Thursday, April 26, 2007

Spain´s Little England





Following our language failure in South America we wanted somewhere cheap and comfortable to spend a couple of weeks working through a Spanish language course. That is how we ended up with a last minute deal with First Choice in a massive complex near Torremolinos.

The place it self is very comfortable in a guarded complex. Everything is English and everyone speaks excellent English, accept many of the guests. It is set in a part of Spain that itself is so English that they even publish the Sun newspaper.

This whole coast has been destroyed by Spain´s mad building boom. Every bit of space has been built on with no thought as to architectural merit or creation of communities. For long stretches there are no shops, bars or restaurants. The prices are very high, you can easily pay half a million pounds for a 3 bed apartment overlooking the sea and one of Spain´s busiest roads.

We were wondering what happens when the bubble bursts when it did just that. It had become obvious that supply had outstripped demand and papers and television was suddenly full of stories of falling building shares and properties being 30% overpriced

Our next stop is Seville. Our knowledge of Spanish is vastly improved but we still cant speak it