Friday, October 19, 2007:

Today I rang the UK call centre of CarJet enquiring as to whether the mandatory yellow vests ans warning triangles would be included in the car we will shortly be hiring from Granada airport.  It wouldn't surprise me to find this being the 'norm' all over as generally the same hire companies operate throughout Spain.

We have hired cars many times from both Malaga and Granada and these items have been present each time until August this year when our son was told "if he wanted them, he would have to pay for them."

I was informed that the onus was on us to carry our own and that they are not that expensive.  Are we expected to buy them each time we hire a car and leave them behind when we return it, or are we to transport them to and from the UK taking up part of the baggage weight allowance? 

We're already getting fleeced by the full/empty policy, which incidentally she said all the companies they use had now adopted (Crown being the last from July this year - might it have something to do with the becoming AurigaCrown?)  Is this yet another scam to swell the coffers?

The following web site:
http:/www.andalucia.com/travel/carhire/

states, I quote:

"Lastly check the car on collection for damage, record with digital camera if unsure whether to officially record minor damages onthe contract.  All (hire) cars are required by law to carry two warning triangles in the luggage compartment and two yellow vests in the glove compartment.  Ensure these are present on collection."

I have written to CarJet's customer services asking them to get back to me on this matter.  May be good if others did too!


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25 Jul 2007 1:13 PM:

Mark

Don't know what you've been looking at but I've used skyscanner.net many times for flights to Spain. 

I've just looked now and it is showing a variety of flights from UK airports to a variety of Spanish airports including Alicante.

You can either view specific dates or select to view a whole month.

Cheers

Mountie


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19 Mar 2007 6:39 PM:

Last year we were in Torre del Marr on Palm Sunday where the locals re-enacted Jesus arriving with the cross.

The week before Easter is known as Semana Santa - Holy Week.  Most towns have parades on Good Friday.  Malaga certainly does - I understand the statue of the Virgin Mary takes up to 200 people to carry it.  Can't help with specific events west of Malaga, our village lies to the east.

Events in our village - Riogordo - start around 11 a.m. when members of the Brotherhoods collect the three statues from the church. Each one is carried by 30 -50 people round the village up to the Parc del la tres cruz at the top of the village.  There they rest for a while before returning the statues to the church.

One thing to mention is that the locals dress up in their Sunday best – like here 40-50 years ago.  The first year I went to watch wearing jeans and felt very out of place

After a short siesta, the villagers - around 400 - of them stage a Passion Play, El Paso, on the village football ground - truly spectacular.  This usually starts at 4 / 4.30 p.m. and goes on until 7 / 7.30 p.m.  Unfortunately I don't speak fluent Spanish but a friend who does says the dialogue is wonderful - all spoken in 'old' Spanish.  Probably nearest example would be our Shakespearian English.  Several coaches bring visitors from far and wide to the village.  The play is repeated on Saturday afternoon (but not the processions). 

I have experienced it when at the start of the play it has been burning hot but when the sun goes down it can turn very, very cold. So prepare for both extremes.

I have been told the statues are taken out again late in the evening when fireworks are let off.  Unfortunately I have not experienced this first hand because the first year there we knew nothing about the evening 'do' and last year it poured with rain in the evening so that part of the proceedings had to be cancelled.

There may be other villages that stage a similar afternoon event but I've not heard of one.

I have many pictures of previous years' events if anyone wants to PM me.  Alternatively there are several websites relating to the village - just put in google search: Semana Santa Riogordo or something along those lines.

Whatever type of Easter experience you select - have a good one!

Mountie

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05 Mar 2007 5:01 PM:

The orange sim card sounds like a great idea.  Where did you buy it from?  We are in the Velez Malaga area, Costa del Sol, is it available there?

Regards

Mountie

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