Colomares Castle & Tibetian Stupa Benalmadena, Spain

 The most extraordinary structural feat in the region of Benalmadena is the Colomares Monument, a castle-style shrine built in the late 20th century to honor Christopher Columbus, an Italian explorer who first found America by thinking he had reached Asia! The walk downhill was beautiful and the walk back very steep and exhausting but this is why holidays in winter are good! Get you moving 😎 the sights were so worth it  

The ship

      

This architectural marvel blends Byzantine, Romanesque, Gothic, and Mudéjar styles into a single stone tapestry. The area was home to the Phoenicians, Romans and Moors before the Spanish. A Spanish surgeon who worked in the US his whole life, returned to Spain upon retirement and built it with contractors but  it was his intricate design, as specific as surgery that makes this castle so Spanish like! Gaudi, Picasso, Dali come to mind.  The Dr’s  ashes are interred within in a little urn and temple.  The admission fee funds ongoing maintenance. 

There are two of these ships

Inside the ship 

The other  ship in a different place

Entrance ticket and pamphlet

A walk uphill brings you to the Tibetan Stupa overlooking the sea, commissioned by a monk from Bhutan together with a Benalmadena mayor.  Next to the Stupa is a mini Thai temple building with a butterfly farm. 

In the hilltop Benalmadena Pueblo, architecture is distinctly Andalsuian with whitewashed walls, narrow winding streets and the historic Church of Santo Domingo de Guzman. The whitewash is a calcified paint that reflects the sun to keep things cool. 

A tourist waiting for it to open at 16pm 

At night from afar below

Beautiful dragon sculpture with intricate detail 

The butterflies are worth visiting and a lovely terrace overlooking g the Stupa and sea awaits thereafter.