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| Stormy skies over the bus |
In last week’s post we were at Torreguadia, a fairly nondescript town a few miles outside Gibraltar. We spent two nights there, enjoying having a bit more space and being parked alongside the beach, albeit a not particularly pretty one, with coarse grey sand, lots of bamboo washed up, but still, it felt spacious after Gibraltar. Just down the road was a big residential community called Sotogrande, with a marina, lots of ‘exclusive’, i.e. expensive shops selling boating gear, pricey clothes and home décor and many estate agents. It felt soulless and was not at all our kind of place, although it was nice to walk around the marina looking at the yachts.
After a couple of nights at Torreguadia we decided to descend on the Costa del Sol and immerse ourselves in all it had to offer. I’d never been to the Costa del Sol before, previously only ever going directly to Almeria, a bit further north, where Dad and step-mum Julie lived for the last thirty years or so. I was interested to see what it was all about, being familiar with the names - Torremolinos, Marbella and Malaga, and wanted to see how they compared to the somewhat cheesy images my mind conjured up.
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| Estapona Port |
Our first stop was at Estapona, which we liked. We found a great park up, on a huge patch of ground with about twenty or so other campers, mostly English. The beach was on one side and a lovely little port on the other. The only negative, or maybe foolish thing (on our part), to happen was that we went out, planning to spend just a few euros, explore the town and bit and find a loo; in doing so we stopped at a bar, for a drink, and so we could use the facilities. We ordered two glasses of wine, the barman brought out a bottle, which we should have protested at but didn’t, we decided to go the whole hog and order some tapas instead of having dinner later. It turned out to be an expensive outing - the bottle was 15 euros and the tapas rather pricey at 7 and 8 euros a piece! An expensive wee, but hey ho!
We spent a peaceful and quiet night by the harbour and headed off the following day. Next, we stopped for a night at place called Sonora Beach. It was a nice beach but had an anonymous feel to it, the location was largely comprised of holiday apartments and a spa hotel; it was mostly deserted and totally devoid of character.
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| The mountains |
We noticed as soon as we hit the Costa del Sol that everything was geared towards the Brits – signs, menus, shop fronts and so on all written in English; lots of Irish themed pubs, fast food places, and of course we started to see more fellow countrymen, especially those that fit into the retired age bracket. There is nothing critical in this observation, I can appreciate the attraction - warm sea, great climate, a beautiful backdrop of mountains, but there is very little rustic or traditional Spain to be found along the coastline.
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| Old Town, Marbella |
The following day we moved on to Marbella, where we found a spacious place near to the beach where a handful of campers were parked. On arriving an officious looking chap scurried towards us making proprietorial gestures. We’ve seen this before, and it’s a scam - beggars making out they are parking attendants trying to take your money, and offering to ‘look after’ your vehicle. We gave him short shrift and he swiftly moved on – it was amusing watching him approach other people as they arrived. It’s handy parking by the beach as there are usually public toilets nearby and access to water, and also of course also good for walking Nina.
On Marbella beach we had yet another incident with naughty Nina. We let her off because it seemed like a fairly safe environment, but within moments she snuck under the boardwalk, a wide and long wooden path running the length of the beach, and disappeared. Nick and I separated to look for her and Nick soon saw her inside a high fenced holiday resort, currently closed to the public. He climbed over the fence to retrieve the dastardly hound and in doing so met with a security guard. The security guard assisted with the capture and then let Nick out. During this event Nick dropped his keys… the bus keys, which we discovered were missing on returning to the bus. So, back we went, Nick broke in to the resort for a second time, found the security guard and (praise the Lord!) found the keys.
Before leaving Marbella we visited the ‘Old Town’, which was quaint and charming, with narrow cobbled streets, pretty old buildings, delightful squares lined with cafes and bars, a little haven amidst the bargain bucket hotels and apartments that spread out around it.
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| Fuengierola Castle |
Fuengierola was next on our itinerary; again, a place I had a preconceived idea of. We parked outside the town just below an ancient castle, which offered some great views from the hill on which it sat. We paid to park there, the princely sum of 2€ for 24 hours. We didn’t venture into the town itself, only passing through it as we carried on the following day. It was much as I expected, tired around the edges and past its prime.
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| High rises, high rises & more high rises! |
On Friday we arrived at our weekend destination – Torremollinos! A holiday resort synonymous with straw donkeys, sombreros and all things cheesy. I was staggered by the number of high rises in the town, some of them looking so decrepit, it was a wonder they were still standing. The town was bigger than I expected and extremely busy – actually quite fascinating to drive through, it was like going back in time, to the 1970s. We made for the sea front, where they are still throwing up new apartment blocks and hotels, and had no trouble finding parking a bit further away from the hustle and bustle. The beach opposite us was large and clean with a wide promenade running along it - a constant stream of runners, roller skaters, skateboarders and walkers provided some perfect people watching opportunities. It was a pleasant spot and we met some friendly fellow Mercedes travellers, a Dutch couple who have blog called ‘Morris’ Expedition Unknown’. We encountered our first spot of rain, since mid November, which was a surprise, but the temperature was still fairly pleasant, at 16 degrees.
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| Black swans in Malaga |
Today we arrived on the outskirts of Malaga, where we intend to pitch up for a few days. We took a walk through the suburbs this afternoon and found a lovely park with a long river/canal type thing, populated with black and white swans and many other birds, including seagulls which were diving for fish; I also saw a large turtle, which was a nice surprise, as I was only talking about them the other day!
So far, I can’t say I’m crazy about the Costa del Sol – it’s not a holiday destination I would choose to visit, but I’m glad I have experienced it. I imagine it’s quite different during the summer season, but I’m not sure if I’d find it worse or better – it is what it is, as they say.
Until next time, hasta la vista baby!
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