Shopping! I was wondering when you were going to get around to that Mr. Retiree guy. After all it is the most important thing!
I suppose shopping is important to many people, so it is best to make mention of it. And, we did have an official “shopping trip” very recently so it is front of mind.
Both the Love-goddess and I had items that we wanted to purchase, and we knew the best options available to both of us was down the road in Puerto Banús. Puerto Banús is always spoken of as a bit of a separate entity, but it is in fact part of the greater Marbella municipal area.
First up, a bit of a look at the town and an overview of the shopping opportunities that it provides. When that is all said and done, I’ll fill you in on other shopping prospects on the Costa.
This little quote from the Puerto Banús Wikipedia page will give you some sense of what the town is all about. Not a place we would likely ever stay, but certainly what it offers appeals to a lot of folks.
Puerto José Banús, more commonly known simply as Puerto Banús, is a marina located in the area of Nueva Andalucía, to the southwest of Marbella, Spain on the Costa del Sol. It was built in May 1970 by José Banús, a local property developer, as a luxury marina and shopping complex. It has since become one of the largest entertainment centres in the Costa del Sol, with 5 million annual visitors, and is popular with international celebrities. Developed around a coastal village in the Mediterranean architectural style, Puerto Banús contains high-end shopping malls, restaurants and bars around the marina. – Wikipedia
The title image here, obviously a Puerto Banús Municipal banner somewhere, I copied out of a blog post on the Fuerte Hoteles website. The same site where I found that nice little map of the walking tour in the Old Town. I have used a couple of other “shopping” images from that site here, as well as a few Google images from unidentified sources.
If you are thinking, “should I consider staying at their hotel in Marbella?” the answer would be, not right now. It is a totally gutted shell sitting down on the waterfront undergoing a major reconstruction.
To see a larger version of all the photos simply click on them. The photo will pop up in a new tab or window, allowing you to examine any of the images in greater detail. There continues to be an issue with sizing looking at our photos on cellphones… we are still working on it.
Shopping in Puerto Banús
We could have gotten to Puerto easy enough on the bus. It stops right at the top of our street. But that did not feel like the safest way to get there… yes, we are still taking precautions. So, we opted to walk down to the end of the street and grab a cab.
1) As you can see from the image, precautions are being taken. … the driver looks a little distracted though, what’s he looking at?… Buddy, get your eyes back on the road! 🙂
2) The drive down and back from where we are staying is very straightforward. It was slower than what the time indicates here in Apple Maps because of construction. The total cost down and back was €28.00, including small tips both ways.
3) Yes, there is a lovely beach, and a great view of the mountains from out on the breakwater, but Puerto is not really a beach town like many of the other places.
4) The waterfront at this town is all about boating. A photo of mine from 2017. The boats you see here are pretty much like ones any of us would own. What I would like to draw your attention to is the red car on the right… A Ferrari. That generally sums up what this town is all about… the high-end luxury lifestyle.
5) Here are the boats that Puerto Banús really caters to.
6) Especially these big bad boys. It is the most high-end town on the Costa Del Sol.
7) That also means high-end shopping, Gucci, Armani…
8) Louis Vuitton, Dolce & Gabbana, Hermès, etc. You get the idea. If this is the sort of shopping experience you are looking for, then Puerto Banús is the place to go.
9) Interestingly, the last store mentioned in the hotel blog post about luxury shopping in Puerto is the local El Corte Inglés department store. And that was one of the spots we were headed to on our little shopping expedition. El Corte Inglés has a great chain of stores, found all across Spain. The one in Puerto Banús is perhaps the nicest one we have been in. Definitely more upscale than many others.
10) Yes ladies, lots of nice clothes are on offer.
11) Gentlemen, great stuff for us as well.
12) But that is not what the Love-goddess and I were here for. I love cooking and kitchen gadgets. I was in pursuit of two very specific items on this day. But first, I did have to pause and check out all these lovely Le Creuset items. This is not what I was looking for, and if I picked up yet another Le Creuset product, I am pretty sure I would be flying home alone. 🙂
13) My first stop was this wall containing all these cooking hand tools. I was not confident that I would find one of the things I was looking for here, but I was sure that if it was to be found, it would be in this store. Had to check out all the other things hanging here as well, of course.
