CARTAGENA is currently known for being an important stopover for international cruises. Last November local and tourists at the new harbour for cruises admired the impressive Queen Elizabeth 2.However if you have a look to the very end of the Muelle Alfonso XII dock, you will discover some other impressive boats – those of the Spanish navy.Cartagena is one of the headquarters of the Spanish Navy (La Armada) along with Rota and San Fernando near Cádiz, Ferrol in Galicia and Las Palmas on Gran Canaria island.Magnificent historic buildings related to the navy can be seen along Muelle Alfonso XII and also in the historic city centre.The headquarters in Cartagena supports all ships, submarines and navy facilities along the Mediterranean Sea from Almería to Girona near Barcelona and the Balearics.Cartagena’s history has always been related to the army and the navy due to the strategic location of the city.In the past it has been the headquarters of the Carthaginian fleet; an important city for the Roman Empire for trading and military purposes; and archaeological remains show that the Moors built several warships in the city to fight North African tribes.
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Cartagena Spain
Tuesday, January 10th, 2012Weather On The Costa Blanca
Tuesday, November 22nd, 2011 Weather viagra Alicante, Spain
Costa Blanca, mild climate all year round
Costa Blanca enjoys over 2,800 hours of sunshine throughout the year, with an average annual temperature of about 19.3ºC, giving its microclimate ideal characteristics for living in Alicante and Costa Blanca region all year round.
The numerous clear, sunny days make the province of Alicante an excellent place for leisure and holidays, because it is possible to enjoy the fresh air every day of the year.
The Alicante Weather is well known for a very mild climate amongst the cities at the Costa Blanca.
Covered in the north by small hills and further north by rather high mountains (about 1600 m high), the area keeps the Alicante weather in a kind of microclimate.
This limits the rain days per year to just about 20 per year. The average temperature even in winter time does not fall below 16° C.
New Airport Murcia
Tuesday, November 22nd, 2011Construction of the new international airport in Murcia began in July 2008. The airport, which is now expected to take its first flights later in 2011 or early 2012, will be one of Spain’s largest airports.
The company responsible for the airport started recruiting staff in February 2011 for training later in the year. The airport will be a huge boost for the Murcia region and comes at a time when a major theme park project by Paramount Pictures looks likely to be constructed just 15 minutes from Corvera.
In March 2011 the current San Javier airport in Murcia opened a second runway and Alicante airport, just one hour from the region, is soon to see the opening of its new terminal building at six times the size of the current facility.
The best beaches in spain
Thursday, September 1st, 2011Blanca is Playa Pinet, (Parque Natural de las Salinas, Santa Pola, Alicante), a
sandy beach backed by dunes and pines, 2.8 kms long.
Playa Calblanque (Parque Natural, Costa Calida, Los Belones, Cartagena,
Murcia) is a 1.5 kms long nudist beach with golden sand and good bathing.
See migrating birds including flamingos. Some of the best Mediterranean
beaches are those in the Parque Nacional de Cabo de Gata, Almería. Framed
by contorted rock formations and a sapphire sea, visit Genoveses and Monsul.
West of Gibraltar, Playa de Bolonia (Tarifa, Cádiz) is reached by road through
rolling farmland. A famous, long wide, sandy, crescent shaped beach with
chiringuito bar. See the remains of a Roman fish salting factory, Baelo
Claudia.
West of Barbate is Playa de Zahora (Los Caños de la Meca) with a huge
unspoilt expanse of sand running from Cape Trafalgar for miles westwards
towards Conil. Magnificent sunsets. Playa Doñana (Parque Nacional de
Doñana, Huelva), with 40 kms of virgin beach, is part of the largest wetlands
bird reserve in Europe, sheltered from the sea by dunes. Playa de Punta
Umbría (Huelva) is part of a peninsular with a great wide stretch of sand about
12 km. long with occasional restaurants and bars.
In the Canary Islands, Fuerteventura is a beach paradise but volcanic
Lanzarote is more picturesque. For example Playa de las Conchas (Teguise) is
in a protected natural park with dark sand and no buildings. Playa de
Maspalomas (South of Gran Canaria) has miles of dunes.
