24 year young Alberto Contador from Pinto, near Madrid, capital of Spain, won this years Tour de France after 3 weeks of racing through Britain, Belgium, Spain and France.
Several doping cases were discovered during the tour, excluding riders, some of them very well known, and teams from continuing the race.
The spanish rider of the American Discovery Channel team, won just 24 seconds ahead of Cadel Evans, Australia, being one of the closest results ever. 12 years have passed since Spaniard Miguel Indurain won his last title back in 1995.
After several years of ongoing doping cases, changes will have to be made to the Tour de France. Shortening of the 3 weeks? Less distance each day? Less difficult through the mountains?
If you are keen on adventure sports, and specially anything related to the so-called white water sports, then just check the multiple options for activity and sport in Llavorsi (Lleida) in the Pyrenees mountains of Spain.
The surroundings are a paradise for hiking and sightseeing, including the Aiguas Tortas National Park and Sant Mauricio lake, the Collegats Gorge, and you can also experience an excellent traditional local cuisine and choose from a wide variety of accommodation in case you wish to.
You will certainly enjoy any of the offered white water sport activities, such as rafting descent, hydrospeed descent, canyoning descent on the beautiful Noguera Pallaresa river, in the Pallars Sobira region of the Spanish Pyrenees, and sea kayak on the lake. You can combine almost any of these sports and include even bungee jumping or horse riding apart from other activities.
For more information on these sport activities in the Pyrenees, with or without accommodation, check the following link:
http://www.spaindreams.com/eng/turact/ta_llavo.htm
Many activities can also be offered as a corporate team building event or as a gift for your clients. Also ideal for groups and for families with children.
We have several offers for last minute bookings of self catering apartments, chalets and houses in Chiclana and Conil de la Frontera, along the Costa de la Luz in Andalucia, Spain.
Some of the free dates are already from tomorrow and this weekend. Some of the apartments have a communal pool apart from air conditioning with a distance of 300 m from the beach. Other holiday homes dispose of their private pool.
Discounts apply to stays of at least 14 nights and are exclusively for bookings through our website Spain Dreams.
Check the following page for the different accommodation options…and hurry as these offers won´t last long.
http://www.spaindreams.com/eng/info/fo_dispo.htm
Aparthotel Playas de Liencres in Cantabria, Spain, offers now for bookings via SpainDreams the following: Stay 5 nights and pay only 4. This offer is valid only for stays between August 15 and 24. The aparthotel has a golf club in front and is only a few km west of Santander. See accommodation info under:
http://www.spaindreams.com/eng/info/ru_lienc.htm
If you fancy the mountains for hiking, clean and fresh air, then visit the well known town of Potes in the Picos de Europa and stay at Apartments Brisas del Deva. Book an apartment for 5 nights and pay only for 4. This last minute offer is valid for stays until August 4 and then again between August 20 and 30, 2007.
For any further information on these apartments, just send us an e-mail.
If you are thinking about learning Spanish in Spain, or want to improve your knowledge, why not consider the beautiful Andalusian city Granada with its world famous Alhambra?
The language school offers different levels of Spanish courses at very competitive rates and is located in the very centre of Granada, in the Albayzin quarter, just 5 minutes away from the Alhambra. They also offer accommodation in apartments or with Spanish families if wished and organize daily activities that give you a deep insight into Spanish way of life as well as parties, learning about Andalusian and Spanish gastronomy, sightseeing of important monuments in Granada and surroundings. Sport activities include horse riding, tennis, skiing and other.
All Spanish courses are focused on communication and action: The main priority is effective communication and correct situational usage.
For more information check under:
http://www.spaindreams.com/eng/languages/spanish_granada.htm
During this morning´s run of the bulls through somewhat narrow streets in the old Pamplona part of the town, due to so many people running alongside or in front of the bulls, towards the bullring, everthing changed compared to the previous days.
One of the bulls suddenly turned around and headed towards the runners, which resulted in several people seriously injured as they were gored and got hospitalized straight away. Three of them needed surgery.
Other runners were trampled or got gored by the bulls on this bull run, which lastet six minutes, as a normal run is between two and three minutes.
The bull run through the streets is being part of the yearly San Fermin festival in Pamplona, Northern Spain, and which has a tradition for over 400 years.
One of the problems is that quite a few drunk “amateurs” take part of the run after having spend all night in bars or in the streets. The last person to get killed during these bull runs, was back in 1995.
Today at noon began the San Fermin festival with the famous chupinazo on the balcony of the Casa Consistorial in Pamplona, a tradition repeated every year.
The tradition of the San Fermin itself goes back to the 13th. or 14th. century.
The first bullrun through the streets of the old part of the city of Pamplona, Spain, will take place - as every year - at 8 am on July 7th and the last one will be at the same time on July 14th. Each bullrun lasts around 3 minutes, depending mainly on the weather conditions and also if all bulls arrive together at the bullring.
Was has been a religous festival in the initial years, has turned out nowadays to be a week full of music, dance, drink and bull running.
The novel “The Sun Also Rises” by Ernest Hemingway told the world about the existence of the San Fermin festival and made it internationally famous. Famous in such a way, that Pamplona is pretty much overcrowded year after year with people from many, many different nations.
Many people, some of them being drunk, have run along with the bulls, and got injured or even died as they got caught by a bull.
Part of the San Fermin festival are the bullfights at the Plaza de Toros arena, for those keen on the much discussed bullfighting, even among the Spanish population.
Today will end the 3 day urban fashion show, a fair which, due to the previous success, is now exclusively being held in Barcelona, Spain, after being established in Berlin, Germany.
Shown is the latest in design and quality fashion trends from more than hundred international companies, with most of the more than 85 thousand visitors coming from outside of Spain.
With a dramatic finish, the Switzerland Alinghi sailing team, just won one second ahead of the Emirates Team New Zealand, and therefore its fourth consecutive race.
Alinghi has been able to defend its last year title win, with an overall 5:2 on a warm and sunny day in Valencia, Spain.
From tomorrow until July 26, the second music B-Estival festival will take place at the Poble Espanyol.
Among the expected artists to perform in Barcelona are Carlinhos Brown from Brazil, Orishas, Youssou N’Dour, John Mayall, George Benson together with Al Jarreau and the Spanish group Nacha Pop and Julieta Venegas from Mexico.
