Opened in March this year, the library has been shortlisted as one of six outstanding project’s for this year’s World Architectural News Civic Building Awards.
The awards recognise public buildings for their originality, innovation, design, sustainability and integration into the local community.
The building, which was funded by Malaga Provincial Council, is up against buildings from as far away as New Zealand and Canada.
THE Romans were the first civilization to experience a coastal real estate boom, and it’s no wonder the who’s who of AD life chose to settle in Andalucia.
From one of a kind mosaic floors to historic baths, our long gone relatives have left plenty of clues to tell us how they lived and what their property portfolios looked like.
THIS once bustling Roman settlement near Los Alamos beach in Torremolinos was an important fish-salting plant.
Archeologists have recently unearthed residential areas, industrial facilities and ceramics and pottery typical of the Roman period.
The site is thought to be more than two thousand years old, with several tanks for salting fish, a spa complex and a storage area with two large pottery kilns dating back to 100BC also being discovered.
The town hall has created a new outdoor bathing area in a bid to preserve the historic site, by building two walls in the channel leading from the bathing room to the adjacent river.
It is believed that Caesar himself came to the baths and the sulphuric water relieved him of a skin complaint. It is from him that the name Casares originates.
The two-hectare site comprises of a cluster of small homes lying inside its elaborate pattern of walls.
Although the people here were primarily farmers, they had crucially learned metal-working, in particular the smelting and forming of copper.
The site is considered highly important in understanding the transition from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age, as the Los Millares culture eventually came to dominate the Iberian peninsula.
THESE extensive walls, or murallas, began construction under the Moors in the 13th century, who were trying to keep out the Christians.
Proving unsuccessful, the Christians had a turn at renovating them following their takeover in the 16th century, and even today parts of the walls are being restored.
The walls have long protected the beautiful centre and only two paths, two gates and one bridge offer routes in and out.
This ancient villa, 1km west of Puerto Banus, was once part of the great Roman city of Cliniana and is made unique by the stunning mosaic floors left behind, which suggest the owner would have been of great importance.
A turn from the traditional classical themes and intricate details, the famous black and white patterned tiles – never before been seen in a Roman villa – display a collection of images in black and white, from shoes to kitchen utensils and the infamous Medusa.
ONE of the Roman empire’s most important settlements is thought to be lying under the soil in Jimena de la Frontera.
Vital to the trade routes serving Europe and North Africa, its position on the coast near the Straits of Gibraltar made it a crucial stop-off point.
The town made most of its wealth by supplying the popular delicacy du jour, a fish paste known as garum, to the whole of the Roman Empire.
The town, named by Emperor Claudius, who reigned from 41 to 45 AD, boasted a Basilica, Theatre, thermal baths, aqueducts, lucrative salting factories and the Temple of Isis.
CREATED by retired soldiers from the Roman legions more than 2,000 years ago, Acinipo boasts some of the most well reserved buildings, with its Roman theatre still in use today.
The 32 hectare city thrived in 1 AD when it had a population of 5,000, even printing its own money which featured bunches of grapes.
Its famous theatre, which is thought to have begun construction in 65 AD and been completed in 200 AD, seats 2,000 and remains in good condition, boasting an orange tiled orchestra pit and actors’ changing rooms, while a modern steel stage has recently been added.
Founded in 206BC the town became an important centre of Roman culture and was later the birthplace of three Roman emperors, Trajan and Hadrian and Theodosius .
The town thrived particularly under Hadrian and has been survived by a huge amphitheatre and twenty mosaics, including a highly detailed coloured floor featuring birds, Netpune and the seasons.
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Our restaurant menu offers diners the chance to sample some of Head Chef, Jozeph Miko’s finest dishes. We offer a range of sumptuous starters, a variety of meat, fish and vegetarian main dishes plus, of course, there is a delightful choice of desserts to complete your fabulous dining experience.
Smoked Salmon, Haddock and Cod Fishcakes served on roasted Jerusalem Artichokes with a Tarragon & Chardonnay Sauce
Crab Claws, Salmon, Scallops, Squid, Prawns, Clams & Mussels cooked with Garlic & Herb sauce with Shallots served on Basmati & Wild Rice
"She obviously wanted Rahasia's body, but she may have find another in the meantime, so I would not count too much on her not being around here", Hasan says.
"We could try destroying the old bodies in the coffin, even if I doubt it could be so simple", Alki says.
"It's more probable that anything we do with the coffin will warn the witches about our presence - Kesh says - so the question is, should we do it and prepare an ambush here for them, or it is better to try to procede undetected to see if we can caught them unaware?"
