Spanish Proverb

Todos los caminos llevan a Roma ....

All roads lead to Rome ..

Murcia - Cuartel de Artilleria

A rather ornate roof here at the Cuartel de Artilleria, Murcia.

Lots of mini towers and balconies.

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Real Madrid - Spend Spend Spend !!!!

Real Madrid are certainly setting the football transfer market alight this summer.

Since Florentino Perez returned as club president on the 1st June a total of £148m has been spent.

Brazilian Kaka from AC Milan Italy for £56m

Cristiano Ronaldo from Manchester United for an amazing £80

Raul Albiol £12m from Valencia

Let's hope that they realise that money does not always buy success.

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Paradise Lost ...

ITV's television programme tonight entitled - Spain Paradise Lost - was again a catalogue of woes from the British expat community in Spain.

Many of those who have lost their homes certainly have much to complain about and others who have had disastrous business ventures should maybe have been a little wary ....

Whatever the rights or wrongs this type of publicity will certainly persuade many Brits not to invest in Spain.

Some years ago the TV, radio and newspapers were awash with articles and programmes about people chasing the dream in Spain and making money out of property. How things have changed !!! Now it is all doom and gloom and people are being warned off buying property or working in Spain.

The building industry in Spain is going to take a long time to recover if at all ....

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Fútbol - Confederations Cup

Surprise result tonight from South Africa where the Confederations Cup is being played.

USA beat Spain 2-0 with goals from Jozy Altidore and Fulham's Clint Dempsey and will now appear in Sunday's Final.

This loss must be a great shock for the Spanish fans and no doubt there will be an inquest in every bar in the land.

The loss has also prevented Spain from setting a new world record of 36 matches without defeat ....

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Murcia - Cuartel de Artilleria

Cuartel de Jaime I El Conquistador

You'll find this interesting area of Murcia not too far from the train station ..

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Peace Cup Andalucía 2009

Real Madrid will be competing in the Peace Cup 2009 which is to be held between July 24 and August 2.

The primary goal of the competition is to promote world peace. The Peace Cup has been held on a biennial basis dating back to 2003 and attracts teams from all over the world.

This year some of the teams included are Aston Villa, Juventus, Sevilla and Celtic.

Real Madrid's first match is July 26 against Liga de Quito at Santiago Bernabeu.

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Murcia - Cuartel de Artilleria

Ornate door and visitor information - if your eyesight is a little better than mine you'll be able to read all about this corner of Murcia.

More pictures to follow ..

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Murcia - What's this then ??

Nice bright feature /statue in the centre of Murcia.

Adds some colour to the city centre.

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Alicante - one scene - two views .....

Same view of the Alicante water front but to different camera settings.

The above picture taken on my digital with a Solarize setting.

A this one using the "normal" setting - assuming normal as basically automatic the camera doing the job for you ..

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Alicante - Kites

Alicante had a two day kite show when we were there last time .

Very disappointing - we are restricted to bus and train travel in Spain and of course by the time we arrive in Alicante the displays are ending for the afternoon fiesta.

So we failed to see anything of interest - well never mind !

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Alicante - Black & White

A nice picture of Alicante harbour - this time taken in a black and white format .

The picture has a timeless feel to it .

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Guardamar - A quiet time ..

Under the shade of the trees you'll sometimes find a quiet game of bowls in the Reina Sofia park in the centre of Guardamar.

And sometimes they can be very very noisy ...

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Guardamar - Wall building

There's a lot of minor construction such as wall building in Guardamar at the moment.

This is work generated for the unemployed and hopefully will help stimulate the economy.

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Guardamar - Rubbish

Make sure you put your rubbish in the correct refuse bin !!!

Here in Guardamar.

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Orihuela - Better days ..

Steel origami here in the Avenida de la Estacion -

I think it has seen better days !

¡ Papiroflexia ! Ha visto mejores dias....

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Orihuela - Train station

Estacion de tren - Orihuela

Trains to Murcia ( with connection to Lorca ) and to Alicante ...

A good efficient service .

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Orihuela

Orihuela capital of the Vega Baja with it'd 50,000 inhabitants lies 50 kilometres from Alicante.

Above Calle de Valencia - seen from the railway station.

Avenida de Teodomiro with it's trees and hills at in the background ..

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Welcome to Guardamar ..

Central Guardamar - church and main square.

Guardamar is a pleasant little town on the Costa Blanca coast just south of Alicante. Very busy in the summer when the tourists arrive from Madrid, Pais Vasco , England, Holland, Germany and further afield.

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Cristiano Ronaldo

It has just been announce on UK radio that Manchester United F.C. have accepted an offer of £80m ( sterling ) from Real Madrid for their 24 year old number one striker Cristiano Ronaldo and given them permission to talk to the player.

This is a world record and let us hope the money will be well spent. The £80m will be made available to the United manager Sir Alex Ferguson for investing in the transfer market.

Sir Alex has many young players waiting in the wings and may not need to splash out too much on the transfer market.

For certain many of the United fans will be very very upset.....

Ronaldo needs to be very careful at Real Madrid and could see himself on the sidelines some of the time - look what happened to Beckham and Owen !!

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Guardamar - Plaza Jaime II 4

Plaza Jaime II - Guardamar

These pictures were taken in May - plenty of spring flowers on show making this a rather attractive spot.

A quiet Sunday morning .. go here on a Wednesday and the place will be crowded - this is where the market can now be found.

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Spanish Proverb

Vive como rico y ahorrarás como pobre.

Stretch your arm no further than your sleeve will reach.

Literally - Live like a rich man and you will save like a poor one.

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Alicante - Clinging .... !!

This old house clings to the side of the cliff under the castle of Santa Barbara.

This area is due to be renovated soon - assuming that in these times of hardship the money will be available ..

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Alicante - Harbour & Water Bus

Alicante harbour and the little water bus that takes you across the waterfront.

Popular with the tourists and locals alike !!

Saint Francis - Murcia

Saint Francis of Assisi - patron saint of animals - guarding the entrance to the park.

San Francisco de Asis - patrono de animales ... en Murcia

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Guardamar - Ingeniero Mira

Ingeniero Mira was the gentleman who many years ago decided that the pine forest should be planted in order to stop the sand blowing into the town centre.

His reward was to have a street named after him - Calle del Ingeniero Mira and tiled walls erected,  displaying the story of his achievements. 

The citizens of Guardamar have certainly benefited from the pine forest with it's welcome shade on a hot summer day.

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PhotoHunt - Advertisement

This week the beer and the ADVERTISEMENT for it - together !

La primera cerveza light con todo el sabor   - the number one light beer with all the flavour - Cruzcampo

Picture taken one very hot afternoon in Murcia.

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Murcia - View

View across the River Segura from the Manterola footbridge.

Vista desde el puente ( Pasarela Manterola )

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Guardamar - Improvements !

Guardamar is being dug up !!!!

Hopefully when they have finished the town will look a prettier place ...

These improvements are part of the economic package that is hoped will stimulate the local economy and create jobs.

At the moment lots of dust and the weary pedestrian must walk on the road and dodge the traffic..

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Murcia - Graffiti 2

More graffiti ....

On the walls at the side of the River Segura.

Mas pintada cerca el rio.

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Guardamar - Plaza Jaime II 3

Plaza Jaime II

A good place to sit and rest your feet on a hot day.

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