Live News From Spain As It Happens

OVER 95% of airline routes from the terminal in Valencia are now back on track and 65% of seats on planes have been filled so far this year, despite travel restrictions still being in place.

Between January and mid-July inclusive, a total of 383,427 passengers flew into and out of the airport in Manises (pictured above), and nearly seven in 10 hotel rooms in the wider Valencia metropolitan area were occupied.

Antonio Bernabé of the Visit Valencia Foundation says data so far in 2021 paint an optimistic picture for the region's tourism industry, and he is confident of a near-full recovery thanks to the vaccine roll-out and the new 'EU digital Covid certificate' scheme.

Speaking at a holiday sector conference, Bernabé said the Municipal Tourism Commission had set up a new web page where Visit Valencia would publish full figures relating to the industry, such as visitor numbers from abroad and from other parts of Spain, hotel occupancy and airline passengers.

It would also include a tool for searching for holiday apartments for rent which are registered with the tourist board, meaning they are above board and meet specific quality criteria.

Bernabé also mentioned plans to spend up to 10% of the Foundation's annual budget on alleviating problems for year-round residents caused by the city's tourism industry, such as noise control, emissions and use of space – parking and bar terraces being examples of these.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

EUROZONE interest rates are close to historic lows and expected to end July on -0.49% - and, as Spanish mortgages are linked to these rates, buying a property is likely to be cheaper in the next month without home prices having to come down.

The Euribor, or the interest rate that applies in member States using the common currency, has been in negative figures now for five-and-a-half years, since February 2016, having been dropping drastically since the global recession took hold.

From highs of well over 5% at the beginning of 2008, forcing mortgage repayments up, the Central European Bank (BCE) has been dropping rates constantly since, in a bid to make finance more affordable for households and businesses and increase liquidity in the Eurozone.

Although every year brings warnings that the 'honeymoon' is likely to end imminently, they have so far proven unfounded – the BCE does not intend to consider a rate rise unless and until the common currency area inflation levels exceed the long-term target of 2%.

For as long as inflation stays below 2%, the Euribor is expected to stay at less than 0%, although some variation in either direction may be seen in the next couple of years, analysts believe.

Meanwhile, if the Euribor sits at the forecast -0.49% as at midnight on Saturday, monthly home loan savings could be significant.

Based upon the average mortgage in Spain – a loan of €150,000 over a 25-year term at a rate of Euribor plus 1% - would, if they were due for review at the end of July, drop by around €14 a month, or €170 a year.

Spanish variable-rate mortgages are reviewed annually, or in some cases, every six months, meaning a sudden interest rate rise will not mean the very next payment goes up – homeowners have a full 12 months to plan if they see that the Euribor is rising, and time to make a decision about applying a fixed rate if it looks as though their payments will be going up next year.

In other countries, variable-rate mortgages fluctuate constantly month by month according to interest at the time, which can suddenly leave homeowners with an unexpected big bill if a rate rise occurs, but this is not the case in Spain; to this end, the vast majority of Spanish mortgages are variable rather than fixed.

ONCE again, the Saudi Royal family has docked in Marbella for its summer holidays, and other tourists and residents have been able to admire the enormous, luxury Lady Haya in the marina.

The ruling family in the Middle Eastern country regularly chooses Marbella and other parts of the Andalucía coast for its annual getaway, so it is not unusual to see one of their impressive giant yachts moored off the shores of southern Spain, especially the Costa del Sol.

This time, their 65-metre-long steel craft, built in 1981 by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and created by Terence Disdale Design, Chester Jones and Mitsubishi HI, is anchored close to the Benabolá pier in Puerto Banús.

According to CharterWorld, which hires out luxury yachts all over the globe, the Lady Haya has space for 16 guests in addition to the Saudi Arabian Royal family, and 21 crew members.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

TRAVELLERS entering the UK from 'amber' countries in the European Union – which includes Spain - and from the USA will not have to quarantine if they are fully vaccinated and their destination is England, the British Department for Transport (DfT) has confirmed today.

The announcement comes just nine days after Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said holidaymakers returning home to England from 'amber' territories would be able to avoid the 10-day quarantine upon sight of a vaccine certificate, but that British nationals living in these same countries and visiting friends and family in England would still have to observe the isolation period.

The reason for this was that the UK was only accepting NHS (National Health Service) vaccine proof, and did not recognise the EU's 'Covid passport', even though the same vaccines have been used on both sides of the Channel and despite all EU member States' considering at least the printed version of the NHS certificate to be valid.

This led to an outcry among Brits living in 'amber' countries whose vaccinated compatriots would be able to visit and go home without quarantine, whilst they could not do so if travelling the same route in reverse.

It also, effectively, meant that anyone native to and still living in these countries was forced to quarantine upon entering the UK for a holiday where the only difference between them and British tourists returning home was nationality.

The DfT denied discrimination and cited 'safe movement', but was not willing to comment when challenged on the basis that the only difference between two fully-immunised travellers arriving from identical 'amber' countries and having been vaccinated with the same formula was that one held an EU and the other an NHS vaccine certificate.

Today (Wednesday, July 28), the BBC has revealed that anyone who has had all their jabs, provided these were with a vaccine formula approved by the EU or USA, would not have to quarantine when entering England from an 'amber' country, irrespective of whether they were visiting or whether they were returning to the UK from holiday.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A SECOND Olympic medal has been added to Spain's 'Tokyo score' – this time for Granada-born mountain-biker David Valero, after an epic race that saw him claw himself back from almost last place.

