Torremolinos in Spain is a place I was taken to several times as a child. My late Grandparents had a time share there with an apartment building called Carihuela Park Palace and they would go every year for a fortnight mid-May time so the heat wasn’t too intense. They absolutely loved going and I know it made their later years in life very happy having that to look forward to every year, enjoying the beach, the palm trees and even attempting to speak a bit of Spanish to the locals. My Grandparents made friends out of some of the cafe owners and they’d go to the same places to eat every year to catch up with them. The cafes were called ‘Samba’ and ‘The Beehive.’
I wonder if they are still there.
It is for this reason that I regard Torremolinos very highly. My sister and I didn’t go every year, in fact I can not remember exactly how many times we went, but it was enough for me to remember the place really well.
As it was my Grandparents taking us, we would get spoilt rotten. We were allowed to choose what I call, ‘naughty cereal’ – all chocolate and sugar, as opposed to the mountain of bran we’d have to consume at home! There were these chocolate curls we would have with milk that were more like a dessert than a breakfast and we were allowed to have ice cream sundaes for dessert and have regular stops for fruit juice and ice creams.
We would get those delicious giant tomatoes and onions that are plentiful in Spain and have those with cheese and salami in sandwiches to take as a beach picnic. My Grandparents always knew how to treat us that’s for sure and I’ll always be grateful to them for giving us these early experiences of life abroad.
Excuse the photographs on this post, I only have ones from my childhood that were taken on a very old camera! These are all photos of photos from my albums.
As I begin this travel blog, there are still so many places I’m yet to explore. So I am starting with places I have visited in the past and bringing them back to life. Once you have been somewhere, it stays with you – a place has either made you happy, helped you grow as a person, taught you something new or just given you some much needed relaxation time.
Whatever kind of travel you’ve experienced, I think it is nice to document it in any way you see fit, documentation can help you remember how you felt and what you discovered about the place and yourself.
It is on that note that I’m going to share an anecdote with you about one of my treasured memories of Torremolinos.
“Aw” me and my sister innocently said to each other, “Look at that cute cat! But it’s very thin, poor thing, let’s stroke it.” As went knelt down to give it a pat, we were stopped abruptly in our tracks by our Grandma lunging forward at us, “Don’t touch the cats! You’ll get rabies!” We had to start sneakily doing it when her back was turned. If my Grandma only knew that once or twice, we actually snuck sardine scraps in napkins out of various cafes and went out to feed the cats with them, she would have been mortified! She didn’t miss a trick where our safety was concerned.
But this rebelliousness led to something special. Once we were a bit older, me and my sister were allowed to go out for walks on our own along the sea front. One time, we were walking along the rocks that lined the beach when we heard little meows coming from somewhere. We looked closer into the rocks and discovered a little family of cats. There was a mother cat and a litter of kittens living in the rocks. They were adorable, I can’t recall what they looked like or what colour they were now but they were gorgeous. We watched them for a while, bathing and snuggling up to each other, just protecting each other and surviving. We went back to see them a couple more times and left them sardine scraps, which they gobbled down contentedly. They were very happy to say the least – and my Grandma, none the wiser.
It’s a lovely memory and I know we were very lucky to have been given the opportunity to experience something like that. The fortnights we spent in Spain would feel like forever, which made getting back to my Grandparents’ house back in the UK really surreal. All the rooms felt different somehow and I felt inspired and ready to try new things.
Travel of all kinds is great for kids and young people, it expands the mind and inspires. You genuinely do get new ideas and a fresh outlook once you’ve been away, it’s just important not to get too bogged down with routine again once you return home and let those inspired feelings fade – though I know it is easier said than done.
One day in the near future, I am going to gather my family together and start planning a return trip to Torremolinos, it’s been years since we were last there and I think it about time we revisited this resort that meant so much to our Grandparents, and that holds so many memories for us.
Have you been to Torremolinos? I’d love to hear about it or about a place that holds special memories for you!
