely to guarantee having taken as individuals; also, in the event of a contagion, it is easier to quarantine passengers and trace contacts.

Among the measures required are daily temperature-taking, and Covid tests on the third or fourth day of the trip for all passengers.

They will also be required to take a PCR or similar test no more than 72 hours before embarking, or a rapid antigen test – where results come through within 10 to 30 minutes – on the day of setting sail.

This means that, in theory, everyone on board should be 'negative' when they arrive, but if they are not and someone passes the virus to another whilst on the seas, this should be picked up early.

Passengers will be placed in specific 'tour groups', as is often the case on package holidays or 'circuit tours' when the trip involves a series of daily organised excursions as an integral part of the visit.

These bubble groups will have all their meals together, and groups will be 'staggered' so as not to coincide, or not too many at once, in the canteen.

Embarking and disembarking along the route and on-board activities will also be at different times to limit people's coinciding with others outside their bubble.

Passengers are required to be informed of every Covid-related step at all times, and immediate isolation of contacts will be ordered if one or more person tests positive.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

ANDALUCÍA has just acquired another National Park – a status that could dramatically increase tourism income and job creation, vital in the holiday industry's post-pandemic recovery.

The Sierra de las Nieves is shared between the Málaga-province towns of El Burgo, Yunquera, Tolox, Monda, Istán, Benahavís, Parauta and Ronda, and its impact as a key visitor hotspot is expected to be felt in the neighbouring municipalities of Alozaina, Casarabonela, Guaro, Igualeja, Ojén and Serrato.

“Now is the time for us to make a determined focus on Andalucía's natural environment to create 'green jobs' and turn our rural heritage into a key player in our community's post-Covid social and economic recovery,” says regional environment minister Carmen Crespo.

The southern strip of mainland Spain has just upped its number of National Parks by 50% - it is also home to the Doñana, which sits mostly in the province of Huelva but spills partly into that of Cádiz, and the Sierra Nevada in the province of Granada, one of southern Europe's most popular ski resort areas, clearly visible from the Alhambra Palace, and partly shared with the next province to the north, Almería. 

Curiously, two of the three National Parks in Andalucía have names that suggest the polar opposite to the region's fame as a popular sunshine destination: Sierra Nevada translates approximately as 'snow-covered mountain range', and Sierra de las Nieves roughly means 'mountain range of the snows'.

Indeed, at altitudes of 1,000 feet or more, snow in deep winter is fairly common in Spain, even in its warmest regions, and the country is replete with ski resorts scattered widely enough that a high percentage of the population can either get to the slopes and back in a day, or can feasibly do so with just a one-night stay locally.

And as the second-most mountainous country in Europe after Switzerland – which makes it the most mountainous in the EU – Spain is not short of rural areas of exceptional beauty and botanical and biological value.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

IF YOU can't get to the beach, get the beach to come to you – at least, that's the philosophy of a growing number of homeowners in Spain with their own land.

A rising trend among residents and people with holiday properties, where the nearest coast involves a car drive or, at best, a long walk, or those who would really like to live on their nearest seafront but find this is not practical – in towns where the main hub and the beach are at a distance, and the latter lacks conveniences and facilities outside the main summer season – is to have a swimming pool built which looks like it instead.

An ideal solution for those who want a pool anyway, but love coastal scenery, 'sand swimming pools' have started to take off and demand is increasing as more and more property renovation companies are beginning to offer them as an alternative to the conventional kind.

'Sand pools' are especially attractive to owners who fear a 'standard' swimming pool would take up too much of their garden space and leave little room for greenery, perhaps even being a bit of an eyesore – with this new creation, you can personalise your beach-pool to make it look like an exotic island, with palm trees and palm-leaf parasols, or like a rugged, rural, virgin beach with grass and mountain shrubs.

Companies which are now building 'sand pools' are also working for comunidades – communities of owners, or freehold committees, legal entities to which apartment or villa owners on an enclosed complex or in a block pay rates to cover maintenance, cleaning and extraordinary works; a comunidad is set up as a non-profit firm in which all owners are effectively shareholders or partners – meaning communal pools built like beaches are starting to become popular as well as those on private land.

They do not suffer the same inconveniences as an actual beach – obviously, there are no currents, high tides or red flags, and on windy days, you will not get covered in sand: The base and surroundings are made with a mix of sand and a type of resin to hold it in place, so if you want the 'feel' and 'look' of a beach but the comfort of a purpose-built swimming pool, these new designs offer the best of both worlds.

They tend to have sloping floors, so you can stand at the edge and wet your feet or keep wading out until you are finally in the deep end – depth can be stipulated, of course, in the same way as with a standard swimming pool, if you either want at least four metres to be able to dive or prefer to always be able to keep your head above water at any point – so there are no steps involved, which can be less daunting and more comfortable for those with restricted movement, small children, or anyone who is nervous about swimming.

Sizes can vary, from a basic paddling area through to even an Olympic-sized one if you have enough land, and planning permission requirements – always compulsory for any new solid fixture at your home – are very similar.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

VEHICLE inspection criteria is set to change again from this coming Tuesday (June 1) to update road safety requirements in line with ever-evolving new technology involved in car manufacturing.

The ITV – the equivalent of which in the UK is the MOT – has to be carried out on all cars of four years old or over, every two years; once the car is 10 years old, the ITV is compulsory annually.

Some vehicles may need to start their ITV 'career' before the end of their fourth year – this is often the case with courtesy or hired cars, or those that have been used as such before being bought by a private owner – although the exact criteria differs. 

Normally, with a new or nearly-new car, the notification calling the owner to the ITV will arrive automatically by post; for those with cars which have already undergone at least one ITV, it is their responsibility to ensure the vehicle passes before the previous one expires, even if they do not receive a letter.

What happens at an ITV test

Upon passing the test, a sticker with the expiry date is given and must be displayed prominently in the top left-hand corner of the windscreen, the right way up, with all previous ones removed.

Unlike the MOT in the UK, the owner does not just drop the car off at an accredited garage and pick it up later – ITVs are conducted at official, State-run testing centres, and the capital town of every comarca, or 'mini-county', normally has one in or near it.

The owner drives through the testing centre and performs the moves requested by the tester, navigating through the 'obstacles' – a simulator for braking on ice, for example, and either up on a hoist or over a hole in the ground for the inspector to view the underside.

Although oil and water levels and filters do not form an integral part of the test, the driver will be told if these are low or need to be replaced, and could fail if they are run dry or in a very bad condition – for many, the ITV acts as a useful complement to routine servicing.

If the car fails, the owner has up to 30 days to fix the defects and put it through the test again; the re-test fee is 50% of that of the initial test, but after a failure and prior to passing a subsequent ITV, the car can only be driven to a garage or inspection centre.

This is the case even if, after a fail, the annual deadline – stipulated by calendar month – has not yet gone past, and even if all the required repairs have been completed but the vehicle has yet to be given a new sticker.

Driving with an out-of-date ITV attracts a fine of €500, and driving after a fail but before passing a re-test – even if it is still within date and the repairs have been effected – means a fine of €200.

Changes from Tuesday

From June 1, any fault in ABS braking systems will become a defect automatically subject to a fail, rather than a 'minor fault'.

'Minor' faults are issues drawn to the owner's attention during or immediately after the test, are not serious enough to result in a fail, but could lead to failure if they are not fixed by the time of the next test, depending upon their severity.

