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🦋 Benalmadena - Butterfly Park 🌼
📌 C. Muerdago, s/n - Benalmádena

🌻 The Mariposario – Butterfly Park – is located in the heart of the Costa del Sol and only 20 minutes from Malaga.
In this spectacular Butterfly Park, next to the Thai temple, you can walk amongst more than 1,500 exotic butterflies from around the world, flying freely in a tropical paradise between waterfalls and flowers.
You will be able to observe how they are born, how they reproduce and enjoy learning many things about these wonderful insects.
It is a very relaxing environment, with ambient music to add to the atmosphere.

🦋 The butterflies fly freely throughout the park and amongst the visitors, so you must take great care when wandering around. The butterflies, some of them very big indeed, quite happily settle on people but you should not touch them.
The park has a tropical humidity of 80% and the temperature is maintained at between 24 and 29 degrees. Quite warm!
There are around 1,500 butterflies flying around the park belonging to about 150 species and, given that the lifespan of the butterfly is but a few weeks, there are always new ones appearing.

🚗 How to get there
• By car: Autovía del Mediterraneo A7, exit 217
• Train: Local train C1 from Málaga, getting off at Benalmádena-Arroyo de la Miel. Outside the station is the bus stop where you can catch the bus to the Pueblo, getting off at ‘Estupa Tibetana’.

⏰ Opening
Mon-Sun 10:00 to 19:30
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🚏 Frigiliana
📌 Tourist office > Cuesta del Apero, 8 - Frigiliana

Frigiliana is a Spanish town in the district of Axarquía located in the Natural Park of Sierras de Tejeda, Almijara and Alhama, so their environment is privileged for lovers nature and that of trekking.

Its white houses, its traditional cuisine and its Moorish past of narrow streets and passages make Frigiliana one of the favourite enclaves of those seeking to enjoy their holiday with all five senses. This town owns the purest popular architectural province of Arab origin.

It is noteworthy that the British community residing in Frigiliana, as well as throughout the Axarquía, is very large.

➲ Must See

• The Palacio de los Condes (Palace of Condes) of Frigiliana, popularly known as 'El Ingenio', is a Renaissance mansion of the XVI century. It is currently the factory of molasses Nuestra Señora del Carmen (Our Lady of Carmen), the only traditional factory of this product that runs in Europe. In its facade, the decoration paintings with geometric motifs are highlighted. It was built partly with materials from the Moorish castle, which can be seen in the stones of its facade.

• If you get close to the Tourist Office of Frigiliana, you will see Casa del Apero, which also houses the town library and the Archaeological Museum. It was built in the eighteenth century and initially was attached to ""El Ingenio"".

• The church of San Antonio is the most prominent monument of Frigiliana. It was built in the XVII century in Renaissance style almost entirely. In the temple, there is a sculpture of San Anton of XVIII century made of polychrome wood.

• Another monument worth visiting in the chapel of Santo Cristo de la Caña. The building dates from the XVIII century and has a revered size of neo-baroque style 'Ecce Homo'.

• We can also find in Frigiliana, the remains of the Arab castle of Lizar. It is located on the top of the town and dates from the IX century .
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🌴 Torrox - Calaceite Beach ⛱

Spending a day at the Calaceite beach, located in Torrox, is a highly recommended experience if you are looking to spend some quiet time in a natural environment.

Outside the buildings or apartments, the beach, with dark sand, runs parallel to the national highway but sheltered under the protection of a winding mountain massifs. Its 400 meters length and 40 width are a secret that makes Calaceite, a place of low presence of tourists.

The waves are generally moderate (as usual throughout the Costa del Sol) and very nice bath. Undoubtedly, on the beaches of Costa del Sol, the options of Recreation, sport and relaxation in family offer a wide range of possibilities. And Torrox, and Calaceite beach are not, in that sense, an exception.

