स्पेन – आवारा मुसाफिर

Rhythmic Spanish daily life and an affordable fashion ‘temple’ in Madrid

December 15, 202496 Views

I have lived in Madrid with my young family for three years, managing a multimedia team covering everything from politics and economics to Spain’s world-beating fashion companies, its booming tourism industry and its agricultural sector under pressure from climate change. With its many landscaped parks – Retiro being the most famous, Madrid Rio my favourite – this modern and wealthy European capital is legendary for its café, restaurant and nightlife culture. Even a cost-of-living crisis has not dampened Spaniards’ enthusiasm for their “bar de siempre” - their usual watering holes. They just adapt their orders to small beers or glasses of vermouth in these more straitened times. People walk outside "La Fontanilla" tavern in La Latina neighbourhood. REUTERS/Ana Beltran When vis...

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Thousands protest in Spain’s Canary Islands against over tourism

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October 21, 2024113 Views

Thousands of people protested in holiday resorts in Spain's Canary Islands on Sunday against over tourism which they say prices local people out of the housing market. Under the slogan Canary Islands has a limit, residents demonstrated simultaneously in Gran Canaria, Tenerife, La Palma, Fuerteventura, Lanzarote and El Hierro and called for a change in the tourism model for the islands. A woman shows a sign to a tourist sitting on a bench during a demonstration for a change in the tourism model in the Canary Islands on the island of Gran Canaria, Spain, October 20, 2024. REUTERS/Borja Suarez In the Playa de las Americas in Tenerife, protesters appeared on the beach while tourists were sunbathing and chanted "This beach is ours." Activists claimed the arrival of millions of visi...

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Barcelona will raise tourist tax for cruise passengers

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July 21, 2024274 Views

Barcelona will raise the tourist tax for cruise passengers visiting the city for less than 12 hours, the mayor said in an interview published on Sunday. Jaume Collboni said the current tourist tax for stopover cruise passengers was 7 euros ($7.61) per day. He did not say by how much the tax would be increased. FILE PHOTO: A man ties protest banners in the balcony of a building that was recently converted for tourist use at Sants neighborhood in Barcelona, Spain, May 19, 2023. The banner reads "No more tourist flats". REUTERS/Albert Gea "We are going to propose..substantially increasing the tax for stopover cruise passengers," he told El Pais newspaper. "In the case of stopover cruise passengers (less than 12 hours) there is intensive use of public space without any benefit for...

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European lynx species rebounds from brink of extinction

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June 23, 2024217 Views

A species of lynx found in remote areas of Spain and Portugal has rebounded from near extinction, with its adult population growing more than tenfold since the start of the millennium. Wildlife experts are calling the recovery of the Iberian Lynx unparalleled among felines in an age of extinction in which species are vanishing at a rate not seen in 10 million years due to climate change, pollution and habitat loss. The International Union for Conservation of Nature, which categorises species according to the level of risk they face in a "Red List" produced several times a year, bumped up the Iberian Lynx from "endangered" to "vulnerable" on Thursday. FILE PHOTO: A female Iberian lynx, a feline in danger of extinction, named Ilexa is released with other four lynxes, as part of the...

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Barcelona plans to shut all holiday apartments by 2028

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June 22, 2024245 Views

Barcelona, a top Spanish holiday destination, announced on Friday that it will bar apartment rentals to tourists by 2028, an unexpectedly drastic move as it seeks to rein in soaring housing costs and make the city liveable for residents. The city's leftist mayor, Jaume Collboni, said that by November 2028, Barcelona will scrap the licences of the 10,101 apartments currently approved as short-term rentals. "We are confronting what we believe is Barcelona's largest problem," Collboni told a city government event. FILE PHOTO: Tourists and locals take pictures as they celebrate the beginning of summer at Barceloneta beach in Barcelona, Spain June 24, 2023. REUTERS/Nacho Doce The boom in short-term rentals in Barcelona, Spain's most visited city by foreign tourists, means some resi...

