Another Fun Filled Weekend in Valencia

From April 4-6, a tourism fair will be held in the Valencia fair site. Taking part are travel agencies, tour operators, catering and hotel establishments (hotel chains, tourist complexes, spas, campsites, central booking agencies, etc.), Spanish and International official tourism bodies, the media, services companies, congress and convention organisers, active and residential tourism companies and training centres.

The Region of Valencia will be represented at the fair, with everything Castelló Costa Azahar, Costa Blanca, València Terra i Mar and Benidorm have to offer tourists. The inland tourism area brings together leading municipalities and tourist organisations representing the region's inland areas. The Region of Valencia's top destinations will be on display, as will the major events and the flagship leisure and tourism projects in the Region.

TCV, with the slogan Verás mundo, verás TCV (See the world, see the TCV), offers companies and public institutions a first-class promotional tool for making professionals and the general public aware of their destinations, products and services, all in the privileged setting of Feria Valencia. Read More...

The Mascletá

Here in Valencia, we are currently witnessing a great tradition known as the mascleta. The mascleta happens from 1st to 19th of March, at 2:00 o'clock pm in 'Plaza del Ayuntamiento' (City Council Square). The mascletá is a pyrotechnics spectacle in which the protagonist is the sound. On the contrary that the traditional fireworks, where the spectacle is color and light, and the sound has a secondary role, in mascletá the explosions, the rythm and the final sonorous earthquake are the protagonists of the spectacle. The firecrackers that conform mascletá (well-known popularly as masclets) are placed hanging of the cords, and form a colorful spectacle. The color of masclets, and their caliber, indicates the explosive power. In each mascletá, burns a total of between 100 and 120 kg of gunpowder. At 2pm the clock will chime and one of the Falleras (spanish women dressed traditionally) will call from the balcony of the City Hall "Senyor pirotècnic, pot començar la "mascletà"! ("Mr. Pyrotechnic, you may commence the Mascletà!"). Following that are the sounds of explosions, getting louder and longer each day.

Valencia Welcomes The Cure

This wednesday, we are proud and excited to welcome The Cure into Valencia. Sponsored by MTV, they are headling the MTV Winter tour with Sweedish group HIM and American group From First to Last. The concert is being held in the City of Arts and Sciences, and it will commence at 8 pm. The concert is free, and is expected to be huge. José Luis Villanueva said that MTV Winter “will become the big European date for music, and will contribute to the cultural dynamism of Valencia and the Valencia Community region, whose image will again be shown around the world”. The concert will be broadcast on MTV Spain sometime around March 8th or 9th and then worldwide on MTVLive tentatively after March 15th. MTV has signed a contract to hold this concert series for the next four years, so if you miss it this time around, you should definetly think about coming next year!! For more info, click here.

Magdelena

The image of the city of Castellon de la Plana has survived in the momories of it’s people for generations through the art of celebrations. More than 7 centuries ago the Magdelana hill was cut down to clear room for the city. From the 23rd of Feburary to the 2nd of March the Spaniards tell their history to the world. The citizens of Castellon de la Plana celebrate the birth of their city on the third Sunday of Lent. The fiesta consists of a series of acts in which they make tributes to the queen of the land. Its is a spectacular of music and culture. To read more click here.

Artificial Island in Valencia

With Spain's coastline being so heavily built up already, developer Redis 6's suggestions for an artificial island near the city of Valencia, just off Malvarrosa beach, suggest a way to meet demand for seafront property in future.

'La Luna de Valencia', as the island would be known, would cover 1.6 million square metres. Only a million square metres of that would be land, and the remainder would be canals and channels. Solar energy and desalination facilities will keep the island supplied with power and water. Property would include apartments and villas, with the smallest apartments measuring 40 square metres – enough for holiday use but too small for permanent living and costing from 300,000 Euros. The developer has been careful to stress that it would not simply be a rich man's paradise as the plans include 25% to 30% viviendas de protección oficial (social housing) among the others.

While Redis 6 has stated that it has Spanish investors prepared to finance the 5,000 million euro cost, the development may never be built. Spain's 1988 Ley de Costas, which governs building around the coastline, expressly forbids the extension of land into the sea, which La Luna de Valencia would do. Given the Spanish Environment Ministry's current crack down on land-based developments that breach the law, including the demolition of properties built too close to the sea, and concerns about the effect of global-warming-induced sea level rises, the developer is going to have an incredibly difficult time getting planning permission. And that's before all the people who own frontline properties in Valencia discover that their sea view is about to be swallowed up by homes for 1,000 people and start protesting. (article from homesworldwide)

"Fame" in Valencia

The musical Fame is now playing at the Olympia. Starting December 21st until January 13th, this fantastic show takes prime stage at the Teatro Olympia following its worldwide success. Remember? "Fame costs," and here's your chance to see why! Read more here

Property price to close year 4% up says government

According to Rafael Pacheco (head of the government’s architecture and housing policy unit) property prices will close at 4% up on last year. At the end of September annual property inflation was at 5.3%, so this is assuming we will see the price growth slow towards the end of the year.

Pacheco predicts a ‘soft landing’ for the Spanish property market and rules out a drastic fall in property prices that would affect the national economy or a crisis. The Euribor continues to decline which should ease the pressure on property prices.
Pacheco also forecast that 550,000 new homes and 100,000 council houses will be built this year, ruling out any “paralysis” in the construction sector.

Regards property transactions, Pacheco forecasts 900,000 this year, down from 1 million in 2006. “This is not a crisis, just a necessary adjustment for the sector,” he said.

Read more about the Spanish property market at Spanish Property Insight