Visitorsinmanchester.com visits cities that are ahead of Manchester as tourists attraction sites to measure and see changes in the cities and the effect of tourism on local people as a result. Milan, Lisbon and Madrid were visited recently. And last one Cehegin is a feedback from a family visited Cehegin. Madrid is chosen to elaborate on as Madrid regularly visited in the past and at present and one can notice the differences more than the other two cities.
Milan the fashion city and it is more sophisticated than other Italian cities and the Milanese think so, and they consider themselves more as European than Italians. Milan is very popular for a city break and popular destination for fashion lovers and wealthy people from Japan, Middleton Eastern countries, Korea and Russia in particular.
Only In Milan, a homeless person has a place like this to sleep in.
They visit Milan to fill their wardrobes with the latest in fashionable garments, shoes, handbags and accessories and to enjoy Milan and the surrounding districts.
Lisbon
Lisbon is becoming a more popular holiday destination for the visitors, as a city break and it is catching with art and fashion and developing a style. Lisbon is the mother of all sardines and the sardine industries. Sardines diet is the main diet for the locals and the main item in the menus of the restaurants, cafes and bars. Lisbon has the most colourful and work of art outlets with different companies selling sardines.
The look of these outlets more like art shops than fish shops.
Lisbon pavements are another work of art each sidewalk is a piece of a mosaic that has a unique design which took a long time to produce and needs specially trained teams. In some area when you walk on the pavement, you think you are walking into a gallery of mosaic art dotted over the city.
Madrid
When in Madrid one loves the menu del dia and have it nearly every day instead of the usual sandwich lunch in Manchester also love the siesta that follows the meal, which one certainly needs after the menu del dia.
There are things that one doesn’t like to see it happening in Madrid, which are part of tourism and what one calls side effects of tourism, which is incited and surviving on tourism and hope Manchester will never catch it, these are :
The pickpocketing and street stealing: Madrid visitors targeted and preyed on by organised gangsters. Many tourists spend the night in a police station, on Calle de Leganitos, specialises in dealing with Madrid visitors subjected to pickpocketing or street stealing and valuables stolen from them. Usually, after the initial enquiries about what to do when the nightmare happened. Visitors will be instructed to go to the police station on Calle de Leganitos where they find free phones to report the stolen bank cards to their banks. Then they have to spend hours waiting for their turn to report the incident and describe what has been taken in details, how much cash stolen, in which currencies and if they have noticed anyone suspicious or seen who has done to characterise. In the police station, they have albums of photos if one can recognise them. At the end of the reporting, the person(s) who had the incident sign and have a copy of the police report which is good for the insurance if you have it but usually nothing else follows, as the stolen never return. We have witnessed a pickpocket reporting, and after seeing the gang who have done, it was actively hunting their prey the following day and reported them to the police. No action could be done as the three of them were underage and can not be prosecuted. Although these underaged groups may be controlled by adults which one can see them communicating with, still no action can be taken against the adults unless they do it themselves !!!!
Pickpocketing and stealing in Madrid streets and public place spoil the pleasure of being in Madrid and gives Madrid a bad reputation, and it is in the increase, and if nothing is done about it, it will damage Madrid reputation. The longer it is left without a solution the harder it will get to solve as the gangster get richer and more organised. A few years ago a businessman from the middle east on a trip to buy shoes from Italy and England for his shops and we recommended Spain to add to his selection of shoes and to his destination. After his visit to Italy and England, he left for Madrid and at the airport he had his briefcase stolen. He was mad with us to recommend a country full thieves for him ( as he described Spain, which is not true and that is what we mean by bad reputation ) and he booked a flight to England the following day. No matter how much you explain to people how good the people in a country are, when things like stealing and pickpocketing happens especially on their first day, they will not believe it.