Until now, 'minor' faults would include a loose wing mirror or one that was hanging off; this is now a 'serious' fault, meaning the car will fail unless it is fixed first.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

SPANISH tennis star Carla Suárez set off for Paris today (Tuesday) ready for the French Open at city's Roland Garros stadium, her first tournament in 17 months.

The last time Carla, from Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, played professionally was in Doha on February 25, 2020, just before the pandemic brought the world sporting calendar to an abrupt halt.

And when the WTA circuit restarted at the end of last year, Carla was in treatment for Hodgkin's Lymphoma.

She was diagnosed just days before her 32nd birthday – which is September 3 – and spent months going through chemotherapy, with her last session being on January 25.

By early April, she was already back in training and quietly confident of getting through to the Tokyo Olympics this summer.

Carla, who finished last year as WTA world number 44, had actually been planning to retire from the sport in 2020, after the Olympics – but as the Games were sacrificed to Covid in the same way as all other global sports, it is likely she would have reconsidered giving up even if she had not been diagnosed with cancer.

At the moment, her plan is to retire after 2021, but as she is determined to 'go out with a bang', her results over the rest of the season may mean she ends up playing it by ear.

It could be she is not back to her best, and that by treating 2021 as a 'mock exam', another year on could see her return to form and providing a more satisfying scenario for calling time on her career.

“I'm tremendously excited to be able to take part in the Roland Garros,” Suárez says.

“I've been working these last few months to give myself a chance to compete one last time on clay in Paris.

“I'm very keen to jump back onto the court and once again feel how special this tournament has always been for me.

“Tennis has given me lots, and I've always wanted my farewell to be on the court; being able to choose the last stroke, being able to put a date on it myself, is something I've always wanted from the heart. This was the desire that has spurred me on to train...

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

TEAM manager Luis Enrique has announced his list for the UEFA Euro – due to be played a year overdue as a result of 2020's pandemic-related shutdown – and fans have reacted with everything from outrage to conspiracy theories as to why certain key names are absent from the roll-call.

One of these is Spain captain, Sergio Ramos – born in Sevilla but playing for Real Madrid – although Luis Enrique has been quick to clarify his reasons and silence the cynics.

Ramos – whose high-profile wedding was the talk of the media in June 2019 and whose wife Pilar Rubio has since given birth to their fourth son – had an operation on his knee at the beginning of 2021 and was unable to play in the final leg of the season with Real Madrid after suffering another injury and then testing positive for Covid-19.

“My admiration and recognition for Ramos have always been obvious, but you have to take decisions based upon what we consider best for the national team,” Luis Enrique insists.

“It was both a very easy and a very hard list to create, and when you make decisions it's normal that there will be people who agree with you and people who don't. It's evident that Ramos' absence is because he has not been able to compete, especially since January, in the right conditions.

“It was not an easy decision; on Sunday [yesterday] I told him personally. He's always been on the national team and will be able to carry on doing so in the future – it's a complicated decision but you have to do what's best for the group.

“I recommended to Ramos that he puts himself first – that he should be a bit selfish, even – and focus on making a full recovery so he'll be at his best for the future.”

In theory, this means if Ramos does not suffer any further health setbacks and is able to overcome his current injuries and keep his level of play and fitness up to standard, it seems there is no reason why he would not form part of the team for the FIFA World Cup next year.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

TRAVEL can now restart to Spain – as from tomorrow (Monday, May 24), visitors from 'safe' non-EU countries will be permitted entry without restrictions or requirements other than, according to the latest tweet from the ministry for tourism, the passenger locator form.

These countries include the UK, USA, China and Japan.

It does not necessarily mean British tourists will come flooding back imminently, though: The usual May half-term rush is probably unlikely, since the UK government still has Spain listed as 'amber', meaning travellers from the country or returning from holiday there will be required to quarantine for 10 days and have two PCR tests within that time, which must be negative.

Some discussion is under way in the UK as to whether parents can be fined if they keep their children off school for up to a week and a half after spending half-term in Spain – local authorities have said they will not be, as this would otherwise encourage parents to abandon quarantine and children to go straight back to class, although the British government insists 'nobody' should be travelling to an 'amber' country for 'non-essential reasons', including annual holidays, and that parents 'have a responsibility' to ensure children do not have to miss school through quarantining as a result of 'avoidable circumstances'.

This is despite ongoing campaigning from Spain's government, insisting nowhere in the country is now on 'extreme risk' levels, and in the overwhelming majority of 'typical' British annual holiday destination areas, the incidence of Covid is low or non-existent.

Also, all over-60s in Spain are now fully vaccinated, unless they have been unable to be through having tested positive when they were due for their jabs, or unless they chose not to do so.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

EATING a piece of UNESCO heritage might not be on your weekend to-do list – after all, biting into the Alhambra Palace or taking a nibble of the Segovia aqueduct would, at best, disappoint in terms of flavour, and probably at least knock a few teeth out. 

But when that UNESCO heritage is paella, it's in the Sunday in-tray for a huge percentage of families in the eastern coastal provinces.

When told paella 'comes from Valencia' and that they 'need to go there' to try the 'real thing', many make the mistake of heading for Spain's third-largest city – they will still get a brilliant paella, but when describing its origins as 'Valencia', what we mean is the region, not just its biggest metropolitan area.

So, those who want to get a taste of this most international of Spain's dishes 'where it came from' can go to Valencia city if they wish, but in any town or village across the provinces of Alicante, Valencia or Castellón, an area about the size of Wales with around five million inhabitants, they will find an equally-authentic paella. 

Also, what non-Spaniards might call 'paella' is not necessarily: Literally hundreds of recipes for it exist, but many hundred more that look like a variation on it are simply called 'rice with'.

On a menu translated into English, 'rice with beans and turnips', for example, will probably be written as 'bean and turnip paella', so diners have a better vision of what they might be ordering and will not just picture a plateful of boiled white rice with a few vegetables in it.

If it's not actual 'paella' but 'rice with', it will still taste paella-like to the average diner, but will be written as arroz con.

'Paella Valenciana' is probably what you are more used to seeing – a 'surf and turf' version, its ingredients include meat and seafood – although seafood paella without meat, or even vegetarian paella with neither, are equally as commonly-sighted, and eaten, in restaurants across the entire region.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

SPAIN'S – and one of the world's – biggest international tourism trade fairs has just opened in Madrid, five months later than usual and amid great expectations due to being the first edition since before the pandemic struck and seen as key to getting the planet's population travelling again.

High hopes are pinned on FITUR 2021 after more than a year of the global holiday industry's being virtually devoid of activity, but vaccines are being cited as key to its recovery.

Only today, the European Union announced it would reopen its borders in summer to travellers from third countries who had been fully vaccinated against Covid-19.

King Felipe VI and his wife, Queen Letizia, cut the red tape on FITUR today (Wednesday) at Madrid's IFEMA exhibition complex, but in the interests of limiting person-to-person contact, only visited the macro-pavilion housing the different micro-pavilions for each of Spain's autonomously-governed regions, and the one occupied by Spanish companies.

Accompanying the monarchs were Madrid's regional president Isabel Díáz Ayuso (PP), mayor of Madrid José Luis Martínez Almeida (PP), deputy mayoress Begoña Villacís (Ciudadanos), and Spain's minister for tourism and industry, Reyes Maroto (PSOE).

