News
Spain win the World Cup!
The oracle octopus was right yet again!
With a 116th minute goal by Andres Iniesta, 'la Furia Roja' captured its first World Cup title ever last night.
The historic Spanish victory came after a dirty match against the Netherlands with a record-high 14 yellow cards and numerous goal opportunities just shy of success.
Packed Spanish bars erupted last night as seas of supporters dressed in red with their faces painted watched goalkeeper Iker Casillas lift the cup, surrounded by his teammates under a shower of confetti.
Fans filled the streets, wrapped themselves in the Spanish flag with pride, and cheered "¡Yo soy Español, Español, Español!" long into the night.
The victory comes on the heels of the team’s 2008 European Championship title, and some say the squad has started a new era for Spanish football.
The German octopus 'Paul,' who had made seven consecutive accurate World Cup outcome predictions before the final, must have been proud to see his eighth and final prediction come true last night.
“The octopus will be very popular in Spain,” said World Cup hero and man of the match Iniesta. Midfielder Sergio Busquets wore his newly updated kit with a single star on it to represent the Spanish World Cup victory as he celebrated after the match.
Saying exactly what crazed fans across Spain were thinking, Busquets put it simply: "We’ve been waiting a whole life for this."
¡Viva la Furia Roja!
Source: The Olive Press
Spain's most visited attraction
The historical Alhambra and Generalife in Granada received 2.9 million visitors during 2009, which makes it the most visited tourist destination in Spain, despite having suffered a decline of 4.68% over the previous year.
The director of the complex, Maria del Mar Villafranca, said in a presentation that although there was a drop in the number of visitors, entrances were up 8.93% to the Alhambra Museum (200,000) and 10.24% higher for visits to the Fine Arts Museum (166,000). These numbers, coupled with 242,000 people attending the activities and exhibitions held at the monument and 270,000 visitors to the outer perimeter of the Alhambra, make a total figure of 2.9 million people
The Best of Andalucia
A PAIR of landmark exhibitions of Spanish history have opened in Cordoba and Sevilla.
The two shows offer a fascinating insight into the days when the Moors and Phoenicians made Spain one of their key strongholds.
As well as providing the Roman Empire with three Caesars, Andalucia was also the centre of the world in the eleventh century with the Cordoba caliphate.
Now more than 150 archaeological finds dating back to the period are on display at a new complex built within the medieval site of Medina Azahara, five kilometres from Cordoba.
An interview with Chris Stewart
Chris Stewart, the autor of 'Driving over lemons' was interviewed by Jon Clarke of The Olive Press. Jon went to visit him at his remote cottage in the Alpujarras, and this is what he had to say:
The fact that Chris Stewart gets regular visits from fans to his isolated mountain farm is nothing short of remarkable. On a recent visit to his 70-hectare Andalucian spread, the directions were so complicated that I was convinced he had sent me a curve-ball.
Scam 'almost bankrupted the Alhambra'
Legal investigation uncovers eight-million-euro fraud at Spain's biggest tourist attraction.
An alleged ticket scam involving travel agencies, tour guides and a branch of a major bank almost forced the closure of Spain's most-visited tourist attraction.
A three-year judicial investigation claims that up to 50 people are implicated in the suspected eight-million euro fraud, which involved 800,000 fake tickets given out to visitors to the Islamic Alhambra palace in Granada.