Problems with Vonage in Spain 02/08/2010
Last year in the month of October we signed up for Vonage after listening to all the good publicity on Talk Radio Europe. Everything worked well until the 6th of January, when our nightmare with Vonage began. The Vonage V-Portal Phone Adapter displayed an error code (003) and we could not make or receive calls. We contacted the Vonage customer care department various times and in the end they said that the Vonage Adapter was faulty. They said that they would send us a new one but we must pay to have the old one returned by a courrier company so the parcel could be tracked and that we would have to pay the cost of sending it back €14.65. After about a week the new Vonage Adapter arrived, once again we went through the process of trying to configure the Vonage system with the help of the Vonage customer service department, after more telephone calls than I would care to mention and numerous E-mails, we were told once again that the Vonage Apapter was Faulty. We had to pay another €14.65 to have it returned to the UK, when the new Adapter arrived we contacted Vonage once again via E-mail and by phone as it would not work,in the end we were told they did not know what was wrong, they even said it was maybe the fault of the ISP, Ya.com the ISP say that everything is correct on their side. After threatening to go the Spanish Office of Fair trading they agreed to refund the price of having the 2 Vonage Adapters returned. So after just over one month since we started with this problem, we are still no closer to resolving the problem, I estimate we have spent well over 40 hours trying to resolve this matter, the Vonage staff are very kind & helpful but they do not seem to have much technical experience. Vonage say they are going to call us again today at 3pm to try and resolve this problem ! I would be interested to know if anyone is having problems with Vonage in Spain ?
Christian the lion 02/06/2010
After watching this Youtube video, I went on to buy the DVD Christian The Lion at World's End from www.bornfree.org.uk which I loved, then I purchased from http://www.bookworldespana.com/ the book a Lion Called Christian which is first class. Taylor Wimpey ups investment in Marbella 02/04/2010
 Click on image for more info The British company says it has sold half of its stock of property on the Costa del Sol British company Taylor Wimpey, has announced it is to invest 8.5 million € in a new second home real estate project in Marbella. The investment comes after the company has sold 50% of its stock properties, thanks it says to aggressive pricing, selling 175 homes on the Costa del Sol last year where it owns enough land to build another 2,000. The new project will get underway next month in Elvira, Marbella, and consists of 53 homes. Completion date is 2012.  www.almanzora-au.org The British pensioner couple saw their home in Vera, Almería, demolished by the authorities just over two years ago After two years living in the garage next to the remains of demolished home in Vera, Almería, British Couple Helen and Len Prior have been ordered to be given a temporary home by a judge’s order. Lawyers acting for the couple are claiming compensation from the local council for the loss of their home and also applied for ‘provisional measures’ to house them in a similar property to the one they lost, and it is these measures which the judge has ordered be met. The local council now has to find them a similar property or pay the rent on another one while the case is completed. AUAN, Abusos Urbanisticos Almanzora No, the protest group acting against the demolition of property in the area, reports that Helen and Len have found a suitable property, and are waiting for the council to agree. Marbella 2010 Events & Fiestas 01/30/2010
A major tourist destination offering a wealth of attractions for its visitors, Marbella also features an impressive calendar of events, with many prominent festivals taking place throughout the year. Popular celebrations in Marbella include the February carnival, Holy Week around Easter time, and the San Bernabé Fiesta and Summer Fair each June. Also, each November, the Fiesta del Tostón (Day of Toston) is held in Marbella, a religious festival which includes many different events and plenty of parties. Close to Marbella, further annual festivities can be found in both Malaga and Torremolinos. Here are Marbella's main annual festivals, events and things to do.  Marbella Events, Fiestas and Marbella Festivals (Marbella, Costa del Sol, Spain) A major tourist destination offering a wealth of attractions for its visitors, Marbella also features an impressive calendar of events, with many prominent festivals taking place throughout the year. Popular celebrations in Marbella include the February carnival, Holy Week around Easter time, and the San Bernabé Fiesta and Summer Fair each June. Also, each November, the Fiesta del Tostón (Day of Toston) is held in Marbella, a religious festival which includes many different events and plenty of parties. Close to Marbella, further annual festivities can be found in both Malaga and Torremolinos. Here are Marbella's main annual festivals, events and things to do. Marbella National Public Holidays - Marbella, Costa del Sol, Spain
 Marbella Calendar of Festivals and Events 2010 / 2011 - Marbella, Costa del Sol, Spain Marbella Events and Festivals in January - Marbella, Costa del Sol, Spain
