Hot Property News Letter – January 2010

Welcome to this issue of the Hot Property news letter which we hope you find informative and helpful. If you have any suggestions, comments or questions, which we can address in future issues, you can contact us at info@hotpropertyspain.net 

1: NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS - AND A LOOK BACK AT 2009
 
Dreams (By Langston Hughes)

"Hold fast to dreams For if dreams die, life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly. Hold fast to dreams For when dreams go, life is a barren field frozen with snow."

If you have not already done so, then now is the time to make your New Year resolution, particularly the one where you will realise your dream of living in the sunny Costa Blanca. The time for living is now.

All of us at Hot Property are resolute in our desire to find the best properties for sale, no matter what the budget.

We are resolute in providing the best personal service available to all our clients.

We offer a property finding service so that, if we do not have a property to suit your particular requirements, we search the area and work with our collaborating agents to try to find the perfect match for you.

Hot Property will continue to proactively improve our services to all our clients.

Hot Property will continue to provide additional information and insights into living on the Costa Blanca.

We have had clients from many countries, including the UK. France. Holland. Belgium. Italy. Russia. Latvia. Norway. Ireland. USA. South Africa. Denmark - all of whom now call the Costa Blanca home.

We look ahead to the coming year, with renewed confidence and the continuing belief that the property market will continue to be busy, as it was in the autumn/winter of 2009. We hope to assist as many clients as possible in realising their dreams of living in Spain.

Remember that you only get one life so, on reflection, let us first remember the past year and those persons that are no longer with us, and those whose own dreams have ended.

January 13 – Patrick McGoohan, American-born British actor (born 1928) 

January 14 – Ricardo Montalbán, Mexican-born American actor (born 1920)

February 6 – James Whitmore, American actor (born 1921)

February 7 – The deadliest bushfires in Australian history begin; they kill 173, injure 500 more, and leave 7,500 homeless. The fires come after Melbourne records the highest-ever temperature (46.4°C, 115°F) of any capital city in Australia. The majority of the fires are ignited by either fallen or clashing power lines or deliberately lit.

March 18 – Natasha Richardson, English actress (born 1963)

April 19 – J. G. Ballard, English novelist (born 1930)

April 24 – The World Health Organization expresses concern at the spread of influenza from Mexico and the United States to other countries. International cases and resulting deaths are confirmed.

April 25 – Beatrice Arthur, American actress (born 1922)

June 1 – Air France Flight 447, en route from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to Paris, crashes into the Atlantic Ocean, killing all 228 on board.

June 3 – David Carradine, American actor (born 1936)

June 11 – The outbreak of the H1N1 influenza strain, commonly referred to as "swine flu", is deemed a global pandemic, becoming the first condition since the Hong Kong flu of 1967–1968 to receive this designation

June 25 – Farrah Fawcett, American actress (born 1947)

June 25 – Michael Jackson, American performer and recording artist (born 1958)

July 1 – Karl Malden, American actor (born 1912)

July 17 – Walter Cronkite, American newscaster (born 1916)

July 31 – Bobby Robson, English footballer and manager (born 1933)

August 6 – John Hughes, American film director and writer (born 1950)

August 6 – Willy De Ville, American singer-songwriter (born 1950)

August 13 – Les Paul, American musician and inventor (born 1915)

August 25 – Ted Kennedy, American politician (born 1932)

September 14 – Patrick Swayze, American actor and dancer (born 1952)

October 13 – Al Martino, American singer and actor (born 1927)

October 30 – Claude Lévi-Strauss, French anthropologist (born 1908)

November 10 – Robert Enke, German footballer (born 1977)

December 2 - Maggie Jones, Actress (Coronation Street)

December 3 - Richard Todd, Actor (born 1919)

December 3 - Sam Salt Captain of HMS Sheffield during the Falklands War.

December 9 - Gene Barry, Actor, War of the Worlds (1950 version)

December 19 - Donald Pickering, English Actor

December 20 - Brittany Murphy, 32, American actress

And many family members, friends & even pets that may not be in the public eye, but are very dear to us and not forgotten. 

2: PROPERTIES WITH DISABLED FACILITIES

We have a number of properties with disabled facilities/access for sale to suit various budgets and others that could be adapted fairly easily.

HP0830 - 495,000€  Benissa Costa - A five bedroom, four bathroom (one en-suite) two storey villa, with lift between floors, access ramps, and an en-suite bedroom with wheelchair accessible wet-room/shower room. Two garages (one for four vehicles) separate car-port. Private pool. Large naya & roof terrace. Build 325m2 & 1,350m2 plot.

HP1062 - 235,000€ Les Fonts, Benitachell - A three bedroom two bathroom (one en-suite) single storey villa, constructed in 2001 with extra wide door ways, and without any steps to access all areas. Room for own pool. Build 130m2 & 800m2 plot.

HP1278 - 250,000€ Gata Residencial - A three bedroom 2 bathroom (one en-suite) two storey villa with a stair-lift between floors. Private 8 x 4m pool. Partial sea views. Air conditioning & central heating.

HP0896 - Benitachell - A three bedroom 2 bathroom (one en-suite) single storey villa. Private 10 x 5m pool. Open valley views. Flat access with long shallow steps which could easily be made into a ramp for wheelchair access.

