Mission Statement: to assist the integration of foreign residents living in Spain and this is never more accurate than when you establish yourself as a foreign resident in a new country Being able to quickly familiarise yourself with the culture and customs can help ease the transition during a challenging time This is why Euro Weekly News makes it our mission to provide you with a free news resource in English that covers both regional and national Spanish news – anything that we feel you will benefit from knowing as you integrate into your new community and live your best life in Spain you can forget about translating articles from Spanish into awkward English that probably don’t make much sense Let us be your convenient and essential guide to all things that will likely affect you as a foreign resident living in Spain Six new local police officers have joined the team in Torrevieja sees its population double during the summer aims to have 200 officers in service by the end of 2027 this number is key to meeting the needs of both local residents and the many tourists who visit each year The mayor announced this during a ceremony where the six officers officially took up their roles The new recruits include four constables and two officers is an invasive species that poses a threat to public health for the first time in the Costa Blanca province introduce a mass sterilisation method to control the mosquito population has already been trialled in parts of Valencia and Castellón where it successfully cut mosquito numbers by up to 80 per cent The process involves sterilising male mosquitoes using gamma rays before releasing them into affected areas gradually lowering the mosquito population over time The Ministry is working alongside the Tragsa Group to breed, sterilise, and release these mosquitoes. Only female tiger mosquitoes bite and spread disease, so releasing thousands of non-biting males each week poses no risk to people’s health. Spain has 8,132 municipalities, each offering a glimpse into the country’s rich culture, varied landscapes, and deep history. These towns range from large, busy cities to small, quiet villages tucked away in remote areas. In the Valencian Community, especially on the Costa Blanca, one town stands out for its small size. L’Alqueria d’Asnar is the smallest municipality in Alicante, covering just 1.08 square kilometres. It has a population of 519 people and is located in the northern part of the province, next to the Serpis River, in the Condado de Cocentaina area. It borders other towns like Cocentaina and Muro de Alcoy. Even though it’s small, L’Alqueria d’Asnar has a long and interesting history. It dates back to Muslim times, and by the 16th century, it became part of the Ferris family’s land. In old records from that period, it’s referred to as “Alquería de Ferris.” This small town is a good example of how even the smallest places in Spain have stories worth telling. The new leisure area at Torrevieja’s port is set to be finished before the end of the year, marking the first phase of a larger redevelopment project currently underway. This major initiative includes the creation of several parking zones that will form part of the future Paseo del Mar Leisure Centre. After more than 18 months of work, the newly built car park now offers 640 spaces. Among these, 18 are fitted with electric charging points and 20 are designated for people with reduced mobility, two of which also have electric chargers. The car park already has seven pedestrian access points open to the public, as well as a working lift. Plans are in place to improve accessibility further, with two more entrances and four additional lifts to be added soon. As part of the overall project, around 40,800 square metres of space are being redeveloped, with nearly 18,000 square metres taken up by the new infrastructure. Subscribe to our Euro Weekly News alerts to get the latest stories into your inbox! Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked * Website#a4f7d26f7ec789375a536ee7{display:none} Known as the PEOPLE’S PAPER, Euro Weekly News is the leading English language newspaper in Spain. And it’s FREE! Covering the Almeria, Axarquia, Costa Blanca North, Costa Blanca South, Costa del Sol , Costa Calida, Mallorca and beyond, EWN supports and inspires the individuals, neighbourhoods, and communities we serve, by delivering news with a social conscience. Whether it’s local news in Spain, UK news or international stories, we are proud to be the voice for the expat communities who now call Spain home. With around half a million print readers a week and over 1.5 million web views per month, EWN has the biggest readership of any English language newspaper in Spain. The paper prints over 150 news stories a week with many hundreds more on the web – no one else even comes close. Our publication has won numerous awards over the last 25 years including Best Free Newspaper of the Year (Premios AEEPP), Company of the Year (Costa del Sol Business Awards) and Collaboration with Foreigners honours (Mijas Town Hall). All of this comes at ZERO cost to our readers. All our print and online content always has been and always will be FREE OF CHARGE. Download our media pack in either English or Spanish. ShareUnplugged — David Gilmour and his acoustic guitarsWe look at the acoustic guitars that have played such an important part