We’ve just heard on the grapevine that Marbella is being shown in all its glory in this week’s Hello! magazine, which hit the UK newsstands on Tuesday. So, thanks to respected Marbella-based international PR company, Media Machine International – run by journalist, editor and all-round PR and media guru Louise Cook Edwards – no fewer than one million readers will be lapping up the resort’s winter sun in a fabulous 4-page fashion spread featuring celebrity Harleymoon Kemp, which was shot earlier this month in seven stunning Marbella locations, including the 5-star Don Carlos Resort.

Ever since launching Media Machine International back in 2000, indefatigable Louise and her team have been focused on ensuring that Marbella, and leading businesses on the Costa del Sol, are seen and promoted in all the very best places.

Louise Cook Edwards launched Media Machine International in 2000.

So if you’d like to raise your company’s press profile, distribute your news and stay ahead of the pack by reaching new clients around Europe before your competitors, contact Media Machine International on T. +34 952 882 988 or email: louise@mmi4.com.

Cats and Withoos: Falling model, Venice

Just eight weeks on from its inaugural ‘Identity’ exhibition, the Red Penguin Gallery’s latest offering – ‘Carnival of the Artists’ – takes its inspiration from the Venice Carnival and runs from 15 February – 21 March.

A visual feast loosely focused on the themes of Carnival, circus, parties and Venice…

Continue Reading

Red Bull's RB8 unveiled at the Jerez Racetrack

Wish I could have posted this on the VIVA blog sooner, but I only found about it today when I was browsing Spanish daily El Mundo while tucking into my lunchtime sandwich.

Better late than never though, because from Tuesday 7 February until Friday 10 February, eleven of the grid’s twelve F1 teams are putting their all-new, lean, mean, racing machines through their paces at the pre-season testing ground in Jerez, ahead of the first fixture on the calendar which takes place in Australia on 18 March. And as most of Europe seems to be blanketed in ice and snow, they couldn’t have chosen a better place…

Continue Reading

OK, so for ‘cats’ read British expats and if you really want to split hairs, well 75.9% is admittedly a whisker or two less than the actual figure. But before you think I’ve lost the plot, I’ll explain…

A recent survey for Telegraph Expat shows that when 1,000 British citizens were asked to rate their overseas homes in the top 10 most popular expat destinations, on factors ranging from quality of life to the cost of living, no fewer than 75.9 per cent – the highest score – said they were happier in Spain than in Britain…

Continue Reading

One of the many truly amazing things about living on – or visiting – the Costa del Sol, is that it’s one of only a handful of places around the world where in winter you can snowboard or ski on snowy slopes in the morning… and chill out on the beach or by the pool in the afternoon! Yep, it’s only a 2-hour drive to the Sierra Nevada where this Saturday – 28 January – around 50 of the best national and European riders will be taking part in the Bond Sulayr Show 2012, celebrating the opening of the new halfpipe billed as this season’s major attraction at the Snowpark Sulayr.

Measuring 165 metres long, 18 metres wide and with an inclination of 35%, it’s the biggest halfpipe in Spain and will be hosting various official tournaments and competitions, including the Snowboard Junior World Championships taking place in March of this year.

The Snowpark Sulayr halfpipe

Weather permitting, the Bond Sulayr Show 2012 kicks off at 10am in the Montebajo area with various slope style expression sessions as well as a spectacular exhibition you definitely won’t want to miss.

If you haven’t been to the Sierra Nevada – Europe’s southernmost winter sports resort – then you haven’t lived! The main hub, Pradollano (2,100 metres above sea level), has a great alpine feel to it, with plenty of bars, restaurants, hotels, self-catering accommodation and sports and leisure activities, so why not make a weekend of it?

Pradollano - Europe's southernmost winter sports resort

Nope, we’re not talking celebrity-spotting in Puerto Banús. Nor even all those major international names headlining at gigs, concerts and shows on the Costa del Sol throughout the year. The stargazing I’m on about is of the celestial variety, because the astronomy sessions being held at the Observatory right in the middle of the magical and mysterious El Torcal Nature Reserve mean you can enjoy close encounters with stars, constellations, Jupiter, Venus and more on Saturday 21 and 28 January from 8pm to 10pm…

Continue Reading

98-year-old Doña Antonia plants an almond tree at The People's Forest in Marbella

The International Year of the Forest was drawing to a close when Marbella’s oldest resident – 98-year-old Antonia Aranda Fernández – planted an almond tree at The People’s Forest being created by Arboretum at Finca El Trapiche.