Despite the media's keenness to report on it, the Royal couple avoided visiting the pavilion for Morocco, in light of a diplomatic disagreement between two countries who are old friends – personal friends, in the case of the latter's King Mohammed VI and HRH Felipe's father, King Juan Carlos I – linked to divided loyalties over the disputed nation of Western Sahara and which has been thrust into the spotlight with over 8,000 sub-Saharan African migrants making their way into the Spanish city of Ceuta by climbing the fence from Moroccan territory.

Only one representative was sent from Georgia, the country sponsored by FITUR for 2021 – every year, the fair sponsors a different emerging tourism nation – who joined the King, Queen and politicians in the walk-around.

Different this year: More space and less contact

This year's FITUR has already shown itself to be vastly different from the 2020 edition, held at the normal time of year – late January and early February – before Covid had reached Europe other than in the form of a few isolated cases.

Now, the fair has much wider aisles between stands, persons manning the stalls standing farther apart, no handshakes or other physical contact, and no personal searches at the entrance.

Running until Sunday inclusive, FITUR will showcase countries and parts of countries from all five inhabited continents, businesses and holiday destinations from 55 nations, and 37 official representatives, along with professionals of another 79 nationalities who will be taking part via the new digital platform FITUR LIVEConnect.

Country stands passed en route during the monarchs' tour included Panamá, which is showcasing its handicrafts, its history and its natural environment; Portugal, which is flying huge yellow balloons with each representing one of its most iconic regions; México, and Egypt.

Spain's different regions are displaying either what they do best, or what they would rather promote instead: The Canary Islands has modelled its stand on its huge pre-Lent Carnival, La Rioja on its wine, and Galicia on the Camino de Santiago pilgrims' route which is celebrating its 'Xacobeo Year' in 2021 and, for the first time, stretched out to encompass part of 2022 – all of these being fairly typical features of their territory anyway – whilst other, established 'sun, sea and sand' destinations are pushing their local cuisine, nature, outdoor sports and similar non-season-sensitive attractions.

A TWO-MONTH-OLD baby girl has made international headlines after undergoing a pioneering life-saving operation.

Not only is Naiara the youngest patient to receive a heart transplant to date, but she is also the first to receive an organ from a donor of an incompatible blood type.

And the donor heart was shipped over by aircraft, along with the team of surgeons – yet another first for the infant and for Spain's medical history.

It was what is known as an 'asystole' donation, or where the donor's heart had stopped, meaning the organ was kept 'alive' through an exterior circulation system enabling oxygen to flow through it.

As the organ came from a different – and undisclosed – region in Spain to where the baby was based, the entire cardiology surgery team from Madrid's Gregorio Marañón Hospital had to be flown to the site. 

They then returned with the frozen organ to carry out the transplant.

Regional health authorities in Madrid say this is the first time an organ had been implanted in a child based some distance from its origin.

Also, the donor and baby Naiara are of incompatible blood type, or 'AB0 incompatible', making the procedure even more complex.

In fact, three years ago it would have been 'impossible', the health authority said, since a system had not been designed for transplants between donors of the wrong blood groups.

“The difference with an 'asystole' donation is that the surgeon finds a heart which has stopped, has been some minutes without beating, but is still warm, so we have to revive the heartbeat through external means by connecting the organ to an outside system,” explains paediatric cardiologist Dr Juan Miguel Gil Jaurena, leading the Gregorio Marañón team.

“Until relatively recently, nobody would have considered that a person with no heartbeat could donate their heart, even if the beat was recovered artificially.”

After this process, the actual transplant operation and follow-up care are the same as for a 'traditional' organ implant, Dr Gil Jaurena says.

This factor, and the success of the surgery despite a lack of a blood-type match, means a greater likelihood of very small children and babies who need transplants getting the organs they need, since donations from infants and toddlers are rare.

Before Naiara was born, a scan showed she had heart problems, which worsened as her mother's pregnancy progressed, so the infant was referred – pre-partum – to the children's cardiology unit at the Gregorio Marañón and her birth was induced early.

Once she came into the world, the medical team managed to stabilise her heart so that, along with her other organs, it could mature and develop.

This was when the option of a transplant was mentioned – although it was the only option available to save her, and chances were very slim as donors of just a few weeks or months old are extremely hard to find.

“Thanks to the immense generosity of other parents, a heart became available for Naiara,” said the head of the paediatric cardiac transplant unit, Dr Manuela Camino.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A THREE-MONTH Europe-wide campaign has been launched by Spain's tourist board urging foreign travellers to return, backed by an €8 million investment and social media advertising.

“You deserve Spain,” reads the slogan across different photographs, the most frequently-seen being one of a family, from the back, standing on a beach looking out over the sea.

Instead of the usual bright sunshine, the people in the image are watching what is probably a sunrise over the sea – at least, if it was a sunset, they would need to be on the western shores of the islands or in Galicia.

Director of Turespaña, Miguel Sanz, says the advert has been pinned everywhere from Piccadilly Circus to German buses, and will stay there for the next 10 weeks.

The campaign is mainly targeting its top four European holidaymaker output countries – France, Germany, Italy and the UK – and to a lesser, but still significant, extent, the four main emerging Spanish tourism markets on the continent, Belgium, The Netherlands, Poland and Sweden.

Adverts are tailored specifically towards the four main 'niches' of visitors to the country – young adults, families, adults without children, and the retired population.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

SOMETIMES it really feels as though Spain is the part of the world where the Arctic and the tropics collide. Humid summers with temperatures pushing 40ºC, cacti and yucca growing wild, a country which harvests its own pineapples, avocados and bananas – but also its own blackberries, where its biggest city once recorded the coldest day temperature of any capital on earth (8ºC), where mountains and wooded areas can be thick with snow for two months of the year or more, and where ski resorts are packed out all winter.

Spain is home to beech woods – a completely northern European phenomenon – and the continent's southernmost of these are found in the provinces of Guadalajara and Segovia. You need thermals and blankets in winter, even on the Mediterranean, but the thermometer in inland Andalucía cities such as Córdoba, Sevilla and Jaén, if they sit in the sun, occasionally max out at levels not far off the USA's Death Valley.

In the same region as one of Europe's most popular ski resorts – the Sierra Nevada – which is based in a province where you sometimes need to take a coat with you if you go out in August, is what is often considered to be the continent's only true desert.

Is Tabernas really unique?

As is often the case in situations where a country or region claims to be the 'only', the 'first' or some other unique geographical milestone, this assertion is open to conjecture: Deserts abound in Europe, although most are considered 'semi-deserts' or, depending upon whom you speak to, all of them are considered 'semi-deserts' except the one in the province of Almería.

Accona Desert in the Crete Senesi area of Italy, in the Tuscan zone, has too much annual rainfall according to the literal definition: A desert is an area with no more than 10 inches, or 25 centimetres, per year, and the Accona typically records about 24 inches, or 60 centimetres. Others, such as the Oltenian Sahara in Romania, technically qualifies, but is not a 'natural' desert as it was formed through deforestation in the 1960s, and trees are being planted there at the moment to reverse some of the process and increase rainfall to allow it to support life.

