People who are keen to invest in Spanish property are being encouraged to look at an area which was immortalised in a James Bond movie.

The legendary spy was played by Pierce Brosnan when he visited Costa del la Luz in 2002’s Die Another Day.

In fact, it was here that the famous scene with a bikini-clad Halle Berry was filmed, deliberately echoing a similar scene featuring Ursula Andress 40 years earlier.

Whereas the sequence in 1962’s Dr No was filmed in Jamaica, its modern-day equivalent was shot in Cadiz - the oldest city in Europe.

According to the Telegraph, this has helped bring “new-found glamour” to a region that has so far been largely overlooked by foreign property buyers.

The newspaper commented: “Locations that were considered exotically remote while Bond was causing mayhem in them now read like a list of overseas hotspots.”

Tourists from the UK are increasingly allowing their culinary tastes determine their choice of holiday destination, new research has revealed.

According to travel website Expedia.co.uk, about one in ten British leisure travellers plan their trip around areas which are famous for certain delicacies.

This could help to explain the continuing popularity of Spain among British tourists, as it is famous across the world for dishes such as paella, tapas and gazpacho soup.

Commenting on the findings, Alison Couper of Expedia.co.uk said they show that many stereotypes about holidaymakers from the UK are not true.

She remarked: “Brits are becoming more dedicated to immersing themselves in the home-grown local cuisine.”

Ms Couper added that the research underlines the fact that UK citizens are becoming more and more adventurous with their culinary choices while overseas.

Spain’s popularity among tourists from the UK was recently highlighted by the Association of British Travel Agents, which described it as their “outright favourite”.

Holidaymakers from the UK are apparently spending most of their break lying by the pool within their hotel complex, according to experts.

Research by Halifax found that the average British tourist spends the vast majority of their holiday lazing about and sleeping.

The financial provider added that by the time evening comes around, visitors stay in the same complex and drink in the hotel bar.

However, the findings have been met with criticism by one of the leading organisations within the UK travel industry.

Speaking to the Independent, Sean Tipton of the Association of British Travel Agents (Abta) said Britons are not “unadventurous” when on holiday.

He commented: “Britons have been going abroad for about 40 years and our holidaying habits are incredibly varied.”

Abta recently identified Spain as a hotspot for British tourists, describing it as the “outright favourite” among those who went abroad during Easter.

Music lovers are advised to head to the Costa Azahar this week, as the sixth Hondarribia-Peniscola International Guitar Festival is set to begin on Thursday evening.

Running from March 20th to 23rd, the event will feature a series of concerts in the “incomparable setting” of the Salon Gotico at Papa Luna’s Castle, Communitat Valenciana reports.

Guitar players from all over the world will travel to Peniscola to demonstrate their mastery of an instrument which plays a major role in the musical and cultural heritage of Spain.

In addition, a series of guided walks around the pretty coastal town have been organised to coincide with the festival, meaning that newcomers to the area can explore “every delightful corner” of Peniscola between musical interludes.

The guitar festival and guided tours should provide both holidaymakers and local property owners with the perfect opportunity to get to know one of Castellon province’s most picturesque towns a little better.

Peniscola’s dramatic seafront fortifications mean that it is often referred to as the Gibraltar of Valencia.

The company that developed Manchester’s Trafford Centre shopping complex is to try and recreate the plans on the Costa del Sol.

Peel Holdings has been given the go ahead to build a shopping mall similar in design to the one in north-west England, reports the Manchester Evening News.

Torremolinos will be the location for the 80-acre site, which is said to cost £500 million to construct.

Lindsey Ashworth, who is set to lead the project, told the newspaper: “While there will obviously be a flavour of the original Trafford Centre, the major difference is, because it’s in a warm climate, it can be outward-facing.”

The company representative added that bars and restaurants around the complex will have terracing, while some will be constructed around a lake.

Millions of Britons head to the Costa del Sol for their holidays every year, while many decide to purchase property in this part of Spain.

A new book has been written highlighting the famous names that have had some association with the beautiful village of Churriana, according to reports.

Local historian Cristobal Salazar has written a book Personajes de Churriana, which tells the tale of the Malaga district and the characters that have come from it.