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Thousands protest against mass tourism in Spain’s Balearic Islands

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May 26, 2024339 Views

Thousands of people protested in Spain's Balearic Islands on Saturday against mass tourism ahead of the summer season. Holding posters reading SOS Residents, Enough Mass Tourism, protesters marched through Palma de Mallorca, the capital of the largest Balearic Island. About 10,000 demonstrators took part, a Spanish National police spokesperson said. A smaller protest with a few hundred people was staged in Menorca. People take part in a protest against mass tourism and gentrification in the island ahead of summer season in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, May 25, 2024. REUTERS/Juan Medina "We want the authorities to stop people who have not lived here more than five years from buying properties and to put more controls on holiday accommodation," said Carme Reines, from a collective w...

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Anantara Villa Padierna recognised in inaugural Michelin Key guide in Spain

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May 23, 2024353 Views

A beloved holiday destination in Costa del Sol in Spain, Anantara Villa Padierna Palace Benahavís Marbella Resort has been honoured with a Michelin Key at the inaugural awards ceremony for Spain. Echoing the renowned Michelin Stars for restaurants, the Michelin Keys guide directs discerning travellers to exceptional hotel experiences. With only 97 properties in Spain receiving the distinction, the award acknowledges Anantara Villa Padierna’s unwavering commitment to delivering unparalleled service and an exceptional guest experience. The Michelin Keys are conferred following anonymous evaluations by the guide’s seasoned inspectors, independent of any existing classifications or ratings. Since its inception in April of this year, the keys have rapidly established themselves as an in...

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In Spain, nuns quench pilgrims’ thirst for beer and the word of God

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March 27, 2024482 Views

A congregation of Catholic nuns has reopened a bar in an ancient sanctuary in northern Spain, pulling pints of beer in the hopes of spreading the word of God to thirsty guests visiting the 11th-century Romanesque site. "I think plenty of people would think it's unusual, because they've never seen it. But you know, it's not a sin to drink a beer," said Miami-born Sister Guadalupe, adding that the bar constituted an "open door for us to evangelise". Nuns from the Hermanas Peregrinas de la Eucaristia order serve drinks at the Amaren Etxea (Mother's House) bar, at the Estibaliz Sanctuary in Villafranca de Estibaliz, northern Spain, March 24, 2024. REUTERS/Vincent West The sisters, who belong to the Pilgrims of the Eucharist order, have taken over operations at the bar in the Sanctuar...

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Spain’s Seville plans to charge fee for visiting landmark square

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February 26, 2024379 Views

Tourists visiting the southern Spanish city of Seville may soon have to pay a fee to explore the wide, ornate Plaza de Espana square, the city hall said, as part of plans to control tourist overload in a public open space. "We are planning to close the Plaza de Espana and charge tourists to finance its conservation and ensure its safety," Mayor Jose Luis Sanz wrote in a post on social media platform X, accompanied with a video showing missing tiles, damaged facades and street vendors occupying alcoves and stairs. Complete with a semicircular Neo-Moorish palatial structure framed with tall towers on both ends and four bridges over a moat, the Plaza is part of a complex built for the 1929 Ibero-American Exhibition that was designed to reflect Spanishness in its architecture and tiled ...

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An idyllic hideaway on the famous shoreline

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January 31, 2024582 Views

Tivoli La Caleta Resort is now open at Costa Adeje in Tenerife Making its debut in Spain, Tivoli Hotels & Resorts is pleased to announce the opening of Tivoli La Caleta Tenerife Resort, bringing the brand’s timeless glamour to the Canary Islands. Following extensive renovations, Tivoli La Caleta opens its doors, welcoming guests with elegantly renovated guest rooms and suites, exciting dining concepts and a world-class spa, all with panoramic views of the Atlantic Ocean and the hotel’s beautiful, landscaped gardens. Located on southern Tenerife’s picturesque coast, nestled between the mountains and the Atlantic’s deep blue, Tivoli La Caleta offers an idyllic hideaway, just 15 minutes’ drive from Tenerife South International Airport, with direct access to the 12...