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Costa del Sol
Our main focal points are the areas in and around Marbella.
Marbella is 100km square with 24 kilometers of beach, it is known all over the world as one
of the classiest and most beautiful holiday destinations in southern Europe. It has everything a
holiday maker can desire, from fabulous beaches, mountains, old world charm, cosmopolitan atmosphere,
countryside, city life, and a wonderful microclimate that keeps the temperature cooler in summer and
warmer in winter than the rest of the Malaga province.
From La Cala de Mijas to Guadalmina, passing through the spectacular ports of Marbella and Puerto
Banus, the coastline is fine sand all of the way, and for the land that goes back away from the
beach is a paradise of luxury housing developments, golf courses and beautiful mountain scenery.
It is little wonder that Marbella has attracted the rich and famous for so many decades, and that
for many people that visit the area for holidays decide to stay permanently.
The history of the town goes back to Paleolithic times, as we can still see from the archaeological
remains found in the area. Then the Romans came and settled, leaving clear evidence of their presence,
especially in the Las Bovedas area and the Villa of Rio Verde, with its exceptional mosaics.
When the Spanish Civil war ended, the economy in the now known Marbella region was hit hard and did not
begin to recover until the early 1940's, when Ricardo Soriano set up in the hotel and restaurant business
using the American bungalow hotel idea for the appearance.
The result of this was a group of comfortable, rustic-style housing units around a central social and
administrative building, the idea then caught on. He was very well connected socially, and began to
attract the rich and famous to the area. Hotels were built, restaurants were built, and then along
came Jose Banus, a rich businessman, who then built a large tourist complex now known as Puerto Banus.
With the addition of golf courses, flash hotels, a bullring, discotheques, and a pleasure port, Puerto
Banus became the prime resort in Southern Spain.
Marbella grew and grew, attracting big money in property investment and tourism infrastructure.
New ports opened, new golf courses were laid, hotels and restaurants continued to spring up around
the municipality, and through it all Marbella maintained its reputation for supreme excellence.
Marbella and its surrounding neighbors today offer some of Europe's most prestigious hotels and
is one of the world's most popular hotspots from excellent golf courses including the Valderama
and Santa Maria and with 325 days of sunshine a year, Marbella is sure to continue to be one of the
classiest tourist destinations in southern Europe.
Sample all the flavours that Southern Spain has to offer and discover its unique world of choice.
Spanish Choice.
Costa Blanca
The Costa Blanca or White Coast, which extends along that section of the Mediterranean coast
that corresponds to the province of Alicante, is made up of two Costa Blanca Information clearly
differentiated scenic sectors. To the North, a curtain of mountains runs parallel to the sea,
descending at times to form cliffs; to the South, a vast plain of sand patches, palm trees and
salt deposits make up the backdrop for the beaches. The traveller can choose any of the corners
of this coast, from the most bustling and cosmopolitan to those which still maintain their rural
air beside the sea. In any case, the trip to the nearby regions is well worth the venture for
they make up a fine representation of the typical Mediterranean countryside. From the valleys,
which are covered with stepped orchards and keep alive its Moorish past, to the palm trees of
unmistakable African origin, the horizons of the Costa Blanca offer the most varied attractions.
The climate offers variations as well. The temperatures are usually mild -the annual average is
a little higher than 17°C- and rain is scare, though the pluvosity is logically higher in the
mountainous northern sector, in comparison with the lowlands which surround Elche and Orihuela.
The fields of almond trees, the vineyards, the fruit orchards and the magnificent palm trees form a
vegetation which emphasises the Costa Blanca Propertyoriental nature of the landscape.
The Costa Blanca's past is that of any other corner of the Mediterranean. Iberians, Phoenicians
and Greeks settled in the ports, founding merchant cities and leaving important naval bases here
before they were turned over to Rome. The area then belonged to Byzantium, and the Visigoths, and
after the 8C it was a part of the prosperous region of al-Andalus. The Denia Taifa (Arab petty kingdom),
on which the Balearic Islands and Sardinia depended for a while, sheltered several members of the
Umayyad dynasty, upon the fall of the Cordova Caliphate, and the city knew a period of considerable
cultural splendour.
