Jewels of Spain

Marbella was a little town with an illustrious history on the outskirts of Málaga until the 1970’s when a group of entrepreneurs decided they would turn it into a beach-centered vacation capital. They poured millions of dollars into a tiny area down by the marina they named Puerto Banús. They built a small but palatial 20-room hotel, offering every imaginable convenience, with the notion that the beautiful and wealthy people could come, stay a night and move on. They had no idea how successful they would be.

King Fahd of Saudi Arabia used to bring his 69 children, along with numberless wives, servants, cooks and attendance to stay in Marbella, and they loved it here. They decided to come here every year in August. In fact, the local hotels could not hold his entire retinue, so he built here an exact replica of the White House. King Fahd died last year, but he has been succeeded by his son Prince Abdullah. The best guess is that the new ruler will also come here every year to spend the month of August. Most of his party will stay in his White House, but quite a few still must be housed off campus. Another aspect of his annual visits is that he employs hundreds of local workers at approximately five times the wages they would receive from any local employer.

Antonio Banderas, Julio Iglesias, Cristiano Ronaldo, Novak Djokovic, Simon Cowell, and Lord Alan Sugar own places here in carefully obscured locations. Buying property here is not for the faint of wallet.

Now the daily rental fee for a yacht slip on the pier in Puerto Banús is €10,000. We didn’t see a boat smaller than 250 ft. Oh, by the way, both the Ferrari and the Mazeratti dealerships are on the same street, right across the street from the Airbus Helicopter Dealer—just in case you need a helicopter for your yacht. And of course, the streets are lined with names like Gucci, Armani, Bulgari, Georgio, Versace, Yves Saint Laurent, etc., etc.

Of course, you don’t have to be a gazillionaire to visit here. We had a delightful morning wandering the beautiful streets and alleys. When our guide Tanya turned us loose, we headed for one of the oldest shops in Spain that makes churros, the Saint Gines Churros Shop. Something like a doughtnut, you unwind churros from a big spiral wheel of cake, dip it in hot chocolate syrup and immediately go to heaven. I washed mine down with a cup of espresso, and grew new hair on my chest. Wow!

I thought I would just have churros for lunch, but when we got back on the Scenic Eclipse, they had a special table in the Yacht Club Restaurant with Middle Eastern food. I had felafel and a red-pepper hummus that was the most delicious I’ve ever tasted.

Tanya, our guide, was born here, and her whole family still live here. They are not tycoons, by any means, but she said that they do enjoy getting the whole extended family together for births, weddings, and holidays. And when they gather, they all play, sing and dance flamenco. She said it’s not just something they do for the tourists. In this part of Spain, flamenco is still very much a part of the local culture. At home and in school as small children, everyone learns to dance and sing flamenco, and a lot of kids learn flamenco guitar techniques at an early age. She said they really don’t pay much attention to rock music or even to classical. They all just grow up with flamenco. I guess it’s something like country and western music in North Carolina. Even though the rest of the world has discovered it, country music was and is still just a part of our world.

So if you are among the rich and famous, this could be your next vacation spot. If you are a mere mortal like the rest of us, Marbella can still be a beautiful and interesting place to visit. For art, culture or classical music, you might want to stay in Málaga. But if you’re into la dolce vita, you can’t beat Marbella.En savoir plus