In the Balearic Islands, typical of Menorca’s lovely coast is Playa Ferragut (Es
Mercadal, Menorca) with wooden stairs down to this beautiful secluded virgin
beach backed by cliffs. Playa Arenal de Son Saura (Ciutadella) has two virgin
beaches divided by a rocky point. This could be the Caribbean!
Mallorca’s Platja d’Es Trenc (Campos) is a long stretch of sand beside shallow
crystalline waters with a pleasant yacht club at the southern end. Isolated Es
Caragol (Santanyi) is 500m long with enticing waters. Hedonistic Ibiza’s Playa
Las Salinas (San José) was once the Mecca of nudist hippies. Now less
exotic, the still glorious beach is edged by pines and dunes with splendid
bathing.
Finally, Formentera has glorious beaches such as Illetes, Cala Saona and
Migjorn. Quieter Playa de s’Alga in the north is famously beautiful around a
low promontory.
Madrid Spain
Thursday, September 1st, 2011Although Madrid is officially divided into 21 districts it is really a
city of neighbourhoods and since each has its own special feel and
customs to really know Madrid you need to understand its Barrios.
Originally Madrid was never planned. It just evolved. In the 9th century the
advancing Moors put it firmly on the map with a fortress or alcázar on the
escarpment overlooking the feeble Manzanares river.
After the reconquest, Philip ll decreed Madrid the new capital of Spain in 1561
and when a fire destroyed the site of the alcázar, the magnificent 18th century
Royal Palace replaced it.
Central Madrid is really
divided into pueblos, each
with their own identity, and
the contrasts you will
encounter in each proud
barrio are fascinating. Each
area has its own markets,
bars, restaurants, banks and
little shops – these days,
many run by Chinese – plus
perhaps a major plaza or
even a park to take the
evening air.
In some barrios vehicular
access is finally being
restricted to the benefit of the neighbours. With cheap and ample public
transport, it’s easy to get around Madrid if you have to but the barrio system
ensures most necessities are within walking distance.
Here we take a rapid, clockwise tour of the pueblos that make up Madrid’s
centre.
Near the Golden Triangle of Art, which includes the Prado, Thyssen,
CaixaForum and Reina Sofia museums is El Barrio de Las Letras, so-called
because Cervantes, Lope de Vega and the other giants of the 16-17th
centuries of the golden age of Spanish literature lived here, close to the
theatres, bars and cafés. The hub is the tapas Mecca of Plaza Santa Ana
dominated by the 1745 Teatro Español. Hemingway held forth in the plaza’s
Cervecería Alemana, hardly changed in over centur
Summer In Spain
Monday, June 27th, 2011Summer rentals in Spain at great prices!
It’s been a long cold winter, but summer has finally arrived and with it some of the best summer holiday rental deals around.
Spain is everyone’s holiday of choice at the moment. Guaranteed sun, fantastic food, some of the world’s best beaches and all at your doorstep……there’s no better place to recharge those batteries.
Treat yourself to that well deserved summer holiday that won’t break the bank. Be sure to check out some of our last minute holiday deals now!!
Spain – not a million miles away…
Warner brothers Murcia
Tuesday, April 5th, 2011Spain has many unique sights and attractions which help to draw millions of tourists each year but now it has another with the exciting announcement of a major new theme park from Paramount pictures.
The Paramount Pictures theme park in Spain will be built at Alhama de Murcia near Mazarron and it is estimated that as many as 3 million tourists will visit the theme park each year.
This is great news for the Spanish tourist industry which many years ago were hoping that Disney would announce that it had chosen Spain as the site for its European theme park.
Of course we all know now that Paris was chosen instead. In hindsight this now looks a mistake given the problems that it has endured with the cold and wet weather being just one of the reasons for the lack of success of Disney Paris.
