Spanish News Today Editors Roundup Weekly Bulletin May 5

THIS WEEKEND: "Coronation of King Charles as seen from Spain" and "Look up to see spectacular blood moon eclipse and meteor shower!"

It’s going to be an action-packed weekend this first weekend of May! The Feria in Jerez de la Frontera; a whole bunches of Cruces de Mayo festivals taking place; and a very special astronomical event called a ‘Supernight’, combining a rare blood moon eclipse with a meteor shower. Not to mention the coronation of King Charles III, and all the street parties, garden parties and other activities taking place to mark the event. Or not, as the case may be, as it seems that some people would rather be anywhere else, even in Spain…

We’ve got all this and more for you, plus the latest updates on property news and the long-term weather forecast for this summer and autumn in Spain.

Coronation of King Charles III

This is the weekend His Majesty King Charles III is finally and formally coronated as the reigning monarch of Great Britain and the Commonwealth, a full eight months after his beloved mother Queen Elizabeth II passed away.

While the United Kingdom is understandably brimming with pomp at the circumstances, the coronation is also an event that has not gone unnoticed in Spain. Messages of support have already started pouring in from towns and cities all over the country, while dignitaries and guests from across Europe and the world are travelling to London to be in attendance – despite the ‘Green’ King’s wishes that it be an eco-friendly coronation – and there are several guests from Spain who have been invited.

The King of Spain, Felipe VI, is actually a distant cousin of King Charles (who the Spanish call ‘Carlos’) through their common ancestor Queen Victoria, so he’ll be going to the coronation at Westminster Abbey this Saturday along with his wife Queen Letizia.

However, former King of Spain Juan Carlos I, who abdicated in disgrace after a series of scandals involving money laundering, philandering and elephant slaughtering, will not be going. Instead, he’ll stay in Abu Dhabi in his self-imposed exile.

For us common folk, the hoi polloi who don’t get invited to grand occasions in fancy palaces, there are plenty of street parties, picnics and events going on in Spain where the coronation will be shown live on TV. From Madrid and Murcia to Barcelona and the Balearic Islands, there’s no shortage of ways to celebrate the coronation, whether you’re British or not.

For the republicans, there are alternative events you might think about attending this weekend if you want to avoid the blanket coverage of royal revelry. How about the ‘Cruces de Mayo’ May Crosses festivities taking place to celebrate the arrival of spring? Or why not try a free classical music concert of chamber music?

In fact, it has been reported that younger Britons are fleeing the United Kingdom in their droves this weekend “to escape the King’s coronation,” according to a travel firm that has seen youth bookings to Barcelona rocket by 400% compared with the same weekend last year.

According to the team at Last Night of Freedom, “Many customers have specifically said they wanted to travel this weekend in order to escape the King’s coronation, as they feared it would all be a bit too much at home.” It comes at the same time as a YouGov poll which shows young Brits don’t rate Charles as a king.

What about you? Got any big plans for the Coronation weekend? Will you be raising a glass in toast to His New Majesty at a Coronation Street party, or deliberately avoiding the whole affair with an Eastenders or Hollyoaks party?

Supernight combines blood moon eclipse and meteor shower

Those in Spain this weekend are in for a rare treat as two stellar spectacles combine to create a so-called ‘supernight’: a striking blood moon eclipse and the peak of the eta aquarid meteor shower.

The eerie lunar eclipse will be clearly visible from Spain, as will the raining stars, but the best vantage points will be in the Balearic Islands and along the east coast. The eclipse will reach its zenith at around 9pm on Friday May 5.

A blood moon gets its name from the intense red glow created during a lunar eclipse. According to NASA, during this event, the sun, moon and the Earth align, casting the moon into this planet’s shadow.

“The remaining light reflects onto the Moon's surface with a red glow,” the NASA experts explain, making the Moon appear blood red in the night sky.

“It’s as if all the world’s sunrises and sunsets are projected onto the Moon.”