Obviously, being such a protected area, services are not typical as that of an urban beach, like those found elsewhere in Torrox and the rest of the Costa del Sol.
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💃 Feria de San Juan 2023
📍 Arroyo de la Miel (Benalmádena)

Arroyo de la Miel is getting ready to celebrate its traditional fair in honour of the town's patron, St John the Baptist (San Juan Bautista): six days of festivities held in Plaza de la Mezquita and at the fairground near La Paloma park from Saturday 24 until Thursday 29 June.

As in previous years, the town hall has organised a full schedule of events and concerts, including rock, pop, flamenco and 'copla', along with children's activities, and, of course, the fairground attractions.

The festivities were preceded by the electing of the feria queen in Plaza de la Mezquita at 8pm on Saturday 17 June. The following day, thousands of locals and visitors took part in the annual pilgrimage (romería), which set off from the San Juan chapel in Arroyo de la Miel. After a mass in honour of the saint, pilgrims accompany decorated carts pulled by oxen and tractors to La Paloma park to celebrate this typically Andalusian tradition.

The fair is launched with the traditional San Juan Eve festivities on 23 June, where, as in most towns along the Costa del Sol, thousands of people will flock to the beach to enjoy fireworks, jumping over bonfires and midnight bathing. This is followed by the inauguration of the casetas and the official turning on of the lights, signalling several days of celebrations at the fairground and religious services at the patron's shrine in Calle Oropéndola.

The daytime activities will take place from Saturday 24 in Plaza de la Mezquita, while some of the bars and restaurants in Arroyo de la Miel will offer light entertainment throughout the day.
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⛏ Rio Tinto Mining Park
📍Huelva

➲ A train, a museum and a mine enable visitors to discover the mining tradition in the province of Huelva. It was shortlisted in the European Commission's EDEN programme (European Destinations of Excellence), in recognition of its sustainable tourism proposal.

👉 A visit to the Mining Park provides a complete overview of how mining transformed this region. Some of the activities include visiting a mine or covering 12 kilometres on the mine's old commercial line in a refurbished mine train. The Mining Park also includes a mining museum, a Victorian house where many miners lived, and an important historical archive featuring more than 5,000 years of history of this industry.

🚂 The Rio Tinto railway was built in 1875 and consited of 300km of narrow gauge track to various points in the mining complex. The 84km line down to and ending at the Muelle de Rio Tinto in Huelva.
The present train ride covers a restored 12km section of track. It is an excelllent way to view the lunar-type landscape or the mine working. The trip descents the River Tinto river valley and lasts about two hours, including a 20-minute turn round stop to stretch your legs, cross the bridge and get close to the river itself (though not too close, the water is highly acidic and corrosive). It's a real treat for younger train enthusiasts, and a fun experience for all ages.

📜 The train itself is part of the experience - you travel in the original, bright yellow carriages, some open and some closed, with wooden floors and benches, whose backs tilt forward or back, so you don't have to move seats when the train changes direction to come back again. Be warned - it' s a rattly, bumpy ride; this is the real thing, as these carriages were used to transport workers from Huelva to work in the mines decades ago.
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🍽 Espetos 🐟

🇪🇸 Espetos are probably the most famous dish in Malaga cuisine. The skewers of sardines, sometimes a dorade or prawns, are grilled over a barbecue in the form of a boat.

🎣 Almost every beach bar in Malaga, Nerja, or Marbella has its own barbecue pit. Espetos are a generally cheap meal as prices can vary between 2€ to 5€. You can’t leave Costa del Sol without having tried this Malaga dish. 

Espeto comes from the verb “espetar” which consists of nailing the fish to a rod to grill it. That cane is traditionally stuck in the sand, and in a boat on the beach bars.

The espeto began to be made at the time of the moragas, which are still celebrated in Malaga. There are parties that take place at night on the beach where fish is eaten after being grilled in this way.
This practice dates back to the 19th century and is a classic of the Easter, spring, and summer beach parties.
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