He was not in sight of the podium until the penultimate lap of the seven, and even though he was unable to catch the UK's Thomas Pidcock and Switzerland's Mathias Flückiger – who were some considerable distance ahead and took the gold and silver respectively – Valero's Herculean effort that saw him fight from the back of the line to third place may well have taken more strength and skill than any of his fellow competitors showed on Saturday. 

Spain has now earned two bronzes on the trot in mountain-biking – Carlos Coloma also came third at Rio 2016 – with the last two Olympics doubling the nation's medal count in the sport; it has only netted four in its entire history.

Pidcock, 21, from Leeds, was stunned at his own victory, having completed the gruelling 8.5-kilometre circuit over rough, hilly terrain only two months after breaking his collarbone in a fall.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

DEAFENING music in the early hours led residents in a Lugo apartment block to calling the police, and they had some choice words to say about the owner of the home it was coming from.

But they were surprised to hear who the real culprit behind their sleepless night was.

Local Police were summoned in the small hours of Saturday by furious occupants in the Ronda das Fontiñas block in the Galicia city, who complained one of their neighbours had his stereo on full volume.

Officers went round, expecting to have to break up a party and dish out fines, but nobody appeared to be at home. 

They investigated as far as they could, and confirmed the apartment was empty.

Or so they thought.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

SPAIN is leading the field in residents fully vaccinated against Covid-19, sitting at the top of the list of some of the world's most heavily-populated nations and beating the UK, USA and Canada.

As at the close of Friday – not taking into account any immunisation activity that has been taking place over the weekend – out of a total headcount of 47.1 million, Spain had finished vaccinating 25.4 million people.

The exact number, according to the ministry of health on Friday night, was only 1,022 short of the 25.4 million – 25,398,978 precisely, coming in at 54.3% of the country's residents.

The UK and Canada, jointly, are only slightly behind, at 54.1%, and are so far the only three large populations on earth with over half their population now completely immunised.

According to a graph by Our World In Data – which only gives details of countries that have reported breakdowns of first and second doses – the USA is the nearest to Spain, the UK and Canada, with 48.6% of its residents fully inoculated.

The European Union average is 45.7%, although two countries besides Spain – Germany (48.2%) and Italy (47.3%) - are showing above-average immunisation percentages.

France is just below the median figure, at 44.1%.

For the world as a whole, the EU's and UN's vaccine donation schemes are proving more necessary than ever, as only 13.6% of the planet is fully immunised; it is hoped this will improve once the wealthiest nations finish jabbing their home populations and are able to give away doses to poorer countries.

In Australia, only 12.5% of the population has been vaccinated in full, but its huge headcount and vast land-mass means it is likely to need much longer to do so; in area size, the entire continent of Europe – net of Russia – could fit inside Australia without touching the sides.

According to Spain's health ministry and reflected in the report by Our World In Data, nearly two-thirds of the country's residents – 64.3%, or 30.5 million – have had at least one dose of the Pfizer, AstraZeneca or Moderna, even where they are not fully immunised, meaning that within another three or four weeks, the 5.1 million with only one dose will join the 25.4 million who have finished their vaccine programme, so the very minimum percentage of Spain's population vaccinated in full by the third week in August will be, in fact, 64.3%.

But more doses are being delivered from the laboratories, and organisations such as the Red Cross have been administering shots to free up health service staff, which shows the rate of vaccination seen at present is unlikely to slow down and could well speed up as the summer progresses.

To date, Spain has received 60.1% of the vaccines it has ordered and paid for, or 56.18 million, of which 53.5 million have been administered so far, being 95.6% of the country's stock.

The vast majority, or 55.93 million, have been delivered to regional health authorities, of which more than two-thirds – 67.3%, or 37.62 million – are Pfizer, around a fifth, or 10.2 million, are AstraZeneca, 5.7 million or just under 10% are Moderna, and 2.4 million, or 4.3%, are the single-dose Janssen formula.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

IN THE event of experiencing symptoms consistent with Covid-19, suspecting you have been in contact with someone who has tested positive, or you use an over-the-counter fast-track test bought at a pharmacy that gives a positive result, you should immediately seek medical assistance, even if you feel well – but not in person, for obvious reasons.

If you can't reach your GP or it is outside normal surgery hours, you might be able to contact your local walk-in clinic by telephone for advice; if you cannot, though, 24-hour helplines are in operation and will be able to advise you or make arrangements on your behalf.

Each region has a different telephone number, though, so you should make sure you are familiar with the one where you live or are staying – and ensure you also know which region you're in.

Numbers are mainly toll-free, although Andalucía has published the landline number corresponding with its freephone number since, depending upon a person's operator and package, this may be free of charge anyway – it can be reached on 95 55 45 060 or the free helpline is 900 400 061.

For Catalunya, dial 061 to get straight through.

In the Comunidad Valenciana, the freephone number is 900 300 555, and in the Greater Madrid region, it is 900 102 112.

In the Balearic Islands, ring 900 100 971, and in the Canary Islands, call 900 112 061.

If you're in the Murcia Region, call 900 12 12 12.

