Mediterranean Coast: Malaga, Torremolinos, Fuengirola, Marbella

The Costa de la Sol, or the sun coast belt of Spain is essentially the Mediterranean shore that forms a semi-circular natural southern boundary of this peninsular country facing the continent of Africa across the sea. There is a little known fact that Spain has two provinces, Ceuta and Melilla lying across the Mediterranean in the continent of Africa surrounded by Morocco. I had fun with a semantic argument with a Spaniard when I remarked that their two provinces were in Morocco, Africa. But he quickly corrected that they just share borders with Morocco. Further west of the Costa de la Sol is also Gibraltar, which though on the peninsular is actually a British exclave, therefore part of the United Kingdom. Its geographical feature, the Rock of Gibraltar, is its famous landmark. The Spanish worship of the sun is evidenced by the seemingly contiguous cities that line up the entire Mediterranean coast within Spanish territory. The four proximate beach cities I spent days in and thoroughly enjoyed were the cities of Malaga, Torremolinos, Fuengirola and Marbella. Most middle class Spaniards have beach houses or condominiums on the beach, in spite of the numerous hotels that dot the Sun coast. This pleasurable indulgence is understandable as most people see the beaches as a natural destination for weekend get-away, therefore a logical location for a second home. The beaches were not only very spacious with white fine sands and clear Mediterranean waters lapping the shores, they were often teaming with people, families of all ages, both Spaniards and other Europeans escaping the harsh weather of their more northerly countries. It was like a perpetual picnic. Many of the retired folks permanently live on beach luxury homes that form a contiguous parallel within two-minute walking distance to the beaches. Even eating establishments set up restaurants right on the beach, and all you need to wake you from your lazy afternoon lounging on the Marbella beach sands is a dining bell when lunch is served in the surrounding restaurants. Even clubhouses for international chains like the Marriott staked their beach front claim on the sandy beaches. Europeans seem very comfortable with nudity that there are no designated areas where you could not parade the beaches in the buff. You are constantly sauntering among fully clothed folks and those that have no stitch of fiber on their body. Amazingly, no one seemed to care or raise eyebrows. Nudists go about their business so naturally as though they are intermingling with city folk in a downtown thoroughfare. When you decide to retire from the beach, usually as late as 10pm or whenever you want, you could then head out for dinner, as Spain is famously known for its very late meal hours. In that same relaxed fashion, the night clubs don’t get going until about one o’clock in the morning. That was my pleasurable experience in Torremolinos. It was so much fun and uniquely exciting on clear days at the beach when I could gaze at the silhouette of the Atlas Mountains in Morocco across the Mediterranean towards Africa.