The Cities of Costa del Sol, Spain

My first city has to be Malaga.
During this stay we visited the town for the second time. The first was ca. 40 years ago, and the memories are very selected. This time we visited the city not only once but twice, and will certainly return. May be even stay there for the whole period, and use it for touring Andalusia. We are urban people and the manifold in this 6th largest city of Spain need to be more explored.

My photo is from mount Gibralfaro with the old castle on the top. The name is derived from the Phoenician word for light, Jbel-Faro, meaning "Rock of Light". On the photo you can see the City Hall (Ayuntamiento) at Paseo del Parque and the castle "La Alcazaba" with the Roman Theatre below. In addition the Catedral and the Picasso Museum in the old city, part of the harbor (Puerto) and the modern western part of the city.We used the train to visit Malaga, and one stop on the line is another well-known city. The tourist-oriented city Torremolinos was very popular for Scandinavians to visit in the 70s. I stayed once at Playamar outside the city together with friends at that time, but had also the pleasure (?) to be hospitalized close to the city (Los Alamos) because severe DVT problems in 2007. The city has changed a lot during 40 years, but the staircase to / from the beaches are still there to be climbed.Moving further south-west, our next stop is Benalmadena. They were preparing for the Carnevale when we visited the municipally, but we only made the visit as a starting point for walking over 20 km back to Fuengirola.
The beaches at Fuengirola is nice and clean, easy to access and maintained every day. I will return to details about this city later, but can absolutely recommend a long term winter stay in this city.
At the mountain side about 450 m above mean sea level and close to Fuengirola you can find "the white village" Mijas. A typical tourist-oriented art-craft and fur-shop village, but also with interesting places and spectacular views over Fuengirola.
The original name for the village was ‘Tamisa’, which subsequently changed to ‘Mixa’ and finally to ‘Mijas’ as it is known today. The history of the name ‘Tamisa’ dates back to the year 600 A.D. when the Tartessians founded the village of Mijas. The Tartessians became important trading partners of the Phoenicians whose presence in Iberia dates from the eighth century BC.
Another beautiful old city can be found in the more posh city Marbella. Marbella is famed as an exclusive destination for wealthy tourists from Northern Europe, as well as the well-heeled from the UK, Ireland and Germany. A nice city with many good Tapas bars at the seaside.
Puerto Banus or only Banus as the winter inhabitants call the city, is a luxury marina and shopping complex for the jet-set and the super rich. The focal point of Banus is the marina. It has berths for 915 boats, including those of the King of Saudi Arabia and several of the world's wealthiest individuals. Behind the harbour lie streets filled with bars, boutiques (all important brands to be found) and nightclubs.The city of Estepona should also be mentioned in this review, but this photo was taken during our stay in 2007, when we also visited Granada and Alhambra.