The approach to Torremolinos - easily done via a 30
min ride on the electric train from Málaga
- is a rather depressing business. There are half
a dozen beaches and stops, but its a drab, soulless
landscape of kitchenette apartments and half-finished
developments. In recent years the local council have
been trying to give the resort a facelift, the main
feature of which has been the construction of a new
seafront promenade and the renovation of the old town,
the narrow alleyways of which are not without charm.
TORREMOLINOS, to its enduring credit, is certainly
different: a vast, grotesque parody of a seaside resort,
which in its own kitschy way is fascinating. This
bizarre place, lined with sweeping beaches and infinite
shooping arcades, crammed with Irish pubs and real-estate
agents, has a large permanent expatriate population
of British, Germans and Scandinavians. Its a weird
mix, which, in additions to thousands of retire people,
has attracted - due to a previous lack of extradition
arrangements between Britain and Spain - an extraordinary
concentration of British crooks and more recently
Russian mafia bosses. Torremolinos's social scene
is strange, too, including, among the middle-of-the-road
family discos a thriving pram-pushing, gay transvertite
scene. All in all it's an intiguing blend of the smart
and the squalid, bargains and rip-offs.
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