The Deliblato Sands in Serbia may provide Almería's competition, since it is, as the name suggests, pure sand, and was created by natural processes during and after the Ice Age, before which it was under the Pannonian Sea.

Then there's the Capadoccia, or Kapadokya, area of Turkey, whose natural rock towers are a global tourist attraction, but its cold autumn and winter temperatures may disqualify it from being considered a 'true' desert.

But Almería's Tabernas Desert is, without question, a desert in the true sense and, whether or not it is the only one on mainland Europe, it definitely qualifies.

Average annual temperatures in an 'official' desert have to be over 17ºC – although this is not the only criterion, of course; most of Mediterranean and southern Spain records annual average temperatures of about 18ºC – and its rainfall is well below the requisite 25 centimetres a year.

In fact, some of the highest temperatures outside of built-up areas in Europe are found in summer in the Tabernas, so if you're planning a trip to this must-see geological gem, you might want to either do it now or wait until around October.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

THE last of Spain's service personnel deployed in Afghanistan have now arrived home, and King Felipe VI met them as they disembarked from their military craft at the air base in Torrejón de Ardoz (Greater Madrid region).

Defence minister Margarita Robles joined the monarch as the 24 men and women – the final soldiers left out of the more than 27,100 who have served in the west Asian country since late 2001 – stepped onto the runway.

HRH Felipe's first words, addressing the troops through their operations commander General Francisco Braco, were: “Sir – mission accomplished.”

The King and defence minister are planning a commemorative act next month for the 102 Spaniards who lost their lives in combat during the 19-year mission in Afghanistan, but they paid tribute to them as their colleagues touched base.

Margarita Robles said Spain 'owes a debt of gratitude' to the 27,100 or so who served in what has so far been the longest overseas mission the country has taken part in, and which has now come to a close with all Spanish soldiers now having returned from Afghanistan.

Sra Robles called them 'essential lead players in recent history' and said she would do whatever it took to ensure their efforts for the 'peace and safety of Spain' were fully recognised.

King Felipe himself – who is officially the highest-ranking military officer in the country, a rôle automatically held by the reigning monarch – had visited the Spanish troops in Afghanistan in person back in June 2008, when he was still Prince Felipe of Asturias and his father, King Juan Carlos I, had not yet abdicated.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

BEACHES in Spain have got the blues this year – more so even than last summer.

A year ago – well, 11 months, in fact – the country was awarded 589 blue flags for its beaches and another 99 for its yacht marinas and leisure ports, giving a total of 688; quite an achievement for the start of a summer which had been preceded by three months of total lockdown and was still facing major restrictions, including what was looking to be (and in the end, was) an almost total absence of foreign holidaymakers.

But even with this being the second year running that involved stringent safety criteria to prevent the spread of Covid-19 as part of the blue flag conditions, Spain has once again surpassed itself with a whopping 713.

Of these, 615 are for beaches, 96 for ports and marinas, and two for tourist sailing vessels.

And once again, Spain is the world leader for blue flags – it has been non-stop for 34 years now – even beating much larger countries with considerably more coast.

Naturally, Spain is always going to beat Portugal, Italy, Cyprus – and Malta, which is small enough that a fit person could walk from one end of the country to the other in a day – because of their size, but other popular European sunshine destinations such as Greece, Turkey and France have as yet failed to catch up with Spain since 1987.

Last year, beaches and ports in Spain mostly managed to hang onto their blue flags, with a small handful of new ones edging in; this year, the majority of coastal provinces have seen an increase.

The regions of Murcia, Cantabria and the Basque Country have kept the same number of blue flags as last year – 26, 11 and five respectively – as have the islands of Gran Canaria and La Gomera, in the Canary Islands, and the northern African coastal cities of Ceuta and Melilla, with 15, three, two and four respectively.

Blue-flagged beaches in land-locked provinces? Are you sure?

Madrid has retained its one blue flag and the province of Badajoz, in the land-locked western region of Extremadura, has kept its two blue-flag beaches.

Depending upon how observant you are, you may have noticed a bit of a dichotomy in the above paragraph: The capital city, north of the centre, and a land-locked western province have all kept their blue flag beaches? Did we really mean that?

Yes, we did, because the Greater Madrid region town of San Martín de Valdeiglesias has 14 kilometres of man-made beaches on the shores of the San Juan swamp, and one of these in particular, the splendid Virgen de la Nieve, has held onto its prestigious kitemark for four years on the trot; and the Badajoz towns of Cheles and Orellana la Vieja also built two lakeside beaches which look and feel so much like the real thing you would easily forget you were not on a sea coast.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

ANYONE who is still trying to decide where to go in Spain for their perfect beach holiday this summer is about to find their choice made even more difficult: The blue-flag unveiling means a whole 615 of them have been declared 'practically perfect in every way'.

This year, you don't even have to head for the coast to find them; in addition to the three inland beaches that won blue flags in 2020, another six have been added to the list for 2021.

But if you can't make up your mind, it probably doesn't matter. Blue-flagged beaches are all clean, accessible, environmentally-friendly and have all the amenities you need to enjoy your trip, so any one should fit the bill; just drop a pin on a map of Spain and see where chance leads you to for your sunshine getaway.

Here's the full list of which beaches are flying the flag for tourism excellence this year.

Costa Brava

Best beaches and marinas of 2021 in the province of Girona are in Blanes (Blanes, Sabanell, Sant Francesc-Cala Bona), Castell-Platja d'Aro (Cala Rovira, Platja d'Aro-Platja Gran, Sa Conca), Palafrugell (Canadell, Llafranc, Tamariu), Palamós (La Fosca), Port de la Selva, Llançá (Del Port, Grifeu), Castelló d'Empúries (Empúriabrava), Calonge i Sant Antoni (Cala Cristus-Ses Torretes, d'Es Monestrí, Sant Antoni, Torre Valentina), Sant Feliu de Guíxols (Sant Feliu, Sant Pol), Torroelloa de Montgrí (Cala Montgó), Tossa de Mar (Gran de Tossa, La Mar Menuda), and Lloret de Mar (Cala Canyelles, Sa Boadella, Santa Cristina).

Barcelona province

Top beaches in towns that share a province with Spain's largest city are in Badalona (Cristall), Caldes d'Estrac (Dels Tres Micos), Calella (Garbí), Canet de Mar, Cubelles (Llarga), Gavá, Castelldefels (Del Baixador, Lluminetes), El Masnou (Masnou, Ocata), Malgrat de Mar (Malgrat-Centre, De l'Astillero), Pineda del Mar (Dels Pescadors, La Riera), Sant Pol de Mar (Les Barques-Sant Pol), Vilanova i la Geltrú (D'Adarró, Ibersol, Ribes-Roges, Sant Gervasi), Sitges (Aiguadolç, Balmils, Garraf, La Barra, La Ribera, Les Botigues, Sant Sebastiá, Terramar, and a new one for L'Estanyol), and in Barcelona city itself, Bogatell, Nova Mar Bella, and Sant Sebastià i Sant Miquel.