"That is indeed a good question - Bellithiel says - but it's hard to decide what the right answer could be".
"We could also do both things if we split. Some could open the coffins while others may proceed with caution, maybe catching the witches while they come here", Taran says.
"Yes but there is the risk they will come here and face half our group while the other half misses them. Probably it is better to stay united", Rahasia objects.
I agree with Rahasia. We are not that strong that we should split our group. I say we proceed and try to find the witches.
The group decides to let the coffin untouched and proceed to other rooms. You cautiously return back to the first room with the rubble and go west from there. There is an arched corridor which goes west. The floors, walls, and 30- foot-tall arched ceiling are all coated with a thick layer of black soot. B ronze double doors are at the west end of the corridor. There are two other doors north and south, made of wood and badly scorched. Sunggu also finds a secret door on the northern wall.
Rahasia and Bellithiel decide to try the northern door first. It leads to a corridor with six doors, three each side. They are all prison cells. The elves start examining them and Lucius, Bofar and Kesh go to the southernmost east. There is a matress in it, and under it you find a silver bracelet, with the name "Merisa" engraved inside.
But before you can tell the others, you hear warnings and noises outside. You get out in the corridor, where Hasan, Rahasia and Alki are retreating, followed by two big spiders more than 2 meters long. Hasan parries the attack of a spider, but the other jumps to the throath of Alki, biting him. The elf soon falls down, his skin rapidly becoming pale.
You are among the first exiting the cells so Lucius and Bofar can attack the spider, and Lucius cut it on a leg, while the creature avoids Bofar's blow.
Hasan and Rahasia attack the other, but the creature's skin is strong enough to resist the blows. Then others arrive too from behing the spiders. Kesh, Bellithiel and Taran attack too, but they too do not obtain much. Baik instead attacks the spider against Lucius and Bofar, hurting him on the back, spilling ichor on the floor. The creature hisses in rage and jumps on the wall, biting Baik violently, sending him down.
The spiders are now surrounded but even if all the others are out of the cells by now, only a limited number can engage them in the corridor, and the others cannot shoot arrows because they could hit you.
Rahasia hits the first spider with the sword, breaking its head in half. Lucius tries to hit the spider, but the creature turns around fast. Lucius slips on the ichor on the floor and falls down, right under the mandibles of the creature. Fortunately for him, Bofar and Taran both hit the spider, on the head and the back, killing it before it could bite Lucius.
There is little time for celebration, Kesh and Suchi immediately run to Alki and Baik, using clerical magic on them. Both had already stopped breathing, and only clerical magic takes them back from the maws of death.
"I did not want to kill them, they were just defending their lair. Unfortunately there was no room to let them go", Rahasia says.
"Here, come!" Benar says, pointing to a cell where there are other elf. In the cell the female elves Mati and Kepala are removing the chains from the arm of another ragged female elf, with the help of the thieves, the halfling Sunggu and the elf Jujur.
But before you can go there, someone inside the cell says something and the nearest elves, Benar and Bechak, falls down as if hit by some magic. Sinar immediately goes inside the cell, struggling with a human dressed as a wizard. The human too is chained to the wall.
After a moment of confusion, it becomes clear that it was all a misunderstanding. Benar and Bechak were just hit by a sleep spell as the wizard thought they were minions of the Rahib.
"I was captured by some strange elves while searching for the elven village of Kota Hutan - the wizard explains - I've come from Ylaruam to learn their magic and my name is Merdiz. I've had nothing to eat for three days and nights".
The elves soon give the wizard something to drink and eat. Rahasia explains the situation and ask for forgiveness for the bad experience he had in the land of the elves. There is nothing else in the corridor and the cells but some remains of people who were given to the spiders.
"Apparently two male humans, maybe travellers who came too near - Taran says - clearly the Rahib and the witches did not want visitors. I have taken their personal items to tell their kin of their death, if it will be possible to identify them".
You return to the previous corridor and this time open the southern door. There is a 6x3 meters antechamber with two doors east and west. the elven thief Jujur and the halfling thief Sunggu cautiously open the west door, which lead to a empty 6x6 meters room. The elven wizards however, Alki, Sinar and Mati, however discuss a bit among themselves and then go to the east wall, where they find a door disguised by the illusion of a solid wall.
The door opens on another room, where Jujur and Sunggu enter first searching for traps, while the wizards follow illuminating it with magical lights.