As a bonus, the eta aquarids meteor shower, which will continue to grace Spanish skies until May 28, should have maximum visibility this weekend.

Property in Spain

Spain finally approved its much-debated housing law reform this week which modifies the cap on rent increases, abolished estate agent fees for tenants and changes the process for evicting squatters.

The official document ratifying the changes is detailed and lengthy, but here are the highlights:

Rent increases: At the moment, landlords can increase rent by a maximum of 2% per year. This cap will be increased to 3% for 2024 and from the following year, a new index will guide the amount rents can be increased by, but it will in no way be linked to inflation.
Estate agents: It’s common practice in Spain for tenants to be asked to pay a month’s rent in advance, a month’s rent as a deposit and another month as security to the estate agent. Under the new law, real estate companies won’t be allowed to charge tenants and owners will have to absorb any additional costs. In addition, it will be prohibited to force renters to pay community fees or municipal taxes.
Squatters: Here’s where it gets controversial. From now on, owners who take legal action to remove squatters from their properties must be able to show that the home is not the habitual residence of the unauthorised tenants. While these new procedures are designed to protect the most vulnerable in society, many detractors believe the move will simply increase legal uncertainty when it comes to recovering a squatted property and delay the final outcome.
Empty properties: To ensure there are enough homes on the open market, city councils will be allowed to financially penalise owners of empty properties through a surcharge on the Real Estate Tax (IBI) of up to 150%.
Stressed areas: Finally, rent prices will be capped in so-called ‘stressed areas’, where the demand for a home greatly outstrips supply. Owners who rent out their properties in these localities will receive a number of tax breaks, particularly if they let their home to younger tenants.

When it comes to buying a holiday home or making a permanent move to Spain as a foreign national, finding that perfect home is just the start of a journey that can be both exciting and daunting.

The whole house-buying process varies between countries, and in addition to the cost of the bricks and mortar, purchasers in Spain must factor in a number of other costs and expenses, such as property tax and additional mortgage fees.

Buyers must have saved at least 20% of the value of the property as a deposit to secure a mortgage. But in order to go ahead with the transaction, there are other expenses and property taxes in Spain that must be paid.

Firstly, there’s the notary. This basically legalises the deeds of sale which can cost up to 875 euros depending on the cost of the house. Once the deeds have been granted by the notary, they must be registered, which costs up to 700 euros. Both of these fees are fixed by the State.

Then there are property taxes which depend on the value of the home and whether it’s new or not. New home buyers must pay the Documented Legal Acts tax (IAJD, also often known simply as AJD) and Property Transfer Tax (ITP) is a compulsory expense when buying a pre-owned home in Spain. Just to confuse matters further, the rate of these taxes can differ from one autonomous community to another, so always seek professional advice.

You thought it was hot before? Wait til you hear this…

The hot weather continues, a few showers and sudden, short-lived thunderstorms notwithstanding, and the development of an El Niño weather phenomenon in the Pacific Ocean looks set to make this summer in Spain one of the hottest ever, say scientists.

It will come as no surprise to learn that we have just experienced the eight warmest years on record, but believe it or not over the last three years the La Niña episode has actually had a cooling effect that has temporarily slowed down the increase in global temperatures.

That all looks set to change this year, though, as meteorologists predict a change in global weather patterns that will make the last few summers look like a spring walk in the park.

As a matter of fact, El Niño’s effect on global temperatures usually manifests itself in the year following the onset of this phenomenon, so the consequences are likely to be most noticeable in 2024.

It will also have the double-edged bonus of bringing heavy rains to Spain in the autumn, though. That will obviously be good for the parched farms, parks, countryside, gardens, plants and animals, and will help us to have more drinking water. But a swing from crippling drought to torrential flooding would be disastrous, and Spain has its fair share of experience in that area.

So that’s something to look forward to. If it’s any consolation, climate conditions are changing all over the world, nowhere will escape unscathed and we’re all up this creek together.

