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1 week ago | 
euroweeklynews.com | Nora Johnson
If you’ve ever fancied visiting a city founded by the Romans, defended by poets’ heroines and blessed with not one but two cathedrals, Zaragoza in central Aragon is waiting for you!Once known as Caesaraugusta – yes, that Caesar! – Zaragoza began as a ‘Celtiberian’ settlement before the Romans claimed it around the 1st century BCE. Since then, it’s hosted Visigoths, Moors and a very unwelcome Napoleon. Charlemagne tried to pop by in 778, but a Saxon uprising back home ruined his travel plans.
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2 weeks ago | 
euroweeklynews.com | Nora Johnson
Columnists By Nora Johnson • Published: 12 Jun 2025 • 10:00 • 1 minute read Sun, Sheep and Seafaring Invaders! Credit: Shutterstock / Balate.Dorin Located in the western Mediterranean like a string of sun-dappled stepping stones, the Balearic Islands – Majorca, Minorca, Ibiza, Formentera and Cabrera – have hosted an almost indecent number of conquerors over the past 2,600 years.
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3 weeks ago | 
euroweeklynews.com | Nora Johnson
Columnists By Nora Johnson • Published: 05 Jun 2025 • 9:37 • 1 minute read Childhood health can’t depend on postcodes. Credit: Shutterstock / Inspiration GP If a child comes home from school in Spain smelling like a chip shop and mysteriously unable to identify a courgette, he’s not alone.
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1 month ago | 
euroweeklynews.com | Nora Johnson
Columnists By Nora Johnson • Published: 29 May 2025 • 10:04 • 1 minute read Maria Branyas Morera - Spain's adopted oldest resident. Credit: Commons.Wikimedia Maria Branyas Morera, who passed away last August at the grand old age of 117, wasn’t just Spain’s adopted oldest resident – she was a genetic marvel.
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1 month ago | 
euroweeklynews.com | Nora Johnson
In 1892, British traveller Richard Ford noted that Spaniards enjoyed lunch around midday and dined at a respectable 6 or 7pm. Fast forward to modern Spain, and you’d be forgiven for thinking your watch had stopped somewhere near Gibraltar. Lunch now begins at 2pm and stretches leisurely until 5. Dinner? Don’t even think about it before 9pm. Famished tourists stumble about from noon, searching in vain for food while locals look on, slightly bemused.
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1 month ago | 
euroweeklynews.com | Nora Johnson
Last month, mainland Spain and Portugal experienced one of the most severe power outages in recent memory. Extending beyond nightfall, the blackout impacted tens of millions and brought widespread disruption to essential services – businesses, hospitals, public transport and telecommunications. At least five deaths were linked to incidents during the crisis.
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1 month ago | 
euroweeklynews.com | Nora Johnson
Columnists By Nora Johnson • Published: 07 May 2025 • 11:00 • 1 minute read Thinking of tossing your hat onto the bed? Don’t! Credit: Shutterstock / sippakorn The number 13, often associated with bad luck in many cultures, holds a different fate in Spain. Tuesday the 13th (as is the case next week), NOT Friday the 13th, is considered an unlucky day, echoing the historical events of the Battle of Moclín, which took place on a Tuesday 13th.
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1 month ago | 
euroweeklynews.com | Nora Johnson
Columnists By Nora Johnson • Published: 01 May 2025 • 12:00 • 1 minute read In the UK, people celebrate by dancing round the Maypole. Credit: Shutterstock / Oscar Johns While many associate May Day with placards and picket lines, its roots stretch far deeper and are considerably more cheerful. Long before workers demanded an eight-hour day, May Day was a joyful European festival marking the start of summer, celebrated on 1 May.
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2 months ago | 
euroweeklynews.com | Nora Johnson
Forget champagne-soaked beach clubs and Michelin-starred indulgence: Marbella’s newest residents are flocking to a rather different hotspot. It’s called The Pool, but don’t pack your swimwear. This sleek, glass-walled co-working space on the Golden Mile has become the meeting point for young entrepreneurs, especially involved in start-ups, from over 30 countries. Welcome to “Marbella 2.0,” a reinvention of the Costa del Sol’s ritzy resort town.
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2 months ago | 
euroweeklynews.com | Nora Johnson
Columnists By Nora Johnson • Published: 17 Apr 2025 • 11:00 • 1 minute read ‘The House of Secrets’ has also just been published! Credit: Nora Johnson Julia Wendell, a 22-year-old Polish woman, falsely claimed last year to be missing toddler Madeleine McCann, even appearing on the American talk show Dr Phil as @IamMadeleineMcCann. DNA tests disproved her claim, revealing she’s mostly Polish.