Street sellers: first we saw them in Milan and now they are increasing in number in Madrid, men selling roses, plastic and flying articles etc. approach people in the streets, the restaurants, cafes and bar. Sometimes they start very polite and friendly then persistent and turns to abusive if you don't buy from them as these guys have targets of sales and control by other people as we learned from a Milanese friend. Then you have groups of coordinated street sellers who sell faked designers handbags, sunglasses and faked designers garments displayed on about 1.5 by 1.5-meter bedding sheets like that have a few strings that when pulled convert the display sheet into a parcel that sellers put on their back to move on to a new location to display their goodies. After another a few minutes or until they have a single to pull the strings and move on. In Milan, someone told us that the sellers there are under the control of people who provide them with the goods and sometimes the accommodation. They earn from commissions on the sales of items supplied by a warehouse in the city centre that provide them with articles suitable for the time of the day or the weather condition. When there is rain you see them selling umbrellas, then they swoop them to sunglass, day toys, night toys with light, scarves etc. all these goods provided by the warehouse and they settle the count of goods and money on the return. We do not know if Madrid has the same system of selling.
On this site, we are not in a position to demand, request or even ask about changes as we do know the circumstances and thinking behind these situations the responsible authority ..... etc but we highlighting what we noticed and hope to see at least dedicated areas for the sellers then the situation will be more in order, more protection for the sellers, small businesses and the visitors.
Anyone from Madrid can give or tell what they think of the situation and any visitors who have an opinion about it please give us your feedback.
Love and befriended people, not things, own and use things, not people
Street Prostitution: Central Madrid had a pocket of prostitutes hanging around for clients in the back street on one side of the Gran Via. 3 years ago they started to move to the other side of the Gran Via, and the number has increased and so the area coverage moving towards Sol. Every time one visits Madrid see more of Prostitutes holding positions in the street corners, under trees, shop windows up to the police station on Calle de la Montera between Gran Via and Sol. The number has increased to the limit that sometimes you hear them arguing about whose the position belongs to and see them fighting for it.
The majority if not all of the Prostitutes in this area are immigrants from less fortunate countries and not to name the countries here. These Prostitutes are sometimes used and abused by men sometimes from their own countries and others to have the business. When they succeed to get a client after a few hours waiting they take the client to a nearby the flats/buildings where they stand. A man usually waiting by the door allows the Prostitutes with the client to get to the flat and check the time. The generously of the Spanish people has been abused by a few men to make money out of these ladies willingly or not depend on the circumstances. These girls and women used continuously like just things not people as people should be loved and care for and not used or abused and only things should be used not people.
In Spain, the Prostitution by itself is not directly addressed in the Criminal Code of Spain, but exploitation such as pimping is illegal. But who is going to follow each Prostitute to check if they are working alone or they have a pimp? It is obvious they work with men in the area that provide them with flats guard by men to take the clients to do their business/job then they go to stand again in street soon after they finish with a client.
One of this site team approach a women group in Madrid when they had a tent in Sol and ask them
1 - if they aware of the prostitution problem in the area and how it is in the increase and moving towards Sol
2 - if they consider that these women are used by men
3 - If they have done anything about it or they know someone has done anything about it
They agree that prostitution is in the increase in the area and moving towards Sol and they agreed that these women are used by men but they have not done anything about it or know someone working to correct the situation. They agree that something has to be done to correct this situation and to stop women used and may be abused by men to generate money out of them. This site agrees with them as one should befriend with and love people and use things not people. Hopes something to be done and quickly to correct this situation as described briefly here to stop these 100s of women be used and may be abused by a few men and to stop Madrid and Spain generosity receiving these women to be violated by a few men to create huge money. If this situation not corrected soon enough it will be very hard to solve as these a few men get richer and richer then they will have the resources to survive, and it will be very hard to get rid of them by anyone, and in fact, this practice may be imposed and normalize.
The Guardian wrote the following article this week on the prostitution in Madrid,
'Prostitution is seen as a leisure activity here': tackling Spain's sex traffickers
The link is
Hope someone will listen to The Guardian more than visitorsinmanchester.com and deal with the problem
Cehegin, The Hiden Gem
Consulte la traducción al español al final.
