[Idyllchat] Costa Del Sol

[Sonny Culverhouse]

While we haven't been there during that time frame, we did spend two weeks 
in an apt hotel on the water in Torremoslinos(sp?), about 19 miles west of 
Malaga, in Nov '01.  It was a splendid location, with plenty of 
restaurants, hotels, apts, shops galore, and  transportation via bus or 
rail readily available.  That was before Untours had a trip to Spain, so 
I'm not up on how they compare, except that the way we went, one could 
extend ones stay for about $300 a week a couple.  My wife just won't leave 
our dogs for longer than two weeks plus travel time, so if we went now, 
we'd be more inclined to go with Untours.

Our location, so near a large city - 200k pop. - was situated within easy 
bus travel to plenty of seashore/hill villages, and the trains to Malaga or 
larger cities, i.e., Seville, Madrid, Barcelona, etc.  .  That entire area 
is very tourist-prepared, so you know the drill on what to expect.  During 
the time that we were there, not many people seemed to be visiting, but 
that was also so soon after 9/11 that I couldn't actually gauge things that 
well.  I do remember that a lot of Asians were vacationing, and we were 
told that a rather large number of the wealthier Russians spend their 
winters at an upscale, larger village about 30 mins West via bus; they own 
mansions on the water.  Malaga has a lot of wineries, a castle or two, home 
place of Picasso, a bullfight arena, a number of museums.  Plenty of very 
old cathedrals are also there; in fact, each little village had one of more 
very old churches or small cathedrals.  Mijas, an upscale hilltop village 
was our favorite, and it also had a bull fighting arena, although my wife 
prevented our attending.

Spain is a special place to visit, we think.  Their food, very clean 
country, courteous people, prices, tolerance of non-Spanish speaking 
people, is all very good.  We'd go there again at a heartbeat, but my wife 
never likes to visit the same place twice until our list gives out, and 
Untours continuously contributes to the list becoming longer and 
longer.  Go and enjoy!  ....sonny in Virginia


At 10:33 AM 1/15/2007 -0500, Sue S wrote:
>Have any of you experience with Costa Del Sol in the Jan/Feb time 
>frame?  We are toying with the idea of doing a month or more in that area 
>next winter.  We could use the advice of some of you seasoned travelers if 
>you have stayed in that area during those months.  We are exploring 
>apartment rentals and locations which would not necessitate driving.
>
>Thank you.
>_______________________________________________