We stayed in the same hotel (Pez Espada) that we've been staying in for several years, but during this visit we decided to book a private apartment for September and now I have to find two cheap(ish) flights to Malaga.
The Pez was the first luxury hotel on the Costa del Sol and celebrated its 50th birthday last month, but after this visit we think the standards of the hotel have dropped and whilst cosmetically the building looks good in the main hall/reception/restaurant, the rooms are looking dated and IMO they have a problem with the sewage pipes which also must be 50 years old.
We had to change rooms last year because of the toxic stench that was in the bathroom during the night and even if you kept the door closed the stench seeped into the main bedroom. I can't complain too much because after trying to solve the problem with chemicals, after the third night they upgraded us into the new extension annexe.
This year we had a good room with the balcony overlooking the promenade/beach/sea and we could see all the coast East of Malaga including Nerja, and the planes coming into Malaga Airport when the flight path takes them out to sea, and they turn left and follow the horizon across the bay and then left again descending into the airport and out of our view.
There's no wonder Malaga needs another Airport (the new one is coming on nicely) because on certain days the planes were landing every five minutes and as soon as one plane went out of view and only feet from landing, another one would appear out of the skies and so on"¦...the distance between them so precise and you really don't notice it unless you have a balcony facing the sea and then other days they take off from the airport out to sea.
But again we had that toxic sewage stench (although not as bad as last year) in the bathroom during the night and sometimes a whiff during the afternoon"¦.I dreaded having to go to the toilet and for the price we paid to stay there and a 4 star hotel, this is not something that is acceptable to me.
In the corner of the room was a crack that zig-zagged its way from skirting board to ceiling, so, IMO, the hotel has suffered some movement and if I was a betting woman I would say the sewage pipes have also suffered from subsidence too.
The food is the same old stuff year after year, but we used to have several carverys a week, now it's cut down to Friday "gala" meal only, and one night we had a themed night "Tribute to the potato""¦someone must be having a laugh, it was potato soup, chips, boiled potatoes, stuffed baked potatoes and potato stew, so, if you didn't like potatoes or Hungarian Goulash and were not too keen on fish"¦..the salad counter was the only option and it was potato in all the salad dishes.
The weather during the first week was mixed with sunshine and occasional cloud, and a few days being "cubierto" which means overcast/covered cloud, but the humidity was high and on several days we had a sea fret that engulfed the beach/promenade and for a few metres inland.
I've seen this happen before, but this year it was more often and very quick at coming from "nowhere""¦one minute you could be on a pedalo and see as far as the eye could take you, and the next minute totally immersed in a blanket "fog" and not able to make out the beach.
After the new moon on the 21st July, the weather was wall-to-wall sunshine and getting hotter each day, on average the temperatures were 30ºC and 20ºC at night, but some days it was much hotter.
The exchange rate was €1.14 and €1.15 to the £ sterling throughout the fortnight.
Despite using mosquito stuff, the little blighters had several meals out of me and I react badly to them. I had four or five bites all close together on my back/shoulder and they drove me crazy itching and were "angry looking" and oozing serum for days"¦.now they've scabbed over.
We did far too much walking, we walked into Torremolinos town centre several times and took the train to Fuengirola where we stocked up on spices from the stall upstairs in the indoor market, opposite the train station"¦despite being sealed in little plastic bags, the suitcase had a whiff of curry powder, chilli powder, mixed peppers etc.
We had a look around the "Dunes" store and had a bite to eat in "Fish Alley", Chinese meal to be precise.
One day last week a natural phenomenon occurred known as the red tide, where the sea turned red/orange, it was worse in Fuengirola and we only got a small glimpse of it in La Carihuela.
When my OH drew back the curtains one morning he thought the sea had shrunk and sand banks had appeared or worse still it looked like effluent sludge, but it was caused by a supposedly harmless algae (noctiluca) and due to a combination of the right salinity, temperatures and light conditions.
I wonder how harmless it really was because we had seaplane making several astonishing aerial movements dive-bombing over the area and skirting just over the sea, dropping a cargo of "something" to get rid of it before lifting off, doing a circuit and repeating the same movements.
The resort was busy and far more busier than I was led to believe it would be due to Spain suffering from the recession, there are several bars up in the Montemar area of the resort which have closed and are struggling, but down in La Carihuela village where all the Spanish go, it was bustling and the beach bars (chiringuitos) were full everyday.
We walked through the village last Saturday around 2 pm on our way back from Torremolinos and my OH said "recession, what recession"? because Casa Juan restaurant and several others were chocka block with people and while Casa Juan is an excellent fish restaurant, it isn't cheap to eat there.
We had the San Juan fiesta last week with bonfires lit on the beach and everybody walks backwards into the sea at midnight"¦plenty of sardines,bread and wine/sangria flowing.
Had a great time as usual, I love this place and only 11 weeks to go before we return, but the biggest surprise of all and a moment that I'll never forget as long as I live, was when I got off the Thomson transfer coach outside the hotel.
My youngest lad went to live and work in Sydney last year and chose how much I try and tell myself that he is making a good life for himself, I miss him terribly,
some days are better than others and I was devastated when he told me he was coming back to the UK to the London office during the 2 weeks we would be in Spain, and therefore he might be able to stretch the visit to see me for a quick visit when we got home on the 30th.Then, he told me that he was flying back to Australia on the 29th and he wouldn't be able to see me.
In cahoots with his older brother, after arriving from Sydney he booked a flight from Gatwick and flew out to Malaga for a few days and he was sat on the hotel steps waiting for the coach to arrive"¦.Amidst the tears, I thought I was hallucinating"¦.magic, just pure magic.!
Sanji
Nice pictures too. We loved the area when we stayed there last year. Glad you had a great time!
the weather is getting hotter and the mosquitos are more vicious, so make sure your son's girlfriend and daughters go well prepared. 
How's this for a story"¦..
Will let you know how we get on! 
The main building was built 50 years ago and they don't build them like that anymore, the walls are thick and you hear nothing from next door, and I would imagine it needs a total "gutting" of the building to get to the problem....but that's just my opinion, I'm no architect or builder.