VIMTO’s last visit to Cehegin was at the time when Spain won the Football World Cup in July 2010 and watched the game on big screens on the Gran Via and enjoyed the celebrations that lasted all night even more than enjoyed the match.
A family asked if VIMTO recommend Cehegin to buy a house as they want to have an active lifestyle in the Spanish countryside and in traditional and inexpensive Spanish Town
The answer was yes go for it and you will not be disappointed or regret it, Cehegin is a hilly town surrounded by rocky & mountainous areas, marble sites and agriculture communities that produce fruits, nuts and veg and Cehegin is a market place for all the communities and small towns and villages around it. These communities come to Cehegin for their shopping from traditional family businesses established for a long time to service Ceheginains and the communities around it. VIMTO told them, You will be living in a very peaceful active town that only serving farmers and small communities that come to Cehegin for their shopping from many specialized independent shops and the weekly market. Also, they will live a very active lifestyle and in a healthy environment. it is the perfect choice for them. Also, as VIMTO knows the family lifestyle and what they like VIMTO recommended the very old part of town ( solidad ) to buy the house, A very hilly area with old multi-story houses some overlooking beautiful scenery of fields and hills.
The following places to eat were recommended to them
Barandica, Great Tapas and drinks
Bar El Mesoncico, Great Tapas and drinks
El Sol Restaurant and Bar, A very good food and drink and fantastic view of green hills and houses of Cehegin
Don Lucio Restaurant, Good food and drink and Best menu Del dia
Evalo Cafe Bar Churreria, for coffee, breakfast and the best Churria in town
In addition, when they there to check the Market day and not to miss it.
Also recommended the following places to visit
Caravaca de la Cruz, for religion aspect and the history,
Bulas, for the best wine
Mula, for the thermal baths
Calasparra for the best paella and where the best paella rice grow and exported to top restaurant world wide.
The family went to Cehegin with the intention of buying a good size property in the old part of town and they have a plan to run a well being and therapy business that needs peaceful and relaxed environment, without giving further details here.
They found the town in a state different from the way we have painted to be and that was because our information was more than a decade ago.
They found a lot of the shops closed and still closing down while they were there. They described the old part of town where we have recommended to them to buy a house, Beruit after the explosion, a lot of derelict houses and more neglected and deteriorating despite the area beautiful and should be kept in good order as the whole area looks like listed area, not just a few listed buildings.
Cehegin is not as safe and peaceful as we described it. They said the only city or town they have ever visited that has a busy security guard in the swimming pool is Cehegin and the police attended more than one time to control a crowd of men acting dangerously to others and children because of their bad behaviours.
The family reported that they saw doner kabab houses in and around the Gran Via more than they saw in the average Istanbul size streets and as the members of the family being heath concern people they think doner kabab usually being delivered frozen to start then heated and reheated for a few days till the big bulk of meat or chicken totally consumed and especially when there are a few outlets it takes longer to consume, which may make it not that safe or healthy food.
The family met and talked to a few people in Cehegin in tapas bars, shop owners and some British expats and asked them if this the hidden gem (sorry guys we told you Cehegin is the hidden gem ), they told them Cehegin town has lost the charm and being active and viable as it used to be with local businesses for a few reasons and probably the clear ones are.
First, the big supermarkets came to town that leads to the closing of small groceries that were scattered and seen all over Cehegin. Then the final blow was when a few big establishments opened oversized shops to sell everything in one place and in a very competitive price better than the local businesses can offer and with availability more than the town people and the communities around Cehegin can buy or need, which caused the closure of a lot of the established and specialized family businesses in Cehegin. If that was not enough a bigger shop opened outside Cehegin that sells even the fiesta customs, the family learnt. That also killed the craft and specialized businesses as Cehegin used to have a few hands made specialized merchandise.
They also heard that the supermarket's blow was gentler as the supper market buy local produce but imported cheap goods do nothing good to local Cehegin business community.
Cehegin also attracted people without jobs more than Caravaca del La Cruz that has to lead to boost the unemployment number in town and that may also lead to continuance Cehegin not familiar with in the past.