3: FOCUS ON HAPPY TOWN (Better known as La Villajoyosa)
 
Villajoyosa is a medium sized town of 25,000 to 30,000 inhabitants, and is the historic and administrative capital of the comarca (county)  of the Marina Baixa area. Located just to the south of Benidorm and easily reachable by the AP7 or the N332, the town of Villajoyosa simply translates as the village of Joy, or happy town.

Situated on the mouth of the Sella river, the first settlers arrived in the Bronze Age, and they settled on the highest ground, known as the hill, which is the old quarter. During the middle ages the coast became deserted due to the risk of being attacked by pirates and in the VIII century became, with all of Spain,  Islamic, which lasted until 1300 when the Christians retook control, and it is believed the name Villajoyosa came about as an attractive name for the new Christian settlers. 

According to tradition, the settlers of La Vila Joiosa asked for the intersection of the saint of the day to repel an assault by pirates. From which the 29th July became the day of worship of Santa Maria as patron of the town, and since 1694 they have celebrated the festival of moors and Christians in her honour.

The town, in modern times, is famous for both its chocolate industry, it is home to the Valor chocolate factory, and tourism, with three long sandy beaches. The town also has its festival of Moros i cristians, declared an International Tourist Interest Festival, as well as its popular Three Kings procession.

The chocolate connection first came in the 18th century when it started to import cacao from Ecuador and Venezuela and has become Spain`s premier chocolate importer, and is the home of the Valor chocolate factory. All kinds of varieties of chocolate treats are available in the Valor shops, which produce and sell chocolate all over Spain, indeed the Valor brand is very well known all over Europe.

In addition to chocolate, Turron is also made here, as well as speciality handmade ice-creams, and other traditional products such as `mantecado´ (lardy cake), bun, `horchata´ (Culin sweet drink made from tiger nuts and sugar) and iced drinks.

The old part of this town is called the Arsenal and is situated on the shore of the wide sandy beach that ends at a small fishing harbour. It is well worth taking a stroll around the narrow streets with lively coloured houses, some built right on the steep edge of the gorge of the river. Although many may think this to be dangerous, the reason behind this was so that the fishermen could see the sea from their homes, and to help them see their houses from the sea, they are painted in bright and vivid colours.

As it is on the coast, the culinary tradition of the town is seafood, and the king of the seafood rices, which you can find in restaurants, is the "arròs a banda” (rice apart, in valencian), made with a fish stock and nothing else, however, some versions contain pieces of squid or prawn tails.

4: A FEW FACTS ON CHOCOLATE
 
Although chocolate was all the rage in Europe, it remained only a drink until the 1800’s when the technology of the industrial revolution helped transform chocolate from liquid form into solid bars and mass production, thus making it affordable to the masses.

In 1502 Christopher Columbus became the first known European to encounter Cacao. On his fourth voyage to the Americas, he captured a Maya trading canoe near the island of Guanaja. In addition to its cargo of cotton, weapons, grain, and metal objects, he noted that there were some "almonds" which appeared to function as money to the natives. There is no indication that he ever looked any further into the matter than this, and by the time of his death four years later, it is likely that the European discoverer of chocolate had never tasted it.

In 1544, a delegation of Dominican friars, who had been living in region of Guatemala still occupied by the Maya, accompanied a delegation of Kekchi people to Spain. Among the many gifts they presented to Prince Philip were containers of chocolate, frothed and ready to drink. This began a period of nearly a century during which the Spanish and Portuguese consumed chocolate, but the rest of Europe did not.

During the 16th century, the Spanish changed the way chocolate was prepared. They were put off by the drink's black, murky appearance and found its traditional preparations far too bitter and spicy and so the Spanish routinely added cane sugar as a sweetener and favoured flavorings, such as the New World's vanilla and Old World spices like cinnamon and milder black pepper as opposed to chilies. Not satisfied with the Mesoamerican method of foaming their chocolate by pouring it from one cup into another, they introduced the molinillo, a wooden whisk-like tool that is twirled between the palms of the hands to mix the chocolate and create a foam. Molinillos are still commonly found in Mexico to this day.

Chocolate first gained popularity as a medicine and the immediate concerns of many were to classify it according to the prevailing medical theory of the day, a system first introduced by the Greeks. The royal physician to King Philip II of Spain, Francisco Hernández, classified it as cool and humid and therefore beneficial as a fever reducer or to relieve discomfort in hot weather. Some physicians agreed, others argued the opposite position. Many pointed out that, whatever the classification of cacao, the spices commonly added to it contributed their own qualities to the mix. In spite of the debate, chocolate continued to gain in popularity.

It was due to the activities of English pirates that the rest of Europe remained unfamiliar with chocolate. The buccaneers who routinely preyed on Spanish vessels continually failed to recognize the beans as having any actual worth. In 1579, one pirate ship even burned an entire shipload of cacao beans, under the impression that they were sheep droppings.

Fortunately in modern times all can enjoy chocolate in many forms and long may this continue.

This newsletter is intended as a guide and to be informative and helpful in the process of searching for and purchasing a property in Spain. Total accuracy cannot be guaranteed and in all legal, fiscal and other matters a fully qualified professional should be consulted. Reproduction of any part of this newsletter is not permitted without written permission.