As was probably clear from my last post, I recently took a holiday to Spain. And as the title of this post indicates, I stayed in a place called Benalmadena. It’s a town in Andalusia, on the Costa del Sol. Benalmadena covers a pretty large area, much larger than I was aware of when I was there.
From what I can tell, there are three main areas. Benalmadena Pueblo is the original village, Arroyo de la Miel was a separate one which I guess got absorbed into it. There are some attractions in these parts, but Benalmadena Costa is the really touristy area. That’s where I was, and where I stayed. I don’t think I even saw all that much of that part, if I’m honest.
There’s no proven explanation as to how the town got its name, though all of the possibilities are from Arabic. The most commonly accepted theory is that it means ‘son of the mines’ or ‘the construction of the mines’, due to iron and ochre found in the area. It could also mean ‘people between springs’ or ‘the state of the al-Madina’s family’, which would be in reference to a rich family who may have owned the area. The name has had a few variant forms over the centuries, but from what I can see it’s always been recognisable as being the same name.
Prior to the Arabic part of the town’s history, the area was occupied by the Phoenicians and then the Romans, and there is evidence of human habitation going back far before that. In the fifteenth century the area was conquered by King Henry IV of Castille, and the town was destroyed, with people seeking refuge in a neighbouring town. In the seventeenth century it was devastated by an earthquake and tsunami.
In the nineteenth century the town thrived, but outbreaks of various diseases hit it badly, affecting crops and reducing the population. But in the 1950s the tourist trade took off, the area saw a real population boom, and now it’s one of the most popular tourist destinations in Spain.
As one can likely imagine, there’s a lot to do and see there, but I’ll stick to the things I did.
Fairly close to where I was staying was the Castillo de Bil Bil. I had no idea what this was at the time, but it’s a big, interesting looking building stood on its own so I was inclined to look at it, though I didn’t go inside. I now know it was built in 1927 as a private residence, and was bought by the town council in 1980 to use as a cultural centre. It’s used for exhibitions, conferences, and events.
Benalmadena is home to a very large Marina, which has moorings for over a thousand boats and has won the award for the Best Marina in the World more than once. I only saw a small part of it but I was impressed. I don’t know architecture, but I can appreciate interesting architecture when I see it. The really eyecatching thing is that it includes floating islands, so there are buildings just out there on the water. That was really cool.
In this area of the town is the Sealife Centre, which I visited, because Sealife Centres are always worth a visit. That does mean they’re normally pretty busy, and this was not an exception, but it takes more than crowds to make looking at animals unenjoyable.
Particular highlights of the Sealife Centre. For one thing, they seemed to have a lot more seahorses than usual. I may be misremembering visits to other ones, but I felt like there were more tanks of them in this one. Seahorses are always lovely, there’s always something a bit special about them.
And they have a very large turtle. The glass I first saw it through must have somehow distorted my view because I didn’t realise quite how huge it was until it went directly overhead. I actually found it a little scary for a moment.
And they had otters. Normally when I go somewhere with otters they’re either nowhere to be seen, or they’re burning off energy, but these ones were having a little nap out in the open, then getting up to have a drink. I’ve never seen otters so relaxed before; I guess that comes from having sunshine to sit out in, rather than being inside or somewhere without the best weather.
Those are a few particular highlights of this particular Sealife Centre. But obviously I loved wandering through the whole thing, and didn’t need those particular highlights to enjoy it. It was a great way to spend a morning.
One more place I visited was the Castillo de Colomares, or Colomares Castle, which sits above the town. This is not an actual castle, but a monument to Christopher Columbus, designed by Dr Esteban Martin and Martin and built with the help of two local stone masons between 1987 and 1994. The place is impressive without knowing the backstory, but the fact it was the work of three men is just incredible.
The monument covers 1500 square metres and is incredibly intricately designed. Different parts signify different things about Christopher Columbus and his journeys. I must admit I don’t know very much about Columbus, so I didn’t understand the significance of them, even with the guide sheet. But while I’m sure knowing the historical context makes the place more interesting, the architecture speaks for itself.
There’s a little church built into the monument, which at least one source claims is the smallest in the world. The church was closed up and I didn’t know it was there at the time, so I was just a bit curious about the door.
And, being situated fairly high up, there are nice views from up here, and a proper little viewpoint to look out from.
And that’s what did in Benalmadena itself. I’ve got another couple of posts about other excursions. Thanks for visiting my blog.