I asked Birgitta Löwstett to tell her story. She is a long-standing Los Nórdicos member and our excellent speaker and guide on Almuñécar and Alpujarras history and beauties. 

“I came as a tour guide in early 1980 to start a charter program for Trivselresor. I came from Florida and had worked before in Benidorm, Lanzarote, Gran Canaria and Mallorca in the travel industry, since 1968. After Florida, it was a pure dream to come to Almuñecar, love at first sight.

I walked around the alleys and just enjoyed it. Our groups in the first summer season (1980) all stayed at Las Gondolas, which then functioned as an apartment hotel managed by Paco Rubio. We became a ‘dream team’ immediately and soon very good friends.

When I walked around town with the Swedish tourists, we attracted enormous attention! Then it was mostly families with children and young or middle-aged couples who travelled. Residents and shop owners looked curiously at the strange visitors. But always with open arms and heartfelt warmth, it was fantastic. I was La Guia Sueca to everyone.

Many locals came to Las Gondolas to get to know the Swedish guests. I remember how some young fishermen came and dug ‘grill pits’ on the beach and grilled sardines, inviting the Swedes. Friendships were made, and the occasional holiday flirtation certainly began! The bus drivers became close friends with families etc.

The motorway A7 didn’t exist, and it took about 2.5 hours from the airport to Almuñécar. The bus had to wind its way through an already chaotic Málaga and then through the coastal road and towns. We stopped in Nerja for refreshment and toilets… and thank god for ‘feel-sick’ bags on the last winding stretch between Nerja and Almuñecar.

I love La Alpujarra the most, still today, but those days the roads were too bad for me to take a bus with tourists there. However, a bunch of us on motorcycles often went to Pampaneira and Bubión and sometimes Trevélez. In Pampaneira there was only one bar/restaurant and it was really a lonely mountain village. 

Once a week we did bring tourists in a mini-bus to Lentegí. At that time there wasn’t a single foreigner living there. The whole village came down to meet the bus and then wanted us to visit their houses. The mayor always invited us to vino terreno. Later, I learned that he was related to the Fajardo family, who started the bus company that now dominates the coast: Autocares Fajardo.

The city changed a lot when the A7 was completed. Not all for the better, in my opinion. I liked Almuñécar better in the 1980s, but I must accept the development. I find it a bit respectless with tourists who walk around ‘half-naked’ in town, even at the bars. And it’s hard to get used to hearing Swedish or other Scandinavian languages spoken everywhere.

Come to think of it, I have partly contributed to this from my time in the tourist business… In 2010 Paco asked me to contact a travel agency in Sweden that worked with retirees. He wanted groups in the winter at Chinasol. I contacted Grandtours and it became a successful and long-term collaboration. Now Rolf’s Bus is the most dominant and there are several others. You can’t expect to keep such a gem as Almuñécar to yourself! The northerners also contribute a lot to the local economy and activities during the winter months.

I fell in love not only with Almuñécar but also with one of its residents. We were together for four years and got a son. I always come back 2-3 times per year, ever since I moved back to Sweden in 1984/85. So does my son’s family. Almuñécar has given me so much.

I had my son and maintained a great relationship with his father and family. I made one of my absolute closest friends throughout my life, Paco Rubio, and his family became like my own family. Paco sadly passed away this spring and he is enormously missed, not only by me but by the whole town. I got so many other friends and experiences. I love to go into the Castillo and feel the wings of history. And now I try to share my joy and knowledge of the town and region with the members of Los Nórdicos!”

Anything you would like to improve? 

“I would urge the city authorities to improve the maintenance of several old, fine houses in the older part of the town. I cry almost every time I walk past the block between the ‘church slope’ and Mesón Emiliano. An old historical building from the 17th century that is just falling apart! And there are several houses like that. I know it is difficult due to current legislation, private ownership, etc.

In addition, I would like to appeal to them to take better care of the historical monuments; for example, the Phoenician tombs at Puente Noy and the salazones in the Majuelo Park, to name a few. And tear down the ‘skeletons’ that are here and there. They are a disgrace to the city.”

For more information about Los Nórdicos you can visit www.losnordicos.com

(Feature: Nordic Corner/Birgitta Löwstett)

Keywords: Sweden, Florida, Benidorm, Lanzarote, Gran Canaria, Mallorca, Almuñécar Guid, Alpujarra Guide, Autocares Fajardo, Birgitta Löwstett

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