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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 visited recently.  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. They visit Milan to full their wardrobes with the latest in fashionable garments, shoes, handbags and accessories and to enjoy Milan and the surrounding districts. 

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 is the place that visited several times every year to spend a few weeks each time and where the difference is more obvious than the other two cities. Each time one visite Madrid notice the changes. The Madrilenians are very nice, friendly and warm welcoming people. They are trustworthy and they trust others. Madrid is the only city or place on earth we have seen a  taxi driver stop the meter when missed a turning, which lead to not follow the shortest route. That witnessed and happened not once but twice!!!  not even seen it happening in Manchester.
 

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.

 store and change according to ....

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.

Street Prostitution: Central Madrid had a pocket of prostitutes hanging around for clients in the back streets on one side of the Gran Via for awhile and three years ago started to move to the other side of the Gran Via more and more in number and cover of the area towards Sol. Everytime one visits Madrid see more of Prostitutes holding positions to street corners, under the trees, shop windows up to nearly now to the police station on YYY street. The number has increased to the limit that you hear them arguing about whose the position belongs to and see them fighting for it.

love and befriend 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. Everytime one visits Madrid see more of Prostitutes holding positions in the street corners, under trees, shop windows up to the police station on YYY street 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 immigrant 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 maybe abused by men to generate money out of them. This site agrees with them as one should be friend 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 maybe imposes and normalize. 

 

 

 

 

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Brexit

 

 What’s going to happen to Manchester after Brexit  ???? We do not know what is going to happen and our guess is as good as yours and as good as any politician in Manchester or England. This site is independent, we don’t reflect the views of any party and we are so happy about this as none of the parties or at least the ones that may be able to influence the situation can justify their actions. All the main parties doing is fighting each other or between themselves, while the Europeans watching and preparing for any outcome from the UK politicians. The Europeans will have an open book negotiation with the UK as all details of the UK thinking their aim and the targeted achievements and demand are known to everyone and their dirty washing free to be inspected by everyone in public.   
What is important for the visitors in Manchester is how Brexit going to affect them and to think of their investment, pound sterling movement against other currencies and how to do better after Brexit. This site is only thinking loud here !!!!  no more no less. This site is not to give advice on financial issues or claim to know anything about what will happen and for the matter of fact not the best financial advisers know what is going to happen we think they are guessing. and they will continue to guess till Britain exit The European Union. They may direct you to one way or another and if their advice happens to be good they are a star and if not you lose money and ends there.
If you have money don’t let others play with your money, play with it yourself. The internet is there for you to make the judgment and to decide on the direction to take and at least you can learn when something goes wrong.
Visitors in Manchester knows people who had advice from a big accounting company in G Manchester that made them lose money, a good amount. They didn’t even get an apology for the bad advice from the accountancy company. The only thing the accountancy company did is blaming everyone else, from different authorities they dealt with to changes in government policies etc, etc but never their work or advice as they always perfect.
If you can, Don’t let other people play with your money and lose it, do it yourself.
If you have currency in pound sterling do you have to keep it or to change it to Euro and you have to watch the movement all the time. This one very difficult decision to make especially one of British newspaper reported that Bank Of England has used some of the currency reserves and bought billions of Euros since the referendum !!! do we have to follow or not !!!! sorry, we can not give any advice. Good luck whatever you do and hope it will be the right decision.
The second issue that might be affected by Brexit in Manchester is the property market and in particular  Manchester flats prices. Manchester has a good number of European Union Citizens working in the city from Spain, France, Italy and other countries and the number increasing or it was. When one flies to Madrid nearly 3/4 of the passengers are Spanish and that shows the size of the integration with Europe. Therefore, we think  Manchester had a plan of expansion to the infrastructure, services and a huge number of blokes of flats in and around the city centre based on the number of Europeans estimated to work and live in Manchester. One can tell from the number of cranes one can see in Manchester that reminds you of the construction boom in Dubai and Riyadh in the 80s. Now the influx of the European is going to stop and some who have settled in Manchester decided to leave due to the uncertainty. That will leave many empty flats, which are planned to be occupied by the Europeans and this might drop the flat prices down drastically especially after reading newspaper article warned UK housing market is 12% overpriced that leaves many of us to suffer as flat owners in Manchester. Also, this might open the opportunity to big foreign companies to invest to buy flats and blocks of flats which might cause trouble to the locals and visitors as it will be very difficult for them to compete with the big companies as we have seen it in London.
Again this is a loud thinking and to emphasize that this site is not to give advice but to highlight and we welcome comments. On a lighter note see below photo taken in Madrid just after the referendum.

