First five days in Costa Del Sol

Costa Del Sol has changed a lot since I was last here. What used to be empty bare land is now replaced with brand new hotels and apartment towers. There are new highways and the roads are significantly busier. The cities from west to east: Marbella, Fuengrirolla, Benalmadena and Torremolinos have expanded very close to each other. When you leave one, you enter the next.

Drive to Ronda

We rented a small diesel VW Polo for 10 days. It is smaller than a Golf but is an average sized car here. The stick shift is not bad and the engine has spunk for the highways. I enjoyed very much my drives along their coastal highway last time I was here. However, the gush of new tall buildings along the highway block what used to be a beautiful unobstructed view of the Meditereanean.

Ronda´s Gorge Bridge

We drove to the Mountain town of Ronda yesterday. The path to Ronda is 50 kms of winding mountainous road. Ronda is a town split by a deep gorge but connected by a magnificent bridge built in the 15th century. The engineering feat aside, I marvel at the bravery of the people who built this without all the modern safety nets.

LG flat screen monitors, Sony TVs and Haier air conditioners are everywhere here but seldom do you see Asian people besides the few who have opened Chinese restaurants. Tourists are mainly British or German so we often get stares.

Shoe making has historically been a strong industry for Spain. You will find a variety of shoe stores along the streets with many selling Spanish made leather shoes and sandals. However, as with all industries, innovations and outside competition always threaten to change the status quo. There is much bitterness towards the low priced Chinese made shoes especially by the shoe industry unions. Shoes on delivery trucks and in shops have been burned. I have mixed feelings about this. On one hand it is obviously unlawful. But it also illustrates a part of human ugliness when they decide what is their right (in this case, selling shoes at their desired price) has been violated.

Street of Ronda