Enjoy the Best Shellfish at “Recession” Prices: Head over to the “Feria del Marisco” in Benalmadena

feria del marisco

From this Thursday – 17th March – and until Sunday, visitors to Benalmadena Marina will be able to enjoy the 3rd “Feria del Marisco (Shellfish Festival). For the 3rd year running, the Town hall’s tourism office together with the Benalmadena Port Authority have organised this popular event with the aim of promoting the towns extensive gastronomic offering.

Throughout the 4 days of the festival, anyone who visits the Port can sample some of the best shellfish at spectacular prices. Just to give you an idea, these are the prices of some of the portions – or “raciones” as we refer to them here –

Boiled Prawns – €3

“Concha Fina” (a type of clam) – €3

Grilled Prawns – €8

Steamed Mussels – €3

Clams – €5

This is just a sample of the delicacies that you’ll be able to try; the restaurants that are taking part in the festival are planning to offer more than 20 different types of shellfish and dishes whose main ingredient is shellfish.

Anyone wanting to enjoy some of the best shellfish at “recession” prices can do so as from Thursday at the following participating restaurants in the Marina: El Arrecife, Carretero, El Trasmallo, Alborada, Calamar, Ventorillo La Perra, El Rincón Asturiano, El Faro, La Taberna Marinera de Juan y Pepi, Los Mellizos y El Mero.

So what do you think, are you up for it?

The Thyssen Museum of Málaga Opens its Doors on 25th March

Thyssen Museum in Malaga

"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.

Opening times are the following:

Tuesday to Friday – 10am to 10pm

Saturday and Sunday – 10 am to 9pm

Monday – Closed

New Speed Limit in Spain: 110 Kph

New speed limit in Spain

From 120 Kph to 110 kph...

As from yesterday, the 7th March 2011 (sorry for the late warning!) drivers in Spain have been forced to slow down on the roads as the Spanish Government has reduced the speed limit! This is definitely a good thing – there are way too many loonatics on the road – however, the reason for this reduction has nothing to do with road safety; it’s all about economics!

This new measure is the government’s response to rapidly rising oil prices due to the unrest in Arab countries such as Libya and is one of the principal initiatives to lower the countries energy bill. Until yesterday, the maximum speed on motorways (referred to as autopistas or autovías here) was 120 kph; this has now been lowered to 110 kph.

Road crews working for the transport ministry had a busy night on Sunday, replacing road signs all over the country. Actually, the signs haven’t been replaced, in most cases, large stickers have been placed over the existing signs. Why stickers? Because this measure is only temporary; it will remain in place until the end of June when it will be reviewed.

Also worth noting is the fact that all radar traps around the country (more than 400) have now been re-programmed. Anyone found speeding will be fined 100 Euros if caught driving at speeds of between 111 kph and 140 kph; if you are caught driving at over 140 kph the fine increases to 300 Euros. You have been warned!

Public opinion sways heavily against the measure with many saying that reducing the speed limit will only help to increase government coffers; just think of the speeding fines the Guardia Civil will be issuing. L

But there is some good news….commuters and passengers who use short distance rail services will be able to enjoy a 5% reduction in train fares; the perfect excuse to take a train from Benalmádena to Málaga and make the most of the sights and sounds of the Coast’s capital city! 🙂

What do you think? Will these measures have much of an impact on Spain’s energy bill? My experience on the motorway this morning leads me to believe that the answer to that question is a definite, NO!

Look Who’s Won a Weekend Break at Sunset Beach Club!

As many of you know, whenever Sunset Beach Club attends a trade show or exhibition, we offer everyone who visits one of our stands the opportunity to win a short stay at our hotel.

We’ve been very busy over the past two months, attending various trade shows in Dublin and Belfast. All those shows offered attendees the chance to enter a free draw for a weekend break in the sun; all they had to do was fill in their details on the entrance form and they would be automatically entered into the draw.

Well, I’m please to announce that we have had the draws – one for each show – and are ready to announce the lucky winners!

The following lucky people have each won a 3 night stay at Sunset Beach Club. The prize includes  3 nights accommodation for 2 people including our famous hot buffet breakfast:

1)      Citywest Wedding Journal Show 2011 – Tanya Marum

2)      Holiday World Belfast 2011 – Ray Cochrane

3)      Holiday World Dublin 2011 – Margaret Harley

4)      Belfast Wedding Journal Show – Gemma Stewart

Congratulations to all the winners! We  look forward to welcoming you all  to Sunset Beach Club in the very near future.

Note: Prize excludes flights and transfers and has no cash value. Valid until 23/12/2011 (excluding 01/06/2011 to 30/09/2011).

Torremolinos Hosts the XXII Edition of the European Dance Championships

European Dance ChampionshipsThis week, Torremolinos has become the European dance capital by hosting the XXII edition of the European Dance Championships.

With more than 1500 dance pairs from all over Europe signed up for the competition, spectators are guaranteed a great show!

The championship started on Monday the 28th February and ends on Saturday 5th March with the grand finals. Today and tomorrow (Friday) there will be qualification heats in the morning (10:00am) in order to choose pairs for the finals which will be held in the evening at the Palacio de San Miguel. Entrance to the heats is free and the evening finals require an entrance fee of €5.

Throughout the whole of this week, spectators have been dazzled by dancers from all over Europe performing a wide variety of dance styles: Waltz, tango, paso doble, artistic dance, chachachá, rock and more…..

Tonight (Thursday), dance enthusiasts will be able to enjoy the following dance finals: (more…)

Breakfast…… Sunset Style!

They say that breakfast is the most important meal of the day; we totally agree! That’s why we have recently given our famous hot buffet breakfast a small “face lift”.

Taking note of previous customer comments, Miguel, our Operations Director decided that it was time to make a few changes: We have improved the overall presentation of the buffet (see photos), increased the variety of the food and drinks on offer – the new coffee and orange juice machines are getting great reviews – and we have changed our baked goods supplier; the Danish pastries are to die for!

Here’s a brief overview of what you can expect when you visit the Oasis Restaurant for our hot buffet breakfast:

Hot drinks machines

Our new hot drink and orange juice machines

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