 

 

 

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On this site we are not in position to demand request other even ask as we do know the sercumstances and thinking behind these situations..... etc but we hope to see at least dedicated areas for for the sellers then the situation will be more in order and more protection for the sellers and the visitors.

Anyone from Madrid can gives or tell what they think of the situation and any visitors how have options about it please both give us your feedback 

 

 

 

V visits to cities that are a head of Man as tourists attractions sites to measure and see changes in the city and the effect on local people London Milan Lisbon and Madrid were visited . We choose Madrid to elaborate on as Madrid visited regularly and we have noticed the differences most . 

Milan the fashion city and it is more sofisticated than other Italian cities especially and the Milanés think so and they consider themselves more European people than Italians .......Milan is very popular for city break and popular distenation for fashion lovers reach people from japan, Middleton Eastern countries and other rich countries they visit to 

Lisbon is becoming more popular holiday distenatiion for the visitors and as a city break and it catching with art and fashion and deloping style . It is the mother of all sardines  in local diets and the restaurants , cafes and bars menus. Lisbon has many outlets courfull outlets by different companies selling sardines that look like art shops than fish . Lisbon pavements are work of art all mosaic and each pavement has special design and work take long time to produce and needs especially trained teams .

Food siesta etc

 

Madrid tis the place that visited every year several times and  to spend a few weeks for a long time and where the differences is more oviuos than the other two. The madrilions are very nice friendly and warm welcoming people. They trust worthy and they trust people the only city or place on earth I seen when the taxi driver stop the meter when not follow the right route and that happened not once but twice!!! 

I love the menu daldyia when in Madrid and I have it every day instead of my usual sandwich lunch in manchester also I love the siesta after it .

There are things that one don’t like to see that happening in Madrid , which maybe are mainly part or what one calls side effects of tourism or maybe incited or survive  by tourism which are

The pickpockets pickpocketing and steeling from you sits and Madrid visitors targeted and prayed by orginized gangsters . Many tourists spend nights in xxxx police station after subjected to pickpocket or valuables stolen from them .  After the initial enquiries to what to do when the nightmare happened Madrid’s visitors usually instructed to go the xxx police station where they have free phones to report the stolen banks cards then they have to spend hours waiting for there turn to report the incident and describe what have been stolen in details and how much cash stolen and in which currency and if they have noticed who done it or think has / have done it . At the end of the reporting the person(s) who had the incident have a police report which is good for the insurance if you have it but usually nothing else as what have been stolen never return. We have witnessed a pickpocket reporting and after seen the group who done it actively hunting their prey the following and reporting it to the police no action could be taken as the three of them were under age and can not be prosecuted. Although these under aged groups maybe controlled by adults which you see them commucating with but still no action can be taken against the the adults enlese they do it themselves. Pickpocketing and steeling in Madrid streets and public place spoils the pleasure of being in Madrid and gives Madrid bad reputation and if nothing done about it will be in the increase . A few years ago Once we had a business man from the middle east to buy shoes from Italy and England and we recommended Spain to add to his distanation . After his visit to Italy and England he left to Madrid and at the airport he had his brief case stolen. He was mad with us and to recommend a country full a thiefs for him and booked flight to England the following day .  No matter how much you explain to people how good the people in a country and these things like steeling and pickpocketing on happiness to a very a few visitors they will not believe 

 

Street sellers: first we saw them in Milan and now they are increasing in Madrid men selling roses , plastic and flying things approach people in the streets and the plazas and restaurants, cafes and bars and sometimes they persist to buy from them ........  . Then you have group of coordinated sellers who sells designers faked 

 

 

 

handbags, sunglasses and faked designers garments displayed on about 1.5 by 1.5 meters  bedding like sheets that have a few strings that when pulled convert the display into a parcel that sellers put on their back to move on to a new place to display their goodies for another a few minutes till they have a single to pull the strings and move on .

