Benalmadena 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! 

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 contractor but  it was his intricate design, as specific as surgery  his ashes are interred within in a little urn and temple.  The admission fee funds ongoing maintenance. 

Inside the ship 

There are two ships in different places 

Entrance ticket and pamphlet

A walk uphill brings you to the Tibetan Stupa overlooking the sea, commissioned by a monk from Bhutan. Next to the Stupa is a 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. 

At night from afar