La Cala beach gets distinction

LA CALA has again recieved a new Blue Flag, a distinction that recognises the quality of beaches as well as the facilities it offers to visitors.

The Mayor of La Cala, Antonio Sanchez, recently collected the flag to flutter on this extensive beach which preserves the marine environment and combines a series of services for beach-goers such as showers, changing rooms, children’s play ground, first-aid and more.

The council will also set up an area adapted for disabled people, with specific parking bays. The range of leisure activities and sports offered here during the summer, make it one of the best beaches on the coast.

Source: www.euroweeklynews.com
Visit Mijas Costa

Mijas Town Hall to auction off the Hotel Byblos Andaluz

The Ayuntamiento says it has no option in order to recover a municipal debt to it from the owners of the hotel, Aifos.
Mijas Ayuntamiento is to auction off the five start Hotel Guadalpin Byblos Andaluz to pay for the local hacienda debts that the Aifos real estate company has established. These debts have now amounted to 1,201,356 €, plus interests, and come from unpaid IBI and IAE taxes, as well as plusvalías and rubbish collection charges.

The town hall says the auction has been arranged for July 29th at 11am in the council chamber, after all the other possibilities have been exhausted.

The luxury hotel, visited by many famous people over the years, including Princess Diana, has an estimated value of 39.6 million € according to the ‘Que’ newspaper. Europa Press reports that Aifos has responded to the news by saying it is a form of pressure for them to pay the debt, and they say that finally the auction will not take place.

The Town Hall contends that they have offered the debt be paid by instalments of 65,000 € a month, but this has not been followed either.

Aifos aquired the Hotel Byblos Andaluz in June 2006, with the idea of investing 40 million € in its purchase and modernisation.

Source typicallyspanish.com

Visit Mijas Costa

Fun day to help little Tomas

Tomas is three-and-a-half years old and was born with cerebral palsy. He is also blind and has been diagnosed with West syndrome, a severe form of epilepsy.

As well as the physiotherapy, hydrotherapy and touch, hearing and speech stimulation sessions he attends every week, Tomas has a variety of medical appointments.

He requires regular EEG tests to monitor his brain activity, as well as appointments with ophthalmologists, neurologists, rehabilitation specialists, speech therapists and audiologists .

A panel assessment classified him as 82 per cent disabled, with the three main areas of concern being his blindness, his lack of balance and co-ordination which prevents him from walking unaided, and his inability to communicate clearly via speech.

Tomas has made great progress over the last year and is now able to walk with the aid of a walker, to see objects within one foot on his right side and he is beginning to try and say a few words.

Despite the many obstacles, Tomas wants to learn and is developing in areas that were said to have been hopeless.

He is a happy and positive child and his parents Jon and Jill Leighton constantly seek out other specialist experience, which may help Tomas to reach his full potential. A fun day and race night is being held to raise funds to help this little boy on Saturday June 21, at La Cortijera, in La Cala de Mijas (near to Streets of London and Tex Mex Restaurant) starting at 3pm.

There will be a bouncy castle, clowns and face painting, an auction by Maurice Boland, live music with the band Monkey Tennis, a member of the Rat Pack will be singing, Irish Dancers, a BBQ and hot dog stall, a tombola, self defence display, raffle for a gallon of whisky, stalls selling items from clothing, homemade cakes and pies to jewellery, a horse racing evening run by the La Cala branch of the Lions’ Club and much more.

Prizes include return flights to UK and Ireland, overnight stays at two retreats, an indulgence day at a spa, car hire, meals for two, Tottenham signed football shirt, a signed Marbella shirt, a year’s subscription to Helicopter Sanitarios and much more.

If you would like to support the cause and help further with any raffle prizes, please contact Graham on 662 266 938 or graham.sussex@yahoo.co.uk Thomas’ parents Jon and Jill Leighton can be contacted at tomasjonathan@hotmail.co.uk

Source www.euroweeklynews.com
Visit Mijas Costa

Mijas hosts international blues festival

FOLLOWING from last year’s overwhelming success, the 2nd Mijas International Blues Festival will take place this year on Saturday, June 14 in the main square of Mijas pueblo.

The event starts at 3pm and continues until approximately 2am the following morning. There will be bands from Spain and UK and star performances from the United States, Mud Morganfield and Peaches Staten.

All the bands will be present at a preliminary Jam-session at the Mijas Hotel on Friday, June 13, from 9pm.

Below are details of the participating bands:

Saturday, June 14.

