Oz in Spain

An exotic Spanish melting pot in northern Africa

By DAN LORE

CEUTA LOCALS like to quote a favourite joke. A child asks his mother: “Where do good people go when they die?” To heaven.” “And where do bad people go?” “To hell.” So where do the others go?” “To Ceuta and Melilla.”

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Discovering the idyllic charms of Spain

IMAGEN©TURISMO ANDALUZ S.A.

By DAN LORE

THERE ARE few more pleasant places to live than on the Costa del Sol, but sometimes you just want to get away from it all for a long weekend. Our trip away on this occasion takes us to Puerto de Santa María, just past Cádiz capital city, with various stopovers along the Tarifa coast.

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Good health through natural and living foods

NUTRITION/WELLNESS consultant, raw food chef and instructor, Indian head and Thai foot massage expert, one-time dancer and jewellery designer… Jeni Cook has led an intriguing life and is the perfect person to offer some invaluable advice about how to lead a more healthy lifestyle.

(Published in H! Society Magazine, January 2008)

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FUENGIROLA’S FIRST non-Spanish councillor, Suvi Kauranen, talks about her path into politics and her goals for the future.

(Photos: Bosco Martin)

When did you move to Fuengirola and why?

In 1992, and I moved as a logical consequence of having spent a year’s sabbatical in this area a few years before. I fell in love with the Coast. (more…)

Fragrant stopover from Spain to Australia

By DAN LORE

IT’S ALWAYS so unkind. There you are, having just negotiated the increasingly stringent security measures − clumsily removing your shoes and belt as you simultaneously try to find that elusive plastic bag at the bottom of the rucksack (discovering that the bottle of Listerine is more than 100ml anyway and consequently destined for the rubbish bin), emptying your pockets, waiting for the laptop to crank up, and being submitted to a meticulous (a bit too meticulous, that one in London) touch search after a fraught journey from Málaga via Madrid − and you finally enter the 747 en route to Australia.
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Nature, art, robust cuisine – and fine wine

By THE SMOKED SALMON SOCIALIST

The crucial matter of beer was resolved at the first petrol station (one of the wonderful aspects of living in Spain, though Brussels’ PC guardians will no doubt soon also put an end to that), and half an hour later our bus pulled into the car park of the Hostal del Carme in Vilagrassa (Lleida) for a lunch fit for, well…hungry journalists. (more…)

Generational change as founder hands over to son

(Reprinted courtesy of Andalucía Golf – July 2005; andaluciagolf.com)

AT 75, and after an eventful and exciting era, Jaime Ortiz Patiño has decided it’s time to hand over presidential responsibility for Valderrama Golf Club to his son Felipe – a 41-year-old lawyer with extensive experience in the world of business and golf. (more…)

And ENCHANTED in ESTONIA

By DAN LORE

IT WAS A mid-summer afternoon on the serene shore of one of Finland’s 190,000 lakes. Ari Vatanen sat relaxing on a log as a fellow Flying Finn raced through the forest. A group of Latvian tourists were waiting for their turn as “navigator”. (more…)