Marta Andreasen firmly and eloquently put the case in English and in Spanish for those people who are facing the loss of their homes in Spain The Spanish Prime Minister has been put firmly on the spot in the European Parliament today by the Euro M.P. Marta Andreasen from UKIP. She has the strange background of being Argentine born, now a Spanish citizen and was elected as a member of the European Parliament for the UK Independence party in 2009. Speaking on Wednesday in the chamber in Strasbourg directly to José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, as part of the debate on the Programme for the Spanish Presidency, she asked how Spain thinks it can organise the European Presidency if it remains unable to find a solution to the real estate abuses on its own territory. She made specific reference to the British couple, Helen and Len Prior, who saw their home in Vera, Almería, demolished two years ago, and promised she would do all she could to convert the EU threat of sanctions against Spain over real estate abuses into a reality if the problem is not solved by the end of the Spanish presidency in six months time. Other MEPs Glenis Willmott (Labour) and Diana Wallis (Liberal Democrat and Vice-President of the European Parliament) also appealed for a solution to urban abuses and land grab scandals on behalf of British victims. Michael Cashman, MEP, has already written a personal appeal to the Spanish Prime Minister stating that “It is the Spanish government alone that can bring an end to these abuses”. Piers Morgan On Marbella 01/15/2010
European capitals of culture Malaga 2016 11/08/2009
Francisco de la Torre Prados Mayor of Malaga Malaga is currently preparing its bid to be named European Capital of Culture for the year 2016. Distant though it may seem, the aforementioned date in fact marks the turn of a Spanish city to be unveiled before the rest of Europe and the whole world as European Capital of Culture for the year. Malaga boasts a multi-millennial cultural heritage and the city has retained the same vocation for welcoming a wide spectrum of different peoples since its foundation nearly three thousand years ago. Indeed, from the times of the Phoenicians, enterprising merchants who discovered sailing as a vehicle for communication and progress between peoples, right through to the present day, in which our city is perceived by the world as a melting pot of international, domestic and local culture alike, Malaga’s cultural heritage has embraced both its past history and its current development, and, with your help, the city is more than capable of presenting its bid and being proclaimed European Capital of Culture 2016 when the accolade is awarded in 2012. In order to achieve this aim, we need everybody, not only malagueños by birth or adoption but also all those who believe in our city, to lend us their backing and show their support for Malaga. As Mayor of Malaga, I would like to take this opportunity to ask you all to send us your support either by post or via this web site so that in 2016 we can fulfil our dream of being European Capital of Culture. European capitals of culture JORGE HERNÁNDEZ MOLLAR GARCÍA Ex Member of the European Parliament The proclamation of Malaga as “European Capital of Culture” for the year 2016 would provide the city with the opportunity to carry out a year-long cultural programme focussing on the richness and diversity of the different European cultures. In order to achieve this, all of the city’s institutions and inhabitants must join forces in order to come through, one by one, all of the trials inherent in a lengthy process that will culminate in the designation by the European Council of the city proposed by Parliament to share, along with another from an Eastern European country, the honour of being cultural capital ten years from now. We have time, then, to prove in fair, enriching competition with other Spanish cities, that Malaga, with its historical roots, cultural diversity and profound “Mediterranean vocation”, is more than capable of providing a world showcase for Europe’s cultural riches and the common elements that characterise them. The responsibility for this task does not fall to a single institution, the City Council; it represents a challenge for all of the citizens of Malaga, who must make full use of all of the human and media resources available to convince those charged with considering our bid that Malaga is a cultural reference point for the entire European Mediterranean region and a meeting point for two continents, Africa and Europe, which today more than ever need to get to know and understand each other better. The people of Malaga will need the support and solidarity of all of their political, economic and social representatives in order to work together in this exciting adventure. Malaga, a european city JUAN ANTONIO GARCÍA GALINDO Professor at the School of Communication Sciences, University of Malaga XXI-century Malaga is a vibrant city that is growing in every sense of the word and reconciling itself with its place both in the world and in history. Its dynamic, enterprising character provides the energy that the city transforms from within to prepare itself for the future, though now more than ever it is doing so from the standpoint of acknowledging its multicultural past. A city of contrasts, Malaga has succeeded in reappraising itself and providing solutions to the problems that once beset it in order to journey into the new century with high hopes of enjoying a new renaissance. Malaga, a liberal city, the first to oppose any threat to freedom, is today an open, cosmopolitan city whose idiosyncrasy lies in its very universality. By virtue of its history, Malaga is a city that is both universal and European, the true urban forerunner of a cultural diversity that is only now beginning to characterise contemporary societies but which has long formed a major part of Malaga’s human heritage. Malaga is a European city because it has created an identity of its own based on diversity, on respect for cultural plurality and on tolerance and solidarity, values