Well the Almuñécar octopus merry-go-round has now been unvield to the curious and to the horror of us drivers – we’re talking about the roundabout on the beach road.

The Mayor uncovered the plaque on the sculpture bearing the name of the local artist, José Cabrera, who is also a municipal employee and a member of the local art group, Artex.

The roundabout itself, at the beach end of Avenida Juan Carlos I, has been operative quite some while, but although the head of the colourful octopus has been protruding above the fence around it drivers and pedestrians haven’t had a good look at it until this july.

The fact is that the octopus goes very well with the colourful benches along the Puerta del Mar paseo, as it is also done in the same seaside manner.

Five metres wide and three metres of crowning octopus now not only offer artistic monument to peruse, but also – and this is not fault of the said octopus – an obstacle for long, non-articulated vehicles to negotiate.

As one of our readers pointed out, municipal bus drivers and tourist-coach drivers coming down Avenida Juan Carlos I often drive around it the wrong way if turning east in the Playa Velilla direction, as there is no way that they can squeeze around it doing it correctly.

Anyway, José Cabrera will be moving on to another roundabout, as revealed by the Mayor at the inauguration of the octopus roundabout – the one the joins Avenida del Mediterráneo to de Paseo de San Cristóbal. We’re taking about the junction next to Apart-Hotel Chinasol.

This time it will be an anchor mounted on a fountain – if there is enough – as the junction is right next to Barrio Los Marinos; i.e., something nautical.

The fact is, not matter what sort of adornment the projected roundabout next to Chinasol will have, it will be a massive improvement on the free-for-all arrangement that exists today. Traffic will be orderly, although more boring that the actual figure-of-eight, stop-car racing set up.

(News: Almunecar, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)