Murcia

In a shock courtroom drama this week, a man known only as Juan Antonio FY was sentenced to 30 years behind bars for an arson attack in Mazarrón in 2019 that resulted in the death of a Finnish tourist and his dog. The victim had been sleeping in his campervan, along with his 70-year-old wife, when it went up in flames.

The court heard that the defendant crept to the Los Calañares urbanisation, where the camper was parked, at around 7am on December 20, 2019. He dragged two single mattresses with him, which he placed under the van of the sleeping couple, and set them on fire with a lighter.

The flames quickly ignited the fuel tank, causing a devastating explosion which claimed the life of one of the Finnish tourists. Incredibly, his wife somehow managed to scramble out of the vehicle with “serious burns on both lower limbs due to contact with the flames”.

The targeted couple, who were married for 43 years, had recently sold their home of more than 20 years in Finland and decided to travel around Europe in their campervan. The horrific arson attack occurred just two months after they had set off on their adventure.

Meanwhile, three men suspected of producing and dealing drugs in Torre Pacheco had a rude awakening when police carried out dawn raids at two homes at the residential La Torre Golf Resort.

Guardia Civil squads in six marked vehicles used battering rams to force the doors of both homes, one in Calle Mero, arresting two people at the first property, one of them Albanian and the other believed to be Spanish.

Police seized several marijuana plants and documentation related to “the group’s criminal activity,” according to sources close to the case. A third suspect was cuffed in the second 6am raid.

Turns out one of the detainees, who was living in another property on the urbanisation, is linked to an ATM robbery at the golf resort.

After weeks of blue skies and scorching temperatures that hit the high 30s, the heavens opened in Murcia last weekend. On a day that was forecast to reach a sweltering 40ºC, a sudden torrential downpour had people running for cover and in the space of a couple of hours, Murcia city recorded more rainfall than the entire Region has seen so far this year.

Unfortunately, the freak storm coincided with the second day of the sell-out Warm Up Festival, which had to be cancelled as the open-air La Finca venue quickly turned into a swamp.

Murcianos, however, have a sense of humour and hilarious pictures of sodden concert-goers soon flooded the internet. One man was photographed taking advantage of the now empty bar at the gig to have a refreshing pint of the rain, while dozens of others huddled under the bandstand to avoid the deluge.

But the footage of the day had to be a photo of a Laundromat next door to the La Fica concert site, where a hoard of people gathered out of the rain, half naked, and took the opportunity to dry their soaked clothes.

The inclement weather also forced the free hot air balloon rides at the Los Alcázares Sea Plane festival to be cancelled, leaving many people rather miffed at missing out on the rare chance to ride in an aerostatic balloon, let alone gratis.

In the event, it wouldn’t have been safe due to the unexpected high winds. For the rest, the Sea Plane event off without a hitch, with thousands of people turning out to watch the hydroplanes flying in and getting the chance to see them up close on the beach.

Also particularly popular was the virtual reality tent, which allowed those patient enough to queue up for it to see through the eyes of the pilots in the planes as they charted their course over the skies above the Mar Menor.

The fun’s not over yet, though, as the surprisingly popular Playmobil exhibition detailing scenes from everyday life in Los Alcázares can still be visited until June 11 at the Hotel Atrio del Mar.

For more events like this coming up soon in Murcia, check out our EVENTS DIARY:

Spain

While most people took advantage of a day off last Bank Holiday Monday, hundreds of passengers saw their holiday plans scuppered on May 1 as Ryanair cancelled 220 flights around Europe as a result of the air traffic controller strikes in France.

Mr O’Leary took to social media to slam the French system, which fails to protect flights using their airspace if they don’t land in France, and to apologise to the 40,000 passengers whose flights to destinations like Spain, Italy and the UK were axed.

