THE first national monthly issue of the Olive Press is out!
With a fresh new look and better quality paper, we’re now Spain’s first-ever English-language newspaper available around the country – from Vejer and the Costa del Sol all the way to Valencia and the Costa Blanca.
And the good news doesn’t stop there. From this summer, we aim to be getting papers not just all the way to Barcelona, but also in dozens of select distribution spots in Madrid.
For now our editions are less news-heavy and more lifestyle-focused – but don’t worry, we’re still fully committed to delivering top-quality journalism.
In the new edition we have four exclusive investigations – as well as an in-depth first person piece from ground zero of the harrowing train crash in Cordoba.
The front page probes yet another unsustainable development on the costas, while we take a fresh look at the scandalous Iberian Funeral planning debacle.
Meanwhile, we sent a reporter up to check out the amazing festive snow in the Sierra Nevada, and explored the chasmic faultlines thrown up in Spanish society over the Julio Iglesias scandal.
On top of that we have a black American screenwriter on her views on the president of Andalucia ‘blacking up’ as king Baltazar, while the former Chief Sub Editor, no less, of the Sunday Times writes a brilliant, heartfelt feature about his wife’s struggles to get justice from a private hospital and insurance company.
We also have another incisive column from our resident medical expert, Doctor Claudio, who has just come back from a Saudi trip with half the Spanish national football team, whom he looks after… and we have the world’s most famous plumber Charlie Mullins on why he loves Spain.
Culture wise we pick out the fiestas of the year, explore the thorny issue of Spanish hunting dogs and reveal what the Prado has on offer for you lucky culture vultures this year.
Then we review the Valencia exhibition of the celebrated 1980s Bakalao ruta and ask our resident reporter, ex BBC whiz, Alex Trelinski, if he thinks there are too many foreigners on the Costa Blanca.
Finally in our travel section we ask is the ‘party over’ for short term holiday rentals and report on which are Spain’s worst airports.
Best of all, we run a rule over the restaurant scene in Valencia versus Andalucia, now that both have officially caught up with the Basque region for Michelin stars and Repsol soles. In a hard-fought contest, it turns out Andalucia wins by a nose.
All in all, it’s a comprehensive read and we hope our readers like the new look.
The difference from now on is we’ll be doing it from all over Spain with new journalists joining us in Madrid, Barcelona and also Bilbao and Galicia.
We’ve also moved to a monthly schedule, so you’ll have to wait a bit longer than usual between issues, but we will be out in all the usual places you have always picked up the paper… and a lot, lot more.
And most important of all, our website will still be bursting with content, covering everything from politics, crime, and the environment to lifestyle and travel. Often throughout the day and night, as for example during the tragic train crash in Cordoba, when our journalists Ben and Alessio – along with editor Jon – worked well past midnight on Sunday to deliver timely coverage.
We’re excited to be sharing all this with you in the year we celebrate our 20th anniversary, an incredible two decades since the paper was founded in 2006 from a barn in Ronda (see the full history article HERE)
A lot has changed since then – a new head office in Marbella, new faces (but incredibly not all new, as the likes of regular scribe Michael Coy actually wrote a feature about ‘mosto’ in that very first edition), and now a brand-new look too.
But it’s still us, and we hope you’ll come along with us on this exciting new journey.
Click here to read more Other News from The Olive Press.