Malaga and the Coast del Sol

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Saturday:

We decide to skip the train, which would involve a connection, and opt for the wiser choice of travel by bus from Seville to Malaga. The buses are more comparable to touring coaches and are quite nice (for a bus). From the bus station it was a good 40 minute cab ride to the timeshare resort, Dona Lola, which is located in a remote area of Malaga. We are happy to find our room to be quite nice and with an ocean view.

We settle in and unpack, knowing we won’t have to re-pack again for a whole week, yea! We are starving by dinnertime, 7 pm, but find they just stopped serving food at the resort’s main restaurant. Luckily, we discover there are a variety of independently operated restaurants on the upper level, and we decide upon a British pub, for cheeseburgers and beer. I’m all about experiencing the culture, and the local food, but after a week of many jamon con queso sandwiches, it was wonderful to enjoy a nice juicy burger!

Sunday:

After breakfast at the resort we had our obligatory noon time welcome meeting, during which there was a review of all the tour possibilities. Afterwards Angie and Peggy opted for the Paella demonstration and sampling, while I decided to tour the resort and check out my e-mail.

Monday:

Bummer, we discover today in a bank holiday in Spain, and most of the shops are closed and no tours are running. So we are forced into a second day of relaxation, although we took advantage of it with more time out by the ‘adult’ pool, where apparently, you are free to go topless. However, we opt for tan lines. We also made our way across the zig-zag pedestrian freeway overpass to get across the street, to find an ATM and a grocery store to stock up on supplies for our room.

We met 5 other girls traveling together from Ventura County; they also do annual ‘girl’s trips’ and this is their 5th trip together. They are here at our timeshare the same week as us. Tonight we hooked up with them for drinks and then dinner. They are a lot of fun and we had a blast, although perhaps drank a wee bit too much. We were all feeling a bit remorseful the next morning.

The Coast del Sol:

As the week continues we discover that the part of the Coast del Sol that we are in, from Malaga to Marbella to Esteponia, is largely a summertime resort hangout for Brits and that the environment caters to largely to them. On the coast, in contrast to the previous parts of Spain we've visited, almost everyone seems to speak at least some English. British pubs are scattered everywhere, as well as a variety of other types of restaurants offering pizza, burgers, even Chinese food. You'd be hard pressed to find an authentic tapas bar along this part of the coast, or the 'true' Spanish culture, unless you venture into the villages in the hills above the coast. The coast is also not really very scenic, the beaches are mostly rocky, there is building and construction everywhere, and resorts, hotels, and unattractive apartment buildings stretch out as far as the eye can see.

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Photos

Malaga resort, Dona Lola
The primary pool