Large, beautiful park in Marbella. It runs along a huge boulevard (Avda. Ramón y Cajal), is near a…read moretourism office, and abuts the boundary of the old town, so it is hard to miss.
Alameda (sometimes written Alhameda) has a very late-19thC/early-20thC look to it. There are botanical gardens in the park (another mania of the era mentioned). This made sense when I read the history of the park, which dates to the 18thC, but had a major rehaul in the late 19thC, to give it its present look. During the reno, they got rid of former attractions, like a pond, a niche for the Christ of the Alameda, and the Cross of the Mentidero.
The foliage in this park is really lush, with a lot of banana palms, rubber plants, Ficus Pandurata, and sandy pines.
Tons of places to sit and people-watch. There are gorgeous tiled areas in the squares formed within the grid of the park, and then sandy-gravely walking paths to ramble from point to point. Many benches are concrete forms, clad in hand-painted tiles, in an Andalusian style.
The Fuente Virgen del Rocio, shown in my photo, is in the center of the park, and is the pièce de résistance, however, I thought watching people go by, particularly school groups of Spanish kids touring, was the most fun.
There are a bunch of cafes surrounding the park, many were extremely cheesy and touristy, but some had a lot of Spanish locals eating there, and appeared to be good for authentic tapas.
