Marbella & Costa del Sol

Tobias Heller
7. Juli 2017
3 Min. Lesezeit

Marbella is a place at the Costa del Sol and I worked there for one month, due to that I had the chance to explore the whole outstreches of the coastline by car and get to know the strange cultural mix which has settled in that area, consisting of british, russian as well as german people. Due is right in the middle of the Strait of Gibraltar and Malaga and serves as the perfect point to explore the coastline closer. For one month I would joint a british family living in the residential area of Benahavis, taking care for two kids, Ethan and Oliver.

Prologue

Marbella & My British Family

Marbella indeed is difficult to discribe, as I experienced all the surrounding area and not just the city center of Marbella, where I happend to be very rarely. Moreover did I do several small trips while having spare time with the car, while the kids I took care of were at school and I was free to do what I wanted and explore the coastal line.

The family I stay with in Marbella is british, and I am some kind of Aupair for the Kids Oliver and Ethan. My main task here is to bring them to school or friends houses as well as pick them up afterwards an spend time with them. I also encounter the inhabitants of Marbella, which i find a very weird mixture, giving me the feeling of not being in Spain actually. The whole area seems to be occupied by many british people as wel as russian, french or german. Strangely, it is not only the fact that they seem to have their own communities here, they also seem to force their culture upon the spanish territory, livin there in some kind of ignorance to the original spanish culture by not speaking their language and exporting their way of lifestyle to the city. Many of those people, which i normally avoid, are from the upper society, and several times while walking through one of the massive comercial centers, boutiques or streets, I have the impression that part of the richer high class is quite arrogant and conceited, which I cannot combine with he hearty and welcoming way spanish people are.

Together with the boys on several occasions I went with them to a park, to shopping centers, into the cinema, playing football on the soccer ground next to the golf club or for a little hike around the surrounding area.

Vilages & Cities

Benahavis & Surrounding Urbanisations

The urbanisation I stay with the family is on the one hand Benahavis, on the other hand Calahonda. This is due to the fact that they own two houses, both situated on the oposite sides of Marbella. The houses of the urbanisation are partially large and pompous, and it seems customary to have one or more collective pools, such as the house in Benahavis. Large cleanly trimmed grass fields for golf sports add to the impression that all this to me appears like a vacation domicile, built only for vacationists who want to retreat from the stressfull work, though this indeed is a normal standard residential estate. While going around by car in various areas, I encounter large residential buildings, some of them in a weird kind of architectural style, enormous garden fronts, flower decoration, neatly trimmed hedges and furthermore perfectly arranged details. All the while during my stay I had moreover the feeling to be in a large holiday facility than in a place where people actually really life normal lives, going to work daily in order to earn the income for the rent and expensive cars.

Beaches & Nature

The long Costa del Sol

Due to the car I am able to explore the long outstreches of the Costa del Sol. While I have been previously in Torremolinos and Malaga, I add the rest of the coastline onto my list to explore. Therefore I go in daytrips in direction Malaga to Fuengirola and in the other direction, towards Gibraltar to a town called Estepona. Several nice beaches are on the way, several covered by shells that have been washed on shore and decorate the beaches in large piles of colours. Several of the beaches are very quiet and not overpopulated, different than in the region of Torremolinos here also relatively empty beaches can be found during a working day and low season.