Last Sunday morning, the promenade in front of Sunset Beach Club was a busy hive of activity; hundreds of people (800) had gathered for the 2011 edition of the Cudeca Walkathon.
Every year, this popular event attracts large numbers of local residents, eager to help raise money for this much-needed charity!
Apart from the walking, there were plenty of fun activities organised for all participants: games for children, several large paellas, live music, to name but a few!
I decided to head down to the promenade at 10:30am – just before the first group of walkers set off on their 10 km route – to take some photos. (more…)
Here’s a short video clip we prepared with a collection of photos and short video clips from hte successful Cudeca Walkathon held on Sunday on the promenade in front of Sunset Beach Club.
Mark the date in your calendars: Sunday 15th May, 2011. Once again, Sunset Beach Club will be heavily involved in the sponsorship and organisation of the Cudeca Walkathon, the annual fundraising event which aims to raise funds for the Cancer Care Hospice in Benalmádena.
So what exactly happens at the Walkathon? It’s basically a sponsored walk; you need to get your friends and family to sponsor you for every kilometre you walk (or run!) and then head down to Sunset Beach Club on Sunday the 15th May – sign up starts at 9:30 am – and complete as many laps of the circuits as you can!
There will be 3 different routes or circuits to choose from: 10km for the super fit and sporty; 5km for those who enjoy a good brisk walk; and the 2km walk, specially adapted for children and for disabled participants in wheelchairs.
There is a registration fee for all participants: 10€ for adults if you pre-pay (12€ on the day) and 6€ for children. Obviously, organisers are keen to encourage participants to obtain sponsorship for every kilometre walked; there will be fantastic prizes for the participants who raise the most sponsorship funds! (more…)
If you are walking around Benalmadena this week – especially 24 Hour square or Puerto Marina – you might be forgiven for thinking you are in another country: Portugal to be exact!
Over 3000 portuguese students have chosen Benalmadena for their end-of-term trip; great news for the town as it means the occupation of more than 1500 hotel rooms in 14 different hotels, one of which is Sunset Beach Club!
We’ve only got a small group of 45 students staying with us, and to be honest, we don’t even see them as they are out all day taking part in the fantastic organised activities during the day, and experiencing some Benalmadena night life until early hours of the morning!
The trip has been organised by a Portuguese tour operator (Slide-in Travel) and during the whole week that they are here, there are tons of fun activities for the youngsters – all are aged between 17 and 22 – for example: paintball, games on the beach, go-karting, trips to Tivoli World, Selwo and Isla Mágica in Seville, and a Sunset Boat Party, to name but a few!
Here’s a great video of last year’s trip to Benalmádena: looks like they had fun!
The Spanish Airport strikes planned for the easter and summer holiday periods has been called off; great news for the Spanish tourism industry and for the thousands of holiday makers who had already booked to travel to Spain during this period.
On Thursday 24th March 2011, the airport workers unions held a referendum and voted to call off the strikes which had threatened to cause havoc in airports throughout the country.
The strikes were originally called by the unions due to their concerns about the part-privatisation of Aena, the national airport operator. Airport workers had feared that this privatisation would result in the consequent loss of jobs and deteriorated working conditions.
After weeks of negotiations, on the 16th March 2011, Aena and the Unions reached a pre-agreement in which the unions received guarantees over job security and conditions; Thursdays referendum ratified this agreement as workers voted to call off the planned industrial action (approximately 70% voted to call off the strikes).
A Union spokesman (from the CCOO union) stated the following:
“The ratification of this deal means the cancellation of the call for 22 days of strikes planned on different days between April and August.”
There is no doubt that this is fantastic news for the Spanish tourism industry; we can now focus our attention on profiting from the increase in tourists who have chosen Spain as an alternative to troubled destinations such as Tunisia and Egypt.
"La Buenaventura" by Julio Romero de Torres - one of the paintings being exhibited in the Museum
We’ve finally got a date for the official opening of the much-awaited Thyssen Museum of Málaga: The 24th March 2011 is the chosen date for the inauguration of Baroness Thyssen’s latest project.
The general public will have to wait one more day – Friday 25th March – in order to be able to enjoy the impressive collection which will be exhibited in the Palacio de Villalón, a XVI century building located in the historical heart of Málaga. This beautiful building has been completely renovated and fitted out for cultural exhibitions – Málaga Town Hall has already invested more than 15 million euros on this ambitious project.
For the first three days of operation, entrance to the museum will be free of charge; a great opportunity for locals and tourists to enjoy fine art at a great price…free!
The museum will have a permanent collection and three temporary exhibitions. The permanent collection is made up of 230 works of art from the Carmen Thyssen-Bornemisza collection covering Spanish art from the XIX. Visitors will be able to enjoy works of art from painters such as Sorolla, Zurbarán, Zuloaga, Romero de Torresy and Málaga favourites such as Gómes Gil, Moreno Carbonero o Barrón.
The series of three temporary exhibitions programmed for 2011 will start with “From Picasso to Tàpies” and will include pieces from Picasso, Torres-García, Saura and Tàpies. In September the museum will introduce work from Monet with “Monet: The house amongst the roses”. The final instalment of exhibitions will take place in November with “Sorolla in Andalucia”; 80 paintings from the Valencian artist’s repertoire.
Last Sunday morning, the promenade in front of Sunset Beach Club was a busy hive of activity; hundreds of people (800) had gathered for the 2011 edition of the Cudeca Walkathon.
