Text & photos: Ash Bolton

They are one of Gibraltar’s most iconic and enduring symbols. Yet a number of the Rock’s famous apes will be captured and relocated abroad in the next few months. Government chiefs have been prompted to act as groups of the Barbary Macaques have been up to no good in built up areas such as schools and Main Street. According to scientists based on the British Overseas Territory, many of the monkeys have lost their fear of humans and now regard them as a source of rich food. It’s believed up to 120 of the Rock’s 230 strong monkey colony could now be deported to North Africa. (more…)

Ten years old this year, Manifesto Design is the design and marketing company founded by expat couple Michel and Jackie Cruz, who moved to Spain some 15 years ago.

Now longstanding residents of Marbella, they have made a life for themselves, building a good name as reliable and skilled professionals, and creating a company that has weathered the recession well and is showing renewed growth and vigour. (more…)

In the heart of the old town there is an enchanting home that encapsulates the charm, elegance and the unique ambience of Tarifa.

This article first appeared in Essential magazine and is for sale with Tarifa Direct.
Words: Michel Cruz, Photography: pierrerichardsonphotography.com

Tarifa’s historic centre is a small but attractive maze of little streets and squares populated by white-plastered houses and stylish boutique hotels. Some are grand, others unassuming, but an occasional glimpse through an open door reveals the oasis of peace and fresh air created within the courtyard patios of even the humblest of homes. (more…)

Where Spain is famous for its Costas, the most privileged coastal settings of France, Italy and Portugal, amongst others, are called Rivieras. The very word is synonymous with a classic sense of opulence and style, and though the term originated centuries ago to describe the Ligurian coastlines of France and Spain, it is with the Belle Epoque of the late 19^th century that Rivieras remain forever associated.

The making of  a Riviera
What sets a Riviera apart from a sunny coastal region popular with tourists is therefore a sense of classical elegance and pedigree. In the case of Portugal, it is the distinction between the Algarve, first ‘discovered’ by tourism in the 1960s, and the coastal resort towns of Cascais and Estoril, whose traditions stretch much further back. Situated close to Lisbon, where the Tejo River meets the Atlantic Ocean, the area began attracting sophisticates from Europe and beyond in the course of the 19^th century, in much the same way as San Remo, Biarritz and Cannes were doing at the time. (more…)

Perhaps it’s a generational thing but I’ve never really gotten poetry. With few exceptions poems to me seem a random jumbling of words that speak of self-indulgent rambling in the same pseudo-intellectual manner of abstract art. If you can’t discern deep and poignant meanings from a wild array of painted dashes then chances are you won’t be able to feel the pained emotions of the poet either. Apologies to all true poetry lovers, but this kind of navel gazing ain’t for me.

And yet, we all know that words can stir emotion like few other means of human expression. Perhaps only music and art can convey feeling with the same intensity – and it is therefore from the most unexpected sources that I have come to enjoy poetry. Like when a sentence in a book suddenly causes you to sit up and ponder it, quite apart from the overall story, or when you hear certain parts of a song. The latter may be good, bad or indifferent, but can stand out for the poignancy and feeling of a single line. (more…)