Other regions with a toll-free 900 number are Cantabria (900 612 112); Castilla-La Mancha (900 122 112); Castilla y León (900 222 000); Galicia (900 400 116); Ceuta (900 720 692); and the Basque Country (900 203 050)...

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

TOP Spanish chef José Andrés has received €85 million from Amazon boss Jeff Bezos for his charitable foundation World Central Kitchen, through which he provides food and aid for victims of natural disasters and other crises.

Bezos, upon his return from his express return trip to space in the Blue Origin rocket New Shepard, where he reached an altitude of 100 kilometres (62 miles) above the earth's surface, announced he would be donating US$200m (€170m) to charity through his new project, the 'Courage and Civility Award'.

World Central Kitchen will get half of this sum, and the other beneficiary is the charity 'Dream Corps', run by US-based commentator Van Jones.

José Andrés (pictured at the front, by the bar), who has lived in the USA for over 26 years but was born in the northern Spanish principality of Asturias, has hit the headlines several times in the last five – firstly for breaking a contract to run a restaurant in a Trump Towers hotel after the ex-president was reported to have made disparaging comments about Mexicans, and later for handing out food parcels to government workers left unpaid during Trump's shutdown.

More recently, José Andrés offered a job to a dinner lady in Cannan, New Hampshire who was fired for giving a free school lunch to a little boy from a poor family – the child's parents paid up the next day anyway – and gave food parcels to victims of a massive explosion in Beirut.

World Central Kitchen, founded in 2010, sets up camp wherever it is needed in the world, and José's followers were stunned by his Twitter video showing him in the Bahamas in the middle of Hurricane Dorian, where he had travelled to feed those whose homes had been destroyed.

Last month, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle – now living in California – announced they had joined forces with José Andrés to set up an aid centre in India as the sub-continent battled with one of the planet's worst outbreaks of Covid-19.

Jeff Bezos and his space trip – which he thanked 'every customer and employee' of Amazon for 'paying for' – has not entirely escaped controversy: A petition has been launched on Care2, claiming the world's richest man plans to stop testing staff at the firm's warehouses for Covid-19.

According to the petition authors: “Roughly 20,000 or his warehouse workers have contracted the deadly coronavirus, undoubtedly many of them at work. 

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

CONCERNS among members of the public in Madrid about their second vaccine being overdue have been assuaged by medical experts, who stress the level of protection will not best be compromised.

Extra doses are being delivered to Spain's coastal regions so that residents in inland areas and big cities spending their summer elsewhere can still have both jabs, which the Greater Madrid region claims has led to a shortage in its own stock – something the government denies, saying enough phials to cover all those now due have been sent on.

And the appointment system in the capital region facing backlog may not be a problem either, professionals in the sector say.

Many Madrid residents say they have not received a text message summoning them for their second jab, although in other regions, SMS communications give dates and times for both appointments from the start.

The vaccine hotline for the capital, the freephone 900 102 112 number, stresses there is no need to have received a text message, or have a QR code in accordance with the region's system – all they require is to book their date and turn up with their identity document.

Spain's health ministry, in accordance with the European Medicines Agency (EMA), originally stated that the second Pfizer and Moderna injections should be given 21 days apart – unlike the AstraZeneca, which has been found to be more effective when given 12 weeks apart, and the Janssen, which only requires one dose.

Is 28 days too long?

Panic is becoming widespread in regions where appointments for second jabs are coming at 25 or 28 days after the first – in most cases, for Pfizer or Moderna inoculations, since Spain ended up reserving the AstraZeneca for the over-60s only, has not ordered any more doses in, and plans to donate the surplus supply to poorer countries.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

BRITISH holidaymakers' bookings for Spain have soared by 400% since the UK government announced its residents would not have to quarantine upon their return if they had been fully vaccinated by the National Health Service (NHS).

This takes effect from today (Monday, July 19) but does not apply to British nationals living in 'amber' countries visiting the UK – unlike those travelling in reverse, they will still have to quarantine for 10 days even if they are fully vaccinated.

The Department for Transport (DfT) says it is 'exploring' the possibility of officially recognising the EU 'Covid passport' proving incoming visitors from 'amber' countries have been immunised, but this is not yet the case.

Spain remains on 'amber', as does France, Greece, Italy and Portugal, among other popular European summer destinations, meaning tourists from the UK who are not vaccinated are obliged to take a Covid test before departing for home, another two days after arrival and a third on day eight, whilst self-isolating for 10 days.

Those resident in Britain and travelling to Spain or any other 'amber' nation do not have to quarantine when they get home, but still have to take two Covid tests, before setting off for the UK and on day two after arrival.

The exception is France – the British government announced on Friday that holidaymakers returning from the neighbouring country would need to quarantine for 10 days, even if they are fully immunised.

Under-18s travelling with adults do not have to self-isolate when returning from 'amber' countries, the UK government says.

Balearics and Costa del Sol ‘optimistic’

Until July 14, the Balearic Islands were on 'green' and the rest of Spain on 'amber', but it was later announced that the whole country would be on 'amber' from then.

Balearic regional tourism minister Iago Negueruela says this 'does not matter' as fully-immunised adults, and children under 18, do not have to quarantine upon their return, meaning the market the islands are mainly seeking to attract – families with children, or older adults – will be covered by the exemption from self-isolation.

