Plucky Survivors See Europe Day 51: Valencia to Torremolinos

I left another charming city without fully having explored it, something reinforced by the drive out of town when I saw things that made me say, “Oh, I didn’t get to see that either!”  Valencia is on my return someday list.

My guts and I seem to have declared a very unsteady truce, one that could fail at any moment, but that made the drive from Valencia to Torremolinos a little less anxiety producing than I was expecting.  I wanted to take a rural coastal route, but doing that for 400 miles would’ve meant a nine-hour drive if I didn’t stop, so probably more like eleven or twelve, which just wasn’t in the cards.

So, I highwayed it and the bulk of the drive was pretty boring.  The scenery reminds me of I-15 from LA to Vegas, albeit slightly more verdant and with a few more quaint looking Spanish towns along the way.

But then my route veered over to the coast, and it was dramatic vistas aplenty.  Lots of rocky cliffs with towns hanging off of them overlooking the Mediterranean.  The Costa del Sol is as gorgeous as it advertises itself to be.

Because of the highway strategy, the drive took about six and a half hours, so I got to Torremolinos around 4:30pm.

During this trip, I wanted to stay somewhere along the Costa del Sol and I picked Torremolinos for a couple of reasons.  First, it has a vibrant LGBTQ+ scene, which always makes me feel more comfortable when I visit somewhere, especially somewhere that I don’t speak the language.  Second, it was more affordable than many of the other cities along the Mediterranean.

What I forgot in that calculation is that “more affordable” also often means “not as nice.”  Some of this may be coming from having been in Valenci in a 5-star Westin last night, but Torremolinos feels a little more Jersey Shore than Monaco.  I wasn’t expecting Monaco, but I also wasn’t expecting Atlantic City minus the casinos.

To be fair, I haven’t explored a lot of it.  That’s on the agenda for tomorrow.  What I did today is check into the hotel, which makes up for a little wear around the edges with an incredible balcony overlooking the Mediterranean.

Then, because I hadn’t eaten all day (the truce is shaky, y’all), I went in search of sustenance by walking down 88 stairs (yes I counted) to the beach promenade area.  It’s got lots of bars and souvenir shops and I’m willing to be that on weekends it’s party central.  This being 5pm on a Tuesday, meant it was pretty quiet and every single restaurant was closed, save for one.  Thank you for the burger and fries, Dena Café.  It was food.

I walked along the promenade for a bit then back to the hotel, which of course involved going up those 88 stairs, which somehow became 89.  Either I miscounted going down or up or it added a step to itself while I was eating just to mess with me.

Then I took my computer out onto the balcony and finished the rewrite of the Christmas movie I was supposed to turn in yesterday.  “Have yourself a Mediterranean Christmas…”

Tomorrow, I plan on exploring what I believe are the nicer sections of Torremolinos and nearby Malaga and then going to a show in the evening.

Home three weeks from today!  Anybody want to go clean my condo and wash my car before I get back?