3pm - Mama Paula Blues Band

Singer/Guitarist/pianist, Paula plays her brand of Blues mixed with Rock. She has become a fixture on the Malaga Blues scene and is a great way to kick off this year’s festival. www.myspace.com/mamapaulabluesband


4:30pm - West Weston’s Bluesonics

One of the stars of last years festival, West is the UK's finest harmonica player, playing West Coast Swing and Blues, featuring the amazing guitar playing of Paul Garner. www.myspace.com/westweston


7pm - Kat & Lito Blues Band

Funky Malaga Blues outfit led by the superb guitar playing of Lito and fronted by the energetic Kat, this Los Angeles born singer has a soulful voice to compliment the band. www.myspace.com/blueslito


8:15pm - Big Joe Louis and his Blues Kings

Born in Jamaica, Big Joe has developed into the UK's finest Blues singer/ hollerer, with a huge voice and deft guitar playing. They play great danceable ‘down home’ Blues. www.youtube.com (Big Joe Louis)


21.30h - Peaches Staten

Also over from Chicago, this true Blues diva has grown up in the Chicago Blues scene. She has a strong, gritty voice totally suited to her music which is deeply rooted in Blues and Soul, with a touch of Funk. www.myspace.com/peachesstaten


23.15h - Mud Morganfield - 'Boy Child One'

Flying in especially from Chicago, the first son of the legendary 'Godfather of Blues', and the main influence on the Rolling Stones, Muddy Waters. Although born in 1954, Mud has only recently stepped forward with his musical gift - a big charasmatic voice that echoes his Dad's and watching him on stage is like stepping back in time.

Supported here by Big Joe Louis and his Blues Kings, with a special appearance from Pete Wingfield, pianist to the stars, including Paul McCartney.

This is one show not to miss.

www.mudmorganfield.com www.myspace.com/muddywatersjr www.youtube.com (muddy waters jnr)


1am - Trio del Saco

Hard driving Blues/Rock outfit from Mijas, closing the festival, giving everyone a last chance to let their hair down.

Source www.euroweeklynews.com

Visit Mijas Costa

Interclub day at La Cala Golf Resort

Eight clubs from across Andalucía contested the annual interclub day in early June at La Cala Golf Resort, Mijas Costa. The teams were comprised of four fourballs and the team score was the total of their stableford results.

The eventual winners were Desert Springs from Almería who beat the home club into second place with Guadalmina third.

The Desert Springs victory was all the more impressive as the team had only played one practice round on the course, Campo Asia, the day before the event. Other clubs that played for the first time this year include Antequera and Novo Sancti Petri.

The interclub day was introduced to offer clubs the opportunity to play free of charge in a team format at the resort, which is Spain’s biggest. There was an extremely positive reaction from the participants with most planning to return next year.



Results:

1st - Desert Springs - 143 points

2nd - La Cala Golf Club - 133 points

3rd - Guadalmina Golf - 129 points

4th - Santa Clara Golf - 127 points

5th - Atalaya Golf - 117 points

6th - Golf Novo Sancti Petri - 115 points

7th - El Paraiso Club de Golf - 113 points

8th - Golf Antequera - 104 points

Source: www.euroweeklynews.com

La Cala Golf
Visit Mijas Costa

The Popular Mijas Costa Web Cam

The Visit Mijas Costa web cam is seeing over 250 hits a day from all four corners of the planet from Africa to Artic circle people all over the world are enjoying looking at the amazing view from the live PTZ webcam.

The camera has also won awards from web cam sites as one of the best web cams on the planet.

The canon VB-C50iR camera is a high end security IP network camera witch allows an operator full control to pan tilt and zoom in - out over the internet and dose not need a PC to operate it as it has its own built in micro server publishing the images over the internet.

The view from the camera are of El Faro, La Cala de Mijas, La Noria Golf, Mijas Pueblo and the Med.

Mijas Web Cam
Mijas Costa

Jewellery theft in La Cala Golf Resort

Jewellery worth 400,000 € has been stolen from a property owned by a British family in La Cala Golf Resort. The family had gone out to the beach for time and discovered the theft when they returned home, according to the Diario Sur newspaper.

The thieves took rings, watches, necklaces and other jewellery valued at 395,000 €.
It happened last Thursday, and paper says the family has been so
affected by the theft that they are now considering selling up their home in the La Cala Cala Golf Urbanisation in Mijas Costa.

The Guardia Civil say they have opened a full investigation.