That said, a spokeswoman for tour operator TUI says the move from 'green' to 'amber' is 'disappointing', since those who had already booked a 'well-deserved holiday' in the Balearic Islands or who planned to 'reunite with loved ones' in the region are now likely to be forced to cancel if they are not yet fully vaccinated.

TUI slams the 'continuing lack of transparency over methodology and data' behind the 'constant changes in criteria' make it 'incredibly difficult for customers to make advance bookings with confidence'.

According to the Association of British Travel Agencies (ABTA), the 'continuous changes in travel restrictions' will 'delay any significant recovery for the industry' in the UK.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

ONE word which is always instantly associated with Spain – and which even people who do not speak Spanish understand – is 'siesta', and many nationalities, including people from Spain itself, have often questioned why this is the case; how is it that this seems to be the only country where the inhabitants take a siesta?

“Very few stereotypes linked to our culture have stood the test of time the way the siesta has,” says the Spanish Sleep Society (SES).

But it is not just a 'Spain' thing; siestas are part of the tradition wherever the Roman Empire was present, even if few people practise it – and, in fact, only a tiny minority of Spanish people do so.

“The Romans stopped for lunch and to rest in the sixth hour of the day,” explains Juan José Ortega of the SES.

“And if we take into account that there are approximately 12 hours of daylight, give or take and depending upon where you are in the world, then in Spain, the sixth hour would be around 13.00 in the winter and about 15.00 in summer.”

The Romans called this time of the day the sexta, or 'sixth', which when Italian as a language developed from Latin, morphed into sesta.

Although 'sixth' in the Spanish language, in the feminine – since 'hour' or hora is a feminine noun – is sexta (in the masculine, it would be sexto), the word for the lunchtime nap is a Spanish variation of sesta.

Read full article at thinkSPAIN.com

VACCINE certificates or 'Covid passports' recognised throughout the European Union for travel can now be obtained from each and every regional health authority website, or in some cases, with a mobile phone App.

They are not typically handed out as a hard copy upon receipt of the final vaccine dose, and are generally not needed except when travelling, although in theory, a digital copy requested can be kept 'on file' just in case.

For those who want to keep a paper copy, the important part is the QR code, which is scanned by airport or ferry port staff or at national borders to check its authenticity, and if the situation changes and certain circumstances nationally require sight of it – such as entering another region in the event that contagion rates spike in parts of the country and authorities of another want to see proof of vaccine, recovery from Covid or a negative PCR result, or a major public event, like a sports tournament, requires one of the three – it is expected that QR-code readers will be in place should this ever arise.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

ALONG with a spike in ice-cream sales, a fan breaking down becoming a domestic emergency and fantasies of teleporting oneself to the Arctic – just for 10 minutes, then going home again – summer in Spain is guaranteed to bring one other seasonal regular: Online hoaxes about traffic rules. It's the time of year when mass confusion abounds about whether you can drive in flip-flops or whether you can be fined for hanging an arm out of a window – nobody is quite sure, and social media posts and viral messages and memes only add to the chaos.

And once again, highway police have taken to the mainstream media to clarify our doubts.

Remember that when road traffic law breaches refer to 'licence points', a Spanish licence starts off with 12 and these are deducted for offences, leading to a ban once the total falls to zero, unlike in the UK, for example, where a licence starts with zero and points are added for offences, with a ban coming into effect if the total reaches 12.

Fact or fake? The General Directorate of Traffic (DGT), part of the transport ministry, can fine you for not wearing a mask in the car if you're travelling with people from outside your household.

A bit of both: The DGT cannot and will not fine you, because it's not a traffic offence – it's a public health law. This means the Guardia Civil can, and possibly will, although they're likely just to tell you all to put your masks on and warn you that a repeat failure to do so will cost you. Don't take the chance – of a fine, or of infecting each other inside the car.

Fact or fake? Smoking whilst driving can cost you licence points and a fine of up to €4,000.

Fake: There's no law against smoking and driving – this only constitutes an offence if doing so means you are putting other road users at risk, such as groping around on the floor for your lighter instead of looking out of the windscreen, or where it is considered a distraction that creates a hazard. As long as you're driving safely and your attention is on the road and other cars, where it should be, smoking and driving is not against the law.

Obviously, this applies to cigarettes; smoking a spliff before or whilst driving is illegal, as is the consumption of any non-medical drugs that remain in your system when you're at the wheel – a huge percentage of fatal accidents on Europe's roads involve drivers who had drunk alcohol or taken drugs such as cocaine and hash.

The Guardia Civil says: “Smoking is bad for you inside or outside your car, but it's not a traffic offence, and we've debunked this myth time and time again.”

Fact or fake? The new emergency telephone number for urgent traffic-related issues, such as accidents, is 088 and, unlike the 112, 062 or 091 numbers, which carry a charge, 088 is free.

Read the full article at thinkSPAIN.com

SELF-TESTING kits for Covid-19 will be on sale in pharmacies across Spain from Tuesday next week without prescription, health minister Carolina Darías has announced.

Until now, Covid tests could be purchased from pharmacies subject to availability, but only with a prescription, meaning that in most cases, patients would simply be tested at the GP practice or hospital which would have prescribed them.

Otherwise, there was no way of an ordinary member of the public who was not a known contact and had no symptoms could carry out a 'peace of mind' test, apart from going to a private clinic where the price was likely to be prohibitive.

