A Tale of Two Beaches

On Father's Day we headed to Nerja, one of the beach towns east of Malaga. The three families with us the first week had departed and now we were accompanied by our friends from Austin, the Singers, and our friends from Boston, the Kupers. We have six daughters amongst us: four 7-year-olds and an 11-year-old and a 12-year-old.

En route to Nerja we drove through another beach town, Torre del Mar, and deemed it exactly what we were looking for: the quintessential Spanish beach experience. We had a late lunch amongst the locals and were the only English-speakers on the beach. For a handful of Euros you can rent umbrella-covered lounges and be close enough to the water to see the kids play. It was a great day.

Two days later we opted for another beach day, this time in the seaside resort area of Marbella. This is the spot on the Costa del Sol. It was a weekday so there were just enough people around to make it interesting yet not crowded.

Marbella is Newport Beach. Big yachts. Streets lined with Valentino and Jimmy Choo boutiques. Underground parking. Well dressed people. Well undressed people soaking up the sun. There was just one thing we had to explain to the kids: why a nearby 4ish-year-old with long enough hair to be in a purple-scrunchied pony tail sported male anatomy. The umbrella-covered lounges were more posh there but again the kids had a blast just playing in the surf and collecting shells, rocks and sea glass.

Both days we got home around 9p, let the kids swim a bit more, then fired up the grill for simple, late dinners.