Spanish Travel News - November Edition

Dear {!firstname_fix},

Good news for Spanish Airports as the Government has announced its funding in 2008. The highest investment of €698.6 million goes to El Prat in Barcelona: €504.6 million goes to Madrid Barajas Airport and Malaga Pablo Picasso Airport gets €360 million for a total of 26 projects including a second runway, new terminal and new northern access.

Below is the latest information on new routes, developments and changes at Spanish Airports.If you are thinkIng of coming to Spain for a winter break and are in search of some sunshine, the table below might be of some help as it details the average temperatures of Spanish cities (provincial and island capitals). We have also provided a list of the Spanish public holidays for the rest of the year so you can see what the festivals represent and when the shops are likely to be closed.

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

Gary Ingram

Easyjet has just announced that it has purchased GB Airways, which is a handling agent and subsidiary of British Airways based at Gatwick Airport. This means that from March 30th 2008 British Airways will take over the Malaga Airport operation of its two flights a day to Heathrow and one to Gatwick as well as routes into Gibraltar.

There is no immediate plan to alter flights into Gibraltar, but during next summer Easyjet will be undertaking a profitability and viability study which suggests that the flights to and from the Rock may be reduced. The good news is that British Airways intends to start its own service from Gatwick to Gibraltar next year.

The first stone for the new private airport which is planned for Antequera will be laid in 2009 with the expectation that it will open in 2010. It is believed it will generate €180 million per annum with passenger volume expected to reach two million 10 years after the airport starts operating.

Malaga Airport has been overtaken by Barcelona with the number of passengers using cheap flights. The increase at El Prat has been due to the arrival of Clickair,which is a subsidiary of the Spanish national airline Iberia. Palma de Mallorca continues to hold the record for the number of "no frills" passengers

Jet2.com has just launched a new route from Madrid to Leeds which starts in May 2008. Tickets are already on sale and start at just €22.70.

We have just received a report from one of our readers who has just got back from this area (October 2007). They drove all round the airport perimeter fence and two large cranes are now in place to commence building and car park area is clearly outlined and levelled. There are also signs up at J44 AP7 announcing new link road - C13 - to airport. This has not started yet but there is some work nearer to airport site up the road from Torreblanca. So maybe it is happening!

Stop press: We have just head that the project for Corvera has been delivered to the regional government and should be with the Development Ministry in early December. The Murcia government’s public works chief, has confirmed that the project for the new Murcia International Airport has now been delivered to the regional government, and is expected to be sent on to the Development Ministry at the beginning of next month. He said it appears likely that construction could start in the first quarter of 2008, for completion at the beginning of 2010.

The contract to build and manage the new airport was signed at the end of July: awarding the 40 year management concession to the Aeromur S.A. consortium. The Murcia President announced at the time that Castellon will have an initial annual operating capacity of 1.5 million passengers to increase up to 5.2 million by 2015.

The following notable dates leading up to Christmas and New Year in Spain are as follows:

December 6th - Constitution day

December 8th - Immaculate Conception which marks the beginning of the religious Christmas celebrations.

21st December - In a few cities including Granada the celebration of Hogueras (bonfires) takes place. This date marks the winter solstice (shortest day) and where it is celebrated involves people jumping through fires to protect themselves against illness.

22nd December –Spanish  people never stray far from a TV or radio as the Christmas lottery is drawn. Everybody in Spain buys tickets for this lottery in the hope of winning El Gordo (the fat one) and the winning number usually means that a good number of people from the same village become a lot better off overnight. Besides the big three prizes there are thousands of smaller prizes shared by people all over Spain.

24th December - Christmas Eve is called Nochebuena (Goodnight) and it is the most important family gathering of the year. In the evening people often meet early for a few drinks with friends then return home to enjoy a meal with the family. Most bars and restaurants close in the evening. Prawn starters followed by roast lamb would be a typical meal rounded off with a typically Christmas sweet called turrón which is a nougat made of toasted sweet almonds. Another typical festive sweet is called Polvorones which is made from almonds, flour and sugar. Cava is the chosen drink for the Christmas toast though plenty fine Spanish wines are also consumed with the meal.

25th December - children may receive a small gift on Nochebuena or on this morning but the day for presents is 6th January (Epiphany) when the Three Kings bring gifts. Christmas Day is a national holiday in Spain so the shops are closed but it is not a day of great celebration but when people go out for a walk or drop into a bar. Another large family meal at lunch time is common, although it is becoming quite usual to see families eating out on the afternoon of Christmas day.

28th December is the day of Santos Inocentes (Holy Innocents) and is the equivalent of April Fools' Day when people play practical jokes on one another.. In some villages the children light bonfires and one of them acts as the mayor ordering townspeople to carry out civic tasks such as sweeping the streets. Refusal to comply results in fines which are used to pay for the celebration.

31st December New Year's Eve (Noche Vieja) is a big celebration all over the country Until midnight people tend to stay home and on the stroke of midnight it is traditional to eat 12 grapes, (one on each stroke of the clock) to bring good luck for the New Year. 1st January - A low key public holiday with plenty people sleeping off their excesses.

5th January - processions all over Spain where sweets are thrown from the floats. Every town has its own variation: in the Sierra Nevada the Three Kings ski down to the village.

6th January - Feast of the Epiphany when the Three Kings arrived in Bethlehem. For Spanish children this is the most important day of the year when they wake up to find that Los Reyes Magos (the Three Kings) have left gifts for them.

We are still receiving a large number of requests for information on our message board, and again we ask that you 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. One of this month's articles was submitted by a newsletter subscriber.