Welcome to Ruth and Stan

We returned from our Torremolinos vacation May 3rd . Had a great time; returned to places we had already seen; visited some new places; but after three visits in five years we think we'll put it aside for a few years.

The Costa de Sol is Spain's Riviera. It extends primarily from Malaga in the east to Marbella in the west. It comprises several cities and communities that start on the Mediterranean beaches an crawl up the gently sloping coastal hills. Its inhabitants are mainly visitors from northern Europe, who buy or rent apartments to escape their terrible weather, in an area that is still relatively inexpensive. Their is still great growth in all towns; building cranes are seen everywhere. The weather is great most of the year; in our two week stay we had no rain at all.

Torremolinos is a very interesting place. There are a great variety of shopping opportunities, numerous hotels, apartment hotels, apartments, and condos, tacky bars and really nice restaurants. The beach and its promenade are at least two miles long. The promenade is lined in many stretches with taverns, restaurants, and interesting shops; and at the eastern end is a beautiful marina with - you guessed it - shops, restaurants and apartments. One of its famous attractions is the steps which lead up from the beach/promenade to the town center (heartbreak hill). The steps wind back and forth to ease the slope, and it is lined with stalls and shops to give you something to do when you take the needed rest stops. This year ties are out and watches are in. One of the features of our hotel is that it is right on the beach, and only a block from the steps. There is always something to do - mostly eating, walking, and shopping. A vacation here can range from the very sedentary: laying on the beach or sitting on the promenade, to very active: walking the promenade and town streets and touring the various villages and towns in Andalusia.
        Our hotel, the Melia Costa Del Sol, was very comfortable, great food, convenient location. During our two week stay we saw many tour groups passing through, and it's amazing that we could not tell their nationality - American, British, French, German, Spanish, Italian, or Scandinavian - by their appearance, only by their speech. The western world has taken on a vanilla flavor. Of course Japanese groups are still easy to spot; but there are not nearly as many as we used to see. (Their economy?).
        While walking around a Spanish residential neighborhood on Sunday morning we encountered a large group of locals gathering at a church to prepare for a bicycle rally. Then while waiting to cross the main street back in town, to the beach side, along came the rally. See photo below.

Malaga is the capital city of the Costa Del Sol, but it is not a tourist city. It is the source of the somewhat famous Malaga sweet wine, but the wineries are not to be seen in the city center. We like to visit it because it is large, beautiful, and busy, with people rushing here and there. There are lots of things to see and places to walk - public parks, buildings, historic sites, and gardens. The locals are friendly, dress well, look prosperous, and keep the many taverns café’s and restaurant’s busy. A very new attractions is the Picasso Museum. He was born in Malaga, but left when he was young and never returned. Now the city fathers want trade on his fame. It's very small now; they have a long way to go to build a respectable collection. It is at the very left of the Panoramic photo, below. The other photo is a department store whose architecture we liked.

Nerja was a new experience for us. It’s on the other side of Malaga, in an area not usually associated with the Costa Del Sol. The ride past Malaga, through an agricultural region along the coast, was very different - no condos, no hotels, just lots of farms and more and larger hot houses than I have ever seen. On the way we took a detour into the hills to visit the very quaint white village, Frigiliana. It had two really classy antique shops. It’s amazing that they can make a tourist-based business in such a small out of the way town. (See photo, below) Near Nerja is a large, impressive Caves of Nerja, well worth seeing. Nerja itself is an ordinary town, with only a few facilities for tourists. I think it will be increasing in the coming years because it is cheaper than the area west of Malaga. In addition to the caves, Nerja’s claim to fame is a park-like structure projecting over the sea , called Europe’s Porch, and the adjacent nude beach far below. It was built by a British engineer named Nelson, in the nineteenth century. The panoramic below.

Marbella is the class of the Costa Del Sol. Elegant buildings in both the old town on the mountain side of main street and the new resort areas on the beach side. Puerto Banus, Marbella’s new marina about five miles to the west is a tourist attraction in its own right. It holds larger and more elegant ships than you are likely to see in any marina; and there are residences to match.

Mijas looks like a quaint Andalusian "white village" built into the side of a mountain - that has been turned into an outdoor mall. But a major part of the village is still outside the shopping area.. (See photo.) One of its attractions is the ride up the top on a narrow winding road that hugs the side of the mountain. The views are great and the ride is just a little scary. Once at the top the view toward the sea and Fuengirola is terrific. Just like the ride to the top, the streets wind back and forth in many levels, making it a challenge to return to the shop where you saw those great earrings that you really wanted to buy. The shops range from cheap/tacky to museum quality. It’s a must see! Bring $$; it will take a lot of resolve too resist spending a bundle - we bought one large figurine, three small ones, three belts, and four watches.

Benalmedina Pueblo is a white village en route to Mijas. We thought it would be nice to stroll through its old streets, and we picked just the right day. There just happened to be a rally of a Seat car club. It’s a Volkswagon Beetle-sized vehicle licensed by Fiat to be built in Spain. The last one was built 30 years ago, but the owners kept the cars in mint condition. The rally was very festive, with about 100 cars parked on top of a hill, around the town church, and every one having a grand time showing off/viewing the cars. As in all festive occasions wine was served, this time from two kegs, by a wine steward using a very special ladle as seen in the photo. It was a sweet Malaga wine, the best of its type the we had tasted; but we no one knew the brand. T’was a great day.

Marbella is the class of the Costa Del Sol. It is beautiful, elegant, and in good taste in all regards; in both the old town on the mountain side of main street and the new resort areas on the beach side. Puerto Banus, Marbella’s new marina about five miles to the west, is a tourist attraction in its own right. It holds larger and more elegant ships than you are likely to see in any marina; and there are residences to match.

Antiquera is a farming center an hour from Malaga, on the main road to Cordoba. As the bus rides north from Malaga you pass over the coastal range onto a large plain with very fertile land. Olive trees line the slopes of all the local hills, and rich farms cover the flat plains. Historically, Antiquera was a market town for these local farms. Now, what probably was a white village is becoming gentrified., with the old stucco walls and simple doorways being replaced by brick facing and marble moldings on the doorways. There was a lot of local color to see and some fine shops, but we were stymied by an old Spanish tradition - siesta. Everything shuts down from 2 to 4 o’clock. What a downer! Because of the limitations of the bus schedule we had to leave before we could see all we had hoped for. It was not the first time the siesta had cut into our touring agenda.
On the ride to Antiquera we encountered vivid evidence of the spread of technology. In front of us sat a large old Spanish lady who looked like she stepped out of the nineteenth century. As soon as the bus started she pulled out her cell Phone and engaged in an active conversation with ??? for at least fifteen minutes. Actually, I don't think she needed the cell phone because her voice was loud enough to carry to Madrid unaided.