It was beginning to seem as if the long-awaited Commercial Centre, to be situated beside the AP-7 toll in La Zenia, Orihuela Costa, was all a myth, as little work was being done there several months after the plans had been made public.

Even after the first stones were laid during an official act in February of this year, progress remained slow and rumours that the project may not go ahead continued to circulate.

However, now that summer is out of the way it is full steam ahead at the colossal building site, which appears to grow considerably everyday. And whilst closure of the bridge linking La Zenia to Villamartin is currently creating many problems for local people, it will all be worth the trouble when it is re-opened at the end of this month, featuring a pedestrian footbridge for a safer route to the centre.

The entire project is being managed by “Immochan España”, the Comercial Real Estate Company of the Auchan Group that is present in 11 countries worldwide and responsible for a staggering 312 commercial centres, encompassing some 2 million square metres of land.

Christened “Zenia Boulevard”, the company’s latest centre will encompass a whopping 180,000 square meters plot, incorporating 150 shops of all kinds, an “Alcampo” superstore and  5,000 parking spaces, half of which will be underground.

Among those confirmed are international names like Auchan, Norauto, C & A, Worten, Leroy Merlin, Decathlon, Primark, and the Inditex Group, which includes high street favourites Zara, Zara Home, Pull & Bear, Massimo Dutti, Stradivarius, Oysho and Bershka.

It is not only shop-a-holics that will benefit from the ambitious venture, but also the local labour market, with an anticipated 1,800 jobs being created directly within the centre and almost 3,000 on a global scale.

The provisional completion date has now been set at the end of June 2012, but a secondary date has also been put at the end of September, to allow for potential summer time delays.

City planners at the Orihuela town hall are now closely investigating the road network that leads to the centre, in a view to create enough clear and alternative passageways to avoid potential congestion at the N-332, La Zenia roundabout.

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.

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.

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.

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…

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.

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.