Alicante is Hollywood, Spain ?

If you go on holiday to the USA you can visit Universal Studios. Would it be possible soon to visit the “Ciudad de la Luz”?

Today is the last day of the so famous Alfaz del Pi filmfestival, a festival with many new and old movies to enjoy, even on a big screen at the beach. Every year the festival draws thousands of people to Alfaz del Pi and her “Albir” beach.

On the Albir beach, more film history is to be seen at the “boulevard de los Estrellas” or Boulevard of stars, where the famous stars of the Spanish domestic film industry have their own star in the marvel pavement of the boulevard. Now, this combined with moviescreen at the beach and the yearly handcraft market the atmosphere is really nice!!

In Alicante for a few years now, they have constructed the “Ciudad de la Luz” or the city of light, a very large complex functioning as film studios.

Antonio Banderas has had his shootings for “el camino de los Ingleses” in 2006 and now they have “Asterix and the Olympic Games”, a French-Spanish production with a budget of almost 57 million pounds, toped by the massive Roman Polanski production “Pompeii”, said to be the most expensive European production costing a little over 90 million pounds sterling.

Before the old master can do his magic with exploding volcanoes and streaming hot earth our friend from the Caribbean Johnny Depp will shoot his newest movie “Shantaram” in October this year.

So you see, Costa Blanca has it all!

That´s all Folks !!

End

Costa Blanca Holidays: Why visit Valencia ?

While enyoing your Costa Blanca Villa or Costa Blanca Apartment a visit to Valencia may not be missed on your Costa Blanca Holidays !

Every city has a past … and all cities should have a future. Valencia has, for centuries, revelled in its history. But only recently has it begun to lay the foundations for the years ahead.

The city has experienced a remarkable rebirth over the last decade, transforming itself from an industrial sprawl into a ‘must-visit’ European destination. This renaissance has allowed Valencia to grow more than any city in Europe. The financial investment has been staggering. But it has been wisely spent, allowing Valencia - for so many years in the shadow of Madrid and Barcelona - to once again go head to head with the big boys.

Now is the ideal time to enjoy the revamped Valencia. Meander through ancient streets and glimpse a landscape that rejoices in progress and celebrates the past. The Plaza del Ayuntamiento provides an attractive starting point. It contains the imposing Town Hall, a building that reflects the city’s capacity to seamlessly merge the old and new, with parts of the edifice dating back to the 18th century, but the majority - including the glorious facade - constructed in the early 20th century.

Make sure you also allow a few minutes for the station. Yes, the Estacion del Norte, a few hundred metres down Calle Ribera, next to the city’s bullring. This is no ordinary railway station. Inaugurated in 1917, it’s a shining example of Valencian modernismo, full of decorative touches so often neglected in purely functional buildings. The other great square in the city is the Plaza de la Virgen. Surrounded by stunning architecture, it’s a pleasing location for a coffee while you take in the sights. At night the place is a hive of activity, with rollerbladers entertaining the crowds.
Food is a serious passion for all Valencianos and, in fact, it is difficult to ever witness the locals without some item of food being fed into their mouths. There are, unbelievably, seven eating periods in a typical Valencian day. But, as with all cosmopolitan cities, there is a wide variety of restaurants to feed the habit. A popular place for a fine but reasonably priced meal is Pizzeria La Vita e Bella, located on Calle d’En Llop just off the Plaza del Ayuntamiento. This superb restaurant, sympathetically converted from an old draper’s shop, successfully recreates the ambience of 1920s Valencia. The tagliatelle in green pesto, by the way, is to die for.

If you’re coming to Valencia for nightlife, you have certainly chosen the premier destination in the whole country. Valencia has always been a party town. The fiesta capital of Spain, the Valencianos are renowned for legendary weekends - when Friday runs into Sunday morning without a siesta in sight. Whether grooving in Barrio del Carmen, the real heart of the city, or chilling out at Playa de la Malvarrosa - a great atmosphere is guaranteed.
Malvarrosa is Valencia’s beach resort, where the city meets the coast. The hordes descend here en masse in the summer, with all the beautiful people hiding behind their Gucci sunglasses intent on eating the finest paella and making sure that lunch lasts for the rest of the day. If you fancy following in the footsteps of the legendary Ernest Hemingway, check in at La Pepica - the last in the line of restaurants in the Las Arenas area, north of the port.
If you are able to visit in March, you can enjoy the city’s world-famous Las Fallas festival. Lasting an entire week, with the papier-mache burning taking place on the last day, you will need a strong constitution to see out the whole fiesta. But many people do, and this is surely one of the greatest parties on earth.

Make sure you visit the City of Arts and Sciences, where you might consider spending a whole day in the best marine centre in Europe (L’Oceanografico) or in El Museo de Las Ciencias, a hands-on interactive science and technology experience. It is while you are here - surrounded by buildings at the vanguard of modern architecture - that you begin to understand what Valencia is all about: the perfect fusion of past and present, vision and inspiration … and fun for all of those who visit.

Costa Blanca Property for sale! Where to find it?

Finding Costa Blanca Property, Altea property, Benidorm property or Moraira Property can be a hard task. Lots of estate agents offer their properties on the internet and it is difficult finding a nice website containing a wide variety of properties.

If there was only one website containing all the properties from all the estate agents…. But…. There is !! In www.AMLAspain.com you can find over 4500 properties at the Costa Blanca from all professional estate agents.

AMLA, or Association of Multiple Listing Agents Spain is an organisation of Spanish estate agents all using the same system to share and advertise their properties on the net.

