I have the same quesiton to....I have looked at La Marina aswell, but have decided on a Spanish town, I have looked at Albatera, Catral and Almoradi, from what I here they all have a small expat community. I have now have the problem of which place to choose??????

I think Almoradi will be the one because it is larger and has good transport.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Ref La Maina. There are a lot of Brits there but the Spanish out number them by about 10 to 1. Its just that the Brits on La Marina have there own patch inside this Spanish Urbanisation. So by the way do the Swedes, Dutch, Iclanders,German and French

Hi would anyone know if beer prices and food are more expensive in La Marina than say in Almoradi or Albatera?

Hi Dave,
We have lived in Almoradi for more than 7 years and we have seen many changes during this time. It is a beautiful Spanish town with not too many expats and there are only 3/4 greasy spoons as to use your expression. There are approximately 20,000 inhabitants with 95% Spanish. You have all the necessary amenities on your doorstep and are only 15 minutes drive to the coast. Having said that, although their is a Bus station it would be advisable to have a car, as the buses are not that frequent. Please feel free to ask any other points that we may be able to help you with.

Not to sure if there is a local one but I have seen a few advertising on the other sites and I am sure they will travel

I have seen a company called Stars or something that is an agency, but I can not remember where. I will have a think as I am sure they will have what you are looking for.

I think that the agency Sally mentioned is Stars in Bars. But as of yet they have not yet caught on to the fact that they can post on this sight for FREE. Must think there is a catch.

The Venue on the lemon run near el raso has live entertainment

Hi Paula
we are using fiesta.net website to find out dates, Theres been a lot of discussion about this on the quesadalife website so there is some local info on there regarding dates

In Benijofar, the fiesta of San Jaime is on the 25th July but the celebrations start the Sunday before with the offering of flowers and the crowning of the Queen and her maids of honour. In Rojales it is the fiesta of San Pedro and that is on the 29th June so again celebrations around this date. Hope this helps!!

Thanks for these dates - nice to have an idea of when the fiestas are particularly as we too have family coming over and it is nice for them to see the parades.

Why not add your details to our Events page to remind people! and dont forget you can advertise free on our Services page!

You have to be a citizen of the E.U. and be an official resident in Spain registered on the local Ayuntamiento padron, when its election time you will receive your voting card and the address of the voting office, usually a school or other local public building where you cast your vote.

Okay it's that time again, Sunday the 22nd of May local election time. Your chance to make a difference, if you are eligible to vote you can have your say. If you have voted before ignore this, if not, here is a brief explanation:
1: On polling day go to the polling station, if you live on any of the urbanisations, that will be the centro municipal, plaza blanca, in front of Goyo’s, between 9 am and 8 pm.
2: Have with you your voting card if you received it (not essential) and your passport, or residencia and as much ID as you can muster( you can never have too much paper)
3: You will find there are 3 voting tables called mesas, if you have your voting card it will tell you which table (mesa), if you don’t have the card then you will have to look through the lists which are hanging up to find your name and which table to vote on.
4: The voting envelope, in the polling station there is a booth, in the booth you will find envelopes and lists, choose the list which you wish to vote for (example; PP) this list has 24 candidates, fold the list and place in the envelope, VERY IMPORTANT Only 1 list per envelope, you must not mark in any way the list, your vote is 1 list in 1 envelope there are no pens in the booth because there is no need, do not underline or put an X, no marks whatsoever.
5: On the table you will see a transparent plastic box this is where you place your vote, when you approach the table you will be asked to identify yourself, hand over your ID the president of the table will read out your name and several scrutineers will mark you from their list, that way you only vote once, you then place your envelope in the box.

That is it you have voted
But who should you vote for …………. Coming soon

One member of the Eye on Spain forum who actually lives in Lorca posted on 13th May ..

"Been in & around town today & it's not looking good at all. There was really nothing open whatsoever as they are still inspecting all the buildings. The Architects & Surveyors have a colour coding scheme for damage; Green – No danger to occupyYellow – The owners can enter to collect their valuables etc, but they may not stay as important building work is needed, or the property may be demolished Black, or in some cases Red – No entry at all because of the danger of immediate collapse.
Nearly 6 out of 10 buildings so far inspected all over town are yellow ,red or black. There's not many green at all.For those of you who have visited Lorca & entered by coming off the autovia at j591 down to the fountain roundabout & turned left into the western end of town ( La Viña ), vast areas around here are to be demolished, including 2 out of the 4 apartment blocks on the left & possibly a 3rd. The opposite side of the road fares slightly better but behind is where the 3 story block collapsed (they'll be looking at the construction of this as it wasn't that old !)
The situation is no better at the eastern end of town with many buildings marked for demolition. Of the 3 mercadonas in town none are open ( The one in La Viña is quite likely to be demolished ), the old Eroski centro comercial San Diego is closed although the car park is being used for parking & the road by the main exit , has an emergency field hospital in it. The majority of the main street is closed off . The only supermarket, apart from some smaller ones that is open is the Eroski Parque Almenara ! Where I live in Campillo , quite close to the Parque Almenara, the small village supermarket had people queuing this morning !
The Huerta de la Rueda where the Thursday market is held is an emergency centre combined with rescue workers tents & accomodation & emergency food & water supplies. There's quite a few around here that are likely to be demolished , including the Convento de religiosas Clarissas which is a building of historical importance & will obviously be rebuilt as it's a listed building .
No matter where you turned there were people taking what belongings they could carry from their apartments, those that were considered safe to enter, & loading them in cars & vans. Others could only look at buildings that are in imminent danger of collapse & no one is going to be allowed to enter & will be demolished along with everything inside. In all honesty the amount of fachadas cracked, broken , some barely hanging on to buildings in every street you looked down , makes you wonder how they are allowing anyone to be in the town at all. We helped people carrying stuff to their car but they couldn't take everything & what's left they were hoping to be allowed back for.
The scale of the damage I found was far more than I was expecting , & there's not a part of the town that does not have vast amounts of buildings marked for demolition. If this had occurred in the UK I don't think they would be allowing anyone into the whole of the town , due to H&S, it's THAT BAD! This is going to take many, many years to sort out."

then this afternoon 15th May he posted further ..

"I've just been in earlier & it's even worse than I 1st posted . I had to come back through parts I wasn't in the other day & there's no part, nor...th ,south, east west that isn't badly damaged. There is no direct access from any part of the town to any other part. mind you , on the bright side in the areas that are only superficially damaged the builders are hard at work on repairs & the building companies are delivering materials ...... on a Sunday !"