Selling antigen and antibody tests over the counter will allow suspect cases, including those with no symptoms, to be detected 'far more quickly', says Sra Darías, who recalls that most of those currently testing positive are aged approximately 12 to 29 and, in the main, asymptomatic.

High-street pharmacies will be allowed to advertise the availability of test kits to buy, and to sell them without prescription – something they have been clamouring to be able to do for months.

In fact, pharmacies in the Greater Madrid region have had large numbers of test kits in stock since February in anticipation, but have not been able to sell them off-prescription, which 'constituted a major barrier', Sra Darías says.

Different test types

Antigen and antibody tests give fast results – in 10 to 30 minutes – and are much cheaper than a PCR, although the latter is strongly recommended for anyone with symptoms or strongly suspected of being positive, since they provide more detailed information about the viral structure, enabling them to be treated effectively.

The fast-track, cheaper tests serve mainly as peace of mind for people who merely want to 'prove they are negative' – such as before visiting an elderly or immune-compromised family member or friend.

As they can be used at home and are easy to read, they do not need to be sent off to a laboratory and do not require the intervention of a medical professional – thus easing the pressure on the State health service.

They are generally reliable - not as much as a PCR, but only a negligible number of false positives have been recorded, and false negatives are even more rare.

Antibody tests do not detect active infection, but reveal to what extent virus-fighting properties in the blood have been generated – for those who have not been vaccinated, it will tell them whether or not they have already had Covid, since this is the only way a non-immunised person would acquire antibodies.

Understanding antibodies

The main indicators are the IgM and IgG – the first to appear are the IgM, normally in the first seven to 10 days after contact with an infected person, and the IgG appear between 10 and 15 days after.

This therefore means that a positive IgM result indicates the person has been exposed to the virus recently, but does not confirm whether they are still infected or whether they are now cured, especially as the virus does not always show up on a test in the first few days.

A positive IgG result shows the person has been exposed to the virus but is not necessarily infected – it could mean they have recovered from it months ago.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A NEW name to watch out for in the future has emerged on the global tennis circuit – and is now branded on social media users' minds after the recently-appointed minister for sports spelled it wrong on Twitter.

Ane Mintegi, from the Basque town of Idiazábal in the province of Guipúzcoa – the capital of which is San Sebastián – is just 17 years old, and has already made history after winning Wimbledon on Sunday.

Her victory in the Junior tournament makes her only the second Spanish woman to win at the All England event this century; the first to do so was Garbiñe Muguruza, now 31, who took home the trophy in 2017.

Only four Spanish women have won Wimbledon at all – Arantxa Sánchez-Vicario, who netted the doubles title along with Czechia's Jana Novotná in 1995, and the year before, Garbiñe's own coach Conchita Martínez won the singles championship.

At the start of the match, Ane was now the first Spanish female to get to a final in the Junior category since Magüi Serna did so in 1996; as she stepped onto the court on Sunday, she was ranked at WTA world number 715.

And she lost the first set 2-6 to her German rival Nastasja Schunk, so had no reason to believe her name would be a trending topic before the weekend was out.

But Ane's game turned around fast – a fairly narrow second-set win, 6-4, meant the match looked as though it could go either way; then a comfortable 6-1 victory in the third set clinched the title for her.

Culture and sports minister Miquel Iceta had only just taken up his new post that day following Spanish president Pedro Sánchez's cabinet reshuffle, so his congratulatory tweet to Ane was one of his first messages after taking the reins from his predecessor José Manuel Rodríguez Uribes and leaving his job as minister for territorial policy and public function.

Unfortunately, he made a grammatical mistake with the first word, and a spelling mistake in the second.

Iceta's 'congratulations', or “Enhorabuena, Ana!” unleashed a flood of criticism – firstly because he had neglected to follow the uniquely Spanish-language rule of an upside-down exclamation or question mark to open a clause which has a 'right-way-up' one at the end, and secondly, because he had called the young star by the Castilian Spanish translation of her Basque-language name.

The message should have read, “¡Enhorabuena, Ane!”

But the minister's error and the 'feedback' it earned him have meant Ane Mintegi has become even more famous and talked-about, and will ensure nobody forgets in a hurry who was the first Spaniard ever to win the girls' Junior singles title at Wimbledon.

And Ane has yet to come down from Cloud Nine, telling reporters, “This is really special for me. Being the first girl in Spain to win Wimbledon...I'm really pleased and it's incredible. Having this trophy at home is really special to me. I'm so excited about being in the newspapers. This is really important.”

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

TARRAGONA city hall is seeking volunteers to 'monitor' 99 turtle eggs laid on a beach to make sure they are safe and hatch.

The loggerhead turtle, or caretta caretta, laid her eggs on El Miracle beach on Friday night, but unlike birds, turtles do not 'sit' on their eggs to keep them warm until they hatch – they simply deposit them and leave.

This means they are potentially at risk from predators, vandals and the elements and, as they are such a rare and environmentally-valuable sight, authorities want to keep them out of harm's way.

But this involves watching them round the clock, so they need extra humans to help out.

So far, biologists from the regional government have safely and carefully collected up 15 eggs, which are now in incubators, meaning they should hatch without problems and, once the baby turtles have grown enough and been introduced to conditions mirroring their natural habitat, they can be released back into the sea.

