Ice skating rink in Puerto Banus

Source: i-Marbella.com

Ice skating rink in Puerto Banus and Marbella

On the 16th of December, two ice skating rinks were opened for some holiday fun!

One of them was located on the Antonio Banderas Plaza in Puerto Banus and the other one was in Palacio de Congresos in Marbella! The rink was open from 12.00 to 23.00, but with special hours on 24, 25 and 31 December and on the 1st anf 5th of January. Each session was 45 minutes long and costs 6 euros which includes skates, although the use of the ice rink required wool gloves. There was also music for the skaters and with a weather as amazing as this.

‘King’ Ruud makes a striking display in Marbella

SOCCER star Ruud Van Nistelrooy controversially visited a Spanish children’s hospital ‘blacked up’ as a Middle Eastern king.

The former Manchester United and Real Madrid player dressed up as King Balthazar for the traditional ‘reyes’ parade through Marbella.

The Dutchman, who now lives in Marbella, later visited a children’s hospital in the get up.

Wearing black face paint and a leopard print robe, Nistelrooy caused a stir with some fans branding him racist for the ill-advised stunt.

One fan told the Daily Mail: “He clearly though he was doing a good deed but he just didn’t think it through.”

However most locals loved his appearance, which was never intended to cause offence.

He was recently quoted as saying how much he loved the ‘quiet life’ in Spain and how well he had been accepted by the community

Marbella-based PR guru Max Clifford arrested in sex offence probe

Marbella-based PR guru Max Clifford arrested in sex offence probe

15-12-2012

Celebrity publicist Max Clifford has been arrested by detectives investigating sex offences.

The PR guru, who has an apartment in Marbella, was arrested at his Surrey home by the Metropolitan Police as part of Operation Yewtree. The 69-year-old is a regular visitor to the Costa del Sol and is well-known for the charity golf event he has hosted for the last 12 years at La Cala Resort in Mijas.

Clifford was also allegedly offered the PR contract for Marbella Town Hall. Operation Yewtree was launched to investigate mass allegations against the late Jimmy Savile in relation to the abuse of young people during his career.

The operation has now been broken into three separate strands – allegations against Jimmy Savile, allegations against ‘Savile and others’ and allegations against people unconnected to Jimmy Savile. Clifford is the fifth person to be arrested in the investigation, but the accusations against him are unconnected to the Jimmy Saville scandal said a spokesman from Scotland Yard. Comedian Freddie Starr, singer Gary Glitter and DJ Dave Lee Travis have all been arrested and bailed as part of Operation Yewtree under the ‘Savile and others’ category.

Is that Vladimir Putin's new villa in La Zagaleta?

The word got out quite a while ago that none other than Russian President Vladimir Putin has bought a property in the exclusive gated mansion club of La Zagaleta.

It is rumored that what Putin has in fact bought is an existing villa on a large tract of private land. While this property is in itself a modern palace it will apparently not do for Russia’s number one, so he has already knocked down the mansion and started work on a new 4,000m2palace. By the way, the villa itself will have a built space of 4,000m2, for it stands on almost two hectares of private land.

The cost of the new retaining wall alone would buy you one of the smaller properties in La Zagaleta, while the multiple-bedroom villa will also feature a complete spa, cinema, gym, entertainment areas, a piano bar, two swimming pools, extensive grounds with further pools and cascading fountains, a multi-car garage, a vineyard, a helipad and no doubt secure rooms and secret passageways for a man for whom security is always a serious consideration.

La Zagaleta is Marbella’s private millionaire community known to be one of the most exclusive in Europe, Putin’s palatial villa puts even those of the other residents to shame, challenged only by the very largest and most luxurious properties in Marbella. Those who live in the urbanization have the right to vote on whether or not to accept any new neighbor, and Vanitatis reports that some of the people who have been rejected include Julio Iglasias, Shakira and David Beckham. Hugh Grant was accepted however. Other residents are one of the most important leaders of Iran, Ak Kujala, who was indicted in the Ballena Blanca money laundering case, and the British businessman Sean Woodhall who has been found guilty of fraud in the UK linked to car sales"

Marbella News: Three kings day in Spain

Marbella News: Three kings day in Spain: History of 3 Kings Day - Epiphany Lovers of carols and Christmas parties know that this season has 12 days, packed with golden rings, cal...

Three kings day in Spain

History of 3 Kings Day - Epiphany

Lovers of carols and Christmas parties know that this season has 12 days, packed with golden rings, calling birds and various kinds of gentry, musicians and domestic workers. December 25 is Christmas - and 25 minus 12 does equal 13. Do the math and you will see why shopping malls, newspapers, television networks, and other cultural fortresses annually deliver some kind of "Twelve Days of Christmas" blitz, beginning on December 13. 

Problem is that for centuries church calendars in the East and the West have agreed that there are twelve days of Christmas and they begin on Christmas Day and end on January 6. 

The twelve days of Christmas end with the Feast of Epiphany also called "The Adoration of the Magi" or "The Manifestation of God." Celebrated on January 6, it is known as the day of the Three Kings (or wise men/magi): Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar. According to an old legend based on a Bible story, these three kings saw, on the night when Christ was born, a bright star, followed it to Bethlehem and found there the Christchild and presented it with gold, frankincense and myrrh. 

January 6, the last day of Christmas, comes with its own traditions, rituals and symbols. Carolers are going from house to house; in many homes the Christmas tree is taken down and in some areas is burnt in a big bonfire. For the children this is an especially joyous occasion because, associated with taking down the tree goes the "plündern" (raiding) of the tree. The sweets, chocolate ornaments wrapped in foil or cookies, which have replaced the sugar plums, are the raiders' rewards. 

The history of Christmas, (the festival of the nativity of Jesus Christ,) is intertwined with that of the Epiphany. The commemoration of the Baptism (also called the Day of Lights, i.e. the Illumination of Jesus) was also known as the birthday of Jesus, because he was believed to have been born then of the Virgin or reborn in baptism. In some records Christmas and Epiphany were referred to as the first and second nativity; the second being Christ's manifestation to the world. 

In the fourth century, December 25 was finally adopted by the Western Christian Church as the date of the Feast of Christ's birth. It is believed that this change in date gave rise to the tradition of the "12 Days of Christmas." While the Western Christian Church celebrates December 25th, the Eastern Christian Church to this day recognizes January 6 as the celebration of the nativity. January 6 was also kept as the physical birthday in Bethlehem. In the Teutonic west, Epiphany became the Festival of the Three Kings (i.e. the Magi), or simply Twelfth day.