Испания оставляет след. Проверено лично Spain leaves a mark. Verified personally

This summer we chose the Costa del Sol, the resort of Torremolinos and the four-star hotel Amaragua for our holidays.
The hotel is located quite far from the historic city center - about 25 minutes on foot. However, life is in full swing around the hotel all the time - it is here that the center of the former fishing village of Carihuela is located, which is now considered one of the areas of Torremolinos, but lives its own life. The hotel is separated from the beach by a narrow pedestrian promenade - you just need to cross it, and that's it. At the same time, the entrance to the hotel territory from the side of the embankment is closed by iron gates - you can open them with the same card that serves as the key to the room. The embankment does not interfere at all, but, on the contrary, enlivens the rest - it is always full of walkers (in Spain they go to bed very late), something is constantly celebrated, concerts are held, and along the street there are many shops and restaurants. Right in front of the hotel, on the other side of this walking path, there was a small inflatable amusement park for children.
All beaches in Spain are municipal, that is, anyone can come to them, but hotels do not have their own beaches. At the same time, there was no flea market on the beach, because it is very long, and there is enough space for everyone. There are sun loungers and umbrellas, they are paid (about 6-8 euros per day), so many spread the towels they brought with them and sunbathe on them.

About the sea it is necessary to say separately. The Costa del Sol is the southernmost coast of Spain, and not far away is the Strait of Gibraltar, which connects the Mediterranean Sea with the Atlantic Ocean, from where many different currents come. Therefore, the sea in these places is rather capricious - today it can be very cold (on our first day - 18 degrees) and quite stormy (although jumping in the waves is a pleasure), and tomorrow - warm, like fresh milk, and calm. And it may be so lucky that the sea will be icy for five days in a row, even in the midst of summer. This must be taken into account when choosing a resort. But in our case, the water was cold only on the first day.
It is not particularly possible to replace the sea with a pool - the pool at Amaragua, like the vast majority of European 3-4-star resort hotels, is only one and small. But lying next to him in a sun lounger on the grass is very nice (here the sunbeds are free). There is another pool in the SPA center - it attracted us with the fact that it is with sea water and without bleach. It is also free to use.
In general, we really liked the hotel. The room was spacious, on the sixth floor with a magnificent view of the mountains (I am somehow indifferent to the sea view, but I must say that 80% of the hotel rooms face it, so if we wanted to change, I think there would be no problems ). The ambience is a little old fashioned, but we were completely satisfied with everything. Cleaning - every day, there are no complaints about the quality, towels were changed daily, bed linen - every 3 days.
The hotel has a luxurious and very large through hall - entering through the main entrance from the street, you can go through, go to the pool, and if you need to go to the sea - go past the pool, go down a small staircase and open the iron gate with your card, as I wrote above.
There are a lot of sofas and secluded corners in the lobby, you can watch TV or sit with a laptop - there is free Wi-Fi in the lobby. At the reception they said that it should be in the rooms, but in our room the network was not caught well, perhaps because it was on the sixth floor.

The restaurant is very spacious and with a beautiful view - huge panoramic windows, or rather, a glazed wall that overlooks the sea. It's great to have breakfast with such a view (not so long ago I rested in an Italian four, where the restaurant was in the basement, not very pleasant). I liked the food, without exaggeration, very much - we had breakfasts and dinners (drinks at dinner are paid). For breakfast, you can take fried eggs or scrambled eggs in front of you, this is from hot, and so - a variety of pastries, sausages, several types of muesli, yogurt, a lot of fruit, good jamon and sausages. For dinner - there is always a choice: paella, fresh seafood (royal prawns, large mussels), fried beef ribs, chops, fish... Lots of everything, we were not tired in a week. Dessert - fruits (excellent plums, melon, watermelon, sweet pineapples), pastries, mousses and cream caramel, several types of ice cream. All this is in abundance, if a dish is empty, it is immediately changed to a full one. In general, the food exceeded expectations.
There are very few Russians in the hotel, the staff is polite, but they don’t speak Russian, but there are no problems with English, in contrast, according to friends, from the same Catalonia. In general, the hotel is strongly recommended.
The guide of the host (Natalie Tours) told us about the entertainment in Torremolinos and its environs - there are a lot of bars and discos on our promenade, in the old town, and in the neighboring town of Benalmadena, where you can walk in 15 minutes along the same promenade. Moreover, establishments for every taste, including quite “advanced”, there is no feeling of a backwater. The old town (historical center) of Torremolinos is small but picturesque, on the main pedestrian street paved with marble, there are many cafes and shops, it’s quite interesting to walk to the old town once - but it’s better after five o’clock, when it’s not so hot and everything opens after a siesta. Other attractions that can be reached on foot are the cable car in Benalmadena under the very clouds and the botanical garden in the same place. Both of which we really liked.