The remaining 84 eggs are buried under the sand, and the area has been cordoned off by Tarragona police.

Some volunteers have already come forward, and are watching them in shifts of either two hours in the morning or four hours in the afternoon and evening, or even both if they can do it.

Those who would like to help but cannot manage this many hours would still be welcome – enough people taking turns of 30 minutes or an hour at a time would mean the eggs never had to be left unattended.

It is quite likely that if anyone prefers to do a night shift, this would be considered extra-helpful as it would relieve environmental specialists from covering unsociable hours.

Organisations involved are hoping to find at least 100 volunteers for the summer, as they would also like help in combing the beach to see if other turtle nests have been buried there.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com

A MAJOR restructure in Spain's government means new faces on the scene and sideways moves for some of its ministers, whilst others will be relegated to 'mere' MPs rather than heading up a department of their own.

The exact reasons behind the radical shake-up are not clear, and it is not known whether national president Pedro Sánchez (pictured above) was unhappy with the work of some of his ministers, whether they themselves asked to step back a little from the front line, or whether it was simply a case of giving as many party members as possible a chance to lead.

In some cases, it seems the aim was to bring national politics closer to the person on the street, or make central government more 'local' – this may have been the motive behind three mayoresses who have not previously held seats in Parliament being promoted several rungs in one hit.

Although the changes took effect from Saturday and the new ministers have already sworn allegiance to their rôle in front of the King, in accordance with standard procedure, it is thought that their futures will start in earnest after the summer, given that Parliament breaks up for August and returns for the new 'term' in September.

Who's affected

Pedro Sánchez, president of Spain and leader of the socialist party (PSOE), governs in coalition with the left-wing independents Unidas Podemos – but only socialist MPs have been moved around.

This means Unidas Podemos ministers will remain in their jobs.

Work minister Yolanda Díaz, 49, social rights minister Ione Belarra, 33, universities minister Manuel Castells (currently Parliament's eldest at 78), minister for consumer affairs Alberto Garzón, 35 – who has recently raised controversy by urging the public to eat less meat 'for the sake of the planet', lauded by vegetarians and animal-lovers but panned by livestock farmers – and minister for equality Irene Montero, 32, wife of party founder and former deputy president Pablo Iglesias, will stay where they are.

Seven ministers take on new rôles, seven others will now just become MPs like all the others or even leave their seats and just be part of the membership – this has not been confirmed – and three existing ministers have taken on different jobs.

Another seven of Sánchez's socialist ministers will stay put.

Who will carry on as before

Along with all the Unidas Podemos ministers, former Supreme Court head judge Fernando Grande-Marlaska, 58, will continue as minister for the interior, and María Jesús Montero, 54, a medical doctor from Sevilla, will carry on as minister for the treasury.

Luis Planas, 68, currently grappling with the 'eat less meat' controversy, stays in place as minister of agriculture, fishing and food.

Albacete-born Economist José Luis Escrivá is still minister for inclusion, Social Security and migrations, despite recently raising hackles among Spain's 'baby boom' generation, those aged approximately 50-71, by hinting they would either have to earn a smaller pension, 'work for a bit longer', or retire on schedule with their planned pension but pay income tax on it.

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ONCE again, 'staycations' are set to make up the bulk of Spain's tourism this summer, especially as Spanish residents themselves are not planning on heading abroad just yet – a study shows that 91% of those intending to take a holiday before the start of the school term will be going somewhere within their home country. 

But within it, most expressed a desire to see another part of it: The latest report by the National Tourism Output Observatory (ObservaTUR) claims 71% are seriously thinking of visiting a different region to the one they live in.

It is likely many have not yet decided exactly where – although the coasts and islands are likely to be popular, as are any places where the travellers have friends or family – and could be seeking inspiration.

Wherever they end up, there's at least one major attraction in every single province worth the trip on its own; and all provinces have plenty of sights to see, so it's not always easy to pick out the ones you really don't want to miss if your time there is short.

Luckily, to help us along, holiday excursions organiser Musement has created a handy little map where we can see at a glance which have been given the most top ratings on Google by those visiting.

Compiling the map meant narrowing it down from 4,500 popular sites – not even including lesser-known ones that might be just as popular if they were discovered – to a mere 52, or one for every province.

Favourite attractions you could probably guess at

Some were the obvious choice for their province. Granada was always going to be the Alhambra Palace – although its other huge attraction, the Sierra Nevada National Park, also a key skiing resort, is shared with the province of Almería, and was the top-rated for here. For Huelva, it was clearly going to be the Doñana National Park, whilst for Barcelona, the Sagrada Família cathedral was one of several of these that would probably make up the main, or even only, initial reason for a visit there, such as the sublimely-beautiful cathedral in Burgos, Castilla y León, widely thought to be one of the most attractive in the world, and its rival for the crown, that of Santiago de Compostela in the province of A Coruña, Galicia.

For Segovia, the mammoth Roman aqueduct and in its neighbour, Ávila, the city wall, are what everyone would have expected to be chosen, and probably the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, too – no surprises there.

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ANYONE travelling to the UK from one of its 'amber list' countries will not have to quarantine from July 19 onwards – provided they have had their complete Covid vaccine, says British transport secretary Grant Schapps.

