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What is Alfaz del Pi all about?
Let’s find out.
I don’t know it’s just a different way of life over here.
It’s a working town, it’s a busy town all year round, which is nice.
Costa Blanca is the food that takes your home because there is no place like home.
You can cook it at your own perfection.
There is a lot of activities for everybody.
For foreign people I think it’s magic.
We have to make sure that they feel integrated.
Alfaz del Pi lies on the Costa Blanca North between Alicante and Denia.
Let’s hear about Albir Abogados.
We are here more than 15 years and we are helping foreign people who are coming to this
area basically when they are buying property or when they need some legal help.
We are Spanish lawyers but our clients are 99% foreigners.
Since I was a child I was always thinking about the right things and bad things
people have been always telling me that I’m speaking very well especially in Spanish
and I thought law was a very good way for me to develop my own internal character.
There are a lot of lawyer practicing here on the Costa Blanca why would people chose you?
Because we know all the necessities during their future or current life here in Albir.
Then we are not only assisting them legally, we are giving them some other services
that apparently are not involving the legal work but are absolutely necessary when you are here.
When you are here, it’s not a question to buy a property; sometimes you are buying a property, you are happy with
your lawyer, but a lawyer is taking care to save all the tax work for you or maybe is helping you to change driving
license to Spanish, and this is not a lot of work, but this is a work that you appreciate a lot when you are here
and you don’t know anybody and especially you don’t know about the Spanish system nor the language.
We are experts in real estate services and conveyancing, basically,
and we are also expert in mercantile and trade products.
We are helping people since they are coming to Spain to buy their own apartment for example
or sometimes children that have to inherit inevitably the grandpa or the parents’ property
that they owned previously here in Spain.
We are also helping some people that want to develop a company here in the area and
they want to establish definitely here in Albir and they want to develop their own dream,
trying to get a good business and to do things in a right way.
So, why would you encourage people to live here, particularly in Alfaz?
You have the biggest, Norwegian community here in this area, and also a lot of Dutch people that are living here.
You have many places where you can go and of course you have the sun and the beach that
you can enjoy and all the places you can enjoy Altea or Benidorm, but the truth is that this
area is particularly special for foreign people.
Also you can have many different, international friends 'cos you can enjoy many cultures that
are in some way mixing and being here and for foreigners I think that’s magic.
We are practically divided in two.
We’ve got the old town which people know as L’Alfàs del Pi
and we’ve got the beach area which is L’Albir.
Which often people think it’s a separate entity but it’s not…
Albir belongs to Alfàs del Pi, it’s the same municipality.
And this municipality is in the middle of Costa Blanca North…
It is and Alfàs del Pi also has got different festivals during the year, we’ve got the film festival,
we also have got many cultural activities.
And it is very international.
You, yourself are from Belgium, and you have some Norwegian blood.
Yes, I have Norwegian, Persian blood.
We are over 20.000 inhabitants in Alfàs and del Pi and more than half of them are from other nationalities.
We’ve got over 98 different nationalities in our town.
We have to make sure that they feel integrated.
That’s the most important part of my job
make sure that people feel themselves at home.
Supermercado Costa Blanca, Gloria tell me a little bit about the history.
Julián Gracia started the company 30 years ago.
Costa Blanca Supermarket is a family business;
we are import specialist supermarket and we work with 8 different countries.
We work with Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, Holland, Germany, United Kingdom, Russia and
also with Spain obviously.
So, all the foreigners that live here they can shop their own products, no?
Yes, that’s our philosophy, in fact our claim is – Costa Blanca food that takes you home
you home because there is no place like home, so we want our customers feel like home when they buy
products as if they never left their country.
We also have another shop in Orihuela Costa and we also have an online shop a lot of people, foreigners,
are buying from all over Spain and Portugal and they have their products from their own
country the next day, so it’s really, really amazing.
Oh, very reliable.
So, what makes you unique here on this market?
Well, we have really fresh products like fresh Scandinavian milks, yogurt,
karne melk from Netherlands, Holland.
Following the trends and what our customers ask us to do, we are opening in a few months
an ecological and organic shop.
So, we will have a lot of specialty, ecological from different countries.
And why did you choose Alfaz del Pi?
We have a really big Norwegian and Swedish community with Scandinavian clubs,
also Dutch people, German people, you have Puig Campagna, the mountain, the lighthouse in El Albir,
it’s really a lot of little things to see and enjoy.
