Resort ‘con artist’ get a break

Trader, residents and hoteliers along the Playa de Palma were stunned yesterday by the news that the restraining order on ‘con men’ was revoked. Last year the Mayor of Palma, Matey Isern, as highly praised for the touch stance he took on a combating the con artist or “trileros” as they are know locally.  In response to mounting tension between traders, local residents, the con artists and also illegal street vendors, Mayor Isern not only stepped up the number of police patrols and police on the beat, but also issued a restraining order which banned the street vendors and the con artists from going within 500 metres of the seafront promenade and the bulk of holiday makers.  But, with the summer season about to get into full swing, it appears that the prosecution service has decided to revoke the restraining order, much to the shock of the local community.  In response, Palma City Council is drawing up fresh legislation in order to continue the fight against the illegal trades including immediate confiscation of their goods, games and takings. The Palma Hotel Association has also said it too intends to take action to challenge the ruling. Mallorca estate agents have made representation to local police to have more presense in local supermarket carparks and busy tourist carparks such as in Puerto Andratx, Camp de Mar, San Telmo / Sant Elm & Puerto Portals

Posted in News | Leave a comment

Humphrey Carter says “Honour your pledge Mr. Balearic President”

President Jose Ramon Bauza was full of praise for the nautical industry yesterday, but we’ve heard it before. The 30th Palma Boat Show was opened by the Balearic President Yesterday while over 2,500 people marched through Palma calling for him to resign. And, in his opening speech he championed the nautical industry and the importance it has in the Balearic islands as a creator of jobs and wealth. Yes, we, and the nautical industry in particular is well aware of that, it has been for years considering the Palma‘s boatyards and it’s professional staff are considered some of the best in the Mediterranean. What the local nautical industry wants, and Bauza knows having made a great effort to show a deep interest in the industry’s problems, is more marinas, less legislation and the scrapping of the matriculation tax which has all but crippled the charter industry and costs the Balearic islands an estimated 600 million euros in lost business every year. So, if Bauza is as proud of the local nautical industry as he claims to be, he knows what to do, honor his words. There is no point in trying to appease the nautical industry because much of it is run by foreign professional who have worked all over the world and have an international clientele. With all due respects, President Bauza may think he can kid the local closed shop business community in which everyone knows each other, but he would be best advised not to mess with the nautical word. Yacht owners contribute valuable income for Mallorca in particular and even the Mallorca real estate industry enjoys the benefits.

Posted in News | Leave a comment

German and Spanish bid to develop a new Mallorca casino

Palma de Mallorca – offers to create a new casino are flying according to the authorities after the approval of a new government law. So far three companies have shown interest in building and running a new gaming establishment and have presented a formal bit to the Business and Trade department. The Nervion group, from Guillemot Alomar, who already owns the Casino Mallorca at Porto Pi in Palma, is according to press reports, the one in a better position to win the contest due to their location in Palma. The project will see the creation of a 5 star hotel and casino with 19 playing tables and 150 slot machines. German group Merkur, involved in the island through the Dosniha company, wants to create a casino next to the Bendinat castle and to invest a sum of over 10 million euros in the project. The third bid is from the Bingo Teatro Balearic, property of businessman Eusebio Cano, who intends to invest in the creation of facilities for 15 playing tables and 100 games machines. Authorities have said the new gaming laws was a created “to meet the demand of Tourism and Gaming departments who represent business proposals with immense quality and vision to generate economic resources outside Mallorca‘s high season by trying to attract clientele with higher spending power.” The government is waiting for more bits to arrive and are hoping to take a decision before September. Will it encourage Chinese investors to buy property in Mallorca, they are big gamblers.

Posted in News | Leave a comment

2,130 year old bones find their final resting Mallorca place

Palma de Mallorca – A team of archaeologists are unearthing some bones on a site in Palma. After being investigated by the Guardia Civil to eliminate the possibility of a recent crime, a bone was sent to America for ‘carbon dating’ which was returned with an estimated 2,130 year old tag, in other words Phoenician, around 150 years BC. The body posture and the place it was found inside the site has lead to a great deal of interest not only with the team in Palma led by archaeologist Ramon Martin Gordon, but a professor from Oxford University claims that there are no other known Phoenician bones in such an interesting position. At that time they were usually cremated. A further specialist in forensic studies from Madrid has identified these same bones as those of a young male about 25 years old, he has various caries in his teeth and signs of early cancer in his jaw bone. The first stages of the unearthing discovered a thorn from a “manta ray” between the ribs that could have possible caused the death by going through the liver. This all reads like a Medieval ‘who done it’
The remains are about to be moved from where he fell or was buried, who can tell?
The final resting place will be in the Mallorca Museum, when the field works ends. This is a five year work project and soon will start a crowd funding project to be able to finish on this unique Phoenician site.

Posted in News | Leave a comment

The Moscow Museum of Modern Art opens a exhibition dedicated to Joan Miró

The Joan Miró Imagery exhibition will feature some of his 200 works from the Pila and Joan Miró Foundation in Palma where the Catalan artist spent most of his life until he died on the island. Objects of art from the Foundation include a mix of paintings, sculptures, ceramics and illustrations. The exhibition, which also includes photographs and documentary films, will also include a mockup of Miró’s studio and will remain open until June 10.The exhibition will be the first time that Russians will be able to enjoy a major exhibition of the works of Miró.    Mallorca real estate agents expect this exhibition to create more interest in buying property in Mallorca.  For some time now Russians have been keen purchasers of villas in Mallorca.