Spain – along with France, Greece and Italy – is an 'amber' country, other than the Balearic Islands, which are 'green' and do not require quarantine in any case.

Travellers will still require an approved PCR test – one to be taken a maximum of 72 hours before arrival and another no later than the second day after entering Britain – even if they are fully vaccinated, but will not have to take a third test on day eight as is the case at present, and no quarantine is necessary unless they test positive, which is unlikely if they have been immunised.

'Fully vaccinated' is defined as at least 14 days having passed since the second jab, or since the single shot if it is a Janssen vaccine as this does not require two.

This means that if a person is inoculated for the second time on the very day 'amber-country' quarantine is lifted – July 19 – they would still have to self-isolate in the UK if they entered the country before August 2, when the 14 days from their complete immunisation had passed.

Even with travellers between the UK and 'amber' countries having to factor in the cost of two PCR tests to be able to enter Britain – independently of any required for entry to the country they are visiting from or returning from – this is still music to the ears of all those in Spain who rely heavily upon international tourism for their living.

Although holidaymakers from all over the world visit Spain year-round – not just in summer – the sun-seeking tourists during the hottest months make up a huge portion of those travelling to coastal areas and the islands; the vast majority of those from abroad are from northern Europe, and Brits continue to be the most numerous in these parts from approximately May to September, especially in July and August.

An estimated 400,000 British nationals live permanently in Spain and about half that number again of Spanish nationals live in the UK, but have not been able to see their families due to the quarantine issues.

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LOW-COST carrier Ryanair has scheduled over 70 routes to and from Alicante-Elche airport this summer and is promoting special offers and cut-price seats to get people travelling again.

Head of the Costa Blanca tourism trade association José Mancebo met with the Irish airline's marketing and sales managers Dara Brady and Chiara Ravara this week to discuss strategy for encouraging new and existing holidaymaker output countries to travel to the province of Alicante.

During their video-conference, which Alicante-Elche airport's director Laura Navarro joined, it was revealed that new flight connections were on the cards from this month.

They include routes linking Alicante with Belfast (Northern Ireland, UK), Teesside (north-east England, UK), Venice Treviso, and Bari, both in Italy.

Existing routes to and from Alicante will continue in summer, and be reinforced.

Hopes are pinned on the British government's decisions from late July onwards, since at present, any entering the UK from 'amber countries' needs to take and pay for at least two PCR tests and quarantine for 10 days, or pay for a third PCR and quarantine for five days; as all of Spain except the Balearic Islands is on 'amber', this effectively precludes British residents from taking an annual holiday in the country until the restrictions are reviewed, or Spanish nationals living in the UK from popping 'back home' to stay with friends or family.

Contagion rates in Spain have risen slightly, but hospital admissions make up a much smaller percentage, since the overwhelming majority of those now infected are between late teens and early 40s, a much lower-risk age bracket.

These ages correspond with the community which has not yet been vaccinated, or who have not had both doses yet – by now, almost everyone aged 40 or over will have had their first dose at least, and regional health authorities across the country are looking to bring forward the vaccine roll-out for the 19-to-39 age group in light of their now being the most likely to catch the virus.

Already, it has been promised that teenagers from 12 to 18 inclusive who are still at school, college or university will be given at least their first vaccine dose not less than two weeks before the September term starts.

However, the UK restrictions on travelling to Spain even include those who have been vaccinated.

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A 'NEW' species of dinosaur thought to have lived over 130 million years ago has been discovered in a remote rural area of the province of Castellón on Spain's east coast.

Researchers from Valencia University (UV), the 'Guix Group' in Vila-real (Castellón province) and Castellón city's Jaume I University (UJI) have published details of their findings in the prestigious US-based science magazine Plos One – and, in layman's terms, what they have discovered is a giant lizard, which would have grown to between six and eight metres (19'6” to 26 feet) when it reached adulthood.

They were able to tell all this from fossilised teeth.

The creature is thought to have been even older than two other species discovered in the Mas de Curolles II archaeological dig in Portell, in the north-western district of Els Ports, in recent years.

These were named after local areas where they were identified – the Morelladon (from Morella) and the Vallivonavenatrix (from Vallibona) – and are believed to be more recent than the newly-baptised Portellsaurus by tens of millions of years.

According to the team, the first two would have roamed the area about 126 to 127 million years ago, but the Portellsaurus Sosbaynati probably lived there 130 million years back.

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FORMER Real Madrid ace Cristiano Ronaldo is on a mission to open a string of hair transplant clinics, with more in the pipeline after the one in Spain's capital and the second branch in Marbella.

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The Portuguese striker, who now plays for Juventus and lives with his Spanish girlfriend, model Georgina Rodríguez, in Torino, north-western Italy, is the major shareholder in Insparya group, which has just bought out the chain Saúde Viável ('Viable Health') in the multiple Ballon d'Or winner's native country.

This means he now owns Insparya clinics in Madrid, Marbella, and five in Portugal – in Lisbon, Braga, two in Oporto, and one on the Algarve.

The Madrid centre has been open since 2019, and the Marbella branch – the creation of which was announced a month ago – is on the urbanisation Lomas del Río Verde in the 'Golden Mile'.

It is equipped with 15 operating theatres in addition to treatment rooms, consultation rooms and doctors' surgeries, and is due to open some time in August.