in his development as a musician, and in some of his most famous songs David Gilmour performing live in the USA on The Wall tour in February 1980. Photo by Bob Jenkins/Pink Floyd Music Ltd The Seventies were still in their infancy when David Gilmour turned onto Music Row, West 48th Street in Midtown Manhattan. The area near Times Square was a thriving hub for musicians who came to buy and sell instruments, and one of its most popular haunts was the famed Manny’s Music store, which had been in business since 1939. Gilmour had gone in search of a new acoustic guitar, but before he had even made it through the door of Manny’s he was approached on the street by a musician who was hawking a Martin D-35. The Pink Floyd singer and songwriter took a look, liked what he saw, and liked what he heard even better. He bought the guitar on the spot. Little was he to know then that the instrument would go on to spend decades as his primary studio acoustic for both Pink Floyd and his solo recordings. C.F. Martin & Company, Nazareth, 1969. An acoustic guitar, D-35. Estimate: $10,000-20,000. Offered in The David Gilmour Guitar Collection on 20 June 2019 at Christie’s in New York David Gilmour’s Martin D-35 is immortalised for its part in Wish You Were Here, the classic title track of Pink Floyd’s 1975 follow-up album to The Dark Side of the Moon. Along with Shine on You Crazy Diamond, which bookended the album, the ballad is inspired by Pink Floyd founder member Syd Barrett, who left the band in 1968. ‘Although Shine on You Crazy Diamond  is the one that is specifically about Syd and Wish You Were Here  has a broader remit, I can’t sing it without thinking about Syd,’ Gilmour explained in the 2012 documentary about the making of the album. ‘Because of its resonance and the emotional weight it carries, it is one of our best songs.’ C.F. Martin & Company, Nazareth, 1971. An acoustic guitar, D12-28. Estimate: $5,000-10,000. Offered in The David Gilmour Guitar Collection on 20 June 2019 at Christie’s in New York The opening riff was actually composed on another Martin acoustic, a D12-28 12-string guitar that Gilmour had bought from a friend in 1974. In the first half of the following year, Pink Floyd were working on their new album at Abbey Road Studios in London when Gilmour hit upon the notes that would become the enduring title track. ‘I was strumming it in the control room at No.3... and that just started coming out, that riff,’ he told the musicologist Paul Rappaport. ‘I started mildly obsessing with this riff that was slowly developing and, again, people’s ears — Roger’s [Waters] ears — pricked up.’ ‘Every time I listen to the actual original recording, I think, “God, I should have really done that a little bit better,”’ he says. ‘It wasn’t supposed to be too slick… and it wasn’t.’ The track, which Gilmour rates as one of Pink Floyd’s best, is ranked among Rolling Stone’s  greatest songs of all time. David Gilmour’s love affair with 12-string acoustic guitars dates back to his teenage years, when he listened to and learned from American folk and blues singers such as Lead Belly, whom he describes as ‘a great 12-string player’. Other early acoustic influences included Erik Darling, who recorded an album that Gilmour remembers being ‘very, very fond of back in those days’. Gilmour confesses that many of the guitars he has purchased over the years have joined his collection because he had seen them played by musicians he admired. One such example, which has links back to his early days in Cambridge, is an acoustic guitar by Dick Knight. Rado Klose was a very early member of the band that became Pink Floyd, and he and David Gilmour had been friends since infancy. Gilmour has described Klose as ‘a brilliant guitar player’ and recalls his arch-top, F-hole, jazz-type acoustic guitar by Dick Knight being a source of envy when he first began playing in the late 1950s. Dick Knight, Surrey, 1969. An acoustic guitar. Estimate: $2,000-3,000. Offered in The David Gilmour Guitar Collection on 20 June 2019 at Christie’s in New York Another guitar with links to his early days is a J-180 Everly Brothers acoustic, which Gilmour purchased in March 1979 from George Gruhn of Gruhn Guitars in Nashville, Tennessee. He had long been an admirer of the Everly Brothers with their black acoustics, and this was a guitar that Gibson had produced in 1962 at the specific request of Don and Phil Everly. Gilmour recalls using the guitar during recording of the 1979 Pink Floyd album The Wall  at Producers Workshop in Los Angeles between September and early November 1979, although it is not known whether it made it onto the final record. Gibson Incorporated, Nashville, 1986. An acoustic guitar, J-200 Celebrity. Estimate: $3,500-5,500. Offered in The David Gilmour Guitar Collection on 20 June 2019 at Christie’s in New York Gilmour liked it immediately. ‘I contacted Gibson and asked if they had any left,’ he explained in a 2006 interview. ‘They were looking in their storeroom and they found one that had somehow never reached its destination. And they let me have it.’ The J-200 Celebrity was used extensively on the 1994 Pink Floyd album The Division Bell. Gilmour acquired Illsley’s J-200 Celebrity in the same year, as he needed more than one for the subsequent tour. Later, he would select the J-200 Celebrity for a performance of Wish You Were Here  at the Live 8 concert in London’s Hyde Park, which saw the historic reunion of the classic-era Pink Floyd line-up for their first performance together in 24 years. David Gilmour performing at The Royal Festival Hall in London, June 2001, as part of the Robert Wyatt-curated Meltdown Festival. Photo by Carl Swaby Ovation Instruments, New Hartford, 1976. An acoustic-electric guitar, custom legend, 1619-4. Estimate: $3,000-5,000. Offered in The David Gilmour Guitar Collection on 20 June 2019 at Christie’s in New York ‘I decided to work on my own version of it, so I put these different gauge strings onto one of these Ovations. I started playing with that, strumming away and realising that you couldn’t really go wrong.’ Pink Floyd returned to Super Bear in April 1979 to begin recording their narrative concept album The Wall. At the suggestion of co-producer Bob Ezrin, Gilmour’s instrumental demo was presented to the rest of the band, and Waters was encouraged to come up with a set of lyrics. Gilmour re-enlisted the hi-strung Ovation, on which he had composed the initial music, to record his acoustic guitar parts on the track, before coming in with his landmark solos on the Black Strat. David Gilmour at Michel Magne’s Chateau d’Hérouville studios near Paris, working on Pink Floyd’s seventh studio album, Obscured by Clouds, in 1972. Image by JD Mahn/Pink Floyd Music Ltd While David Gilmour will always be synonymous with ‘The Black Strat’, his acoustic roots have never been far from the surface. On High Hopes, a nostalgic evocation of his early days in Cambridge and the closing track on Pink Floyd’s 1994 album The Division Bell, Gilmour played a classical acoustic guitar by José María Vilaplana. Jose Ma. Vilaplana, Muro del Alcoy, 1979, an acoustic guitar. Length of back 19⅝ in (49.7 cm). Estimate: $2,500-3,500. Offered in The David Gilmour Guitar Collection on 20 June 2019 at Christie’s in New York a weekly newsletter delivering our top stories and art market insights to your inbox Phil Manzanera, co-producer on Gilmour’s 2006 solo album On an Island, remembers how immersed he became in his acoustic sound and how difficult it was to get him back into the studio with an electric guitar ‘A lot of the early stuff was very acoustic,’ he said ‘We almost entered into English folk territory.’ for one of the world’s greatest guitarists ‘I’m never more than about 20 feet from a guitar,’ Gilmour admits ‘I pick one up and play one every day because they make a nicer noise in the room.’ Incidents due to water accumulation! This morning (23/05/2023), so are the streets of #Bigastro (#Alicante), where they slightly exceed 30 liters per square meter. Video: Dani Espinosa. pic.twitter.com/AIOd07lM4p It rains again in #Torrevieja and we already exceed 40 liters per square meter. The instability remains in the next few hours and, although it stops raining at times, the risk of heavier rains and storms remains. pic.twitter.com/YgVKOhN8Ov Sign up for the Spanish News Today Editors Roundup Weekly Bulletin to get a comprehensive email with all the week’s news for Spain Get a sneak peek – here are a few of our recent Subscription Bulletins: and thank you for choosing CamposolToday.com to publicise your organisation’s info or event Camposol Today is a website set up by Murcia Today specifically for residents of the urbanisation in Southwest Murcia providing news and information on what’s happening in the local area which is the largest English-speaking expat area in the Region of Murcia When submitting text to be included on Camposol Today please abide by the following guidelines so we can upload your article as swiftly as possible: Send an email to editor@camposoltoday.com or contact@murciatoday.com Attach the information in a Word Document or Google Doc Also attach a photo to illustrate your article As anybody living in the area south of Alicante can testify through experience but as Alicante is to become a high-profile centre for seismic research with the facilities at the University of Alicante being extended to provide a better study of earthquakes in this area but just how much seismic activity is there and should we be worried that the Torrevieja earthquake could be repeated Prior to the 1829 disaster The second was on 19 June 1644 and had its epicentre in Muro de Alcoy which was the old measure (before the 20th century) to assess the importance of earthquakes although what it really reflected was the amount of destruction caused The registered intensity IX or X was the highest the IGN has only documented two other earthquakes with this level in Spain: on 1 November 1755 in Cabo San Vicente which produced a tsunami almost 15 metres high and on 25 December 1885 in Arenas del Rey (Granada) with 4,400 buildings destroyed and more than 13,000 damaged The third earthquake is the one that is best documented It happened on 21 March 1829 in the Torrevieja area That tragedy left 389 dead and 377 injured the decade between 1820 and 1830 was one of those with the greatest seismic activity in the province of Alicante between 13 September 1828 and 21 March 1829 The last one was recorded around 6:15 p.m. with an estimated magnitude of 6.6 on the Richter scale with the epicentre in the towns of Benejúzar The catastrophe left hundreds dead and injured in addition to 2,965 homes completely destroyed and 2,396 damaged The bridges that crossed the Segura River in