The latest crime data released by the Jefatura Superior de Policía de Andalucía Oriental suggests that despite the recession, crime across Eastern Andalucia (Jaén, Málaga, Almería, Granada) continues to drop, with 14.06% fewer crimes being committed so far this year over 2009.
The two types of crime with the biggest drops are bag snatching (a 31% drop) and vehicle theft (22% drop).
Better police training, with better cooperation between forces, and better backup from the funcionarios are all being cited as reasons for the drop.
Granada, once known as a petty crime hotspot, is now the third most crime free province in Spain.
Much as I love the Levante, one of the downsides is trying to obtain a decent Jamón Serrano around here that doesn´t cost the earth.
Yes, there is a warehouse in Cuevas that sells them, but I have found the quality from there to be… variable.
So plan B is to pick one up every so often when I´m in Granada. Possible the only town in the world where you can walk through the main square carrying a haunch of pork without being arrested for carrying an offensive weapon.
However, plan C, once discovered, was much simpler. Call my mate Rafael and have him post me one.
24 hour delivery; what more can you ask for?
Feeling in need of a pick me up, I recently splashed out on one. This arrived in exactly the same fashion as the others I have ordered from him, quickly and efficiently via Seur.
The Jamon is from the Trevelez area of Granada. I find them to be all quite succulent. Juicy, and low in salt, so there is an argument towards claiming they´re the healthy option.
There´s nothing like a nice glass of red and a recently opened Jamón to cheer one up. Just to stop it becoming overly Spanish, I had Doctor Who on the TV. All I need now is to work out how to use my knife grinder.
It will, no doubt, be a miracle of engineering. If we go in a roughly straight line via Marquesado de Zenete (which is in Guadix) and then down the A92 to Almeria, it’s around 125 km. Total cost is 2,500 million euros. Roughly… 20 million euros a kilometer. That ain’t too bad. Just watch out for the windfarms.
On the same day, the new Almeria – Seville air route has been announced, starting next Jan 15th. It costs us €100, plus an addition €12 million in public money each year. Twice a day on weekdays, “to allow citizens to do what they must in Seville” according to Griñán, who came down to Vicar to announce it. Air Nostrum got the flight, presumably to stop them complaining about Griñán setting up his own airline called Air Andalus, which gets lot of public cash to… fly between Andalucian capitals, Madrid, Barcelona and, for some reason, North Africa. Again, watch out for the windfarms.
Two French students were caught out graffiting a wall in the Alzaibin old quarter of Granada, and now face a fine of 3,000 euros each. They are the first people to face prosecution after Granada introduced some harsh new laws designed to clean the place.
Good. Granada’s graffiti is out of hand. It’s everywhere. The place is a tip. I have never seen so much mindless scribbling on walls.
Yes, there is some decent stuff out there and I quite enjoy a whole, otherwise blank, wall painted with a decent mural. But we’re talking about a drunk with a pen or a can of spray paint.
3,000 euros? Double it. Or make them eat the paint.
Seriously, the only place in Granada without graffiti is the Hotel AC Palacio de Santa Clara (where I stay when in Granada, mainly due to the lack of graffiti), which only remains clear due to large CCTV, and I presume, two gypsies with sticks who rush out whenever a drunk is spotted.
There’s even graffiti on the wall of the police station. Heaven’s above, there is even graffiti on the car that drives around urging people to “keep Granada clean”.
Just returned from a pleasent trip to Granada, where we went to see Rafael Alvarez, aka “El Brujo”. A surprisingly enjoyable 90 minute monologue about a dead flamenco dancer I’ve never heard of and is quite possibly made up (Miguel Pantalones), but enjoyable none the less.
And, of course, the usual delights of Granada. When I’m run out of the Levante by irate locals I shall move to Granada city centre. But only in the winter.
PS – Welcome back, Lenox. If one more person rings me up to ask if it is true that he has left the Levante (He Was On Holiday!) I shall scream.
After a very public threat to pull out of Granada airport if the Ryanair Revolutionary Tax wasn’t paid by the local town and businesses (the press release mentions changing to the much cheaper “Granada West”, which is actually Jaén airport – about three hours by coach) the Diputacíon de Granada has quietly admitted that an “arrangement” will be found.
Basically, Ryanair wants someone else to pay the landing fees at Granada airport. If not, they’ll go to Jaen. This someone will be the local Diputacion, or townhall, or some government body – ie, you and me via taxes.
Someone appears to have caved in, although details are -as you can imagine- hard to find. All we know is that Ryanair brings 450,000 (usually scruffy) tourists in a year to Granada, and the local chamber of commerce doesn’t want them to leave.