The 13C marked the beginning of the Christian period, which was characterised from the very beginning
by battles between the Crowns of Aragon and Castile, who disputed their borders, but at the same time
left traces of the coexistence of their respective languages, Castilian and Catalan. The Moslem defeat
would be reflected forever in a celebration of enormous interest - the Festivity of the Moors and
Christians- which the traveller will be able to see in several of the towns in the province.
Costa Blanca InvestmentsThe Modern Age began under the sign of conflicts. Social revolutions and the
threat from pirates marked the changing of the times along these insecure coasts. After an entire
century - the 16C - filled with all kinds of events, Felipe III decreed the expulsion of the
Moriscos (the converted Muslims) who, according to widespread, contentious opinion were suspected
of collaborating with the Berbers who periodically attacked the littoral. The result of such a
drastic measure had necessarily to be very hard: On one hand, the Moriscos who considered that
they had just as much right to be there as the descendants of the old Christians, organised several
revolts. In addition, once the expulsion took place, the lands were left without their expert farmers,
who were capable of obtaining considerable production from their property.
The whole 17C would have to go by -with the ever present threat of the pirates- before the orchards
and fields would once again furnish such a magnificent yield. During the 18C and 19C, the Costa Blanca
continued to enjoy a relatively peaceful existence. With the exception of Alicante and Denia which became
prosperous port cities, the littoral was a succession of small fishing villages backed by agricultural
surroundings which were far removed from the convulsions of the wars. It would not be until our times
that a considerable change, fortunately of a non violent manner, would be noted. The spreading of the
railway system, cars and airplanes brought with this progress a new wave of invasions, but this time
the invaders came in peace. Tourism brought changes to the landscape, the sports harbours, the hotel
infrastructure and even to that enormous agglomeration of leisure time installations which is Benidorm,
and which has always wanted to present itself as a symbol of the Costa Blanca. The traveller will be
able to find, very close to the more frequented areas, intimate farming towns, old monumental centres
and also the horizon of mountains which continue to offer their rugged, blue and untouched profile
to the visitor.
Costa de Almeria
Almeria city is worth a visit with the Alcazaba castle, an Arab fortress built by the Calph of
Cordoba, Abd-erRahman 111 with three huge walled enclosures. To the west we find the developing complex
of Almerimar with Marinas, golf, hotels and many other facilities.
The Alcazaba could hold an army of more than 20,000 men in times of war. From here, there is a good
view of the city's famed cave quarter, "Barrio de la Chanca" and of the strange fortified Cathedral
with its gothic style construction and renaissance facade. The Almeria Museum will be appreciated by
true historians as it contains numerous objects discovered by the well-known Belgian mining engineer,
Louis Siret.
Dating from the 16th century, it was built during an era when the southern Mediterranean was terrorised
by the raids of Barbarossa and other Turkish and North African pirate forces, its corner towers once
held canons. Situated in the centre is the great altar with its wealth of priceless art work including
a tabernacle dating from the 18th century, designed by Ventura Rodriguez. There are also paintings by
Alonso Canoñ a typical Andalusian altar piece made by Araoz and the statue of St. Indaletius, the patron
saint of Almeria, sculpted by Saizillo.
Gastronomic specialities include Gurullos which is stew with pasta, trigo; stew with grains of wheat,
pork, beans and herbs, Gachas ;hot and spicy clam stew and Escabeche e Sardines ;fresh sardines in hot
sauce. As well as cultivating tourism over the past decade, Almeria has also cultivated innumerable
plastic covered greenhouses and now produces the bulk of the province's fruit and vegetables, much of
it for export.