Among the famous names are writer Ernest Hemingway who celebrated his 60th birthday at La Consula in July 1959.

Many influential names have been attracted by Churriana’s estates including El Retiro and San Javier.

Among them are Julio Caro Baroja, an anthropologist and the nephew of writer Pio Baroja.

Poet Maria Victoria Atenda and musician Francisco Martin Pino were some of the names who attended the launch of the book at Malaga City Hall.

The city hall has produced a thousand copies of the book, which can be purchased from the Junta de Distrito offices.

Malaga is full of history, with a number of exhibitions taking place throughout the year. One such exhibition is that of the Malaga artist Rafael Perez Estrada, which opened on April 23rd 2003 in the lower floor gallery of the Municipal Archives, Almeda Principal.

Leap year babies are being invited to celebrate their unusual birth dates together in style by attending a huge party in Malaga this year.

The Leap Association of people born on February 29th is organising the event, which hopes to bring together as many leap year babies as possible.

It is hoped that the get-together will get into the Guinness World Records for the highest number of people born on February 29th getting together in the same place.

The current record is held the gathering of 340 leap year babies which took place in Norway.

The celebration will be held at the La Brasa restaurant in the Alameda Principal.

Malaga is a great place to celebrate in style and has been increasing in popularity in recent years, since the opening of its Picasso Museum in 2003.

Over the next ten years, it is expected that many improvements will be made to the city as it vies for the title of European Culture Capital in the year 2016.

Valencia has opened a unique 80,000 sqm modern zoo at the Parque de Cabecera.

More than 4,000 different animals coming from around 250 different species live at the zoo.

Some of the zoo’s inhabitants have come from Valencia Zoo, while a number of others have been donated by different zoos around Europe, including donations from France, the Czech Republic and the Netherlands.

 
The famous Valencia Zoo, set in the Viveros gardens has been open since 1965, and as well as housing large mammals and birds, it also has a collection of more than 50 species of fish.

Dubbed Bioparc Valencia, the zoo is an ‘immersion zoo’ in which the animals’ natural habits are reproduced in detail in respect of their inhabitants.

Habitats include recreations of Equatorial Africa, the Americas and dry savannahs.

It is hoped that visitors to the zoo will enjoy an educational visit and understand the need and importance of animal preservation.

The zoo is open daily between 10:00 and 18:00 or 21:00 local time, depending on the season.

Thousands of tourists are expected to flock to the Spanish city of Valencia next month to witness the spectacular Las Fallas festival and take part in the celebrations.

Each year hundreds of papier-mache figures mounted over wooden frames are burnt as part of a pagan ritual that pays tribute to the coming of the spring solstice.

 As well as bonfires and exciting pyrotechnics, the event will also feature colourful parades and lively regional music, with an impressive fireworks display over the Turia River rounding off the festivities.

The atmosphere of the festival is designed to symbolise flowering gardens and the arrival of spring, which signals a change in the weather and brings locals and tourists alike out into the streets.

Those with rental properties in Spain will be looking to benefit from an increase in visitor numbers when the festival, which continues to grow in popularity each year, takes place between March 15th and 19th.

Ski resorts in Spain are becoming more popular with winter holidaymakers while maintaining their competitive prices, it has been claimed.

According to Homes Worldwide, Spain’s ski resorts were largely “ignored by anyone outside the country” until recently, but are now gaining a reputation as some of the best skiing locations in Europe.

In addition, resorts such as those in the Sierra Nevada have a unique selling point which other popular skiing destinations such as France and Switzerland cannot compete with - their proximity to the Costa del Sol means that holidaymakers can take to the slopes and then sunbathe on the beach a couple of hours later.

The website stated: “If you are thinking of investing in a Spanish property, perhaps its time to consider the slopes as well as the costas.”

Property owners may not have to make this choice, however, as the relatively short distance from the Sierra Nevada National Park to Costa del Sol locations such as Malaga and Velez-Malaga allows people to enjoy the best of both worlds - winter snow and summer sun.

Foreign buyers now account for one in seven properties sold in Malaga province, according to figures recently reported by southern Spanish newspaper Sur.