inherent in European civilisation, but also because it is a symbol of modernity, a city open to all prevalent currents in art and thinking, the cradle of great artists and intellectuals, and a present-day focal point for technological innovation. Malaga is also a university city with academic links throughout the whole continent. The European settlers who have made their home here in Malaga over the centuries have also made a significant contribution to the heterogeneous nature of our human landscape, bringing Europe closer to these Mediterranean shores in the process. Through its people, Europe is present in Malaga; what is more, Malaga is one of those places in which Spain becomes more European, where Europe is most eagerly received. Its cultural and linguistic diversity makes the city a veritable melting pot in which Europe is clearly recognisable and where the people of Malaga themselves see relentless culture building as an integral part of their own identity. The dialectic relationship maintained by the city with its surroundings in its capacity as a European city in which Europe meets Spain and where both find their gateway to the Mediterranean and North Africa is responsible for another of Malaga’s cultural singularities, namely its status as the bridge, the nexus, between different worlds, and a meeting place for syncretism and racial integration. Marbella - Puerto de las Golondrinas - Tolox - Marbella This is an 82 km route and at its highest point reaches 862 metres. We set off from around the bus station in Marbella, keep going towards the mountain and pass the Hotel Don Miguel before reaching La Montúa. After about 850 metres, take the lane to the left which leads you past the new Marbella cemetery before joining the Carretera de Ojén and up the mountain pass. Having reached the Puerto de Ojén, there’s a long downhill stretch which leaves behind the Juanar shelter. We then go right, leave the road, and after 200 metres there’s another diversion to the left which takes us onto a badly maintained road to the left. After that, there’s a 30km track to Tolox. If we keep on to the left, it’ll take us to the River Verde and Istán. We have to take the diversion to the right towards Tolox. Again, there are several short sleep slopes before reaching Puerto de las Golondrinas. From here we keep going until we reach one of the highest points on the route. After a slight climb, the path begins to descend sharply and in a few kilometres we get to Tolox. Without going far into the town, we veer to the right, passing a little square to the left. We then cross the town, which is crowned by a castle and has panoramic views of the Guadalhorce Valley. An intense and lengthy climb begins here. After leaving Monda the local highway immediately takes us back on to the first route that took us to Llanos (plains) de Purla. On getting back onto the regional highway again at these plains, we cross the iron bridge indicated before at the start of the dirt track surrounding Sierra Blanca, which we can see below to the right. All that’s left is to go up to the Puerto de Ojén once more and begin the final descent into Marbella, where speed, wind and the traffic will be the most notable elements.  The two day strike will be repeated next month if an agreement is not reached between the air line and cabin crew workers syndicates SPANISH air line Iberia has been forced to cancel 400 flights over two days, Monday October 26 and Tuesday 27, due to a cabin crew strike organised by workers syndicates CTA and SITCPLA in protest against the “repeated failure by the company to reach a new collective agreement.” The approximately 4,300 cabin staff are demanding a pay rise after four years of seeing their salaries frozen. On Monday 200 flights out of the total 1,000 flights scheduled were cancelled causing chaos at several airports such as Malaga Airport. Madrid’s Barajas Airport terminal 4 was worse affected with many connecting national flights to the regions of Andalucia and Valencia cancelled. Flights from T4 in Madrid to Lisbon, London, Brussels and Frankfurt were also cancelled. Iberia has appealed for the syndicates to reconsider their posture toward demands of a 4 per cent pay increase. Iberia believes that the a 4 per cent pay rise is not viable given the difficult time the industry is experiencing due to the world wide recession. The strike action has not affected the flights from the series IB5000, IB8000 and IB7000 which are operated by Vueling, Iberia Regional (Air Nostrum) and other airlines sharing these flight codes. Neither were are connecting flights between the mainland and the Canary Islands or the Balearic Islands. Most long haul flights were also spared being cancelled, although many passengers relied on internal connecting flights which were cancelled to be able to catch these making it impossible for them to reach their point of departure. Iberia has announced plans a flexible approach to pricing for customers wishing to travel on these dates, as well as offering the possibility of refunds or changes to other dates to affected customers. If an agreement is not reached in the days following the two day strikes, these will be repeated on November 10 and 11. Nevertheless, Iberia says that the negotiations are open and that the air line hopes to reach a long term agreement and not “just for four months.” Consumer protection organisation FACUA has advised Iberia users affected by the strikes to seek compensation and not to simply accept refunds. In a statement FACUA suggests that if the flights were booked directly from Iberia passengers should direct their queries or complaints to the airline. In package holidays or multiple airline bookings via travel agencies, passengers should present their complaints to both. |