With five children, 11 grandchildren and 16 great-grandchildren, when Antonia was told about the project to create a forest – made by and for the people of Marbella – with some 18,000 trees native to the area, she was impressed. “That’s an awful lot of trees,” she said, “but I like the idea and I’d like to take part. I can’t dig many holes nowadays, but I can still take care of the trees and plants.”

Born in 1913 to a local farming family, Antonia was one of 14 children and had a hard but rewarding life in close contact with the land and “fighting like a lioness” to provide for her family. Starting work in the fields at the tender age of 12, by the time she was 14 she was carrying sacks of flour in return for bread and oil, and when she was older she earned her living as a cleaner….

Continue Reading

The 2012 Travel Trends Report from Skyscanner, one of Europe’s leading travel search sites, confirms that Spain is still the top destination for British holidaymakers – as well as for French, German, Swedish and Spanish travellers – not only heading the list of country searches, but also leading the way with four of the top five city and resort searches with Málaga and the Costa del Sol coming first for the second consecutive year, ahead of Alicante, Tenerife and Palma de Mallorca.

Well worth a read, the report additionally highlights the fact that in 2011 Spain also topped the Post Office Holiday Costs Barometer, showing overall how much money 10 key items in 14 different holiday resorts would set you back. With prices pegged at 2010 levels, Spain came out on top as Europe’s best-value destination.

As a spokesman for the Spanish Tourist Board in London explains, “Despite economic challenges and a shrinking outbound market, UK visitors to Spain are up 8.8% on the comparable period in 2010. Since the first flight-inclusive package holiday to the Costa del Sol in the early 60s, there has been a long history of British families taking their holidays in Spain…

Continue Reading

Swan Lake: Demanding technical skills, stunning costumes and haunting music.

The internationally acclaimed Russian National Ballet Theatre, founded in Moscow during the transitional period of Perestroika in the late 1980s, are performing Tchaikovsky’s much loved Swan Lake (in Spanish billed as ‘El Lago de los Cisnes’) at the Teatro Cervantes in  Málaga on Sunday 8 January, Monday 9 January and Sunday January 15.

The first of the three ballets he was commissioned to compose for the head of the Russian Imperial Theatres in 1875, Swan Lake wasn’t an instant hit by any stretch of the imagination since conductors, dancers and audiences alike all thought his musical score was much too difficult and complicated to perform to, while its original choreography by Julius Reisinger was considered uninspiring and lacking in originality.

After Tchaikovsky’s death, however, the ballet was reconceived by legendary choreographers Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov, and has become one of the most iconic full-length ballets of all time.

Depicting the age-old struggle of good versus evil, Swan Lake is known for its demanding technical skills, its stunning costumes and haunting music. All the ingredients you’d expect from this magical fairy tale which has captivated and entertained audiences around the world for more than 100 years.

Swan Lake at the Teatro Cervantes, Málaga

Performances: Sunday 8 January 2012 at 7pm; Monday 9 January 2012 at 9pm; Sunday 15 January 2012 at 6pm.

For more information: T. +34 952 224 109

Ticket hotline: T. 902 360 295

Online tickets

After its launch in Stockholm in January 2011 – where more than 280,000 visitors passed through the doors – Madrid is only the second city to host the NASA: The Adventure of Space Exhibition which will be touring Europe for the next five years. Totally unique, the 2,500 square metre showcase brings together an extraordinary collection of more than 300 original items – instruments, artefacts, machinery, spacesuits… all of which have journeyed into space, plus faithful life-size replicas and meticulously-crafted scale models –  which have never before been exhibited, perhaps surprisingly, not even in the US.

And the Spanish capital is the perfect place for The Adventure of Space Exhibition – which opened on 16 December 2011 and runs until 15 June 2012 – not only because if you’re on the Costa del Sol, then Madrid is just a 60-minute flight, or less than 2.5 hours away by high speed train, but also because the city has played a key role in NASA’s Space Program, and for that matter still does.

But more of that later, ‘cos unless Neil Armstrong’s inimitable words: “That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind,” – witnessed by millions around the world as he stood on the moon on 21 July 1969 – left you totally unmoved, then you’ll be itching to find out just what’s in store for you at this once in a lifetime exhibition…

Continue Reading