From The Digital Editor
Walter Finch
Dear Olive Press readers,
Welcome back to another round-up of the news in Spain, where the weather is finally getting warmer – and the football season is reaching a crescendo.
Spain was lucky enough to host an all-English final in Bilbao this week, where Manchester United took on Tottenham Hotspurs in the Europa League.
Around 60,000 fans streamed in from the UK and other places, often taking meandering and unorthodox routes to reach their destination after airlines jacked up prices for the final.
The Olive Press had our man on the ground, long-suffering Spurs fan Jon Clarke, to provide dispatches on the wonders of the Guggenheim, price gouging, the build up and – of course – the match itself (the match report was never delivered – ed).
It was inevitable that so many football fans in one place would not produce the harmonious, hand-holding peace-and-good-will-among-men vibe that we all know and love.
Football fans kicked off in San Sebastian the night before the match, lobbing tables and chairs in a disgraceful showing of old school hooliganism.
Various videos emerged of fans destroying traffic lights, climbing naked onto scaffolding, throwing beer at people and peeing openly among the throngs in the streets.
Meanwhile, the locals were allegedly ripping off the Brits by charging them double and stealing their Rolexes.
But, overall, as an event with lots of people and lots of booze in one place, both the Bilbao police and the town hall were pleased with how it went and the low number of arrests.
The other big Olive Press news of the week is that we successfully launched our podcast. Jon Clarke was joined by my good self and host Caroline Lips from Staysure to chew over some of our most recent stories and how we did them. A little glance at the magic we weave behind the scenes.
But the week wasn’t all Bilbao and blabbering.
A seven-metre shark caused screams and fascination when it was filmed cruising just a couple hundred metres off the coast of Marbella. Large enough to chomp on a man whole – but fortunately it was just a harmless basking shark.
The Facebook video currently has three million views, making it our most viewed video ever.
In some – I would imagine – good news, a research project in Spain is looking for thousands of volunteers to drink wine every day for four years.
Harking back to Spain’s historic blackout that hit on April 28, the culprit was narrowed down to a single substation in Granada.
New data, which might not come as a surprise to some, shows that home buyers in Spain face the highest tax burden in all of Europe.
One of the best road trips in Spain can be done without venturing far from the Costa del Sol if you check out ‘raisin country’ in the mountains of Axarquia.
Over in the Costa Blanca, yet another corrupt mayor was sentenced in Spain – this time the offender was actually jailed.
There was a large crackdown on bars in Benidorm’s ‘English zone’ suspected of dealing or trafficking drugs.
We have helpfully compiled a list of tips and rules of the road for those driving around Spain in campervans or caravans.
And why not check out Marbella’s cheese fair, which is coming up shortly and is free to enter.
That’s all for this week.
See you next time,
Walt
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