A team of 100 professionals, including doctors and nurses, led by Insparya's chief clinical officer Dr Carlos Portinha, will be based there.

Until recently, hair transplants were difficult to come by, and the majority of those who wanted to have this procedure – mainly, but not exclusively, men suffering from male pattern baldness including receding hairlines – had to travel to Turkey, where such clinics are in abundance.

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A TRILINGUAL school in a Costa del Sol town will be open to pupils by next September, part-funded by a loan from the European urban development pot, or FEDER.

The total cost of the centre in Estepona will be around €16 million, of which a refundable sum of €8.2m has been provided through the FEDER, and once the school is in operation from the beginning of the 2022 academic year, it will generate around 100 directly-linked jobs and 25 indirect new vacancies, according to the town council.

Pupils will typically be educated partly in Spanish but mostly in English, although the opportunity for them to be taught mostly or partly in French will be available.

Schools of this type often attract expat parents – permanent residents, but who realise their children might want to live, work or study in their family's country of origin as adults, or parents whose stay in Spain is only ever intended to be temporary, so their children can continue with the same schooling format as they did in their home nation.

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WHALES have made themselves at home off the coast of Catalunya – a total of 222 have been spotted this spring alone, nearly double the number seen in the sea-mammal 'feeding zones' identified by conservationists since they started off the 'Rorqual Project' in 2013.

Of those seen in spring 2021, around 75 have been identified through drone footage and the rest sighted by humans. 

The association Edmaktub, which has been focusing on whale presence in the western Mediterranean these last eight years – especially in Catalunya and the Balearic Islands, where they are thought to settle for weeks at a time to feed – this year so far has been excellent for whale-spotting, after very few visited Spain's shores in 2019 due to a drought, and 2020 was written off as marine biologists could not go out searching for them as a consequence of the pandemic and lockdown.

But the high rainfall and low temperatures in winter and early spring in Mediterranean Spain meant an increase in plankton, particularly krill, in the area, for rorqual or fin whales to feed on.

Drones have been employed this year for the first time, says the association, meaning close-up footage of 75 whales this year has far exceeded those caught on camera in the last two 'good' years for sightings – 2018, with 45, and 2017, with 43.

Three satellite markers have been set up to follow the fin whale population's movements, and these have been key to discovering where the feeding grounds are, and how May seems to be the month when numbers are highest.

Fishermen off the coast of Catalunya have been huge allies in the project, informing Edmaktub whenever they see a whale.

Some of the biggest threats to the survival of Mediterranean whales are human-generated, such as collisions with large boats, and people out on yachts, catamarans and speedboats acting carelessly and disturbing them, Edmaktub explains.

The association stresses that laws are in place to protect whales, dolphins and other sea creatures, and which make it illegal to sail up close to them.

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ASTROPHYSICISTS in Spain have discovered two new planetary systems circulating around red dwarf stars, made up of 'Earths' and 'Super-Earths'.

The National Research Council (CSIC), led by the Andalucía Astrophysics Institute (IAA) in the province of Granada, detected the planets using the telescope Carmenes at the observatory in Calar Alto (Almería province), and says what they have seen 'reinforces the idea that dwarf stars tend to house rocky planets'.

Research team leader Pedro J Amado says the 'current conception' about how low-mass planets are formed in orbits close to very small stars 'points to the fact that these may be abundant in number', with an average of 'at least one planet per star'.

“Despite this abundance, though, we have very little data on the density of these planets which would enable us to work out their composition,” Dr Amado says.

The new systems, in which the team has discovered 'three hot planets', orbit the dwarf stars G264-012 and GI393.

Two planets with a minimum mass of at least 2.5 to 3.8 times that of Earth have been identified, and they take 2.3 and 8.1 Earth days to orbit their star, so a 'day' on the latter planet would be just over a week in our own terms.

The planet orbiting GI393 takes exactly one Earth week to complete a full 'day', and is said to be at least 1.7 times the density of our planet.

According to the CSIC, the three planets fall into the category of 'Hot Earths' and 'Hot Super-Earths', where the temperatures reached are too high to allow the presence of water in liquid form on their surfaces.

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EXPATS from countries with a patronymic or gendered surname system can now register their children's names in Spain when they are born as they would be able to in their own nation, the national ombudsman has revealed.

The organisation has championed the change, and says civil registries have now all been advised accordingly.

In some eastern and north-eastern European nations, surnames are declined – or 'agree' with the gender of the person; as an example, Russian president Vladimir Putin's wife is called Lyudmila Aleksándrovna Putina.

Also, her first or patronymic surname, Aleksándrovna, comes from her father's first name: He is called Aleksandr, and if she has a brother, his first surname would be Aleksandrov.

Murcia-based lawyer Juan José Ferrer Carratalá says he has handled cases for people from Russia, Belarus and Bulgaria, among other countries, who have 'suffered problems' when trying to register their babies' names.

As a result, a baby called Ivan whose father is also called Ivan and whose family name is Petrov should be named Ivan Ivanovich Petrov, but in Spain he would have had to have been registered, until now, as Ivan Petrov.

In the case of Vladimir Putin's wife, if 'Putin' were her family name rather than marital surname, had she been born in Spain until now, her parents would have been unable to register her as Lyudmila Aleksándrovna Putina – instead, she would be registered as Lyudmila Putin.

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