You can be sure the estate agent is a trustworthy estate agent because they have to obey AMLA´s rules and regulations.

If you are interested in buying a Spanish property AMLA is worth looking at, although they offer properties all over Spain, their main concentration of properties is in the Costa Blanca area.

Altea, Benidorm, Torrevieja, Calpe and Moraira are the famous coast towns where you can find a property for each budget.

Take a look at AMLAspain.com and you will not regret it!!

Benidorm Apartments

12rent has got a lot more Benidorm Apartments for rent by Folies Vacances, a very professional renting agency in Benidorm.

All the apartments are in mint condition and just very close to the sea and beach. Most of the apartments are fond close to Benidorm´s Ricon de Loix, where is also the famous Benidorm Palace and the waterpark Aqualandia.

Folies Vacances has a very professional crew waiting to help you with any questions regarding the apartments, Benidorm itself or any other aspects of your Benidorm Holidays.

Costa Blanca Holidays: Finding a nice restaurant

At the moment you are enjoying your well deserved Costa Blanca holiday, after the fist couple of days in your holiday villa or apartment you might wonder, where to find a nice restaurant at the Costa Blanca ?

The first part of the evening you will have to search a nice restaurant, if you are in Altea, or if you want to visit this beautiful place, you will find some very nice restaurants.

If you don’t want to spend a lot of money, there is a very nice restaurant at the first line of the beach in Altea called “Tutti Frutti”, you can gat a pizza, but I really would advice a very nice salad, served in an eatable bowl, the menus are good priced and very nice. From the terrace you can overlook the Mediterranean, which will provide you with a nice cool breeze.

Near the Altea church, moving down from the churches square in the direction of the Sierra Bernia Mountain you will find a busy street with some very nice restaurants. In “Estromboli” you can eat very good Italian food and they have very nice smashed tomato sauce, from grandfathers own garden.

At the other side of the street you have the very nice restaurant “Ousteau”, which is brilliantly decorated and has a fantastic ambiance. The very friendly staff will guide you to your table, which with nice warm weather can be on a cosy outside terrace, but always will be nice situated. The food is very good, you can choose from a “Hollywood” card, making you doubt between a “Al Pachino” steak or a “Marlin Monroe” salad…

If you would like to spend some more, enjoying the good gastronomic life I will advice the restaurant “el Nuevo Alcazar” in La Nucia. A really good restaurant managed by people crazy about food.

Also a very high standard you will find at the restaurant “La Fusion” and “Los Dos Lunas” in el Albir, 2 more to put on your list to try.

If you like to have something tipical Spanish, Benidorm is the place to be.. In the old town of Benidorm there is a special street with a lot of typical “tapas” bars, here you will find the Spanish people enjoying all kinds of small snacks and nice wines.

Of course you will find as well Mc Donald’s as Burger king in Benidorm, but it is not recommended to go there unless you can’t really stop yourself. The Spanish food is really great to try, like a good paella you can try it in the “Chiringuito” in the beach of Albir, where the Spanish are all at large tables eating the paella. For those who absolutely despise of seafood there is a special paella type called “a banda” and one with only vegetables. Also there is a very large grill were they prepare some giant steaks.

Anyway, it’s the golden rule to see if a restaurant is good, look if there are enough Spanish people sitting there!!!

Enjoy your meal!!

Holidays in Benidorm

One of the most favourite destinations in Spain is Benidorm. With hundreds of thousands of visitors in the summer months and more and more visitors during the winter months.

In the summer Benidorm is filled with life and joy, you can always find something to do at the beach and the large beaches make sure everybody has his or her own spot and if you don´t want to be packed all together you can go to the Levante beach where there is always plenty of place.

The last few years another beach, la cala de Finestrat at the south of Benidorm went to an extremely fast development with lots of new holiday apartments being build, so if you are going to rent an apartment there it could get a little crowded on the small beach. One of the nicest beaches to be is there just around the corner, at the end of the Poniente beach, called la playa de Benidorm.

The great advantage of the Benidorm beach is that in the winter you can even go to the beach while in other parts of Spain it is impossible. The temperature at the beaches of Benidorm is always a few degrees up compared with surrounding beaches, like Calpe, Altea or Villajoyossa. The first reason is because the whole valley in which Benidorm lies has a micro-climate and is already always warmer than the rest of Spain. The other reason is because the beach of Benidorm is very much south facing, and with over 300 high buildings reflecting the sun and blocking cold winds from the north it explains a lot.

The development in the Benidorm area was tremendous over the last few years. A wonderful family-park called Terra Mitica was realized behind Benidorm. It now also holds a Golf course and an outside zoo called Terra Natura. Of course there are the classic attractions like the wonderful water park Aqualandia and the water-ski track at the levante beach.

At night, you will not get bored. Although the town hall made a very big mistake illuminating the enormous Benidorm Boulevard with fluorescent white light, so everybody looks a little bit pale, and the boulevard most of the time is being flocked by elderly Spanish couples in the winter, Benidorm nightlife has many faces. With numerous pubs and bars with entertainment in English it is not very difficult to find yourself at home. If you would like to “taste” the real Spain you can go to the old town where there is a special street where the Spaniards eat there “tapas” every day at about 20:00 you can walk over the heads so many people and such a good atmosphere! If you are young, just shaved off all your hair because all your friends did you might like to go to “the English street” where there are a lot of bars and discos for equally minded. At the beach there are the more classic bars and discos like Penelope and KM.

Renting an apartment is easy, but not very cheap. Buying an apartment in Benidorm is really crazy, because prices have gone up so much…