Spain's a record breaker in world heritage

Did you know that Spain has the second highest number of world heritage sites? There are 44 registered on the UNESCO site including:

- The historic centre of Córdoba
- The Alhambra, Generalife and - Albayzín
- The works of Antoni Gaudí in Barcelona
- The old town of Santiago de Compostela and the route of Santiago de Compostela
- The historic City of Toledo
- The Old City of Salamanca
- Pyrénées Mont Perdu
- Palmeral and Mistery of Elche

These are only a selection and the Wikipedia site includes a handy table with a brief description of each. If you want to create your own list of places to visit in Spain, this would be a very good starting point:

www.wikipedia.org

You can also find out more about World Heritage sites from the UNESCO site itself:

whc.unesco.org

The Ourplace website includes photographs of every World Heritage site:

www.ourplaceworldheritage.com

Listen to your radio for good advice

The Alicante consulate are trying a new approach to disseminating information about living safely and happily in Spain. Rather than acting on British nationals' behalf when things go wrong they are now sending out 'fillers' to English language radio stations. The three 'fillers', or public service commercials, have been distributed to radio stations across Spain for use when they have space in programming and advertising schedules.

These 'fillers' are a little like the public information films and provide bite-sized dos and don'ts about life in Spain. At the moment they include, roadside robberies, out-of-date passports, and benefits and health concerns.

The brief transmissions also remind British nationals that they can visit the UK in Spain website for more information:

www.ukinspain.com

You might even be able to recognise the voices. They include Sheila Reid who plays Madge in the hit television series Benidorm, Keith Barron who played Benidorm's deputy mayor in 2009, and Huggy Leaver who has appeared in EastEnders and the film 'Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels'.

Now onto some Art

We know how much many of you enjoy reading and we've shared plenty of book titles with you this year. Now let's look at some of Spain's favourite artists. This article about Salvador Dali is interesting but you need to read it whilst having access to a portfolio of his work:

www.worldcrunch.com

For a site that provides this:

www.virtualdali.com

Picasso needs no introduction and it's not difficult to find information about him. Here is just one example:

www.pablopicasso.org

For a list of other Spanish artists this website is quite useful and even manages to throw a few women in there too:

www.pinterest.com

Ábaco update

It's been a busy year for change in Spain. We've seen fluctuations in the housing market and glimpses of hope as well as less optimistic predictions.

No one can pretend it's been the best of financial years. However, as always, Spain is a country of surprises and in this newsletter we have been able to applaud successes as well as reporting difficulties each month.

We are all looking forward to what 2013 might hold and assure all our readers that we will continue to bring you snippets of information, little bits of gossip and a smidgen of advice. We hope that you have all read the books we've recommended and visited the places we've featured. If not, 2013 might just be the year to do it!

Sing when you win

If you happened to turn on to a Spanish TV channel on the 22nd December you might have been a little surprised to see the curious mix of singing school children and lottery numbers.

La Lotería de Navidad, better known as El Gordo or 'the fat one' is a world-wide celebrated lottery that has a total prize money of €2.52 billion out of a total revenue of €3.6. As the lottery with the biggest number of prizes in the world, it is nearly as much a part of the Spanish Christmas as "Noche Buena" (the Christmas eve celebration) itself and families across the country are glued to the television to watch as the tickets are drawn.

Individual tickets cost €200 with each 'decimo' costing €20. The draw is something of a marathon lasting five hours in total and with the numbers announced by singing children.

To get an idea of the spectacle you can go to:

www.rtve.es

After the excitement of El Gordo, followed by Christmas and New Year, you would think the Spanish would be after a quiet time, but it all kicks off again with the deceptively named El Niño on January 6th. We say 'deceptive' because El Niño means 'Little One' and there's nothing little about this national lottery game. With a total prize pool of €1.2 billion you have a one in three chance of winning on El Niño.

If you will miss both lotteries this year tickets are on sale again as early as early as July, giving you plenty of time to dream how you will spend your winnings!

A potted history of Spain

It's not often that I recommend a TV programme about Spain. Most of what's been broadcast over the past few years has been misleading or unfair. However, the BBC2 programme, 'The Great Spanish Crash' shows clearly and concisely the reasons why Spain is facing the economic difficulties it currently is. It shows a nation experiencing a mixture of despair and frustration but also determination and resourcefulness. It may be only a whistle-stop tour (it can't be much else in 60 minutes) but it is certainly thought-provoking for anyone with an interest in Spain and its people.

You can view the whole programme on YouTube:

www.youtube.com

The verdict on Rajoy

For those people who are interested in Spanish politics you might find this article from Iberosphere worth reading. It provides one view of the highs and lows of Rajoy's first year in office:

www.iberosphere.com

'Roscón de Reyes'
Spanish Epiphany Cake