About Nick Snelling
Author – Journalist – Realtor
I am a journalist and author of six books (three of which are about Spain). I live permanently in Spain with my family and, whilst not writing, I run Casalasafor Consultancies, a real estate agency for properties located around Gandia in Spain.
Of the six books that I have written, four have been factual. These have included ‘How to Buy Spanish Property and Move to Spain – Safely!’ and ‘The Laptop Entrepreneur.’ I have also written the text to several books by one of the world’s top documentary photographers (Jurgen Schadeberg).
I have undertaken investigative journalism on a wide range of matters concerning Spain. This has included tackling subjects as diverse as corruption, the economy, divorce and domestic violence, drugs, the Spanish property crash, immigration, the Spanish culture of brothel use and even a profile of a high-class call-girl!
I have been a columnist for the A Place in the Sun magazine and I have featured as an expert on programmess by the BBC (Radio 4 and BBC 1), ITV and Channel 4 (A Place in the Sun). I have also appeared on numerous programmes for House Hunters International (US TV) – with regard to matters concerning Spain and Spanish property. This has complemented the time I have spent co-presenting a TV program for a Spanish TV channel, voice-over work for documentaries and ‘fixing’ that I have undertaken for a major TV production company.
I am also involved in international humanitarian missions, which has included working within Afghanistan, Ukraine and Jordan/Gaza.
On the second day of January 1492, Boabdil, the last Moorish ruler in Spain, reluctantly handed over the keys of Granada and the beautiful Alhambra palace to the Christian monarchs King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. This was the catalyst for an extraordinary time. By the end of the year, Christopher Columbus had discovered the Americas for Spain and, within thirty years, Spain had unexpectedly exploded, like a meteor, onto the international scene to become the dominant power in Europe. Rich, powerful and newly intolerant, Spain had finally come of age, after a sustained history of disunity and international impotence. In fact, until 1492 Spain had never been united for long, in any meaningful sense, as a single nation. Over a…
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Politics in Spain, the Transition to democracy BY NICK SNELLING Imagine living in one of the most backward countries in Western Europe – a country ruled by the longest serving fascist dictator of the twentieth century, who had murdered and oppressed countless people after one of the most brutal civil wars in modern Europe. Think what it must be like to be in a country where you are not allowed to speak your provincial dialect and where the police are a fearsome para-military force, the law is arbitrary and the media is controlled by the state. Consider a creaking infrastructure with an uneven economy and much of the population existing at subsistence level, at direct variance to the rest of…
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What did the Moors in Spain do for us? BY NICK SNELLING One of the curiosities of Spain is the seeming denial by the Spanish of the past existence of the Moors in their country. Certainly, much is made of the ‘heroic’ Christian Reconquista, but rarely is the Moorish invasion of Spain looked upon as having provided any intrinsic benefit. In fact, apart from a few scintillating buildings, such as the Alhambra and the Cordoba Mezquita, it would be easy to imagine that, during their 780 years presence, the Moors in Spain contributed nothing of consequence to the country. In fact, the Moors had a profound influence not just upon Spain but the whole of Western Europe. Indeed, it has…
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The Borgias, either Caesar or nothing! Wrapped in a carpet, the horribly bloated and badly decomposing body of Pope Alexander VI was pummelled and pushed unceremoniously into a hastily made and too small coffin. No priests attended his burial nor were there wax tapers, lights, solemn masses or chanting monks. It was August 1503 at the Vatican and the Spanish Borgia’s iron grip on power was unravelling fast. With Alexandar VI dead, the Borgias had, in all senses of the word, lost their ‘Godfather’, Back in the Vatican, Alexander VI’s private chambers had already been pillaged, so that all that remained were a few hangings and cushions. Meanwhile, the Pope’s son, the ruthless and terrifying Cesare Borgia, was desperately trying…
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