However, I was pretty confident that I would find the second item no problem. I had assumed it was a fairly common bit of houseware in Spain.
14) Lo and behold, I found both items! On the right are a couple of dishes designed for a specific purpose. And on the left, you can see an item that is not quite so obvious. Is it a mediaeval torture device left from the Spanish Inquisition or is it some modern S&M sex toy? All shall be revealed! 🙂
15) The ceramic dishes are used to make this dish I love so much, Pil Pil shrimp. I have the recipe now and will be making them in profusion after I get home.
16) The other item I had been looking for was something I had had the pleasure of using here in the apartment where we are staying. This is the side view of it. As you can see, there are basically three different levels to the thing. And what is it for…?
Why, for opening bottles and jars in a wide variety of sizes. Now that I have no fingertips and I’m still regaining dexterity and muscles in my surgically repaired hands, twisting off a jar top can sometimes remain elusive to me. This beauty allows me to crank off any lid from any sized bottle or jar. One of life’s simple pleasures. 🙂
17) Mission accomplished at El Cortez Ingles; off we went in pursuit of the Love-goddesses’ desired items… English language books. Puerto Banús possesses one of the few exclusively English language bookstores on the Costa del Sol.
Normally, towns on the Costa will have used bookstores where you can find lots of previously read English books. Unfortunately, no such bookstore in Marbella can be found … not one that we have come across over the years, anyway.
18) And yes, she was successful as well.
19) I continue to do most of my reading while travelling on my iPad mini. I have bought a couple of books from the Apple ebook store while here, but I can often find a book in the genres that I prefer to read… Science fiction and Fantasy… on the “Libby” online library offered through our local library at home.
That said, I found this book by a Spanish author that I would like to read at the Puerto Banús bookstore.
Online Shopping While in Spain
I did not buy a copy of “The Shadow of the Wind”, I simply took a picture of it to remind myself that I wanted to read it at some point. However, I did buy it online the next day. And that’s what the next few photo offerings are all about, shopping for things online when you are wintering in Spain.
20) Over the years, I have made occasional online book purchases and have had them delivered to me in Spain. To date, all of them have come from this online bookstore, the Book Depository. I’m not sure how I found out about it, but I occasionally still use it to order books at home in Canada.
21) When I ordered “The Shadow…” online from the Book Depository, I directed them to deliver it to my Canadian address. The Book Depository operates out of the UK. It was started by a former Amazon employee and is now fully owned by Amazon, but their approach to retailing books has not changed.
If you order from them, they will send your purchase to you… no matter how small the order is… anywhere in the world, for free!!! I prefer to order from Indigo-Chapters to support a Canadian company of course, but occasionally I can get books from these folks that are not generally available in North America… many European science-fiction writers.
They have very reasonable prices. The least expensive version of this book on the Indigo-Chapters online store is $19.94… plus tax and shipping of course.
22) I was going to buy the jar-opening device from Amazon.es if I didn’t find one in a store. So, when you are here for a couple of months buying online from European sites is a very doable.
Yes, I could have ordered the exact same one pictured here from amazon.ca after I got home. But $39.74 is just too much to pay for something like this. The one I bought was 8.95 €.
Other Opportunities for Retail Therapy
If you really do enjoy shopping, not to worry. The Costa del Sol is awash in shopping opportunities. One of the things that we both enjoy about buying new clothes here is that you know no one else at home will be wearing them.
23) Tons of these small, charming retail outlets can be found in every town up and down the coast.
24) Also, many shopping malls, just like the ones at home, can be found in many locations. We were out at this one in Marbella the other day, – it is called La Cañada. Easy name to remember.
25) This is the one we went to when we stayed in Fuengirola. Primarily, we went there to shop for groceries at the large Carrefour Hypermarket.
26) If you love browsing IKEA stores, there is one in Malaga. Every single place we have rented here has had IKEA furniture in it. I have often pondered whether Airbnb could have happened without IKEA stores in place all over the world. 🙂
27) And finally, if you love dollar stores, “Chinese Bazar Stores” are the Spanish equivalent. We have picked up a number of small items in this one down the street. “Davey” the owner is a lovely, helpful guy.
Happy shopping everyone!
