Low wages make Spanish civil servants grumpy; a job for life means they can take it out on the public as much as they like.

Anyone who has strolled around a city centre in the last few years is familiar with living statues – those hardy souls who stand stock still sometimes for hours at a time. There is a Spanish joke: "Why is a funcionario like a moving statue?" "Because it only moves when you give it money". Funcionarios – government employees - are a major subject of debate in Spain, and many ascribe to them the ills of the country. If you've ever had to queue for hours in Spain only to be told when you arrive at the desk that you don't have the right documents with you, it's probably a funcionario giving you the bad news. If you've ever been treated rudely by anyone in a public building, that's probably a funcionario too. They have a reputation for doing poor work: a recent study estimates that their low productivity costs the country about €32m each year, lowering GDP by 5.7%.

La Rioja makes life easy for the independent traveller, just as long as you don’t brave the mountains in an elderly car.

“So if I understand you señor, you are stuck up a rough mountain track somewhere on the backside of Rioja’s highest mountain?” The response from the breakdown assistance people would probably not have been as polite but I gave them the benefit of the doubt in the imagined conversation running through my head.

Behind the Hotel Claude - a haven of hotel chic in Marbella’s enchanting Old Town - lies a tale of dreams come true for the London based Willmes family.

Sister and brother Desiree and Franz Willmes, who have both made it as brokers in the City in London, have taken trading places to new heights. At the start of July 2007 they realized an ambition to build a new life in Spain when they opened the doors to Hotel Claude.

An exquisite boutique hotel across the street from one of Marbella’s picturesque churches, in the heart of the jet-set resort’s earthy Old Town, Hotel Claude is the result of a painstaking five-year labour of love.

Spain magazine interviews experts in golf property for their best advice on buying for investment.

Eggs are a perennial favourite for suppers in Spanish households, and can be used in a huge variety of ways, from the simple frittata to enriching a complex main dish or a delicate custard. Before battery farms became ubiquitous, eggs provided a vital source of income for poorer families, who may have rarely had the chance to eat the eggs themselves as all their produce went straight to market. Thankfully eggs are cheap and plentiful nowadays, even the organic, free-range kind that have the best flavour.Buying eggs in Spain.

Paul Richardson left Britain to follow his heart: learning, living and loving Spanish food.

“People move to Spain for all sorts of reasons. The usual suspects are the climate, the lifestyle, the property prices, or the all-round simpatía of the Spanish people and their culture. In the 16-odd years since I left the UK I must have been asked thousands of times the question: why? And the simplest answer I can give, the one that comes closest to the truth, is “the food”.

Have you had a great travel experience or fantastic holiday in Spain?

This is your chance to vote for your favourite city or event and nominate an airline, hotel, Parador or travel company that has made your holiday a success.

The winning companies will be announced in the January edition and the prizewinners will be given a special bottle of  Jaume Codorniu, the Codorniu winery’s top Cava.

The peaceful rural town of Tolosa is home to the most memorable kind of bean feast, as Richard Robinson discovers.


Up on the main stage, clouds of steam rise into the autumn air from rows of steel tureens, set upon the immaculate white covers of long trestle tables. A team of official chefs is in attendance, continually lifting lids, checking the bubbling contents, stirring and occasionally tasting. Beans are on the menu – the celebrated beans of this Basque town of Tolosa, and each tureen contains the product of a different grower, cooked to the same exacting specification.

It is Bean Week, a celebration of the luscious legume, a week-long programme of traditional Basque music, dance, rural sports and rustic pursuits. Above all, it is about the competitive cooking and enthusiastic consumption of the bean itself. The famous gastronomy of the Basque Country is based, in large measure, on the distinctive products of the countryside, and Tolosa’s Semana de la Alubia is just one example of the food-related celebrations that are held in all corners of the Basque Country throughout the year.

Good food, folk festivals and a party atmosphere each provide a good excuse for a holiday, and the three together provide a powerful draw. It was Bean Week that brought me on the ferry to Bilbao, but it would be more than just beans that would sustain me through the next few days of festivities. Skirting the drab suburbs of the region’s biggest city and port, I followed the signs for San Sebastian, or Donostia to give its Basque name. I would be returning later to sample the urban delights of Bilbao, its medieval centre and signature modern art gallery – The Guggenheim. Now I was Tolosa-bound, an hour’s drive to the west, through the wooded hills and past historic towns with names like Durango and Elgoibar. Reaching the outskirts of San Sebastian I turned inland to follow the deep valley of the Oria river, a few miles inland to Tolosa.

Codorníu Cocktails

Ingredients 

a large chunk of piel de sapo or honeydew melon
10 mint leaves
a dash of sugar syrup
100ml Codorníu Reserva Cava


Muddle the chunks of melon to a purée.  Add mint leaves to melon purée without crushing the leaves.  Pour the Cava into the mix, stirring gently so as not to kill the fizz.  Single strain into a flute and serve.