There are already many other popular theme parks in Spain. The best-known ones are currently Terra Mitica in Benidorm, Warner Brothers Movie World near Madrid, the Universal Studios owned Port Aventura theme park near Barcelona and Isla Magica in Seville.
The Murcia region is growing in popularity as more and more people decide to move there or go on holiday there. There are some wonderful secluded sandy beaches which are very much undiscovered and the Murcia weather and climate is one of the best in the whole of Spain with very little rainfall and hot temperatures most of the year round.
This could be a great time to buy property and land close to the park although the planning process and construction time must be at least four years if not more.
The first phase of the Paramount theme park will cover 3.5 million square meters with an estimated cost of over €60 million. Later phases will be added to include more hotels and services. The Murcia regional government have provided great support for this project which will create 20,000 new jobs.
Air Strikes In Spain IS OVER !!!!
Wednesday, March 23rd, 2011An agreement has now been made between with the AENA workers so, a cancellation of the air strikes in Spain over the Easter and Summer holidays are almost cancelled. The agreement still has to go to vote viagra all the hands are pointing towards a normal air traffic schedule for Spain.
President of Spain Zapatero has confirmed that“There is an agreement that will avoid the strikes and thus ensure full normality of the airports and the mobility of citizens.”
Good news for hopeful travelers but has the damage been done already? Ryanair hope not, the have now released their 8 Euro………ticket sale. I Don’t think you will get a flight for 8 Euros, but flights have definitely come down in price this week. Pack your bags, looks like you will be traveling after all.
Fathers Day In Spain
Tuesday, March 1st, 2011Dia del padre (Father’s day) is celebrated on the 19th of March. It falls on St. Joseph’s day. Celebrations for Father’s day depend on the city you’re in and in some parts of Spain, like Valencia, there’s a grand celebration on this day called “Las Fallas.”
Las Fallas is undoubtedly one of the most unique and crazy festivals in Spain. Las Fallas literally means “the fires”. Valencia is busy preparing the festive atmosphere from early in the month with the mascletas, noisy firework displays that take place every day at 2pm in Town Hall Square. Then it is time for the traditional planta of the fallas. People work all night to erect more than 700 statues in the city’s streets and squares. Some even start setting up days before – these huge statues can reach up to 20 metres in height.
You can enjoy these impressive scenes until the crema, when they are set alight amidst a fascinating spectacle of light, music and fireworks. All are burnt except one ninot which, elected by a popular vote, is saved from the flames to form part of the collection at the Fallero Museum.
Another of the most exciting moments of the Fallas is the floral offering to the Virgin Mary. When the Fallas parade starts in honour of the Virgin, there is a mountain of flowers 14 metres high. Open-air celebrations, parades, competitions and other activities complete the festive programme. Valencia, usually a quiet city with a population of half a million, turns into a town of over three million flame-loving revelers during Las Fallas.
If you can get up to Valencia for a few days, or even for the main day, on one of the coach trips, we would definitely recommend it.
Estival Tour Travel Agency are offering a coach trip to Valencia, staying in a 3 star hotel for two nights half board and including insurance, for only 143€, with pick up here at La Zenia. Or alternatively 41€ per person for 4* hotel and B&B.
For the more adventurous, they can organize train tickets and hotel accommodation in the city centre, all to suit budgets and requirements.
New shopping centre La Zenia
Tuesday, March 1st, 2011ZENIA BOULEVARD NEW SHOPPING VILLAGE
We are very excited by the release of the plans from the town hall for the Zenia Boulevard Shopping Village which is at last going ahead and expected to be completed in 2012.
You will see below that it is located just by the exit 763 of the AP7 at La Zenia, close to us!
According to the plans, the constructed surface area of the large shopping mall is 175.000 m2 and leasable area is 80.000 m2.
There will be 150 Retail Stores, a Hypermarket (Alcampo) of 14,000 m2, a large Leroy Merlin store of 9,000 m2 (DIY), Decathlon (Sport) with 5,000 m2 and 4,500 free parking spaces.
We are looking forward to seeing it grow and a super new shopping mall there in 2012.
