El Buli Loses its Crown

The world famous El Buli restaurant located up the Costa Brava coast in Roses has this year been beaten to the worlds top spot by the Danish restaurant 'Norma'

El Buli has for the last 4 yrs been voted best in the world by the British magazine 'Restaurant'

However Ferran Adrià El Buli's head chef was named as the chef of the decade, so all is not lost!

Three out of five of the restaurants heading the list are Spanish, so this is still a major achievement.

St George's Day

Tomorrow April 23rd is Sant Jordi's Day in all the Catalan speaking regions of Spain. He is also the patron saint of England but not really celebrated as it is here. In Spain there is an ancient tradition to exchange gifts with your loved one on this day, rather like St Valentines in the UK.
Women should give a book and the men should give a rose to their loved one.

Books will be on sale in most town squares.

Latest News from Ryanair.....Wed 21st

Ryanair today (Wed 21^st April) at 12.00hrs confirmed that it continues to operate Southbound flights from Spain, Southern Italy, South of France, Malta and Morocco as scheduled. From tomorrow Thurs 22^nd April, Ryanair expects to resume a full schedule of Northern European flights (except flights between Ireland and the UK). Passengers holding reservations on these flights at these airports, should continue to present themselves at these airports as normal on Thurs 22^nd April.

Ryanair has today (21 Apr) decided to cancel all of its flights between Ireland and the UK until 05.00hrs on Friday 23^rd April in order to use these UK and Irish based aircraft to operate extra flights from the UK to Continental Europe; and from Ireland to Continental Europe on Thurs 22^nd April to clear any backlog of disrupted passengers.

Ryanair is announcing these decisions in order to give intending passengers as much notice as possible of the likely developments in European airspace over the coming two/three days.

Latest News from Ryanair.....

Flight Cancellations Extended to 1300hrs Wed 21 Apr

RYANAIR EXTENDS CURRENT FLIGHT CANCELLATIONS UNTIL AT LEAST 1300HRS WED 21 APRIL

Ryanair, today (Sun 18^th April) confirmed that based on current meteorological forecasts, and the continuing emission of volcanic ash into the atmosphere over Iceland, it has decided to cancel all scheduled flights to/from the UK, Ireland, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Belgium, Holland, France, Germany, Poland and the Baltic States until 1300hrs on Wed 21 April. Ryanair flights from Spain, the Canary and Baleric islands, the south of Italy (including Pisa, Rome, Sardinia and Sicily), Malta and North Africa will continue to operate just domestic and southbound routes. This advice is based on the current stable weather trends which continue to blow potentially dangerous volcanic ash across the British Isles, Scandinavia and Europe.

This decision has been taken by Ryanair in order to allow passengers to apply for a full refund or rebook onto flights later this week, when Ryanair hopes that improved/changed weather conditions may allow normal flight schedules to resume. Ryanair is anxious to give intending passengers as much information as possible, as far in advance as possible, to allow them to make alternative arrangements. Ryanair continues to post regular flight information updates on the flight information page on www.ryanair.com.

Announcing these further cancellations today, Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary said:

“This spreading cloud of volcanic ash is unprecedented in Ryanair’s experience, and we are continuing to work around the clock to minimise its effects on our schedules and passengers. Ryanair’s flights in Spain, Southern Italy and Northern Africa will continue to operate Southbound and domestic routes.

We hope that by cancelling all Ryanair flights over the above affected countries until at least 1300hrs on Wednesday 21^st April next, we can give passengers as much notice as possible to allow them plenty of time to apply for refunds or rebook alternative Ryanair flights.

We apologise sincerely to all Ryanair customers whose travel plans have been disrupted by these cancellations. We have teams of people sending email advisories to all passengers affected by these cancelled flights to give them as much notice as possible to allow them to change their travel plans. We hope that either the prevailing winds will have changed direction or the ash cloud will have dispersed sufficiently to allow flights to operate safely across the British Isles and Northern Europe by Wednesday afternoon next.

Ryanair will continue to monitor the situation closely and will release further flight info and travel advisories to intending passengers on our website at www.ryanair.com.”

