Almuñécar Things to Do

Beneath the Castle and next to the Avenida de Europa is the El Majuelo Botanical Garden. You can appreciate why the area is called the 'Costa Tropical' ~ here are over 180 tropical trees and plants, living happily in the open air.

A new addition amongst the trees is a small sculpture park. A number of large, cream-coloured carved stone sculptures were being installed in November 2005. I believe the sculptor was of Syrian origin. The statues certainly gave the impression of Phoenician artefacts, curvaceous and tactile.

At the opposite end of the park are a number of craft shops, selling paintings, weaving and other souvenirs. And immediately next-door are the extensive old Phoenician salting pits, some of which are still hidden beneath the gardens.

The famous English writer Laurie Lee lived in Almunecar during the Spanish Civil War. There is a monument to his memory above the Puerta del Mar Beach.

Laurie Lee came over to Spain in his 20's to study and travel in southern Spain. He lived in Almunecar from 1935-38. In 1951 he returned to Almunecar to meet up with old anti-Franco friends, only to find that many of these men of the village had mysteriously disappeared. Lee wrote a book in 1955 which described his return to Almunecar and his attempts to find out what had happened to the people he once knew.

Its a strange sort of monument to my eyes. Rather like a chimney, or a lighthouse!