Torrevieja is situated next to the sea in the south of the Valencian Community. It is surrounded by two large natural saltwater lagoons that form the well-known "Salterns of Torrevieja", which are considered to be the biggest in Europe and second in the world. Alicante, the provincial capital is about 47 Kms away, and the international airports of El Altet and San Javier are about 35 Kms away.

In recent years Torrevieja has become a first-class tourist location, it boasts 360 days of sun a year and an average temperature of 18°C. There are many beautiful beaches, squares, walks, parks, gardens and other natural beauty spots (Ferriz), aswell as some wonderful historical monuments such as the "Modernist Casino" which dates from the begining of the century and has a famous hall in the mozarabic style; the "Recinto de las Eras de la Sal" an open, air theatre.

Torrevieja is also well known for for its outstanding port, the remains of which can still be seen in La Mata, called the embarcadero romano, or Roman docks. Along the coast are the ancient watchtowers called El Moro and La Mata, used in the Middle Ages to warn the coastal inhabitants of attacks by Barbary pirates.

One of the main attractions to Torrevieja are the variety of festivals which take place every
month. Some of the most popular events in Spain are the Carnavals in which thousands of people join in, forming a light show of colour, satir and good humour. The Holy Week attracts lots of people into the streets, converting these into huge paths of colour penance and popular religiosity. Good Friday at night is one of the most venerated and admired festivals on the spanish eastern coast.

http://www.costablancaexpats.net - A minefield of knowledge associated with people living/going to live on the Costa Blanca.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/costablancaexpats - You must join ( Anyone can become a member ) this group first before you can participate in the discussions. A members only group that discusses all kinds of problems good and bad associated with the Costa Blanca. At the moment they have 1000+ members !!!!

http://www.comunidad-valenciana.com/english/golf/home.html - A comprehensive list of all the Golf Courses in the Valencia area.

http://www.thisisspain.info - If you want to live or are going to live in Spain, have a look at this site !!!!!!!!!.

http://www.croninlanguages.com - The Spanish language and the Spanish schools system.

http://www.kidsinspain.es - Information and advice for expat families in Spain.

Newcomers Club

"The Newcomers Club starts its winter season in a new venue and with a new format. The club was formed in April 2002 with the intention of helping people in their first twelve months in Spain. We try to help people with all the challenges they face when moving into a new country – paperwork, health, insurance, security, legal issues, crime, insurance and many, many more topics. In fact, over the past eighteen months we have attempted to assist people in an enormous number of different situations. These have ranged from the amusing to the tragic. Whilst we would never claim to know all the answers we are fortunate to have the support of many organisations such as Age Concern, A.E.C.C., Caring Together, TIBA, Help Torrevieja, Costa Blanca Neighbourhood Watch and the Foreign Residents Office at the Torrevieja Town Hall who have all been able to help when the query has been of a more specific nature.

Every week we have a guest speaker who talks on a specialist subject related to living in Spain and after a break when people can get to know one another there is “Spanish for Beginners”. We call it “Survival Spanish” and a professional teacher from a local language school deals with an everyday situation where a basic knowledge of the language will help. It might be “Going Shopping,” “At the Doctors,” “Fruit and Vegetables,” “Introducing Yourself to your Neighbours,” “Numbers” or any other common situation. No previous knowledge of Spanish is required. These informal lessons have proved to be extremely popular. So much so that we have had to expand them and for this autumn we have arranged 11 different Survival Spanish courses at four different locations in the Torrevieja and Quesada area. There is no charge for either the classes or for the Newcomers Club meetings. We ask only a one euro donation to cover expenses. Any profits will be passed to our nominated charity Age Concern. This is possible because of the generous sponsorship from the Torrevieja International Business Association.

This year we have merged with our good friends from the Crossroads Club and the new title is "The Crossroads Club incorporating the Newcomers Club." The new venue is Bar Olimpia in Mil Palmeras on the borders of Orihuela Costa and Pilar de la Horadada. (Take the Mil Palmeras turn off the N332, turn right just before the Scandinavian Church and the complex is in front of you.) The meeting starts at 2.30pm every Friday. In addition to the weekly meetings, we have arranged many social events – barbecues and coach trips, charity and musical events. All welcome. We also welcome anyone who is able to give a short presentation on a relevant subject.

Full details from Christine Roche on 96 570 8476 or 627 409 881.

The Cine Club shows up to date films in English (with Spanish subtitles)
every Saturday and Sunday evening at the excellent Cinema
in Pilar de la Horadada. The cinema which can hold about 600 people is
just off the main street in Pilar de la Horadada and has ample free car
parking.
They started showing English films in February of this year and have
suceeded in getting big audiences with some top class films, Chicago,
Bend it like Beckham, Die Another Day, Lord of the Rings 2, The Core,
Anger Management etc etc.

There is information about the films that will
shortly be shown on our web site www.cinemapilar.com
such as Charlie´s Angels II, Tomb Raider II, Pirates of the Caribbean,
Terminator III, The Protector (with Silvester Stallone), The
Italian Job......These are the most important films in Spain at this
moment and the Pilar cinema is the only one in the whole area to
show English language films. Tickets are just 4 euros and there are
refreshmnets available.

For more information you can visit our website: www.cinemapilar.com
or cineclubpilar@hotmail.com or Fran 696 632 098