Airport disruption owing to volcano ash....

A cloud of volcanic ash has forced the closure of all UK air space and the cancellation of hundreds of flights, leaving passengers to choose between a refund or waiting for airports to reopen.

All airlines have been hit by the massive disruption, with most advising customers not to head to terminals at all because of the volume of disrupted passengers.

Most airlines, including British airways, Bmi and easyJet, are offering customers a choice of a refund or a free transfer onto another flight when air services resume.

According to the Tranding Standards Institute, passengers whose flights have been delayed or cancelled due to the volcanic dust blown over to the UK from Iceland have the some rights under the Regulation 261/2004 Air Passenger Rights.

They are entitled to a refund or re-routing if the flight is cancelled or delayed by more than five hours; if re-routing is offered from an alternative location, the airline must cover the cost of transfers.

Passengers on flights delayed by more than two hours are also entitled to meals and refreshments, hotel accommodation if necessary, transport between airport and accommodation, two free telephone calls, faxes or emails.

In cases of ‘extraordinary circumstances’ like this, which are beyond the airlines’ control, consumers are not entitled to further compensation, the TSI said.

The TSI said consumers should also check their own travel insurance as they may be entitled to more under their individual policies, or they could get further information from the government website Consumer Direct or by phoning 0845 4040506.

The Latest update from RYANAIR.COM
--------------------------------------------------

Update 07:30hrs - 18th April

The Met Office has confirmed that the volcanic ash cloud continues to cause the closure of the majority of European airspace with the exception of the southern continental Europe. Consequently, Ryanair flights to the below listed countries/airports have been cancelled up to 13:00hrs Monday 19th April. Passengers are advised NOT to go to the airport if their flight is cancelled. Further updates regarding flights operating on Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning will be issued on Sunday 18th April at 12:00hrs.

More Lloret de Mar Stuff !

I've been working on a brand new website about
Lloret de Mar which is not yet complete but well on the way!
On the new site you'll will find lots more 'STUFF' about your favorite
holiday resort on the
Costa Brava!
This will not interfere with this site which has become a firm favourite of Lloret de Mar holiday makers since 2005, I will still be adding news etc here on a regular basis.

http://www.lloret-de-mar-stuff.com/

If there is anything you would like to see included on the pages please let me know.
So far you can find all the links for my other sites about Lloret holiday accomodation, the holiday guide and not forgetting the popular 'old stuff' site!

Lloret de Mar - Easter

The hotels which were open for the Easter holiday in Lloret have reported been 90% full.

Despite Easter falling early this year and the bad news of power failures in town during previous weeks, trade has been very good for hotels.

What has been noticed though is the tourists are not spending as much money out on the streets these days, so it is only the hotel trade that is benefitting just now.

In fact more is said to be spent in the hotels because many people are prefering to take either half board or full board rather than b&b because they get better value for money.

As for the latest news regarding the power supply, the forecast is now for a permanent supply to be complete by late June. We are still experiencing short breaks in Lloret, but I can't grumble as I did miss the long blackout back in early March!

Lloret de Mar Sports Party

Coach after coach could be seen arriving in Lloret today, bringing hundreds of students in for the Sports Party taking place all this week. Since the early 1990s more than 20,000 students have taken part in this event.
With a full entertainment and sporting package planned for this week they are certain to have a fantastic time.

Go to the Sports Party site to read about this fun filled event!

Easter Week-end in Lloret

The start of the new summer season it seems has not brought the trade which Lloret shops and bars were expecting.
Hotels which have been closed since the New Year have been busily preparing for this Easter week-end opening, they it seems have had good trade.
Tourists are in town, you only have to look at the number of cars lining the streets, there's hardly a parking space to be found. Unfortunately though the local restaurants and bars seem fairly quiet and not getting the customers they badly need.

With the fairly good weather this weekend tourist are spending their time out walking along the promenades and not spending their cash in the shops.
As for the boats, they are now running but their takings will largely depend on the weather staying fine and the sea calm and of course if people are prepared to pay the inflated prices for a trip along the coast!