As soon as you are all inside you clearly hear something big, very big, moving in the dark southern half of the room.
You hardly have the time to do anything before a terrible red light appear, and in an instant you realize it is a wave of fire coming in your direction! Behind it, you can clearly see a big red dragon, breathing fire at you!
Lucius and Bofar are now on the rear the group, with 16 people in front of them. The fire engulfs them, and they see them screaming, burning and fall to the floor: Kesh, Taran, Bellithiel, Baik, Alki, Merdiz, Benar, Jujur, Kepala, Sunggu, Suchi and Sinar.
In the following confusion, Hasan, somehow unscathed, charges the dragon sword in hand, screaming to Rahasia to run away. Bechak does the same, following him. Mati, the female elf wizard, begins to cast frantically. Rahasia disobeys Hasan and crying, activates again the power of the medallion, creating a circle of light which should protect those remaining from hostile spells.
But the dragon does not cast or breath again, rearing on his legs to attack Hasan and Bechak with his front claws.
Hasan and Bechak attack the dragon, and Mati sends a magical dart against it, but the creature easily parries all blows with his skin, without suffering any scratch. Lucius attack the left side, but the sword simply bounces off the red scales of the dragon without even a small cut.
You begin to feel desperate, torn between the desire to flee and responsibility toward your companions, but then Bofar hits the belly of the dragon on the right and the creature just disappears into thin air, as if it never existed.
You are completely bewildered for several instants. Then you see all the others, burned to the ground just a moment before, rise unscathed, without a trace of a wound of them. The terrible smell of burnt flesh and leather which filled your nostrils just a moment before it is gone too.
Soon Sunggu, Jujur, Mati, Sinar, Alki and Taran begins to examine it. They find no trace of traps or harmful spells, so Sinar walks in, but he just returns back in the room. After some trials, they understand it is possible to enter the following room walking backwards.
Behind there is a laboratory and a library. You soon begin to search for anything useful, and after a while Bellithiel call to read a partially readable note from a old parchment. “Once the three are snared in the trap I have prepared for them, I...after this, I will take it to the throne and...the destruction shall signal...banished for all eternity".
"Something to do on the throne, probably with the magical Eye, then, but we will have to discover what we should do", Rahasia says.
"I found another note - Taran says - which tells to 'use the numbers on the 3 bottles of wine to get to the Treasury'. I suppose we will have to search for these bottles".
The laboratory contains interesting magical books too, but the wizards let it go for the moment as they cannot take them, but they found also some useful scrolls. Then you return to the previous corridor and take the last door to the west. There are two more rooms, going west and north, the first containing another library with many ancient books on general topics, and the second racks full of wine bottles.
Searching among the bottles, you indeed find one which has a code on the bottom of the label, reading '14231241-S'.
"The label says 'The Wizard of Wines Winery, Purple Grapemash N°3', but the code was applied later, possibly by Elyas", Hasan says.
You continue north to find a stair going down to the north and east, then a bend in the corridor, then a wall.
"We are returning to the area of the coffins, which is lower than the area of the libraries and the cells where we went now", Sunggu the halfling says, looking at the map he is making.
And indeed Bofar and Jujur soon find a secret door on the eastern wall, leading to a 10 meters square room with faded frescos of golden towers and diamond trees on the walls and ceiling. In the center of the room sits a 3 meters square cube of stone. A ladder leans against the south end of the east wall. Another stair goes up from the south wall. Jujur and Sunggu examine all, and they find a hidden door behind the ladder, leading back to the platform with the coffins. But it is Bofar that finds something strange in the cube at the centre. It has an opening. However, inside it is empty.
You look also to the stairs to the south, which lead to a corridor apparently closed, but with another hidden door which leads to the cells where you killed the spiders.
Rahasia and Hasan decide to return to the room with the coffins. According to Sunggu, you have yet to explore the eastern part of this level, and still to find a way down to this mysterious Treasury. Jujur finds another hidden door in the room, mirroring the other, leading east. Here there is another, identical 10 meters square room with a 3 meters cube of stone in the center. Now expecting hidden passages, you indeed find that this cube too opens, revealing a 3x3 meters room with a chest. Jujur enters and immediately finds a blade trap, but he and Junggu manage to disable it. The chest contain some ancient coins, and three bottles of wine. One of them, agains The Wizard of Wines Winery, Champagne du le Stomp, has a label with another code '3132-N"
The room has another hidden door to the east, leading to a corridor that bends south to a door on the west wall and stairs going up to the east. Jujur opens the west door and there is another, smaller wine cellar. Among the wines, you find a 'The Wizard of Wines Winery, Red Dragon Crush' bottle with a code on the label '331422-W'.