Almoradí In addition to the municipalities located at its epicentre (which had to be almost completely rebuilt) the earthquake also affected the towns of Almoradí every year its inhabitants take San Emigdio out into the streets and pray in memory of all the victims because two areas of the province of Alicante are susceptible to having earthquakes of intensity 6 on the Richter scale The observation was made a year ago by the professor of the Department of Seismic Engineering and Geodesy of the Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV) of the three geological domains of the Valencian Community “the most prone and most active” is the so-called Bético “We expect earthquakes of large magnitudes If the previous ones have been of great destructive quantity why couldn’t they be repeated if they are the same faults,” he said “Active quaternary faults are the ones that are of concern.” despite the fact that in general “seismicity in the Valencian Community is moderate or low” and the territory is “fully monitored with seismographs and accelerographs” earthquake prediction is “in its infancy” because “we do not know where they will occur in the areas where there is more probability He also defended “that seismic risk studies and plans be carried out” and valued that the construction of buildings bridges or any infrastructure “has been governed for some time now by the seismic resistance standard.” What he completely ruled out is that the Valencian coast could suffer a tsunami because “the magnitude of that earthquake will not reach a 6 or 7 and we have a highly developed continental shelf and the depth is very small unlike what occurs in the Gulf of Cádiz or the coast of Malaga Melilla and the Moroccan and Algerian coast Log in to leave a comment © 2021 The Leader Digital If you tend to pack your walking boots away as soon as autumn arrives then it could be time to start looking overseas for your next adventure And Spain's wonderful Sierra de Mariola Natural Park is a superb option for walkers of all ages and abilities during the winter months Based in the province of Alicante and just a short flight from the UK, Sierra de Mariola offers walking routes for all levels on well-marked trails that include the craggy 1390m peak of Montcabrer From the rocky summit of the region's highest mountain you get wide-reaching views across the Alicante region with the landscape painted ocher and reddish tones as the leaves begin to change throughout autumn This Natural Park isn't just famous for its mountains You can also lose yourself in the charm of Sierra de Mariola's rivers which become even more impressive later in the year as water cascades around you while you walk Other highlights include the Font de Mariola and the Sarsa Cave And if it's dramatic landscapes you're looking for which cuts deep into the park from just outside the city of Alcoy If you take a stroll along this spectacular route you can marvel at the sharp rock faces and formations that tower above you The woodlands of Sierra de Mariola are also great places to explore outside of the peak summer months with 17,000 hectares of forests filled with pine and ash trees creating a kaleidoscope of colours for walkers and runners to explore A rich sense of history surrounds Sierra de Mariola too many fascinating archaeological findings have been discovered in the region testifying to the presence of humans in the Natural Park dating back as far as the Neolithic period and the Bronze Age This early evidence of human history can be seen in everything from paintings The richness of the region's vegetation and abundance of water made Sierra de Mariola and an enticing place for early settlers to base themnselves giving rise to the many trades that once existed in the area – including farmers Those industries were the first to create the huge network of paths that now crisscross the region and played an important role in the Sierra de Mariola being declared a Natural Park in January 2002 That special protection will hopefully guarantee these magical landscapes will be enjoyed by future generations for many years to come As well as exploring the great outdoors in the Sierra de Mariola Natural Park, you can also visit beautiful and picturesque towns such as Agres, Alfafara, Banyeres de Mariola, Bocairent and Muro de Alcoy. There you'll be able to relax and unwind drinking liqueurs made from local plants and tasting regional cuisine including pericana or espencat Sierra de Mariola Natural Park is very straightforward to reach from the UK with direct flights available into El Altet airport in Elche (Alicante) or Valencia excellent roads and bus and train connections deliver you straight to the Natural Park For more information visit the OFFICIAL WEBSITE of the Region of Valencia Company number 01176085; Bauer Radio Limited Company number: 1394141; Registered office: Media House Peterborough PE2 6EA and H Bauer Publishing Company number: LP003328; Registered office: The Lantern H Bauer Publishing are authorised and regulated for credit broking by the FCA (Ref No: 845898) holding it up to the light and swilling it around in the glass I decide it looks like something that you would drink in front of the fire in a crumbling castle ideally while wearing a cape and plotting to seduce the local heiress and/or heir I'm drinking it, however, in a tapas bar run by one of Alicante's