Spanish Travel News - December Edition

Dear {!firstname_fix},

We make no apologies for this newsletter being geared towards Christmas as we are regularly asked how the Spanish traditionally celebrate the festive season. Our November newsletter gave the holidays and religious dates, so this month we give you more information on Spanish celebrations as well as some of the best places to shop either before or after Christmas. Nearly all of the sales in Spain start after the Three King's Celebration (Twelfth Night) on Monday 7th January. They are well worth visiting as they offer real reductions and some incredible bargains can be had.

Some great news for travellers is that the new high speed AVE railway line between Madrid and Malaga is due to start operating just before Christmas and we have provided more details in this newsletter.

The best way to get around mainland Spain, the Balearic or Canary Islands is to hire a car. So if you are coming to Spain over the next couple of months and haven't booked your hire car yet you can get a Free Car Hire Quote Here

Our next newsletter will reach you in the New Year, so in the meantime everyone at the Spanish Airport Guide would like to wish you a Happy Christmas and punctual, stress free travel in the New Year!

Gary Ingram

Why not spend Xmas in our own 1 bedroom apartment! If its sunny you could even swim in the heated pool!

You are welcome to come and stay for as little as 3 days to as long as 3 months!

If you would like more information and photographs on the apartment then please click here!

www.lamaestranza.eu

Dinner on Christmas Eve( La Noche Buena or “The Good Night”) is the biggest meal of the year in Spain, but you will not see any turkey here, with. lobster being very common and a roast of some sort is essential (usually lamb or suckling pig). Most families will also have soup (usually fish), seafood, cheeses, hams and pates. Dinner starts late at about 10.00 pm and will go on for a couple of hours. In Spanish, Christmas Eve is called and in Spain it is celebrated with a large family feast that is eaten late in the evening and lasts a couple hours. Christmas Eve is also a time for celebration in neighborhood bars and taverns , but not a time for exchanging gifts which has to wait until Epiphany on January 6th which is a religious holiday.

Spanish food at Christmas comes into its own with sweets, fabulous mandarins, walnuts and dates. Some of the delicacies you will see on offer in the shops include:

• Turron (nougat) of which are many varieties, with the most famous being Jijona (softer variety.) and Alicante hard nougat.
• Mazapan (traditional marzipan) and a variety called Yemo which is made with egg and a speciality of Avila.
• Polvorones, Deseadas & Mantecados - small crumbly almond biscuits & cakes.
• Rosquillos de Vino - biscuit rings flavoured with anise and wine and traditionally accompanied by a glass of Anise liqueur

It can be very difficult to get a meal in a restaurant on Christmas Eve unless you book well in advance. Christmas Day is easier, but pre-booking is still necessary.

If you are planning on cooking your own Christmas meal here then turkeys are much more widely available than they used to be, and some of the more English biased supermarkets (like SuperSol) also sell ready made mince pies, sage and onion stuffing, sausage meat and Christmas puddings.

A recent survey reported that over seven in ten people still have more than 50% of their annual leave to use up before January 1st 2008 - suggesting that many may be planning a yuletide getaway. If you are coming to Spain over Christmas remember not to wrap any presents you might carry in your hand luggage. Wrapping presents in carry-on luggage is not allowed because all items should be accessible in the event of any security inspection.

Christmas also sees many passengers transporting crackers in their baggage - another forbidden item in hold and cargo bags!

The Malaga Airport development plan which comprises 40 different projects is now one third complete. The Spanish Airport's Director General has just confirmed that the new terminal is 80% complete and construction work will be finished by September 2008. It will double the passenger capacity and be inaugurated in the second half of 2009.

Due to the expansion works being carried out at Malaga airport temporary traffic modifications are being made on roads around the airport terminals. Traffic has been divided on the departures level, leaving two lanes for public transport traffic and stops, and an additional two lanes for passenger drop-off and collection in private vehicles. The last lane is used to enter and exit the P2 car park.

These works also affect the car parks, and in addition to P2 (Terminal 2), there are more parking spaces in P1, opposite Terminal 1. There are two new free car parks: P3 and P4. P3, located beside the aeronautic activities area, offering a free bus service to the T-1 and T-2 passenger terminals. Malaga Airport now has over 4,300 parking spaces, distributed as follows: P1 (1,486 spaces), P2 (667 spaces), P3 (800 spaces) and P4 (1,400).

Tickets for the new AVE high speed train line from Malaga to Madrid are now on sale. The service starts operating on 23rd December and means that you will be able to get to Madrid in less than two hours 30 minutes. For more details read our article on the new Maria Zambrano station in Malaga which details the various fares and all the new routes.

As we have already mentioned, the sales in Spain offer some really worthwhile bargains. The winter sales (rebajas) start after 6th January and last until the end of February when discounts of between 20%-50% are offered and towards the end of the sale period they can be as high as 70% .

We have reviewed the major cities of Barcelona, Madrid, Seville and Valencia and provided details of the best places to hunt for bargains. So if you are planning a weekend shopping trip to Spain before or after Christmas click on the city links above to find out more

Even though we are now in the low season for travel to Spain we are still receiving a steady flow of requests for information on our message board. Between the Christmas and New Year holiday period this free service will be reduced so please give us as much as notice as possible if you need information on bus and train timetables in order to plan your journey as they can sometimes take some time to find.

And please carry on sending your travel tips or advice as we can pass them on to other travellers and include them in our monthly newsletter.