Costa Daurada 

The 2021 blue-flagged beaches for the province of Tarragona are in Alcanar (Les Cases), Altafulla, Calafell (Calafell, L'Estany Mas Mel, Segur de Calafell), Cambrils (Cavet, La Llosa, Prat d'En Forés-Regueral, Vilafortuny), Cunit (Llevant and Ponent), L'Ametlla de Mar (Calafató, Cala Forn, L'Alguer, Pixavaques, Sant Jordi), L'Ampolla (Cap Roig, Les Avellanes) Mont Roig del Camp (Cala Vienesos-dels Espenyals, Casa dels Lladres, Cristall, Pixerota), Sant Carles de la Ràpita (Les Delícies, Parc de Garbí), Tarragona (De la Móra, L'Arrabassada, Savinosa, Tamarit), Torredembarra (Barri Marítim, Dels Muntanyans, La Paella), Vandellós and L'Hospitalet de l'Infant (L'Arenal, La Punta del Riu, Torn), Deltebre (Riumar), Salou (Capellans, Llevant), Roda de Bará (Costa Daurada, Roda de Bará Llarga), and Vila-Seca (La Pineda). 

Comunidad Valenciana

In the region's northernmost province of Castellón, a new blue flag has been granted this year for Benafeli beach in Almassora, and all the others from last year are still in place: Alcalá de Xivert (El Carregador, El Moro, La Romana, Manyetes), Almenara (Casablanca), Benicarló (La Caracola, Morrongo), Burriana (Grao-Malvarrosa, L'Arenal), Oropesa del Mar (La Conxa, Les Amplaries, Morro de Gos, Plagetes de Bellver), Peñíscola (Nord), Torreblanca (Nord), Vinaròs (Fora Forat, Fortí), Castellón city (Gurugú and Pinar), Moncofa (Grao, L'Estanyol, Masbó, Pedra Roja), Nules (Marines), Xilxes (El Cerezo, Les Cases), and Benicàssim (Dels Terrers, Heliópolis, L'Almadrava, Torre de Sant Vicent, Voramar).

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

The arrival point at the end of the famous Camino de Santiago – once a religious pilgrimage to what was thought to be the burial site of Saint James, and now a global tourist trail with starting points in France and all over Spain – is largely held to be one of the most beautiful in the country, along with the huge gothic cathedral in the Castilla y León city of Burgos, which is the second-largest nationwide after that of Sevilla in the south.

A painstaking restoration of the façade started on Santiago de Compostela cathedral in 2013 and, although not entirely finished, the bulk of it is, bar a few 'tweaks'.

This year is the Año Santo Jacobeo – the Saint Jacob's or Iacobus Year – and the repairs were timed so as to be broadly finished for 2021 in order for pilgrims to be able to see the stunning early-Mediaeval monument at its best.

Passers-by and residents have said almost unanimously so far that the result of the works is 'impressive'.

“I've only ever known it with blue scaffolding that blocked out the façade,” one young woman said of its recent 'unveiling'.

Another said she was 'desperate to see it as it is now' after eight years as a building site.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

ALL IS NOT lost for this year's huge Fallas festival in the Comunidad Valenciana – they will merely take place six months late.

Representatives of the eastern region's biggest annual fiesta met with the Valencian government this week, and agreed the Fallas would go ahead between September 1 and 5, 'Covid permitting'.

By then, it is hoped most of Spain's regions will be on track with their plan of having at least 70% of their headcount vaccinated, and the Comunidad Valenciana calculates it could be onto low-risk residents in their 40s or even 30s by early September.

Also, if the festival is held in the first week of that month, children and teens would not yet have gone back to school and would be able to take part in the Fallas in full.

Some changes will, of course, be made, the regional government says.

Focusing on Valencia city – arguably the 'Falla capital', although not the only part of the region where they are celebrated – fiesta organisers are considering erecting the fallas, or colourful, house-sized papier mâché caricatures, on August 31; this setting-up session is known as the plantà.

A socially distanced prizegiving has been agreed to, since it is this competitive element that gives the 'edge' to the fiestas, determining which of the fallas are the favourites, and dictating the order in which they are set light to.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

MANUELA has always wanted to met her idol Rafael Nadal, and thanks to her grandson's campaigning, the 95-year-old has finally been able to chat to the tennis ace in person.

Nadal met his huge fan after she had watched him play in the Mutua Madrid Open and, although Manuela was unable to see the Mallorca-born star sing victory against his rival Alexander Zverev, talking to him face to face more than made up for not witnessing her hero play to success.

Carlos Carrizosa, tweeting Rafa on the day of the match, said his grandmother had recently been diagnosed with age-related dementia and, whilst her Alzheimer's is in the early stages, she had wanted to see the world number three play live 'before she forgot what he and tennis meant to her'.

Nadal and the Mutua Madrid Open organising team saw the message and decided to make Manuela's dream come true.

They arranged for her to sit in a VIP box right at the foot of the court and just metres from where Rafa was playing – close enough for him to hear her shouts of encouragement and her vigorous applause and cheers whenever he earned a point or made a successful move.

“It was even more exciting than being given a leg of Serrano ham,” Manuela told TV reporters just before the match – having no idea that something more exciting still was in store for her.

“I've always liked watching him. Until the match finishes, I never go to bed. I keep myself going so I don't sleep. It's like he was my own son – it'd be the best thing in my life if I had a moment of him.”

Just after the match, once Nadal had given the usual commentary to the media and changed his clothing, he went to meet Manuela – and television reporters said her 'eyes were already lit up' as she watched the game, and brightened up even more when she had her hero standing in front of her.

Carlos got the whole meeting on photo and video, as did the organisers, who tweeted a picture of the pair in conversation.

Even if, over the coming months or years, Manuela does not remember the occasion, she will be able to see the snapshots and footage and will know that it did, in fact, happen.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

FRENCH low-cost express rail service Ouigo launched in Spain today – Monday, May 10 – the first day ever when national train company RENFE has ever had to deal with competition.

The National Spanish Rail Network (Red Nacional de Ferrocarriles Españoles, or RENFE) has held a monopoly ever since it was created 80 years ago, but the service was set to be opened up to private firms from December 2020, effectively turning it into a competitive business environment for the first time.

Although it did not happen straight away, it was on the cards almost immediately as Ouigo, part of the SNCF (Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer Français, or French National Rail Society), announced it was planning to branch out into Spain.

Already, it is seeking to undercut RENFE on price, which means the latter will have to work harder to retain customers – and could see train travel nationwide becoming much cheaper or of better quality – albeit RENFE said last week it was looking forward to the new challenge and, in almost exact words, 'bring it on'.

To start with, Ouigo will be covering Spain's most heavily frequented connection by any mode of transport: The Madrid-Barcelona stretch.

This is also the route covered by Iberia's so-called 'air bridge' and by RENFE's low-cost version of its express AVE service, the AVLO.

Spain's busiest commuter route, the Barcelona-Madrid and Madrid-Barcelona line will not be the only service offered by Ouigo, or AVLO, but it is at the moment.

Ouigo's prices for the journey between the country's two largest cities start from €9 one way per head, although they can reach up to €79 depending upon factors such as peak or off-peak times and how far in advance tickets are purchased.

Ouigo trains, like the AVLO, also stop at Tarragona (Catalunya) and Zaragoza (Aragón) en route.

WHILE the rest of the world was nervously looking up at the sky waiting for an out-of-control Chinese rocket to land on them (it fell in the Indian Ocean and civilisation is still standing and not pancake-shaped), Spain was counting down the seconds to the end of its long 'State of Alarm', and the new birth of normal life.