most acclaimed young chefs, the eponymous Gema Penalva (9 Calle Canalejas The afternoon sun is shining in through the broad windows and the aristocratically structured El Sequé is just perfect with her slow-cooked beef so sumptuously tender it falls apart when you so much as wave a fork at it even Alicantinos tend not to order the local wines with a meal of the wonderful local cuisine "They prefer Ribera del Duero [from northern Spain]," he says "Sometimes – even here – it can be a problem if wine has 'Alicante' on the label." This is a strange state of affairs when you consider that the word Alicante used to be as synonymous with wine as Rioja is now was said to have asked for a glass of Alicante on his deathbed Shakespeare makes a pun on "alligant" and "elegant" in the Merry Wives of Windsor Queen Elizabeth I loved Alicante wine "above any other" according to the research of Valencia-based wine writer John Maher once went to his doctor with the complaint "My urine is as red as Alicante wine." Juan Cascant, co-owner of Celler la Muntanya, the hub of a co-operative of local ‘micro-vineyardsThis is the kind of off-beat marketing that Alicante could do with today. But, with royal medical records better guarded than they used to be, the region has settled for promoting local bodegas with a more conventional ruta del vino through the province's three main wine regions this plan consists of just an unfinished-looking website but about 30 minutes' drive north from the city one of Europe's most celebrated centres of modernist architecture The knobbly twin towers of the Gaudí-inspired Monastery of Santa María Magdalena But my destination seems, at first, much less impressive. Bodega Salvador Poveda (between Monóvar and Salinas +34 966 960 180) looks like the mildly avant-garde office of an accountancy firm that has materialised between two palm trees in the middle of the countryside owner Rafael Poveda reveals an extraordinary fact beloved of kings and scholars for 400 years Showing me around a wall of black-and-white photos he explains that when Salvador took over the original bodega Fondillón had been almost forgotten for over 50 years wiped out by the wine plague phylloxera and by a rush to produce cheaper a region of medieval villagesSalvador bought a surviving 19th-century vineyard and began working on his own version Making Fondillón involves leaving the local dark monastrell grapes on the vine until they go rancio – overripe and bulging with sugar After fermentation and at least eight years in the barrel semi-sweet wine – somewhere between a sherry and a port but without artificial fortification it's hard to see why it was ever forgotten demerara sugar nose and faintly bitter finish it seems particularly designed for the British palate for the sherry sippers who've colonised parts of the Costa Blanca Our next stop, though, El Comtat, is a region of medieval villages (and in winter, snow-capped mountains), that is as far from the expats as you can get in Alicante. After a lunch of deep, dark rabbit-and-snail paella, at one of the province's best restaurants, L'Escaleta (205 Pujada Estacio Nord I visit a local bodega recommended by the sommelier Based in a town called Muro de Alcoy, in the foothills of the mountains that divide Alicante from Valencia, Celler la Muntanya (Rotonda Quatre Camins +34 607 902 235) is the hub of a co-operative of "micro-vineyards" Co-owner Juan Cascant meets us outside the former glass factory that he has converted into a bodega and takes us on his own where we watch herons wade into the water and swifts flit in and out of poplar trees All kinds of people used to own vineyards near here it's been the Celler's mission to persuade the "butchers poets and housewives" who inherited them to start producing grapes again It is currently working with 28 micro-vineyards and, although the project has been held up as a model of economic co-operation and even been discussed at Harvard, it has also produced some impressive wine. The lusciously sticky red, Almoroig 2009, for example, was awarded 90 points by the Wine Advocate and other influential critics Getting there involves heading along the twisty coastal road rounding sharp bends to sudden flashes of the blue Med and the rocky outcrop of the Peñon de Ifach past white holiday villas and terraced hillsides of olive groves The first impression of the bodega is of a homely simplicity: a heavy door opening on to a traditional Alicante kitchen with woodburning stove owner Felipe Gutiérrez de la Vega's dessert wines The honey-toned Casta Diva Cosecha Miel 2002 was served with the dessert at the 2004 Royal Wedding of Prince Felipe and Letizia Sweeter and smoother than that of Salvador Poveda is the wine that made King James give up drinking The real Alicante is not to be found on the crowded beaches Accommodation was provided by Refugio Marnes (+34 629 874 489, refugiomarnes.com) which has doubles from €73 a night including breakfast Sign up for the Spanish News Today Editors Roundup Weekly Bulletin and get an email with all the week’s news straight to your inbox (List price   3  months 12 Bulletins)  A light magnitude 3.1 earthquake hit 3.9 km (2.4 mi) away from Alcoy, Valencia,  Spain 2025 at 2.24 pm local time (Europe/Madrid GMT +2) The depth of the quake could not be determined but is assumed to be shallow.The quake was felt widely in the area.