Wild west

century before.

In its more modern incarnation, as recently as the 1970s the monument was a residence divided into 16 homes for families housing 70 people.

Today it is a tourist attraction in an ideal location, but beware - it doesn’t open on weekends!

Just a short stroll along the beachfront from El Castillo, you will find a port unlike any other port on the Costa del Sol. Puerto de la Duquesa is the only one to face out to sea. From each of the three edges you can gaze out into the Mediterranean. Duquesa is, without a doubt, the thriving coastal jewel in the Manilva crown, benefiting from tourism and buzzing with life.

For most of its history Manilva has been dependent on fishing and agriculture, especially its vineyards and celebrated sweet wines.

But over the last couple of decades, as this little township has welcomed an influx of tourists and development, it has still maintained a peaceful air.

Av.

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Caesar

Though the Brits and the 180-odd other nationalities come from all walks of life and occupations (Ed: some have even set up a newspaper here) they all have something in common.

Like Manilva’s first health tourist, Julius Caesar, who visited the nearby Roman baths around 60BC, it seems that people come here for a temperate life beneath the jaw-dropping mountains, fed by the fruits of the sea.

Bob and Jen from Essex told the Olive Press over Belgian fries that they manage to come to Manilva once a month for as long as ten days a pop.

But they are content with splitting their time in this way, and are not tempted to fully retire to the sun just yet.

Bob, who works in the solar energy business, still has a few more panels to lay in this booming industry before he’s ready to hang up his work belt.

But it is partly due to content second-home expats such as Bob and Jen that the unpretentious Duquesa has undergone such a growth spurt in the last decade - and the expansion doesn’t look like slowing down anytime soon.

New cafes, bars and restaurants with cuisine from all over the world are springing up as a result of its growing tourism.

Aside from the fantastic prices of homes in the area, the environment is distinctly low rise, largely green and everything is close to the sea.

But when you do venture inland, you will head into wine-making territory. Manilva town, a sleepy, glittering village nestled on a hilltop, is famous for its sweet wine. It, and the process of making it, is something indelibly imprinted on the locals. Even our taxi driver proselytised over the wonders of this wine - although he did advise us not to get through more than one bottle at a time.

When you arrive in the village, you will see that the central Plaza de la Vendimia (Wine harvest square) is adorned with a spectacular mural depicting workers in vineyards. And in the nearby interpretation Centre,

Gastro Tapas Beach House

Live Music Every Weekend

Bar open till late KITCHEN:

Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday & Saturday: 1pm till late

Sunday: 1pm till 6pm (Closed Wednesday) opened in 2010, you can do vocational courses in wine-making, aimed at inspiring the younger generations and training future professionals.

The locals like to boast that the moscatel de Alejandria is the best table grape in the whole of Spain and that it is specific to Manilva, whose slopes have been continuously planted with vineyards since 1501.

The basic wine made from this grape - the Manilva wine - is known as ‘vino mosto’, and in the olden days, almost the entire town earned a living from it.

The trucks would come from as far as Bilbao to take the grapes and whatever was left would be turned into wine.