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Legal status[edit]

Prostitution was decriminalised in 1995. Prostitution itself is not directly addressed in the Criminal Code of Spain, but exploitation such as pimping is illegal.[2][3][4][5][6][7][8]

The only article in the Code dealing specifically with adult prostitution is Artícle 188, which bans pimping:[9]

1. El que determine, empleando violencia, intimidación o engaño, o abusando de una situación de superioridad o de necesidad o vulnerabilidad de la víctima, a persona mayor de edad a ejercer la prostitución o a mantenerse en ella, será castigado con las penas de prisión de dos a cuatro años y multa de 12 a 24 meses. En la misma pena incurrirá el que se lucre explotando la prostitución de otra persona, aun con el consentimiento de la misma''.[note 1]

Owning an establishment where prostitution takes place is in itself legal, but the owner cannot derive financial gain from the prostitute or hire a person to sell sex because prostitution is not considered a job and thus has no legal recognition.

Local government[edit]

Local governments differ in their approaches to both indoor and outdoor prostitution, usually in response to community pressure groups, and based on 'public safety'.[10] Most places do not regulate prostitution, but the government of Catalonia offers licenses for persons "to gather people to practice prostitution".[11] These licenses are used by brothel owners to open 'clubs', where prostitution takes place (the women are theoretically only 'gathered' to work on the premises not employed by the owner). Some places have implemented fines for street prostitution.[12

 

 

Politics[edit]

History[edit]

Prostitution was tolerated in Spain throughout the mediaeval period, until the 17th century and the reign of Phillip IV (1621–65) whose 1623 decree closed the mancebías (brothels) forcing the women out into the street, a very unpopular decision, but one that remained in place till the 19th century. In the reign of Isabel II (1843–1868) regulation was introduced, firstly in cities, the Disposiciones de Zaragoza (1845) and the Reglamento para la represión de los excesos de la prostitución en Madrid (1847), followed by the 1848 Penal Code. (Guerena 2003, 2008)

In 1935 during the Second Republic (1931-6) prostitution was prohibited. Once the Dictatorship (1939–75) was established, this law was repealed (1941). Spain became officially abolitionist on 18 June 1962, when the 1949 United Nations (UN) Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others was ratified by Spain, and the Decree 168 of 24 January 1963 modified the Penal Code (Código Penal) according to the Convention. In theory, this policy, in accordance with the Convention, regarded sex workers (trabajadores sexuales) as victims of sexual exploitation and advocated punishment of their exploiters rather than the workers themselves, and refused to distinguish between voluntary and coerced sex work.[14] However, there were inconsistencies, as the prostitutes were in fact treated more like criminals: under Act 16/1970 of 4 August on social menace and rehabilitation (Ley de peligrosidad y rehabilitación social) prostitutes were declared amongst those classes categorized as social evils, and could be confined to special centres or forbidden to live in specified areas. In practice however, prostitution was quietly ignored and tolerated.[15]

Although democracy was restored in 1975, it was not till the Penal Code revisions of 1995[16] that this policy was revisited, and most laws regarding prostitution were repealed, with the exception of those governing minors and those with mental health problems. This included the Act 16/1970. Further revisions in 1999 addressed trafficking, as did the 2000 Immigration Act which followed other European precedents by offering asylum to trafficked victims if they collaborated (Valiente 2003).

In 2012, at Santa Cruz de Tenerife 91% female prostitution and 9% transsexual prostitution[17]

Public opinion[edit]

Opinion remains deeply divided in Spain over prostitution, and law reform has been in a political impasse for a long time.[18] Consequently, it remains in rather a grey zone of unregulated but tolerated semi-legality. The standard debates exist as to whether it is work like any other work, or exploitation of women as espoused by groups like Malostratos.[19] Meanwhile, it thrives, and has prompted headlines such as El nuevo burdel de Europa (The New Brothel of Europe).[20][21]

Public policy[edit]