“It is unfair that flights from the UK to Spain or from Italy to Portugal are being cancelled simply because a bunch of French air traffic control units want to go on strike. We respect their right to strike, but if they want to strike, cancel the French flights, protect the overflights,” Mr O’Leary fumed.

People across the world have been shocked and saddened by the latest episode of needless, senseless violence against innocent animals that passes for traditional culture in Spain, after a bull leaped off a 50-foot bridge in a Valencian village fiesta, breaking its legs and meaning it had to be put down.

The shocking incident took place in the Valencia municipality of Ontinyent during their Bou de les penyes bull running festival and was caught on camera, going around the world on social media.

In the heart-wrenching video, the bull – named ‘Vicioso’ or ‘Vicious’ in Spanish – can be seen running at top speed down a slope with people standing on both sides baiting it, and straight towards a low wall separating the road from a sheer drop.

The animal leaps over the bridge wall and drops into the void, provoking screams of horror from those watching. The poor thing ended up lying on the river bank with broken legs, and had to be moved and finally sacrificed.

This is absolutely devastating 💔

Vicioso, disorientated, fell 50 FEET suffering fatal injuries during Bou de les Penyes festival.

This is NOT entertainment, it’s animal ABUSE 😡pic.twitter.com/5ZqaQKEtr1
— PETA UK (@PETAUK) May 2, 2023

Initially, there were going to be bullfights on that day too – two in the morning and three in the afternoon – but this incident forced the bullfighting events planned for the afternoon in Ontinyent to be cancelled.

The incident has reopened a debate that constantly bubbles just under the surface in Spain about the wisdom and morality of still holding fiestas which use the torture and ritual slaughter of animals for entertainment purposes.

Event organisers have pre-emptively threatened legal action against anyone who might try to “restrict the rights of the fans,” calling on politicians to defend their traditions.

Alicante

We’ve all been to restaurants where the service or food is a little underwhelming or even downright disappointing, but most people don’t expect to leave red-faced with embarrassment. That’s what happened to one unlucky group in Valencia, whose recounting of their dining experience has lit up the internet.

One of the customers, who happened to be vegan, ordered a meat-free spaghetti dish. It turned out that the restaurant had sold out of this particular order and presented her with a plate of pasta drenched in tomato sauce instead. This the waiter did without asking and although the patron was disappointed with her meal, the worst was still to come.

When the bill arrived, the underwhelming dish, spaghetti boscaiola, was underscored with a nasty little message from the waiter which read: “Without meat for the rompe bolas (ball breaker)”.

The hurtful phrase was typed under the title of the dish, which is normally used by wait staff to highlight any changes to the dish for the chefs.

In the end, there was “not even an apology from the waiter, that was the worst,” she concluded.

Major disruptions lie ahead for motorists in the Marina Alta region of Alicante province next weekend when the busy N-332 coastal road will be closed between Altea and Calpe, two of the area’s most popular seaside towns.

The week-long closure will affect the highway’s most scenic section while extensive and long-awaited safety and improvement works are carried out on the Mascarat tunnels.

Up until now, the ongoing project has only required the closure of one lane of traffic, but the next phase involves the entire highway between kilometre points 164+700 and 165+500. The roadworks will undoubtedly be a headache for drivers, but to keep disruption to motorists at a minimum, diversions will be clearly signposted.

With a budget of 1.2 million euros financed by Next Generation Funds, the road works on the two tunnels are part of a broader initiative to modernise and improve several tunnels scattered along the N-332 in the province of Alicante. El Altet and El Campello will also be tackled in due course.

Benidorm is well known as a haven for a booze-fuelled break, and one stag and hen do organiser has revealed this week the strangest requests received for bachelor and bachelorette parties in the Costa Blanca resort.

By far the weirdest was a group of stags who asked if they could pay a dwarf to dress up as tiny the Pokémon character, Pikachu, so that their mate who was getting married could ‘catch him’ with a big ball.