Ryanair claims that Granada city council is not keeping it’s end of the bargain and is not paying it’s share of airport costs, as promised. A special meeting has been called of company directors for Monday, where they will revise the situation and see if they want to continue flying from Granada.
Currently, you can fly with Ryanair from Granada to Londres Stansted, Liverpool, East Midlands (Nottingham), Milán, Bolonia, Girona & Madrid. 240.000 people came to Granada last year through them, it seems. Local businesses have already started to invite offers from other airlines to see if they want to pick up the slots.
Ryanair, noted for being a bully when it comes to squeezing the last penny out of regional airports, has publically stated that there are plenty more airports in Spain. Well, quite. Stansted to Granada West – the Alhambra is just four hours by bus from Jaén!
In case anybody noticed (I know you didn’t) it’s been a bit quiet around here this week because I’ve spent a fabulous week up in Granada.
I love Granada. The GF’s family has a large flat in the centre, just off the Gran Via. Sadly, we couldn’t stay there as it’s currently infested with students and I’m past that stage of life where I think nothing of having to bleach the shower before stepping in there. My suggestion of sending in the exterminators having failed to clear the voting stage, I made alternate arrangements at my new favourite haunt, the AC Palacio de Santa Clara, also on the Gran Via.
I’ve never really been a fan of five star hotels. I usually find 4 stars to be just as comfortable and the service is usually better in a good 4 star than a bad 5 star. The AC was no different, although the rooms are sumptuous. It’s built around a series of Moorish courtyards, so all rooms have a patio view. It had good service in as much as when you frantically waved at a waiter for another drink they didn’t sigh too heavily as they stopped chatting to their friend before coming over. Great bunch of lads tho’. The GF suggested that me calling it the “Palacio de Santa Claus” probably didn’t help matters. That, and filling the room with a bunch of Jamones I picked up at a two for the price of one deal. De-licious.
I mainly selected the AC because it’s got the only wall in town without any graffiti on it. This is achieved thanks to some CCTV, a large stick, and two even larger gypsies, I was told. Seriously, the graffiti problem in Granada is out of control. Even the police station is graffitied. Idea: Any student caught writing his half baked philosophy idea on a wall looses twenty credits. That would solve the problem.
Granada is great fun. The GF spent her university years there, so she knows the place inside out. This time, she introduced me to a local delicacy – it’s a Jamón, but it’s not cured. Instead, they roast it, as if it were a chicken on a spit. There is no way to tell you how good it is. Jamón Asado, it’s called.
Granada is full of tapa bars. Everywhere you go, you get a tapa with your beer or wine. And it’s cheap. Damned cheap. Packed, too. Every night of the week we ate out in the Bodegas, every night of the week we had to squeeze through the masses to get to the bar. Crisis? What crisis? I dread to think what it’s like in a time of prosperity.
While pottering around, I brought the Samsung Omnia PDA. Sorry Chris Marshall, it knocks your Iphone into a cocked hat. 5mp camara. GPS. Wireless. 100% touch screen. See all specs here. http://es.samsungmobile.com/mobile/Omnia.
And I’m sure that once I figure out how to make a phone call on it, it’ll be a damn fine phone as well.
If you’re in Granada, don’t go to the Movistar shop on the Gran Via, as it’s populated by large snooty girls who refuse to stop gossiping to serve you. Go to the one round the corner, on Plaza Alhondigas, where Ana will, with a smile, shoo the smelly hippies away and serve you. 9 different calls she had to make to track down the Omnia.
Hippies? There’s a lot of hippies in Granada. Beggers, too. Pickpockets too I’m told, although this time of year they aren’t too bad and being a simple country lad I’m too distrustful to allow anyone close to me. I was going to buy an ivory topped cane to shoo them away, but it seems ivory isn’t in season at the moment. Much to the GF’s relief. Pity, I liked the vision of me in a top hat and three piece suit.
The Real Automóvil Club de España (RACE) has published the results of a report it commissoned which discovers that Granada has the most number of dangerous kilometers of roads in Spain – up to 64% of it’s roads can be considered dangerous for drivers. Narrow, windy, mountain roads.
You then have Ávila, with 50% of its roads, and Huelva, with 44%.
The stats have been compiled by building a risk index, comparing the number of grave or mortal accidents per thousand million vehicle kilometers.
The A-92 is closed as it passes over the mountains into Granada. Snow chains and essential trips only, otherwise nice Mr Guardia will do his Amy Winehouse impersonation as he sends you away (I said no, no, no…)
or see a ![[del.icio.us]](http://images.del.icio.us/static/img/delicious.small.gif){kind=small}
5mp camara. GPS. Wireless. 100% touch screen. See all specs here. 
