Going back in time

PIONEER: The Marbella Club kick-started the town’s glamour back in the 1960s, when donkey rides were de rigeur, while the El Fuerte hotel (ringed) was built by an ancient Roman site, before the town grew many-fold

TRAIN TO NOWHERE: Well actually to the mine that once provided 75% of all Spain’s iron ore

STUNNING: The Puente Romano Hotel’s ancient bridge

Built By Romans

MARBELLA began its life as a town in the seventh century BC, when it was a Roman settlement called ‘Salduba’. This is also the name of a well known bar at the entrance to Puerto Banus that has been there for centuries too.

Meanwhile an original Roman bridge still stands surreally in the middle of the Puente Romano Hotel and a few kilometres away is the restored Roman villa at Rio Verde with its beauti- ful mosaics.

SPECTACULAR: Mosaic at Rio Verde

A sleepy town during the period of Al-Andalus, Mar- bella was retaken by Chris- tians in 1485. The Plaza de los Naranjos (Orange Square) has been the fo- cal point of the town since then and the town hall is still located there today.