And you are not far away from Casa de Cultura, no?
Yes, and Casa de Cultura is 5 minutes from here and there you have theatre and the cinema
is close to it, there are a lot of art activities and this kind of things.
Claire’s salon how long have you had it here?
This salon, we’ve been here since 2014–before that I had another salon which I opened in 2000–
and before that in Benidorm, so 10 years all together salon Claire has been running.
Do you like Alfaz more than Benidorm?
I like it lot more than Benidorm, yes.
Why is that?
We have a lot more variety of clients, different nationalities and we have our regulars,
they call us from Norway, Holland to make appointments because these services are very expensive
I think in Norway, so we have a lot of regular clientele.
And you’ve recently opened another shop, right?
I have, yes.
Barber’s in Alfaz del Pi.
We use quality products; our staff are highly trained professionals with many years’ experience.
We offer acrylic nails, gel nails, semi-permanent polish, pedicures, all forms of waxing, massages,
eye lash extensions, all hair treatments, spray tans, everything really.
And teeth whitening also.
So, if a person was thinking to come to Alfaz del Pi, what would you tell them, why should they come visit, stay?
It has many things to offer, I think Alfaz and Albir, you’ve got the lovely beach front,
I don’t know it’s just a different way of life over here and I think it’s nice people, nice things to do.
I moved from England for a better quality of life and I like the sunshine,
not that I see much of it 'cos I work a lot of hours.
So, you are not going back to England?
No, not any time.
Hola!
Hi Natalia, how are you?
Lovely to see you.
PMR, tell me what you do here guys.
We are a property management and rental company, we’ve been established here on the Costa Blanca
for 11 years.
We really look after people’s properties, mainly it started for people that didn’t live here and just needed
somebody to check on the properties, look after things, make sure that everything was working fine when they
themselves came out and had holidays.
And from that things have progressed and now we’ve gone into rentals and holiday rentals and
long term rentals as well.
In addition, there is a big need for expats to be able to come somewhere
and get all their paper work sorted out.
So if they need NIE or residencia, change of driving licence, change of vehicle matricula,
all of that we do from this office.
And you cater for internationals?
We now cater for all nationalities.
The girls that I’ve got here, we all speak Spanish and we’ve got German speakers, French speakers, so we can
deal with pretty much any situation.
So, what is unique about your business?
I think the unique things for us is that we don’t sell.
We are property management and rental company, that is what we specialize in.
We are not an estate agent, we all deal with rentals.
And you are in beautiful Alfaz, how is this area?
Alfaz del Pi, is a very multicultural area and I believe there is 100 different nationalities that live
in this town alone, which is great.
Everybody is catered for, there is a lot of restaurants with different cuisines, etc…
Everyone gets along really well.
It’s a working town, it’s a busy town all year round, which is nice.
We’ve got some nice properties here in town itself, but we also deal with Albir, Benidorm,
Villajoyosa, Altea, going as far as Alicante and up north as far as well Calpe as well.
Great, so if the person was thinking to come down here in Spring time, why?
Spring is beautiful here on the Costa Blanca, when all the almond blossom comes out onto the trees
and it’s a very busy time for us.
We do winter rentals so we have people that maybe come for 6 months over the winter that
are now leaving and we are getting the properties ready now for the spring and the summer holiday guests.
It’s a great time of year to come, it is not too hot, there is plenty to see.
It’s a beautiful day today and the sun is always beautiful like it is today right up
through until November time, so it’s a great time for people to come and visit the area.
Lorena, we are in Albiplant, beautiful garden center here in Alfaz, what can we get here?
We offer plant for outside, inside, we have decorations for gardens, for terraces,
we do landscaping and whatever clients ask from us.
Mostly all our clients are foreigners, they are from other countries and they live in Alfaz.
And how long have you had this place?
Well, we’ve been here for 20 years, my parents started and now my mother and I are taking care of it.
Suli tell me about your restaurant.
We are the family business.
My husband and I are looking after the old business.
And my brother with his wife are looking after the new business.
Also we have two cousins working at the each kitchen stove.
And at the old restaurant we are over 17 years, we started in 1999.
We are long time here.
We know a lot about Albir.
It’s a big change now.
I have two boys and it’s very important to study different languages here in this area of the Costa Blanca.
