ONE passion that has remained focused on the hearts of the residents of Denia is still football. Despite being located in the Mediterranean and with all people here gaily gobbling up a strict Mediterranean diet, they still have the same pastime as with everyone else in the country – football. In fact, the Denia team has performed well in the latest season of Spain’s Cup. Out of almost a hundred teams, Denia placed fifth in Spain’s Cup 2007-2008.

If you come from a European country and you would like to visit Denia, then you definitely are not alone. There are lots of British and German tourists here. But if you come from mainland Europe, it’s all the better because you can take the Eurostar direct from your home country and into Madrid. All you need is to take a domestic flight from Madrid to Denia. Here’s another piece of good news – Irish airline investor Ryanair has pumped up new flights from Madrid to Denia with the deregulation of Spain’s commercial aviation industry.

And it is not just the aviation industry that is being deregulated here. Even the properties industry in Spain is deregulated already and that includes Denia of course. So individual foreign ownership of properties is not restricted. Some enterprising expats even purchase more than one properties and lease them to their countrymen who are amateur tourists here. Their countrymen would love to be here. Aside from the very healthy food, there are lots of nudist beaches here.

A strict Mediterranean diet consists of fresh seafood sautéed or grilled with olive oil. If you are in here for a long vacation for a course of about six months or you are planning to settle here for life, then you may take a crash program of Spanish language acquisition. There are lots of Spanish language schools here and these very entrepreneurial guys who run the language schools have made lots of money simply because of the large demand of Spanish language students here.

Once you have polished and honed your Spanish, you can stroll down at the fishing village, catch a fisherman and he may offer you his freshest catch of grouper or redfish. You can cook it back at the vacation home that you’re staying. Remember, Europeans do not need a visa to come to Spain so having a vacation in Denia is as easy as counting one to three. Before coming here though, you must book your flights and vacation rentals ahead but it’s easy to reserve these things too as online travel agencies with global reach such as Expedia or Travelocity have contacts with even the remotest areas of the world.

By the way, if you’re here in Denia, there are lots of boats and yachts for sale so it is also good to scout these out as they surely come in handy for a good cruise along the shores of the Med with you and your girlfriend. Yachts such as the ones for sale have a good maximum speed of about 18 knots so you must really have a splendid time cruising in one if you want to enjoy the Mediterranean sunrise here in Denia.

AS the new year begins to unfold, residents in Denia have a reason to celebrate especially the property developers. For the real estate industry in the city has experienced a surge of investments during the last quarter of 2007 despite the burgeoning credit crisis in the United States across the Atlantic. And they are altogether confident that the real estate sector in Denia will remain to be bullish throughout 2008 and beyond. However, most of the developments here are not subdivisions but are vacation villas. A typical vacation villa in Denia is already fully furnished complete with hot shower, decking area and satellite subscription for both Internet and cable bundled into one. However, this satellite subscription tend to be expensive but it is understandably so since satellite technology is far expensive than DSL or cable connection. However, since Denia is a rural seaside area, there is no central office for DSL here and cable companies cannot reach this area yet. So there is no other recourse except for one to have a satellite subscription. But if one prefers to do away with satellite television with his or her one month stay here, then all he or she needs to do is inform the one in charge for reservations. Front desk personnel in Denia holiday resorts are some of the nicest that you can find in Spain. They are all graduates of hospitality courses and are really very professional, courteous and helpful.

And if you already have friends in Denia, you may invite them to come over at your vacation villa and have a jolly time for some barbecue. Favorites here in Denia are seafood caught in the Mediterranean as well as roasted lamb. Lamb here is undoubtedly among the best quality in the world.

In the world of soccer where Denia residents are avid fans, their team is set to face FC Sevilla at the Copa del Rey tournament so it may be nice to see these moments of action at your own vacation suite while you are here sipping your favorite Spanish beer. Or if vacation villas are not exactly your cup of tea and you want to stay in a traditional hotel, Denia has that too. Most of the tourists here are British so we will be talking in pounds. A package of a half month stay at a Denia hotel costs about 584 pounds.

And while you’re here, you may take a look around at what else is happening in Denia at this time of the year. Even if summer is still half a year beyond, people here are already looking forward yachting and participating in summer regattas and sailing races. Aside from soccer, there are quite a number of water sports fans here in Denia since apart from being located along the Mediterranean coast, Denia is also located near Valencia where America’s Cup will have a stopover by 2009. So go ahead, have a happy 2008 vacation here in Denia.