The country has not been in full lockdown in nearly a year, but restrictions in place have meant, according to contagion rates and where you live, everything from bars and restaurants shutting completely, a ban on travelling outside your town or anyone else coming in, no travel outside of one's region, shops closing early (or hypermarkets with everything bar the food aisles roped off and out of bounds from approximately 18.00), shops being shut all weekend (in Catalunya), nobody allowed to meet anyone outside their household – even if they live alone, unless they were able to form a 'bubble' and assuming everyone they knew hadn't already formed one with someone else - no fiestas, no concerts, no fun.

Of course, catching Covid-19 or watching your family or friends suffer from it – or worse – is no fun either, and whilst many measures were criticised as pointless, over the top, or both, others were accepted with a grim resignation on the basis that, of two prices to pay, the limitations came at a lesser cost.

But the end of the 'State of Alarm' does not mean everything going back to how it was in February 2020 – full pubs, packed shopping streets, boozy festivals, being able to put the rubbish out without having to remember your mask first – although it does mean that the 'legal mechanism' preventing certain fundamental freedoms has now been 'switched off', so they cannot be prevented.

As mentioned earlier this week, regional governments are required to decide what restrictions, if any, they will put in place, and these have to be signed off by regional High Courts of Justice; Valencia, Catalunya and the Balearic Islands have had theirs approved, whilst the Basque Country's were turned down.

In all regions, no travel bans outside or into them are in place any longer, but masks are still compulsory anywhere outside private homes, even in the open air.

Clearly, this means the situation is different depending upon where you live, so we've summarised each one below – although a number of factors remain open to clarification for the moment.

Regions are listed in alphabetical order, so scroll down to find yours if you want a quick reference, or read through if you're interested in comparing your own part of the country with the rest.

Andalucía

Encompassing the provinces of Huelva, Cádiz, Málaga, Granada, Almería, Córdoba, Sevilla and Jaén, the southern strip of the mainland will be working on a phased return to 'normality' in three stages, with the aim of being virtually restriction-free by June 21, as long as the vaccine roll-out has reached around 70% of the region's population.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

AMBITIOUS plans for extending and upgrading the Costa del Sol Hospital in Marbella are afoot, and the job – worth €75 million – will be put out to tender this summer.

According to Andalucía regional president Juanma Moreno, the centre will have an additional 62 beds, twice as many intensive care beds, a much bigger A&E, and an increased presence of basic services such as neurophysiology, mental health, vascular surgery, and palliative care.

“Patients from the western Costa del Sol will no longer have to travel several kilometres to be treated when they need these services, and their provision will also stop the backlog at Málaga Hospital Clínico,” Moreno said during a meeting in Marbella with mayoress Ángeles Muñoz and regional minister for health and family, Jesús Aguirre.

Work on expanding Costa del Sol Hospital has been grounded for the past decade, but during the last two years, efforts have been made to get it back on track with ad hoc refurbishments and upgrades, equipment being replaced, and a larger area for outpatient appointments and A&E Observation, involving a total investment of around €3.6m.

“When the extension works were designed and the list of additional services drawn up, in 2009, the hospital was already at the limits of its capacity,” says Moreno.

“And since then, its needs have multiplied farther still; in 10 years, resident numbers have increased by 20%.”

Even 'full to capacity', Costa del Sol Hospital obtained an 'outstanding' rating in the last global satisfaction survey conducted, in 2019, and in that year, rose 39 positions in the ranking of the top 100 hospitals in Spain with the best healthcare reputation, according to the Corporate Reputation Business Monitor (MERCO).

This continued through 'Covid year', president Moreno revealed: The close of 2020 showed the Costa del Sol Hospital had 'the best data in Andalucía' for waiting list reduction, with 26% fewer patients on it than 12 months earlier.

“In the province of Málaga alone, the Junta [regional government] has invested nearly €54m in two years, in addition to the €31m budgeted for 2021 which will enable us to get ahead with works on the planned third hospital, improve various areas in the Regional Hospital and renovate or build new GP surgeries,” Moreno recounts.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

THERE'S no such thing as too many flowers – at least, Estepona doesn't think so, although it has decided to stop at around 400,000 just in case.

The self-proclaimed 'Garden of the Costa del Sol' – and that's no idle boast, given that it has nearly 200 acres of greenery – has been spending its spring wisely, by planting everything from African Marigolds and Busy Lizzies through to petunias and begonias, via geranium, lilac, zinnia, marigold and cockscomb.

Mostly, says services councillor and deputy mayor Blas Ruzafa, Estepona is aiming for 'brightly-coloured' floral displays to 'embellish' the town, and species that will be fully in blossom by around July or August when the majority of the holidaymakers arrive.

A full renovation of the seafront esplanade gardens began this week, with over 20,000 flowers planted along the borders between the Avenida Andalucía and the Avenida Juan Carlos I.

Palms, cacti and other trees and bushes are being planted and pruned, since, as Ruzafa says, garden areas, especially close to the beach, are a town's calling card, and in Estepona's case, the esplanade is one of its most heavily-frequented parts in summer.

For this reason, a complete overhaul of the promenade has just been completed, using 'modern, efficient and sustainable materials and elements' and making it more 'pedestrian-friendly', Ruzafa explains.

“We wanted to make it a more dynamic, modern area in line with the general urban transformation taking place in the town centre and its surrounding areas,” the councillor says.

The giant jazzing-up operation does not stop at nature. Ruzafa's team has spent the last month cleaning out and disinfecting pipes serving ornamental fountains, servicing water pumps, and repainting – around 30 of these decorative, cascading landmarks will be given some thorough TLC over the coming months.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

SOME restrictions are expected to continue in place even after Spain's 'State of Alarm' ends on Sunday, May 9, but in most cases, those limiting freedom of movement and trade will be considerably relaxed or removed.

In Andalucía, the 23.00 curfew will be moved to midnight on Saturday (May 8), 'to avoid confusion', after which it will cease to apply.

Also in the southern region, bars will be permitted to stay open until midnight, and nightclubs and discos will reopen.

The midnight closure will be in place for three weeks, after which the situation will be reviewed.

Now that the nationwide legal instrument covering limitations has been scrapped, regional governments have to refer their proposed measures to their own High Courts of Justice (TTSSJJ) for approval – and differing verdicts mean not every department in Spain is likely to be singing from the same hymn sheet.

In the Balearic Islands, for example, the curfew between 23.00 and 06.00, checks on anyone entering the region, limits on gatherings and social meetings, and restricted numbers in places of worship will continue after the TSJ agreed to these steps, but the prosecution service opposes them and intends to appeal.

The Comunidad Valenciana, on the east coast, has gained court approval for its own procedures, which include the curfew being moved from 22.00 to midnight, but the 'morning curfew' remaining at 06.00; groups of friends or family meeting up are limited to 10, and numbers in places of worship are restricted to 75%.

These rules will be in place until at least May 24, when the situation will be reviewed.

Catalunya, to the north of the Comunidad Valenciana, has also been given TSJ clearance, and although gatherings have now been reduced to a maximum of six people, the curfew has been scrapped.

Places of worship have come under particular scrutiny, since the final day of Ramadan and the huge family celebration of Eid ul-Fitr is expected to fall on May 12 – depending upon the moon cycle, as the exact date is never known until the very last minute – meaning that in pre-Covid years, Eid would start with a mass morning prayer and, in the run-up to the 'big day', attendance at the mosque would normally be much higher.