They go to private school, they learn English, German, Spanish, also Valenciano and Chinese.
It’s very good.
Costa Blanca is like a small United Nations.
I also have two dogs, two German Shepherds, and my husband goes every morning with the
dogs to the mountains.
It’s a fantastic place to live with animals and to enjoy it here, the sun is perfect.
I hear there are lots of restaurants that work only in summer time and in winter is very quiet, but nor for us.
You have business here all the time?
I have more business also in the winter time.
Oh?
Yes.
In the wintertime, they are a lot of pensioners.
The prices in the restaurants are so good they can eat nearly every day out.
Yes.
Outside there is a hotel and on the left side there is a free parking, on the right side there is a nice sea.
The whole area is perfect.
My brother is a good chef.
He knows Japanese sushi.
and also Thai food
and Chinese food of course because there are more Asian restaurants.
My husband and cousins, also my brother they are making beautiful decorations, they are artists.
Alicia, Desmond, wonderful new place here in Albir, you are continuing from Orihuela Costa,
tell me about this place.
We love the place because the area is very welcoming to all kind of nationalities
and we like the mountains and there is also the sea and there is beautiful nature.
Our speciality here is a Black Angus Argentinian steak served on a hot stone.
That means no fats, no oils, everything on heat, all throughout the meal and with all the flavor because
it’s sealed from the beginning and you can cook it to your own perfection.
Ok, but also have other things, not only for meat lovers?
We do seafood, chicken and pork which we also have on a stone and it has a different flavor.
We have lots of different options as well for vegetarians and for people that like seafood.
For example we have a vegetarian fajita dish that we present with a stone as well.
You can toast your tortillas and when you put vegetable on the stone it releases nice flavors.
It’s a perfect area because there are lot of different nationalities, specially Scandinavians who are lovely
people, educated and they know very well what to eat, they really enjoy a good meal.
We love the spring time here, it’s the best time of the year because it’s not too hot,
it’s not cold, it’s just starting the summer, so it’s good time to sit outside
and you can have walks on the beach afterwards.
Maddie, tell me what you are doing here in Alfaz del Pi?
I am actually selling CBD oil.
What is it?
It is made out of cannabis, medical cannabis you also call it.
What does it do?
It does a lot of things.
It has a very, very big impact on a lot of diseases.
Actually, you would say how can a little herb like this have such an influence.
But that’s actually because our body has a system which you call endocannabinoid system.
They found the name when they were researching what cannabis was doing in the body.
That system is present all over the body and in the tissue and it’s actually constantly
maintaining a balance at the cellular level because you know your cells, they reproduce
themselves every 3 months, so they need to be healthy and when the cell reproduces itself
it makes a complete match to the cell that it is replacing.
So, if that cell is sick, your new cell is going to be sick.
So, this is helping your cells to know if they are sick and then they should die, or
if they are healthy then they can reproduce themselves.
So can you give me some examples of healing?
There is a lot, I’ll give you some of them.
It helps with anxiety, Alzheimer’s, diabetes, every inflammation, migraine, arthritis, sclerosis
and much more.
And how do you take it?
Just put it under your tongue.
Let it stay there for a couple of minutes and then it will be absorbed.
Some people might be confused that this is something that would make you high?
Yes, no, this is not making you high.
This is actually 5% CBD which is the most important ingredient.
It has also 0.2% THC and THC is the stuff that you get high from, but of course not from this percentage.
You are not getting addicted to it, you can stop whenever you like and get all the benefits.
This percentage of THC is legal here in Spain.
Ok great, so safe and effective.
Very much and it’s very good actually to have that little percentage of THC in this
oil because it gets much more potent.
It has 120 cannabinoids in it, that’s very high level and it has over 500 different substances.
How can we get it?
Yes, you can contact me, I will give you all the information, so you can go online and
buy it yourself or you can buy it from me, either you buy it on the internet or you buy it directly from me.
I always meet up with the clients, so we can have a talk how to use it because it is different
from person to person and how much you need of it.
Of course.
A lot of people have a lot of questions and want to know, so, actually I also offer that
they contact me any time on email, all the time they use it if they have any questions at all.
So, it’s easy to get it ?
Yes, very easy.
I hear there is a lot happening here in Alfaz?
There is a lot of activities going on for everybody.
For instance, I am attending body, mind, spirit fair and that’s very exciting.
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