The Word on the Street - News and Information from Spain

News and Information from Spain

International Edition - September 2016

Welcome to the September issue of 'The Word on the Street'. This is your monthly news and information from Spain provided by Ábaco Advisers. We hope to keep you in touch with the news, events and just a little bit of gossip.

Beware of this scam

Beware of this scam

Money Saver Spain often has good ideas for ways of saving money but it is also a useful source of information about other aspects of living in Spain too. Recently they posted details of a scam  that is doing the rounds offering €250 Mercadona supermarket vouchers if you answer a few questions for them. 

Money Saver Spain remind us that you can hover over a link with your mouse to see exactly where the link will take you or use a free link checker such as Norton Safe Web. For this and other pieces of advice and information:

Read the article

How much do you tip?

How much do you tip?

It can be a controversial subject. Should you tip and by how much if you do? There are those who say that 10% is a standard amount. Others that you should only tip for outstanding service. Some that dining out is expensive enough as it is.

Doubts about how much to tip are also fuelled by the uncertainty about who actually takes the proceeds. Will it really go to the person serving you or into a pot to share out? Or will it be the management who benefit?

In Spain there can be an assumption that whatever a waiter is paid by the restaurant can be doubled through tips, at least in the summer season. That is, according to this article, if your hostelry isn’t one only frequented by Spaniards:

Read the article

Great quality of life but low wages

Great quality of life but low wages

That’s one of the conclusions of the HSBC survey of its workforce living abroad. Spain comes out top in a couple of categories but is brought right to the bottom of the chart when it comes to money.

You can look at the survey itself which also includes some rather interesting graphs and visual presentations of how countries compare:

Read the survey

We’ve also done our own summary on Spain Explained, Abaco Adviser’s web page with information about living in Spain:

Read our article
 

A story of treasure and ambush

A story of treasure and ambush

Such is the story of Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes, a Spanish ship sunk by the British in an ambush at the beginning of the 19th century. It has captured the imagination of those studying the progress of the relocation of its treasure to Spain and the further research that continues into this famous shipwreck.

Murcia Today summarises the story for us:

Read the article

Read this article to find out more about the ARQUA museum in which the coins are currently kept: 

Read the article

What to do about dogs

What to do about dogs

Barking dogs, dog poo and now dog wee. There is no doubt that man’s best friend can turn out not to be welcome in some quarters at all. The difficulties they can cause are also sometimes topped with confusion about what the law actually says when it comes to dangerous dogs and dog ownership. We try to cover just a few of your concerns in our article:

Read our article

Murcia Today also informs us of an interesting project in Murcia, but will it make a difference?:

Read the article

Check the cost of your taxi

Check the cost of your taxi

Money Saver Spain has published a link to a rather interesting website if you want to know more about the cost of your taxi. It gives you the tarifs of taxis right across Spain. So, for example in Alicante during the day you can expect to pay €1.06 per kilometre and €1.22 at night. The minimum payment is €4 during the day and €5.05 at night:

Visit the website

Could this theme park actually happen?

Could this theme park actually happen?

Since our newsletter began in 2010 we have occasionally made reference to the possibility of the Murcian amusement park, Paramount, actually being built. Along with Corvera airport, its future has always hung in the balance.

Although most people have now given up hope of the Paramount project  ever opening there is news that another attraction is being planned; this time in the north of the country. The Local tells us about Spain’s Ferrari Land and plans for the highest and fastest rollercoaster in Europe. Let’s hope it has more luck than its proposed predecessor:

Read the article

Expat experience

Expat experience

Whether you’re an expat or not, you might be interested to read some, or all, of the 100 interviews of those who’ve made the move. Angloinfo has just published its 100th interview of an expat on its website.

The interviews are based on the same questions but provide some interesting insight into the motives and experiences of those who have moved from one country to live in another. There are a wide variety of destinations mentioned and it is interesting to note how many people are accustomed to moving country more than once:

Read the article

Keep yourself informed on a weekly basis

Keep yourself informed on a weekly basis

Murcia Today can be recommended for many different reasons but what you might not know is they also provide an excellent weekly round up of what’s happening in Spain. If you want to keep in touch with national Spanish news then this comes highly recommended.

This is the round up for the week ending 23rd September:

Visit the newsletter

Please think about disabled pedestrians

Please think about disabled pedestrians

It’s been pointed out to us by one of our readers just how difficult it is to negotiate pavements as a pedestrian in Spain, particularly if you have to use a wheelchair. Heavy doors on buildings, tables and chairs on pavements outside cafes and trees and lamposts all make the job of finding your way around almost impossible in the majority of Spanish towns.

Thanks to Sheila for raising this point and her suggestion that every mayor and planning officer should spend at least one day in a wheelchair to see how it feels when there are so many obstacles in your way. Unfortunately, we don’t think any of them read our newsletter. But you never know...

10 best party beach towns

10 best party beach towns

Whether you are into beach parties or not, you might be interested to read about which ten towns Oyster.com have come up with. Not surprisingly there are two Spanish destinations that feature. However, there are also some that you might never have heard of before:

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What interests you?

What interests you?

We would welcome any suggestions for future themes you would like us to cover either in the newsletter or in an article on Spain Explained.

Please let us know by email at newsletter@abacoadvisers.com.

Thank you!