Also, spring is normally 'first communion season' for those who follow the Catholic faith, and would – under normal circumstances – include a huge family party after the confirmation service.

At the moment, only one regional government has been denied court permission to proceed with its planned restrictions, or lifting of these – the Basque Country, where the judges do not consider the regional president or lehendakari Íñigo Urkullu has the jurisdiction to shut the borders whenever incidence of contagion rises above 200 per 100,000 inhabitants (0.2% of the population) over a two-week period, nor to impose a curfew.

The same echelon of court – the TSJ – has indeed recognised regional presidents' jurisdiction in these areas in other parts of Spain, meaning the verdict is now open to dispute.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

ALTHOUGH physical museum visits have been down by over 70% in the past year due to the pandemic – largely because they were mostly shut anyway – Spaniards and Spanish residents were not willing to go without their regular dose of culture: Almost two-thirds, or 63%, 'visited' an art gallery, temporary exhibition or established museum online during that time.

This is well above the international average, which is 40%, albeit the typical profile of a museum visitor in person or via a virtual tour is similar worldwide: More likely to be women, and typically aged over 55.

The age group may well vary from country to country and be influenced by a whole range of factors, though: Many European cities offer free or reduced-price entry to students or the under-26s, to pensioners, to the unemployed, or on certain days of the week; also, those who take their holidays as 'circuit tours' of a country or part of a country will almost certainly visit at least one museum along the set route, and it would stand to reason that this type of holiday would be more popular with residents in warmer countries, who do not need to spend their annual break seeking out sunshine, or who already have second homes in hot-weather hotspots.

Had it not been for the pandemic, the east of Spain might have seen an upsurge in young adults heading for museums: Valencia's City of Arts and Sciences was offering free passes throughout 2020 for anyone born in the Millennium year.

But what influences museum visits overall, and which are the most popular types?

The holiday activity site Musement surveyed a stratified sample of 2,600 people around the world to sound them out.

Preferred museum types, and what's important to visitors

Some might have thought 'weird' museums would be among the most popular – like the reptile museum in São Paulo, the phallus museum in Reykjavík, or, at the more 'normal' end of the 'weird' scale, Madame Tussaud's in London or its Madrid counterpart, the Waxworks Museum, or Museo de la Cera.

But it turns out our tastes are somewhat more conventional: Spanish respondents were, in 80% of cases, most likely to head to an art gallery; 44% would go for an archaeological museum, and 32% to a history museum.

Similar proportions were seen in other countries worldwide.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A SUBMARINE from Spain has beaten the national depth record by plunging into the second-most profound section of the Mariana Trench, and the third on earth.

This Trench, which lies in the western Pacific Ocean and runs several hundred kilometres to the south-west of US-owned island Guam, east of The Philippines and north-east of Indonesia, goes down to 36,037 feet, or 10,984 metres.

The DSV ('Deep Submergence Vehicle') Limiting Factor, built by the Catalunya-based firm Triton Submarine EMEA and piloted by engineer Héctor Salvador from the province of Lugo, Galicia, descended to the bottom of the Sirena Deep, which is 10,714 metres or 35,151 feet and the third-furthest down on earth after Horizon Deep and Challenger Deep.

Located in the Tonga Trench between New Zealand and Fiji, the Horizon Deep is approximately 10,800 metres or 35,433 feet down, and Challenger Deep, in the Mariana Trench and within the offshore territory of Micronesia, is estimated to be around 10,929 metres, or 35,856 feet down.

Along with co-pilot and mission leader Tim MacDonald, from Australia, the 12-hour immersion – the second-deepest in history to date – was aimed at recovering a scientific module that had become trapped on the sea floor the previous day.

The crew then took samples of microbial tissue from the sediment in the Trench, which are of huge interest to scientists and are now being studied in a laboratory.

Other samples from the bottom of the Trench are due to be delivered to the Spanish Navy to be put on display in the Illustrious Marines Pantheon in San Fernando, Cádiz province, as a tribute to the Naval officers who lost their lives during the 16th-century round-the-world trip in the Nao Victoria, the first-ever circumnavigation of the globe led by Portugal's Fernando Magalhães and Spain's Juan Elcano.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A BRITISH resident is up for an award from the EU for inventing 'leather' from pineapple leaves – a no-kill and environmentally-friendly solution that looks just like the real thing and is suitable for shoes, belts, handbags and other hard-wearing accessories.

Carmen Hijosa, 69, is from Asturias in Spain's far north, but has been living between the UK and the Republic of Ireland since she was 19, and her business premises is in London.

“The material I've invented is made from discarded pineapple leaves, which are about a metre long,” Carmen explains.

“These leaves are of little value otherwise – normally, farmers just leave them to rot – but you can use them to create a thread that is then turned into a material which we are transporting to Spain from The Philippines.”

She has been nominated by the European Patents Office (EPO) for the European Inventor Award 2021.

EPO chairman António Campinos – from Portugal – says Carmen has been pre-selected in the small and medium-sized business (SMB) category.

The leather-like material, named Piñatex, is suitable for use in household decorations, furniture and car upholstery as well as clothing, footwear and accessories, meaning it is built to last – although various plant-based alternatives to leather are on the market, in response to the growing demand for vegan products, they are mainly designed to be biodegradable. 

This is not ideal for goods that need to 'go the distance' and, effectively, live forever.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

SPAIN has sent oxygen cannisters and ventilators to India to help the stricken sub-continent cope with its devastating Covid-19 epidemic, the European Commission has revealed.

Along with 14 other European Union member States, Spain has joined a mass campaign through the bloc's Civil Protection Mechanism as contagion rates spiral out of control, with nearly 20 million people affected and intensive care units filled wall to wall – many of the patients are as young as 30, according to Indian authorities.

“Collective action is the only solution if we want to win our fight against the pandemic,” said Janez Lenarcic, Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management.

Lenarcic says he is 'very proud' of the EU countries which have joined forces to provide this 'substantial assistance' to the Asian nation 'at such a difficult time'.

Last week, offers of aid came from Ireland, Belgium, Romania, Luxembourg, Portugal, Sweden, France, Italy, Austria and Finland, and since then, Spain, The Netherlands, Germany, the Czech Republic and Denmark have signed up.

All the equipment and medication provided will be sent to India en masse.

From Spain, 119 portable oxygen cannisters - like those in the above photograph - and 145 ventilators are on their way.

The others have donated 500 oxygen cylinders (Czech Republic), 53 ventilators (Denmark), 100 oxygen cannisters, 30,000 phials of the anti-viral drug Remdesivir and 449 ventilators (The Netherlands), and 15,000 phials of anti-viral medication, 516 ventilators and an oxygen generator (Germany).

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A HOSPITAL in the province of Barcelona has successfully carried out Spain's first-ever outpatient stomach reduction operation.

The General and Digestive Surgery at the Germans Trias i Pujol centre in Badalona – a hospital better known as 'Can Ruti' – conducted a vertical robotic gastrectomy on a young woman diagnosed as 'morbidly obese'.

Just hours after surgery, she was able to go home.

She was not left to her own devices, though – Can Ruti's 'home hospital' service visited her frequently to monitor her progress and control any pain she may have been suffering.