The key instruments in order of importance are the Penal Code (Código penal) (1822-)[22] and the Immigration or Aliens Act (Ley de Extranjería de España) 2000.[23]

Plans:

  • Plan Municipal de Intervención ante la Prostitución en el municipio 2011-2014, Santa Cruz de Tenerife

Migrant workers[edit]

According to a 2009 TAMPEP study, 90% of sex workers are migrants. Of all countries studied, only Italy had proportion of migrant workers at comparable level.[10][24] About 80% of these were Latin American (mainly from Ecuador, Colombia and the Dominican Republic)[25][26] However, the situation is changing rapidly owing to the arrival of Eastern European migrants (mainly Romania and Bulgaria) who now make up 25% compared to 50% from Latin America, under the context of Immigration to Spain. (There is also considerable cross-border traffic between Spain and Portugal and France. Equally, some 80% of Spanish national workers work outside Spain, mainly from economic necessity.[10])

As in other countries in Western Europe, there is concern over the presence of migrant workers on the streets and claims that many of them were coerced. In 2008 the Spanish Government announced plans to aid women who had been trafficked.[27]

There are organisations working with migrant women, including Proyecto Esperanza[28] and shelters such as IPSSE (Instituto para la Promoción de Servicios Especializados).

From 2012 to September 2013, 544 prostitutes were identified in 138 inspections in brothels of Asian prostitutes in Barcelona.[29]

On 30 November 2012, a woman from Paraguay, 34 years old, was arrested in Cuenca, when she was working in a brothel with her daughter.

Advocacy[edit]

Organisations working with sex workers in Spain include APRAMP (Associacion para la Prevención, Reinserción y Atención de la Mujer Prostituida)[30] while sex workers' rights organisations include Hetaira (Madrid),[31] as well as regional organisations such as SICAR Asturias,[32] AMTTTSE (Asociación de Mujeres, Transexuales y Travestis como Trabajadoras Sexuales en España, Málaga) and CATS (Comité de Apoyo a las Trabajadoras del Sexo, Murcia).

Spanish sex workers continue to be concerned about their lack of protection and in July 2011 petitioned the Minister of Health (Leire Pajín).[33] A demonstration is planned for November 6, 2011 in Madrid, and a communique has been released setting out sex workers' complaints and demands.[34

 

social history[edit]

Prostitution in Spain was highly sectored, with at one end the damas cortesanas of high society,[35] and the mistresses of the bourgeoisie and barraganas, the concubines of the clergy. (Harrison)

Sex work in Spanish culture[edit]

 
La Maja Desnuda c. 1800, oil on canvas, 98 * 191 cm (38.58 * 75.2 in), Prado, Madrid

Goya (1746–1828) frequently commented on the place of prostitution in Spanish high society[36] such as satirising the church's involvement in the trade, for profit. Best known though are his controversial Majas.[37] Other examples are Murillo's Four Figures on a Step and Picasso's Les Demoiselles d'Avignon (illustrated).

In literature, Cervantes discusses prostitution in Don Quixote,[38] and the subject is found throughout 19th- and 20th-century Spanish literature.[39]

Sex work celebrities in Spain[edit]

La señora Rius (see photograph) is a Barcelona celebrity and Madam who told her story in Julián Peiró's La Sra. Rius, de moral distraída (Comanegra, Barcelona 2008).[40]

Overseas autonomous communities[edit]

Canary Islands[edit]

In 2006, 42 people were arrested following the discover of a prostitution ring operating out of nightclubs in Las Palmas and Telde. The prostitutes were from South American countries, mainly Brazil.[41] Five people were jailed as a result.[42]

A study is 2016 estimated there were around 3,000 prostitutes working on the islands, mainly in the tourist areas and the cities of Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Las Palmas.[43]

Ceuta[edit]

Prostitution occurs in the Ceti (Temporary Reception Center) in Ceuta. The prostitutes are mainly Nigerian women.[44]

Melilla[edit]

Local NGO Melilla Acoge, which provides medical and other assistance to prostitutes, report that there are about 1,000 Moroccan prostitutes in Melilla. Some cross over the border into Melilla in the mornings and leave at midday, other cross over the border in the afternoon and leave at night.[45]

See also[edit]

 

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