You take the stairs east and south. The southern stair is filled with rubble, though it is passable. The corner wall collapsed here. It is possible to climb the rubble into a hole in the wall, large enough for a man and reach another room. Some explosion destoyed part of the wall. The room is otherwise empty, but clearly it was used as sleeping quarters by the humans and humanoids you defeated before. Three more room are connected to the same corridor, used for the same purpose. Then the corridor goes south to a longer corridor with two doors on the eastern one: a carved double door and a smaller one at the end of the corridor. A western passage brings back to the first room where you defeated the guards.
"These should be the last two rooms of this level. Exit should be near, which one first?" ask Sunggu.
You open with due caution the double doors. Beyond there is a corridor with two alcoves cut into both sides. Several shadowy figures stand silently in each alcove. The corridor is 15 meters long. At each end of the corridor stands a pair of bronze doors, carved with delicate designs. Each alcove contains one or two life-sized platinum statues of adventurers: humans,dwarves, elves, and halflings. All of them are posed in running positions, their hands and arms outstretched. Broad smiles cover their faces. The sculpting is very skillful, with extremely life-like detail work on each statue.
"These statues are surprisingly light - Alki says touching one of them, which moves slightly - they weigh about as much as an average person".
"They could have been turned by magic, but how? I see nothing here which could do such a thing, not now at least", Mati, the female elven wizard, says.
Merdiz, Sinar and Alki, the other wizards, nod. "We cannot turn them back to normal now, just be extremely cautious. We are detecting some magic now beyond the double doors to the east", Alki says.
Jujur and Sunggu examine the doors and, finding no traps, open them. Beyond there is is a 30-foot-diameter circular room. Its domed ceiling is 30 feet overhead. A 3 meters diameter well drops down into darkness from the center of the room. Stone statues stand to the north, south, and east of the well. Soft moans whisper through the room. On the wall between the eastern statue and the northern statue is carved the single word “Pah.” The word “Nwad” is carved on the wall between the eastern statue and the southern statue.
Hasan tries to say Pah and a soft sound comes from the well, and a glowing blue light comes from it. After a while a floating blue magical disk less than a meter in diameter, appears.
"Should we start going down or look at the other room at the end of the corridor? - Taran asks - and who will go first?"
Deep red, 95% opaque. Over-ripe blueberry nose with some faint blue cheese from the spirit. Smooth in texture, initially lacking some fruit but recovers on the mid-palate, where the tannins also appear but the wine peaks on the late palate where all the components fall into place. The aftertaste is fruity and the finish big. An odd port, very unbalanced across the palate. 84/100. 04-May-16
The Pulse sits down with Jamie Gonzales, founder and creator of the The Ultimate Bridal Extravaganza to talk about the concept of this event and how she got involved in the event planning industry. We also talk to Diane D’Angelo owner/designer of D’Angelo Couture to find out how she partnered up with Jamie on this event and to show a sneak peek of some of the dresses that will be available for brides to see and try on in the Dress Shop!
The Ultimate Bridal Extravaganza is an exciting bridal show in San Diego that offer’s an extravagant wedding experience. Guests get to interact with an array of wedding exhibitors and observe live demonstrations. They can try fun beverages and cuisine, enjoy live entertainment including music, get expert relationship advice, words of wisdom with a twist of humor from Troy Rawlings “The relationship Guru” of comedy, and watch a Fashion show put on by San Diego’s top Dress designers.
Newly added this year 2017 is “The Dress Shop” where top designers may display their dresses for attendees to view and try on. Makeup and Hair professionals will be showcasing there work on live models so the attendees may get a live demonstration of what they have to offer on their special day.
This year Ballroom Dance lessons and will be included in the V.I.P tickets! Come early to learn some steps to help you on your big day. No Partner needed!
General Admission- General admission includes registration at 12 pm with access to all of the entertainment and exhibitors.
VIP- Early registration with access to Ballroom dance lessons at 11:30, 1 Paid Parking ticket, 1 drink ticket, and Bridal Swag bag filled with Special VIP gifts from sponsors
Giving Back Aspect: This year Bridal Extravaganza will be hosting a fundraiser for the work of “Wish Upon a Wedding” and be donating a portion of the ticket sales as well as options to donate onsite and online. 100% of all donations will go to the work of “Wish Upon a Wedding” all donations will receive raffle tickets for a special raffle being held in their honor.