La Cala Golf Resort
Visit Mijas Costa

Calahonda brothel that became a Norwegian church

It has been a monastery, police-station, prison, restaurant and nightclub, and the main building of a major farm. It is claimed that it has even been a brothel.

Located in Calahonda, Mijas Costa, El Campanario is, today, as far from a brothel as one can possibly be. It is, in fact, a church, The Norwegian Seamans’ church on the Costa del Sol. It is also a guesthouse with 12 en suite rooms, and a fully equipped conference centre, with a capacity for 35 people.

Opened five years ago, it is considered the ‘best seamans’ church in the world’, by its users. The congregation amounts to about 20,000 Norwegian residents.

“We cover the whole coast, from Nerja to Algarve in Portugal,” says Steinar Lindvig, the resident priest.

We visited El Campanario one Saturday afternoon in May. More than 50 guests were sitting by the tables in the patio, eating rice-porridge and drinking juice. Eating porridge on a Saturday has become a tradition in Norwegian seaman-churches all over the world. It is, in a way, a trade- mark for the church, together with wafers with jam.

Johan Offerdal, who, together with his wife Inger Marie is in charge of the cafeteria, told us that last year, they served more than 3,000 portions of porridge. But they do not only serve wafers and porridge in the cafeteria.

In the upstairs library, one can find a variety of books, both in Norwegian and English. It is free to borrow books. You just sign it out when you borrow it, and sign it in when it is given back.

El Campanario dates back to the end of the 15th century. It is said that the building that houses the church, was built in 1575. The rest of the horse-shoe-shaped building was built a few hundred years later.

When the church purchased the place for the amount of 1.8 million euros, it was about to fall apart.

“We had to spend another 1.8 million euros to put it into the shape it is today,” says Steinar Lindvig. “But it seems to have been a good investment.”

The Norwegian Seaman church is part of the Protestant church of Norway. It has 32 churches in 16 countries in addition to an ambulating service.

This summer El Campanario will host the Calahonda Baptist church, from now until the end of August. They have services every Sunday.

Seamans’ priest Steinar Lindvig stresses that, even if it is a Norwegian church, it is open to guests from all nations.

Source: www.euroweeklynews.com
Visit Mijas Costa

Mijas Racecourse gets council concessions

THE Tourism Resources department of Mijas Council and ‘Carrera’ entertainment company recently signed a concession for Mijas Racecourse.

The council has paid 222,000 euros owing to personnel and part of the Social Security debt incurred.

The full Social Security debt amounts to 687,000 euros, of which the council has assumed 351,000 euros. The remaining amount will be settled within 90 days.

The mayor of Mijas, Antonio Sanchez, has announced that terms and conditions of tender will be published and tenders invited shortly.

The council will take on 25 workers and six will remain employees of the ‘Carrera’ company, in order to deal with the internal betting system.

Racecourses are not generally considered to be profitable enterprises and the fact that ‘Carrera’ has managed to run the Mijas Racecourse for five years, without resorting to council funding, is an achievement in itself. Other racecourses in Spain are either partially or fully financed by local governments and, in some cases, with the help of ‘Loterias y Apuestas del Estado’, (the State-run lottery and betting agency.)

‘Carrera’ has run the racecourse in times when horse-racing has not been enjoying great popularity in Spain and is even in danger of disappearing. The company has maintained the facilities in good condition and has invested in improvements without requiring extra funding.

The challenge is now to find a company with the ability to turn the business into a sporting and tourist attraction, diversifying what the racecourse can provide in order to make it an attractive venue for different types of public attractions.

Source: www.euroweeklynews.com
Visit Mijas Costa

British family suffer jewellery theft at La Cala Golf

Last Thursday when the family went for a trip to the beach.
Jewellery worth 400,000 € has been stolen from a British family in Mijas. The family had gone out to the beach for time and discovered the theft when they returned home, according to the Diario Sur newspaper.

The thieves took rings, watches, necklaces and other jewellery valued at 395,000 €.
It happened last Thursday, and paper says the family has been so
affected by the theft that they are now considering selling up their home in the La Cala Golf Urbanisation in Mijas Costa.

The Guardia Civil say they have opened a full investigation.

Visit Mijas Costa
La Cala Golf Resort

New Jobs Section on Visit Mijas Costa

Visit Mijas Costa have set up a new jobs section were business owners can post there jobs for free and people seeking employment in and and around the Mijas Costa can use this service for free as well.

Work Jobs Employment Mijas Costa
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