Torremolinos

Torremolinos is one of the most visited municipalities on the Costa del Sol. Although people come here for holidays all the year round, the figure rises to more than 250,000 during the high season. The development of the town over the past eighty years has been spectacular. In the 1920s, Torremolinos was a small town of 3,000 inhabitants, whose source of livelihood was farming, fishing and making flour. By the end of the 1950s, the town had already established itself as one of the principal tourist towns of the new tourist boom, and since then it has become one of the most important tourist centres on both a national and international level. It is made up of a series of barrios that include the central calle San Miguel, the barrio of El Calvario, el Bajondillo and La Carihuela, and it still has nooks and crannies that have changed little with the times. Calle San Miguel is the heart and soul of Torremolinos, known locally as calle Europa for the huge number of European visitors that walk this traffic-free zone. Everybody knows about La Carihuela too, with its wonderful beach and chiringuitos (beach bars and restaurants). El Calvario is one of the more traditional parts of the town.
The area’s geographical position, between Malaga Bay and the Mijas Mountains, allows for a temperate climate all the year around, averaging out at 19 degrees centigrade. And with seven kilometres of beaches in excellent condition, the residents of the area and visitors can enjoy the beaches for most of the year.

Places to be visited
Palacio de Congresos (Congress Hall)
The Palacio de Congresos y Exposiciones de la Costa del Sol, to give it its full title, is a post-modern building ten minutes from the airport and with 22 rooms. There are three auditoriums, 13 small conference rooms and six meeting rooms. There are also 80 fully equipped delegate offices, complete with audiovisual facilities and complimentary services, as well as a restaurant and cafeteria. An exhibition hall of 6,000 square metres on two floors completes the list. With free parking for cars and 24 busses, surrounded by more than 18,000 square metres of garden, this Congress Hall compares well with the best anywhere.
Municipal Auditorium "Principe de Asturias"
This forms part of the overall complex, and is one of the biggest auditoriums in Andalucía, with more than 200,000 square metres of floor space, holding 1,790 people seated and almost 6,000 standing. It has been acoustically designed for classical concerts, ballet, theatre and all types of cultural events.
Sports Stadium "Ciudad de Torremolinos"
Torremolinos is ideal for lovers of sport, and apart from the obvious attractions of water sports in this area, there is also a wide range of other sports facilities available. The Torremolinos Sports Stadium has an athletics track surrounded by pine woods, with natural grass in the centre for a football pitch built to regulation specifications. The various areas for different disciplines within the stadium have been built to the highest standards, and are used all the year round by sportspeople from all over the world. Beside the athletics track is the 50-metre covered swimming pool, named the "Virgen del Carmen". There is seating capacity here for 800 spectators, making this one of the best pools in Spain. Events of national and international importance are held here, and swimmers like Nina Jivanevskaya, medal winner in the Sydney Olympics and resident of Torremolinos, practice here.

Where to sleep :
Hotel Tropicana (4*). Trópico, 6. Tel: 952 386 600.
Hotel Lago Rojo (3*). Miami, 1. Tel: 952 387 666.
Hotel Las Palomas (3*). Carmen Montes, 1. Tel: 952 385 000.
Hotel Los Álamos (3*). Ctra. N-340. Km.228. Tel: 952 384 677.
Hotel Rui Belplaya (3*). Paseo Marítimo, 163. Tel: 952 383 266.
Hotel Don Paquito (2*). Avda. del Lido, s/n. Tel: 952 386 844.
Hotel Stella Polaris (2*). Urbanización La Roca. Tel: 952 382 911.

Where to eat :
Doña Francisquita. Castilian cuisine. Casablanca, 20. Tel: 952 376 162.
Restaurante El Candil. International cuisine. Avda.Salvador Allende, 42. Tel: 952 385 672.
Restaurante Frutos. Castilian cuisine. Avda. Riviera, 80 (Álamos). Tel: 952 381 450.
Restaurante Guaquín. Malaga cuisine. Carmen, 37 (Carihuela). Tel: 952 384 530.
La Coquina. Malaga cuisine. Mar, 6 (Carihuela). Tel: 952 381 538.
La Jávega. Malaga cuisine. Paseo Marítimo Carihuela. Tel: 952 386 375.

FIESTAS
The list of festivals in Torremolinos is long and varied: the Baile (Dancing) Retro in the Congress Hall, the Carnival, the Verdiales (musical form) Competition, Holy Week, the Cruces de mayo, the Veladilla de San Juan and the festival of Corpus Cristi are just some of the many celebrated in the town. There is also, for example, the Day of the Tourist, in which the town pays tribute to the thousands of tourists that have made Torremolinos what it is today, and the Día del Pescaíto, which is a prologue to the festival in honour of the town’s patron saint, the festival of San Miguel Arcángel. This takes place during the last week in September, coinciding with the celebration of the Santo Patrón on September 29th. The annual Feria takes place in the town centre, and moves to the El Pozuelo Feria grounds at night. The Festival of San Miguel begins a week before a Romería that is considered to be one of the most important in Andalucía. More than 200,000 people gather together every year in the Los Manantiales pine woods to dance, sing and have a good time on the Día de San Miguel.
GASTRONOMY
The sea is the great protagonist of Torremolinos cooking. The fish come in all shapes and sizes, and are normally fried or barbecued on the spit, often taken with a glass of refreshing gazpacho soup. Some claim that the best fried fish is available at the chiringuitos along La Carihuela beach, while the many excellent restaurants in the town might dispute this claim. Paella is also a popular dish here, perhaps due to the many foreign tourists that ask for it, but there are many other dishes traditional to Torremolinos that are not fried fish. These include roasted pepper salad, a long-time favourite of the area, made with roasted pepper, onion, tomato, oil, vinegar, salt and ali-oli. Pastry making is an important part of the gastronomic offer of this town too, the traditionally-made Tortas de Aceite de Torremolinos among the most delicious pastries to be had in Spain. But not all the Torremolinos cuisine is traditional. The huge influx of foreigners to the town has left its culinary mark, and in the 250 or so restaurants in the municipality, one finds something good to eat from every continent.