The procedure forms part of Can Ruti's drive to 'redefine surgical circuits' by coordinating with the 'home hospital' wing, and is 'a launchpad for a new approach' to operations, according to the centre.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A STATUS like 'Tourism Capital of the Year' immediately conjures up images of either big cities, such as Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia or Sevilla, or coastal hotspots such as the Costa del Sol, Costa Blanca, or the Balearic and Canary Islands. But apparently, the 10 candidates for 2021, and the winners for the previous three years, could not be more of a contrast from these bustling, cosmopolitan holidaymaker magnets.

Every year since 2018 inclusive, Escapada Rural magazine chooses a Tourism Capital – back then, it was Aínsa-Sobrarbe in Aragón's Pyrénéen province of Huesca; the next two years saw locations in the northern coastal region of Cantabria on the podium: Santillana del Mar in 2019 and Potes in 2020, a year when, other than a few brief months in summer, nobody living outside Cantabria could go there in person to do the Tourism and find out why it was so Capital.

Hopefully, 2021 will be different for whichever of the 10 on the shortlist makes the cut once internet users cast their votes and these are counted up on May 18.

Aïa (Guipúzcoa province, Basque Country)

If you love mountain scenery but think a holiday isn't a holiday without a beach involved, this stunningly-attractive town in the giveaway-named district, or mini-county, of Urola Kosta could just fit the bill. 

Its Pagoeta nature reserve and the Hernio and Hernio-Txiki mountains, replete with footpaths and cycle routes and with plenty of organised trips to help you get the best out of these, look more like something out of central Europe with their green, undulating pastureland. 

Chelva (Valencia province)

Set in the western hinterland of the Comunidad Valenciana which squashes up against southern Aragón and eastern Castilla-La Mancha, a land of vast stretches of dramatic, multi-coloured mountains with large gaps between pockets of civilisation, and an attractive, rustic, Mediaeval look about said pockets when they appear, Chelva is, as a bonus, located in the district of Los Serranos, close to one of Spain's biggest wine regions, Requena-Utiel, where you can go for the usual vineyard-merchants'-tasting tour. 

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MOST of Spain enjoys the ideal climate for two-wheeled transport, either pedal-powered or with engines, and in fact, one of the reasons young adults do not tend to rush out to get driving lessons as soon as they hit 18 is because mopeds will get them comfortably from A to B. In the sweltering heat of summer, the breeze is very welcome, and in winter, riders do not get nearly as cold as they would in northern Europe – at least, not in the southern and eastern regions, the south-west or the islands.

The number of motorbikes and mopeds or scooters in use increases every year, as they are much cheaper to run than a car, and being able to skirt around gridlocks means less traffic trouble.

Large cities and towns are where they are most likely to be found – areas where public transport is efficient and omnipresent, meaning little need for a car, but where a motorcycle gives that little bit of extra freedom for the times and places the buses and trains do not reach.

Clearly, some parts of Spain are more likely to see residents on motorcycles than others, and size differs according to geography; if motorway travel is a regular necessity, a 49cc moped will not be up to the job, but just getting around locally or between towns may not require a roaring 1000cc souped-up Harley.

Girona (Catalunya), Málaga and Granada (Andalucía) are the top three provinces where most motorcycles are found, according to the latest report by Estamos Seguros, commissioned from Anesdor.

In these, an average of one bike per 10 inhabitants is registered, although the types they opt for are very different – in Girona and Granada, scooters are more popular, whilst in Málaga, motorbikes are more common.

Barcelona is the province with the highest number of motorcycles overall – over half a million are registered there – a factor partly due to its large population, and partly because of its being home to Spain's second-largest metropolitan area, where motorcycles are more practical than cars.

Also, the climate is mild enough that they can be used in winter without extreme discomfort.

Madrid has the second-highest number, with exactly 301,324 bikes in circulation, followed by Valencia, with just under 190,000, the majority of which are in the provincial capital city, the third-biggest metropolitan area in the country.

Málaga has slightly more than 181,000 in the provincial capital alone, and again, its position near the top of the list is linked to the fact that it is a densely-populated province with mild winters and hot summers.

Scooters, or Vespa-type vehicles, are ideal for Spain, especially its warmer parts, and particularly its urban areas; in fact, ownership of these has risen by 50% in the past decade.

Mopeds, typically smaller, slower and less powerful, but still highly practical, have seen a decline in the past 10 years, despite being one of the cheapest ways of getting onto two wheels without having to pedal yourself; a 50cc which nips about at up to 30 or 40 kilometres per hour is often where teenagers and young adults learn their 'road sense' before starting to drive, are suitable for short commutes, town travel, and getting around faster and with less effort than on a bicycle or on foot.

But their presence has fallen by around 42% since the end of 2009, the research says.

Meanwhile, in that time, bikes of more than 125cc have increased their presence by 44%.

And of the 3.31 million two-wheeled vehicles circulating in Spain at the beginning of 2020, from when the study was carried out, a total of 1.92 million were motorbikes.

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HOME-BUYING figures are starting to show signs of recovery despite the uncertainty surrounding the pandemic, with sales and purchases having risen for two months on the trot, pending statistics for April.

According to Spain's National Statistics Institute (INE), a total of 43,185 residential properties changed hands in February, which is only 4.6% down from February 2020, just before the Covid crisis hit Europe and the last full month of 'normality' on the continent.

And this represents an 8.6% growth on sales figures for January 2021, a month when, even without the Coronavirus issue, the Christmas mayhem and overspending would normally mean selling or buying a home takes a back seat.

During the first quarter of 2021, house sales were down 10% on that of 2020, which is only to be expected, given that all bar the last two weeks of the first quarter of last year were pandemic-free in Spain.

The onset of the 'third wave' of Covid contagion in Spain, one which was, in most areas, more aggressive than the previous two put together, meant excellent progress in the housing market in November and December 2020 reversed sharply in January 2021, dropping by 15.4%, with year-on-year figures showing a reduction overall of 17.7% in sales – the greatest in a decade.

But the vaccine roll-out across Europe, combined with a considerable drop in Covid cases in more than half of Spain – in some areas, down to zero outside large towns and cities – means 2021 is likely to start to see a gradual recovery in the market, especially in terms of holiday homes among buyers living outside of the country once international travel is fully re-established.

Second-hand property sales fell 8.1% year on year, with 33,055 in February, but this still represented a rise of 5.5% on January.

And non-new homes continue to make up the bulk of the residential property market, accounting for 76.5% of the total.

For new builds, the situation appears buoyant: For the first time in six-and-a-half years, or since July 2014, Spain broke the 10,000 barrier and reported significant growth.

In February 2021, a total of 10,130 brand-new homes were bought, being nearly a quarter – 23.5% - of the overall sales and purchases for the month and representing a year-on-year rise of 11.1%.

Compared with January this year, new-build sales in February rocketed by 20.4%, and the overall rise for the first quarter of 2021, from that of 2020, was 5.6%.

With this increase coming at the beginning of a year where Covid cases were more rife than ever before and restrictions on trade and movement nationwide were extremely tight, it gives a taster of what the new-build market may look like in a 'normal' year and what could be expected once the health crisis is over.

Regions where increases in residential property sales and purchases were highest were in relatively unlikely parts of Spain: La Rioja topped the list, with transactions soaring by 13.7% year on year, followed by the Basque Country, with an annual increase as at February of 10.9%.

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