After the above family report and feedback, We dare now to ask them if they would like to buy a house in Cehegin. As their intension to have visitors from the UK to relax for a week or two and have a course of treatment the family can offer in a safe and relaxed environment different to the ones subjected to in normal city life and events.
However, and on the positive side, they liked the places we recommended to visit and to eat. Also, they had a nice dinner and good drink in a new/old place Pedro and they recommended the place to us that is if we ever want to go to the hidden gem again after their feedback !!!. They also said the town has very good potential if the right investors and businesses opened there.
After they had a walk on the old Murcia to Caravaca train track they said if this run again it will re-energize Cehegin and other towns and give the people the choice to live in the countryside and work wherever the train stop in.
They also said COVID 19 is very well controlled in Cehegin and the locals are wearing the masks when out all the time.
Hope Cehegin and the surrounded areas will recover and soon and be safe and attractive people again.
Cehegin, la joya escondida
La última visita de VIMTO a Cehegin fue en el momento en que España ganó el Mundial de Fútbol en julio de 2010 y vio el partido en las pantallas gigantes de la Gran Vía y disfrutó de las celebraciones que duraron toda la noche incluso más que disfrutó del partido.
Una familia preguntó si VIMTO recomendaba a Cehegin que comprara una casa, ya que quieren tener un estilo de vida activo en el campo español y en el tradicional y económico Spanish Town.
La respuesta fue sí, adelante y no te decepcionará ni te arrepentirás, Cehegin es una ciudad montañosa rodeada de áreas rocosas y montañosas, sitios de mármol y comunidades agrícolas que producen frutas, nueces y verduras y Cehegin es un mercado para todos los comunidades y pequeños pueblos y aldeas a su alrededor. Estas comunidades vienen a Cehegin para realizar sus compras en empresas familiares tradicionales establecidas desde hace mucho tiempo para dar servicio a Ceheginains y las comunidades que la rodean. VIMTO les dijo: Vivirán en una ciudad activa muy pacífica que solo atiende a agricultores y pequeñas comunidades que vienen a Cehegin para sus compras en muchas tiendas independientes especializadas y en el mercado semanal. Además, vivirán un estilo de vida muy activo y en un entorno saludable. es la elección perfecta para ellos. Además, como VIMTO conoce el estilo de vida familiar y lo que les gusta, VIMTO recomendó la parte muy antigua de la ciudad (solidad) para comprar la casa. Un área muy montañosa con casas antiguas de varios pisos, algunas con vistas a hermosos paisajes de campos y colinas.
Se les recomendaron los siguientes lugares para comer
Barandica, excelentes tapas y bebidas.
Bar El Mesoncico, Excelentes tapas y tragos
El Sol Restaurant and Bar, muy buena comida y bebida y una vista fantástica de las colinas verdes y las casas de Cehegin
Restaurante Don Lucio, Buena comida y bebida y Mejor menú Del dia
Evalo Cafe Bar Churreria, para café, desayuno y la mejor Churria de la ciudad
Además, cuando estén allí para comprobar el día de mercado y no perderse.
También recomendó los siguientes lugares para visitar
Caravaca de la Cruz, por el aspecto religioso y la historia,
Bulas, al mejor vino
Mula, por los baños termales
Calaspara para la mejor pealla y donde el mejor arroz pealla crece y se exporta al mejor restaurante del mundo.
La familia fue a Cehegin con la intención de comprar una propiedad de buen tamaño en el casco antiguo de la ciudad y tienen un plan para administrar un negocio de bienestar y terapia que necesita un ambiente tranquilo y relajado, sin dar más detalles aquí.
Encontraron la ciudad en un estado diferente al que pintamos y eso se debió a que nuestra información era de hace más de una década.
Encontraron que muchas de las tiendas estaban cerradas y seguían cerrando mientras estaban allí. Describieron la parte vieja del pueblo donde les hemos recomendado comprar una casa, Beruit después de la explosión, muchas casas abandonadas y más descuidadas y deterioradas a pesar de que el área es hermosa y debe mantenerse en buen estado ya que toda la zona parece. área protegida, no solo unos pocos edificios protegidos.
