Spanish Beachbums and Cragrats

1 month in Spain with girlfriend,

Malaga,

 We spent a week here on the coast in Torremolinos as Costa del Sol beach bums. Getting here from Malaga airport was easy. Maybe 2 euro bus journey. We had climbed hard in preparation for our holiday so took the first week off to allow our bodies to recover. Torremolinos is a friendly little beachside city/town. It's safe and also known as gay-friendly for UK tourists. Walking along the beautiful promenades, watching the incredible amount of pedigree dogs. I've never seen as many French bulldogs or pugs in my life! The highlight of my trip to Torremolinos was watching the sunset across the sea every evening. The night life was also enjoyable and we traveled to the next town down, Benalmadena, to the recommended 24-hour square, a hub of nightlife, where we danced the night away in Pipers bar. Cheap drinks and great atmosphere. 

El Chorro,

 El Chorro is a small village located near a small town named Alora. We took a cheap bus here from Malaga and got a taxi to our accommodation, The Olive Branch. The Olive Branch is a campsite/hostel surrounded by beautiful climbing crags and hiking routes. They offer cooking facilities and have a restaurant with 3 cooked meals a day and an honesty shelf where you can buy extras and drinks. The clientele are all outdoors hiker, climber, mountain biker folks and were really easy to get along with. We spent 2 weeks here sport climbing single and multi-pitch routes and in our off days went down to the local rivers. There are plenty of rustic little restaurants beautifully placed on the side of the mountains. The area also serves as part of the Caminito del Rey for any walking enthusiasts. 

Marbella

 We spent the last week of our holiday in the town of Marbella, the wealthy neighbouring town to Torremolinos. Marbella is known for its expensive restaurants, Orange Square, and long beachfront promenades. We spent many evenings wandering around and soaking up the beautiful culture and architecture of the Old Town whose old walls and cobblestone roads made us feel like we had stepped into another city. Similar to Torremolinos, there was so much to see and soak up just walking down the long promenade, from dogs to views to street entertainers. The marina was enjoyable to see the different yachts docked here but the bars and restaurants definitely out of our price range by the end of our holiday. The highlight of this trip to Marbella was our outdoor dirt biking tour with the Dust Devils. They brought us through riverbed trails and across sand dunes at a comfortable speed and provided us with safety gear and good tuition. The breathtaking views of the sunset over the dunes are a fond memory of this adventure.