Wednesday, July 9 (Casares, Spain) – Neil and Dawn are two cousins who I don't get to see very often.  (Neil is my dad's first cousin and Dawn is his wife).  They have been living in Vienna for years, so when I passed through a few weeks ago, we all got together for a delicious dinner.  As if the gelato wasn't enough for dessert, I was invited to stay with them at their holiday home in Casares, Spain a few weeks later!  

Casares is a village in Malaga, about 25 minutes from Marbella, and their home is a beautiful beachfront property from which Morocco and Gibraltar are visible on a clear day.  Of course I couldn't say no to spending time with family or relaxing in Andalusia, so I was excited to come down for my visit.

One of the first things we did after my arrival was go to the local beach bar, the Chiringuito.  This is a very special place with very special mojitos.  Mojitos fantasticos!  The entire staff at the Chiringuito knows my cousins and knows to bring extra delicious - and extra strong - mojitos to the table as we sit down.  I don't know what they put in this refreshing and tasty delicacies, but I swear you feel a buzz after just a few sips!  Throughout my stay in Casares, the mojito fantastico became the mascot, the catchphrase and the theme song - yes, song.

After the mojito fantastico buzz was leveled out, the three of us went to the Riding Fun in the Sun ranch to go horseback riding - something I had somehow convinced them to do for their first time in over 30 years.  In fact, the last time my cousin Neil was on a horse, it spooked and there was a bad accident that left him with a broken shoulder.  So I was feeling extra proud and excited to share my favorite pastime with them... and they loved it!  The three of us were lucky to get a private hour-long ride through the mountains on wonderful horses, and now they both want to go back and go faster next time!

The barn has a lot of animal friends, such as Squiggy, the potbelly pig who thinks he's a dog!  Squiggy comes when called and rolls on his side for belly rubs.  Forget a pony... can I get one of these?

Even if dancing the night away in one of Marbella’s famous nightclubs is your ideal workout, the city is great for outdoor exercise.  There tends to be fog over the city in the morning, which burns off in the late morning, so my favorite thing to do was go for a run along the boardwalk overlooking the beach and Mediterranean Sea.  The path goes for miles and is full of runners and bikers in the morning until the restaurants open and tourists arrive for their “full English breakfast” (TIP:  Don’t order that, or go places with photos on the menu… so unauthentic!).

I’m a big fan of using the natural environment in my workouts including stairs, ramps, and benches, and you will find all of that along the boardwalk.  Additionally, the city of Marbella has installed exercise machines for a full-body circuit along the boardwalk that you can do for free.  When I passed by, I saw a mix of people seriously using the equipment and kids playing on the bright-colored apparatuses.  

TIP:  There are gyms you can go to for a drop-in if your hotel doesn’t have a fitness center, but they are very expensive at around 20+ Euros per day.

TIP:  There are plenty of places to rent a bike to explore the city while burning breakfast calories, my favorite type of tour!

(April 29, 2014) - Growing up in Manhattan, I’ve seen my fair share of wealth.  From the bags and clothes kids wore in high school, to the paintings in friend’s homes by artists you learn about in art school, to weekends in the Hamptons.  But after visiting Marbella in Andalusia, I have experienced a new – or at least comparable – level of wealth.

First off, let me say that my stay in Marbella didn’t kick off with this impression.  I checked into a hostel / guesthouse that had paper thin walls (could hear people speaking in normal voices in other rooms), had communal bathrooms that were either clogged or had no toilet paper (and no sink!), and the sink in my room was completely broken.  So while I could have roughed it and stuck it out at least for one night, I said f*** that and luckily found a room at the NH Marbella that my mom had stayed in a few months ago.  Perfectly fine hotel, but in the middle of nowhere I later found out.

Before experiencing the fancy Marbella, I explored the old town, which was full of souvenir shops, tapas restaurants (TIP:  have the tapa with baked eggplant with goat cheese, tomato and pesto – at Casa Lola).  The long stretch of beach is public and you can make yourself comfy anywhere you’d like – but you are able to rent beach chairs for about 6 Euro if you’d like.  You can also rent the coolest freakin’ boats I’ve ever seen that have slides attached for fun in the sea!

The beaches are beautiful and span the coast of Marbella.

Visiting in the shoulder season, I was about a week too early to visit the renowned beach clubs with drinking, dining, and partying all day (and all night), and the city itself was relatively quiet.  But I wanted to see what the “Marbella” I had heard of was all about so I hopped a taxi to Puerto Banus – the land of luxury.

Puerto Banus is a port where the rich and famous show off their yachts, enjoy meals (with a ‘cover charge’ of being on the water) and shopping at the equivalent of Worth Avenue in Palm Beach or Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, only the best.  In case the massive yachts aren’t enough, you will also see a parade of luxury vehicles driving down the streets (which are very walkable) from Ferrari to Bentley and everything in between.  

TIP:  You should definitely come by and experience Puerto Banus even if it is just a walk around the port to check out the yachts and do some people watching.  But if you walk on the second street behind the port, you will find much more reasonably priced places to grab a bite like fish & chips or pizza.  This is also the street with bars / pubs (with lots of people sitting outside watching football in the early evening and lots of partying late in the night).