Cehegin no es tan seguro y pacífico como lo describimos. Dijeron que la única ciudad o pueblo que han visitado que tiene un guardia de seguridad ocupado en la piscina es Cehegin y la policía asistió más de una vez para controlar a una multitud de hombres que actuaban peligrosamente con otros y niños debido a su mal comportamiento.
La familia informó que vieron casas de doner kabab en y alrededor de la Gran Vía más de lo que vieron en las calles del tamaño promedio de Estambul y como los miembros de la familia están preocupados por la salud, piensan que el doner kabab generalmente se entrega congelado para comenzar, luego se calienta y recalenta. durante unos días hasta que la mayor parte de la carne o el pollo se consuman por completo y, especialmente cuando hay pocos puntos de venta, se tarda más en consumir, lo que puede hacer que no sea un alimento tan seguro o saludable.
La familia se reunió y habló con algunas personas en Cehegin en bares de tapas, propietarios de tiendas y algunos expatriados británicos y les preguntó si esta era la joya escondida (lo siento, chicos, les dijimos que Cehegin es la joya escondida), les dijeron que la ciudad de Cehegin había perdido el encanto y ser activo y viable como solía ser con las empresas locales por algunas razones y probablemente las claras lo son.
Primero, los grandes supermercados llegaron a la ciudad que provocó el cierre de pequeños abarrotes que estaban esparcidos y vistos por todo Cehegin. Luego, el golpe final fue cuando unos pocos establecimientos grandes abrieron tiendas de gran tamaño para vender todo en un solo lugar y a un precio muy competitivo mejor que el que pueden ofrecer los negocios locales y con disponibilidad más de lo que la gente del pueblo y las comunidades alrededor de Cehegin pueden comprar o necesitar. lo que provocó el cierre de muchas de las empresas familiares establecidas y especializadas en Cehegin. Si eso no fuera suficiente, se abrió una tienda más grande en las afueras de Cehegin que vende hasta las costumbres de las fiestas, según se enteró la familia. Eso también mató a la artesanía y los negocios especializados, ya que Cehegin solía tener algunas manos que fabricaban mercadería especializada.
También escucharon que el golpe del supermercado fue más suave ya que el mercado de la cena compra productos locales, pero los productos baratos importados no hacen nada bueno a la comunidad empresarial local de Cehegin.
Cehegin también atrajo a personas sin trabajo más que Caravaca del La Cruz, lo que tiene que llevar a aumentar el número de desempleo en la ciudad y que también puede llevar a una continuación que Cehegin no conocía en el pasado.
Después del informe familiar anterior y los comentarios, ahora nos atrevemos a preguntarles si les gustaría comprar una casa en Cehegin. Como su intención de tener visitantes del Reino Unido para relajarse durante una semana o dos y tener un curso de tratamiento que la familia puede ofrecer en un ambiente seguro y relajado diferente a los que sufren en la vida y eventos normales de la ciudad.
Sin embargo, y en el lado positivo, les gustaron los lugares que les recomendamos visitar y comer. Además, tuvieron una buena cena y una buena bebida en un lugar nuevo / viejo, Pedro, y nos recomendaron el lugar si alguna vez queremos ir a la joya escondida nuevamente después de sus comentarios. También dijeron que la ciudad tiene muy buen potencial si los inversores y negocios adecuados se abren allí.
Después de dar un paseo por la antigua vía del tren de Murcia a Caravaca, dijeron que si volvían a correr, revitalizaría Cehegin y otras ciudades y le daría a la gente la opción de vivir en el campo y trabajar dondequiera que parara el tren.
También dijeron que COVID 19 está muy bien controlado en Cehegin y que los lugareños usan las máscaras cuando están fuera todo el tiempo.
Espero que Cehegin y las áreas circundadas se recuperen y pronto sean personas seguras y atractivas nuevamente.
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