Cool Costa, Andalucía Day… and Antonio Banderas
Long-time residents and regular visitors already know it: Spain is one of the world’s most appealing holiday and residential-tourism destinations. It is always pleasing, however, for our rosy view of the country – and specifically the Costa del Sol – to be confirmed by authoritative international observers.
Spain has once again ranked highly (14th) in the third annual Expat Insider worldwide survey, which offers an in-depth analysis of everyday expat life in more than 60 countries across the globe. Over 14,000 respondents representing 174 nationalities and 191 countries or territories took part and had their say on moving, living and working abroad. Spain was the fifth-ranked European country after Malta, Austria, Luxembourg and Czech Republic, on a list topped by Taiwan.
Spain was one place higher (13th) in the latest HSBC annual expat explorer report, which looked at the best places in the world to live for foreigners. The ranking was headed by Singapore. The report concluded, “Despite its poor economy rankings, Spain continues to be a popular expat destination. And rightfully so — it's ranked second for experience and fourth for raising a family. Did we mention it's number one for social life?” As one expat noted, "I have lived in the south of Spain for seven years and I love it. The pace of life, the weather, the people, everything."
Meanwhile, Antequera in the northern part of Málaga province has been included in the New York Times’ “52 Places To Go” list for 2017. The only other Spanish destination listed was Madrid (highlighting its “way beyond tapas” international dining experience).
As for Antequera, the newspaper asked, “Does Spain have its own Stonehenge?” And the answer… “The region of Andalucía in southern Spain has a new — but very old — archaeological gem to celebrate: A site in the town of Antequera that is home to ancient dolmens, megalithic tombs built from massive stones believed to be over 5,000 years old. In July (2016), three of these well-preserved monuments, along with two nearby mountains, received UNESCO World Heritage status, and the area is now primed for exploration.”
Antequera is also well known as the geographical centre of Andalucía. Well, sort of. A report by the Geographic Institute earlier this year noted that the more precise centre is the Córdoba municipality of Monturque (population: 2,000), but Antequera is nearby and local tourism authorities still like to cling to their claim for understandable marketing purposes.
So why do we mention this? Because next Tuesday (28 February) is Andalucía Day – and Antonio Banderas has just been named as the second “most-representative” personality in the region’s history.
The Málaga-born actor garnered 11.3 per cent of the votes in a survey by the Centre for Andalucian Studies, behind number one Blas Infante (considered the “father of Andalucian nationalism”) and ahead of third-placed guitar maestro Paco de Lucía.
A diverse calendar of events will be held around the region on Tuesday to mark the day but we thought we would focus on just one, as it is just around the corner from Banderas’s penthouse in Málaga city. The Museo Picasso Málaga will be organising an open day on the 28th, with entry free for the public from 10am to 6pm.
In the meantime, we can admire the picture-postcard beauty of our featured properties of the week, a magnificent villa project just across the highway from Banderas’s other home in Los Monteros (Marbella) and priced at €2.1 million.
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Picasso Museum[/caption]
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