The grand tour of Southern Spain: Western Andalucía 31st January – 6th March 2024 Day 24 - 29 The Costa del Sol - Estepona, Marbella, Puerto Banus

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 Day 24: Saturday

Mileage 16710

 

We are heading East. We are going to the Costa del Sol! We drive the coastal road and top up on fuel and LPG at Tarifa. Just beyond this town, we climb the hill and on a corner pull into a little look out café. What a fantastic location – a direct lookout across the narrowest part of the straits of Gibraltar. It takes me several minutes to process that we are now a mere ten miles from Africa. The hills of Morrocco loom large. I switch on my ALIS ship tracking app to see what ships are traversing the straits. We sip our coffees and munch our pastries.

At Algeciras we call in at a Carrefour supermarket to stock up.

Campervan Gregorio proves to be a nice little site behind a beach and mixed between holiday apartment blocks. A level gravel pitch and water and grey waste alongside. Clean facilities. A ten-minute walk to the bus stops. A five-minute walk to the beachside boardwalk. A small supermarket, ‘Lisa's’, opens 9-2pm each day for basic groceries just outside the Aire gate, where you can also find a restaurant. Pitch 22 faces out over a field and we just fit into it.

 

After setting up, we go for a stroll along the boardwalk.

Costs: 20 euros per night x 5 = 100 euros

Distance:  120 miles 

Route: N340 – AP7 – A7

 

Day 25: Sunday

We cycle towards Estepona along the coastal boardwalk. It takes around forty minutes and gives great views of Gib and Morocco. We wash up, inevitably at a beachside café, where we come to a halt!  The cycle board-way is literally down the road from the campsite gates. At this time of year, it isn’t busy. It would be heaving during the height of the summer! 

We have a chilled afternoon, catching up on reading, cleaning the van and having showers. We agree we have run out of steam and are disinclined to move on. We may be stopping here for a few days!

Day 26: Monday

We head for Marbella on the bus. The bus stop is just up the top of the road an eight-minute walk from the campsite gate. The L79 and it take forty minutes. We stroll the streets and do some window shopping. Its a chill out day and I am surprised. Marbella exceeds expectations. Pretty with a great range of little shops. Just goes to show that teaching about mass tourism and using it as an example of this in the 1990s doesn’t mean that it stays that way for eternity!

Day 26: Monday

We head for Marbella on the bus. The bus stop is just up the top of the road an eight-minute walk from the campsite gate. The L79 and it take forty minutes. We stroll the streets and do some window shopping. Its a chill out day and I am surprised. Marbella exceeds expectations. Pretty with a great range of little shops. Just goes to show that teaching about mass tourism and using it as an example of this in the 1990s doesn’t mean that it stays that way for eternity!

Day 28: Wednesday

I’m not feeling great this morning; can’t explain why but it’s a late start...we sit in sun until midday. Feeling rested and better we do an afternoon ride towards Estepona and fetch up for a coffee stop at a nice beach side café.  The afternoon is spent planning our route home next week. With clear skies later, I manage to get some stargazing done. There wasn’t as much light pollution as I was expecting. Chilly though!  

Day 29: Thursday

We are feeling really chilled and catch the bus to Puerto Banus. What a laugh! The biggest department store we have ever been in with the greatest range of designer clothes we have ever seen! The marina has an impressive collection of expensive motorboats and uniformed boat staff. The sides are lined with designer boutiques. Jimmy Choo, Michael Kors…. Not our scene frankly. The wealthy and beautiful strut their stuff. The security guards shoo us all always from the armour plated Rolls Royce’s and the banana yellow Lamborghinis. Two coke zeros set us back 10 euros ...nearly had heart failure! We find a lovely little bookshop and get two more books ...we didn't bring enough reading material with us. Lesson learned!