Troglodytic Villages
Almeria Province is famous for its "troglodytic"villages, which are towns in which many
or most of the homes are caves dug into the soft, sand-coloured cliffs. The local peoples prize these
homes because they provide excellent protection from the desert heat in summertime. They are usually
composed of an initial living room with other dependencies furrowed further into the rock - a
convenient way of building, since every time a new child is born, all the owner has to do is dig
out a new room! These "cave homes" or casas-cueva, as they are known, often have facades
with windows and tiled roofs like conventional houses, and chimneys that jut up from the earth behind.
Chimney-like skylights are dug to provide interior lighting. Alhabia, Gádor and Benahadux.
Some of the most interesting cave-dweller villages are in the region around Sante Fé de Mondújar
and near the recently-excavated Bronze Age settlement of Los Millares, with a prehistoric fortress built
2,000 years before Christ. There are also caves in the Alpujarra de Almería at Fondón and
at Láujar de
Andarax al, which has gone down in history as the place where the mother of the last sultan of Granada
died; the banished Boabdil.
Spanish desert
In the 1960's, Italian movie-makers filmed their own version of the Wild West among the mesetas and cactus
trees of the Tabernas Desert. The ramshackle movie sets have been preserved as a curiosity, complete with
trading posts and double-door saloons.
The arid hills contain another, more seriously interesting site, although it is not normally accessible
to visitors: the Solar Platform of Almeria (PSA), a European Union solar energy research centre. Even if
you're not allowed in, you can, from over the wire fence, admire the rows of futuristic heliostats
reflecting the sun's rays into the towering solar oven, and many other devices for turning sunlight
into electricity. The village of Tabernas is a quiet place with a charming church in the mudejar or
Moorish style.
El Campo de Nijar
El Campo de Níjar is one of the most prosperous regions of the Almeria hinterland and has produced
earthenware pottery since the Phoenician period, using the same primitive techniques. The barren hills
are sprinkled with picturesque villages such as Sorbas, Uleila del Campo, Lubrín, Bédar and Vera.
Coastal villages
Mojacar is especially famous, partly because it was one of the first to be discovered by the tour operators,
but there is also the charming fishing village of San José sheltered cove and marina. A must see is
San José and the unspoiled Playa de los Genoveses and Playa de Monsul, on a rugged dead-end road.
To the north we find Villaricos. Roquetas del Mar is a fully developed resort 15km west of Almeria.
The Province of Northern Almeria
Since the villages of northern Almeria Province were reconquered by the Christians, they have a flavour
all of their own. The austere Castilian influence can be seen in the stone castles and palaces of Vélez
Rubio and Vélez Blanco, whose elegant Renaissance courtyard now stands in the Metropolitan Museum of New York.
The region is crossed by the Almanzora River, and famous for the villages of Sèron and Tíjola with its
famous fountains, Purchena, Olula del Río and Albox, and Macael with its marble quarries.
Costa Almeria
The Costa Almeria is as varied as any of the Spanish Coasts and is completely unspoilt. To the east of Almeria
we find the rough and isolated coast of the Cabo del Gato-Nijar natural park. This is an dry desert landscape and
the annual rainfall here is less than 200mm. It is lightly populated, few villages and a very low population
density.
Visitors feel a sense of exploration here as many of the coves can only be reached on foot therefore this area
is particularly popular with nature lovers and back-packers. The most popular coastal village is San José.
West of Almeria is the well developed tourist resorts of Roquetas de Mar and Aqua Dulce. These have all the
services of any modern resort to support the package holiday market.
At the north of the Costa de Almeria are the naturist beaches of Vera, a number of new complexes are being
constructed here. A little further south is Mojacar that successfully combines the popular beach holiday with
the hillside white village that tourist love to explore.
Almeria city is worth a visit with the Alcazaba castle overlooking the metropolis.
To the west we find the developing complex of Almerimar with Marinas, golf, hotels and many other
facilities.
The old fishing port town of Adra lies further west. In spite of the interesting castle and assorted
archeological remains, it is often missed by tourists travelling along the coastal motorway to or from
the Costa tropical.
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