April 2013

Posted in News | Leave a comment

Mallorca to become the real nautical deal

Palma and Port Adriano will welcome some of the finest yachts in the World.
Palma – Mallorca will be a real nautical centre when it hosts both the Port Adriano Superyacht Days and the 30th edition of the Boat Show Palma next week.
From the 1st until the 5th of May you will have the chance to see some of the finest boats and superyachts in the world at the Palma event, where over 80 staff
are working to ensure stands, displays and infrastructures are in place on time for the opening.
Organisers expect scores of boats, up to a size of 35 metres, to be display over a space of 38,500 square metres between land and water. They had initially
expected to put in place just 35 moorings but this has now been extended.
Port Adriano – Meanwhile, Port Adriano is getting ready for the second edition of Superyacht Days Show. Different nautical companies will display their current models inviting existing and future clients to have a closer look at their beautiful yachts of all sizes.
Unforgetable -The organising team hopes to create an “unforgetable” event for everyone. As in the past the event has the support of important brands like Sunseeker Mallorca, Princess, First Mallorca the leading Mallorca estate agents, Yachting Partners International, Fipa Group, Frauscher, Yacht Moments and BMW. The show will take place between the 3rd and 5th of May.

Puerto Adriano
*Superyacht Days at Puerto Adriano
*May 3 until 5 (Open all day)
*Organiser expect up to 30 major yachts in the event
*There will also be a series of events taking place including the opening of an art exhibition and a luxury shoe boutique
*There will also be parties and receptions at restaurants and bars in the port during the event

Palma Boat Show
*Palma Floating Boat Show:
*from may 1 to the 5 in the Moll Vell in the Port of Palma
*Opening times: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. (except on May 3) when it will be open later for a series of concerts and late evening events.
* A large number of stands
*Also, there will be nautical exhibition for children

Posted in News | Leave a comment

Number of German & British residents fall

A local Mallorca newspaper reported the number of German and British residents living in the Balearic islands have fallen. There are now 29,934 Germans registered with the local Balearic councils and 21,918 British. This figure does not of course represent the actual number of either German or British living enjoying their property in Mallorca, Menorca or Ibiza as many, who are not in employment or own a business, bother to register. This is the first time in recent Balearic history that the number has declined. The drop has been blamed on the recession and the lack of jobs. However, the Mallorca real estates sector remains in very good health as more and more people are lured to the delights of a Mediterranean lifestyle.

 

Posted in News | Leave a comment

Palma de Mallorca – UNESCO award for the Majorca Daily Bulletin publisher

The UNESCO centre in Palma presented on Monday 22nd April 2013, their Picasso medal to the publisher of Mallorca’s daily English language newspaper, Pedro Serra. The award is for his work in the world of art, culture and publishing. The actual Picasso medal is the work of Joan Miro, earlier a close friend of Pedro Serra. in his acceptance speech the Majorca Bulletin publisher thanked UNESCO and said that he would present them with a copy of his book Miro and Mallorca which has been published in various language. First Mallorca has enjoyed a long time cooperation with the Daily Bulletin and every issue has the companies Mallorca real estate ads which show Mallorca properties for sale throughout the island.

Posted in News | Leave a comment

On April 25th – Spain admits recession worse than expected

Madrid – Spain acknowledged that its economy would shrink more than initially expected in 2013 and its budget deficit would be higher than promised, but the European Union gave it more time to bring the shortfall back down to bloc limits. The Spanish Prime Minister, who was a keen advocate of austerity in his first year in power, has tried since February to find a middle way in the argument over Europe’s economic future between the pro-austerity and pro-growth camps. Officials began to sketch out a reform plan aimed at returning Spain to growth but details remained thin, with the government saying there is no real need to pass major new structural measures, tax hikes and spending cuts to meet new targets.
Madrid.  Widely written about is the property slump in mainland Spain, Fortunately the Mallorca real estate scene has no relevance to the downturn being experienced in the mainland.

Posted in News | Leave a comment

Palma de Mallorca to be the capital of nautical cinema

Palma is getting ready to host the second nautical-themed film festival Val Maremostra which this year features a vast international selection of films. The second addition of the international festival will commence on Saturday May 4th in the Teatre Principal in the centre of Palma with screenings in English, Spanish and Catalan. this year the theme will be the sea and its relation with other activities such as environmental health, sports, gastronomy, science, commercial cinema and political activation. At a press conference in Port Adriano, festival directors Cristina Gomez, Alvaro Iglesias and Angel Puig announced some of the main changes of this years’s programme. Full length films will be accompanied by “Windows Phone Short Clips” and live cooking competitions, presentations, press conferences, concerts, work shops and “Cientific Coffee shops” and meeting points for investigators, producers, chefs, sports fans and general public. Films fans will have the opportunity to see publications like Fish Flight, The Whale, Sharks of lost island, Beyond pollution or Surfing with sharks, Chasing Mavericks, Raw and Big Miracle, all of them award winning movies which will delight most water sports enthusiasts and this concerned with the protection and management of the marine environment. The event, supported this year by the San Francisco Ocean Film and Sitges festival will be based mainly at the Es Baluard Museum of Contemporary and Modern Art and Cineciutat (on Monday May 8th only) and at the Teatre Principal in Palma city where the award for the best Balearic production and closing ceremony on the 11th with take place.
Palma de Mallorca

Posted in News | Leave a comment