Of course, the stag-do organisers could not let the gentlemen carry out their surreal stunt. Although the company does offer ‘Handcuffed Dwarf’ activities, in which a little person dressed as “a woman, smurf or Charlie Chaplin” can be cuffed to a stag for an hour.

Although the vast majority of stag and hen dos still want to keep it simple by booking traditional activities like go-karting, beer bikes and bar crawls, the company also offers everything from mud wrestling to flying a fighter jet these days, in response to a growing demand for quirkier activities in recent years.

Now, it’s apparently made customers more confident about making wacky demands while on a boozy weekend in Benidorm, with the organisers reporting requests as varied as “grannies wanting a Gary Barlow impersonator” to “a group of stags asking if we could charter a submarine for them”.

One group even approached the Tyneside firm and asked if they could arrange for the groom to “literally be tortured”.

“We gave that one a wide birth as it sounded like something from Hostel, and I just hope the groom found some better mates once he’s married.”

Andalucía

15 years after Irish teenager Amy Fitzpatrick vanished without a trace in the Costa del Sol, fresh hope has been brought to the case in the form of a surprise witness. Although the man never came forward at the time of her disappearance, he has now given police a detailed description of Amy’s movement in the run-up, claiming that she was hanging around with an undesirable crowd much older than herself.

Now, the Irish authorities are putting the pressure on Spain to escalate Amy’s case from a missing person to a murder enquiry.

The child went missing as she was walking home near Calahonda in the Costa del Sol on January 1, 2008 and not a trace of the teen has been discovered since.

For many of us who live or spend a lot of time in Spain, or are just kind of in love with the place, it’s always been a bit of an unattainable dream to speak Spanish. Most of us can say a few words and have tried learning plenty of times before, but we wish we could speak better, or were better at understanding when Spanish people talk very quickly at us.

Now, one Malaga company has answered the prayers of many wannabe bilinguists by offering intensive crash courses and specialist courses for over-60s who can study a bit of Spanish while on holiday in the Costa del Sol resort!

The Vamos Academy Malaga is now helping hundreds of tourists from across the globe, whatever their current level of Spanish (from ‘non-existent’ to ‘pretty darn good if I say so myself’), to polish their Spanish-speaking skills during their vacation… and then giving them the chance to go out and practice in a real-world situation on the street.

To prove a point, they’ve actually provided learners with some pro tips for making the most of their trip and boosting their Spanish-language abilities fast. The advice ranges from staying with a host family while in Spain, instead of in a hotel or rental villa, to going out and finding opportunities to talk with Spanish people in a variety of situations, including language exchanges.

Finally, if you’re missing the Feria de Abril in Seville and are looking to continue that fiesta, get yourself down to Jerez de la Frontera in the province of Cádiz any time over the next week to witness the Horse Fair – the second and the second biggest of the ferias in Andalucía this year.

From May 6 to 13, people will be heading to Jerez in their thousands, wearing their best spotty flamenco dresses and ready for some nosh, a tipple and a little wiggle. But what makes the Feria del Caballo de Jerez different from any other single fair in Spain are the horses. Horse events all week long. Horses trotting through the streets. Horses decked out in flowery headdresses. Just one of many unique Spanish festivals you should check out if you ever get the chance!

You may have missed…

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British family desperate for sightings of mother missing in Malaga.
The family of Brit Jasmine Dale, who is 75 years old, have reported her missing to the Spanish and UK authorities after she failed to make contact for a number of days while travelling alone around Andalucía in a campervan.
Alternative urban art route in Spain: Discover 7 amazing murals from artists Alegria del Prado.
For those looking for an alternative art activity in Spain, there is a route tourists can take from Burgos in the north down to Córdoba in the south to discover the top 7 works of alternative artists and mural extraordinaires Alegria del Prado.

That’s all we’ve got for you this week. Thanks a lot for reading, if you got this far, and we’ll see you again next week.

Have a great weekend!

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