Marbella, How did all start?
Famed for its bustling, cosmopolitan social scene, summer parties and a full calendar of spectacular events, culture and entertainment, but Marbella was very different in the past. Below you can find the story of how did all start.
Roman ruins in Marbella.
When you think of Marbella, the first thing that comes to mind isn’t ancient history, much less when you’re thinking about the beach. Indeed, this entire region is for rest, relaxation, and modern-day hedonism. But, the southern coast of Andalucia boasts one of Europe’s finest histories.
Cádiz is an hour and a half west of Marbella, founded by the Phoenicians, and is considered Europe’s oldest city. With many of history’s significant moments taking place there. Among these was the Battle of Monda, in which Julius Caesar defeated Pompey’s sons. Hannibal’s rallying of his troops on the way to Rome during the Punic Wars.
With this in mind, it’s not surprising to learn that near the San Pedro beach are some of the best-preserved late Roman ruins this side of Spain, a rare historic gem in the middle of the modern world. The ruins uncovered when a swamp drained in the early 1920s include a Roman house and an earlier Byzantine basilica. The villa is a magnificent example of a luxurious Roman merchant’s home with latrines, underfloor heating, and a private spa, sheltered by a stand of eucalyptus a few meters behind the shore.
The house, whose floor plan and mosaic tiles are still visible, was on the outskirts of an affluent seaside hamlet dedicated to producing garum, a Roman delicacy prepared from fish paste. The minor 6th-century basilica, the most excellent preserved example in Europe, is newer (by around 200 years). As the Roman Empire started to fall apart, southern Spain became part of the Eastern Roman Empire, also called the Byzantine Empire. Its capital was Constantinople, which is now called Istanbul.
Another rare thing is the preserved baptismal, the only one of its kind in Europe. Before the tides of time, generations of people from the past sealed the small church away for centuries. The location was cleared up, marked, and promoted as a historic Marbella heritage by a group of neighbours a few years ago. Though this serene spot is still unknown to tourists and many locals.
Marbella Club Hotel, the origins.
This story may sound more like a fairy tale to the reader than a simple explanation of the Marbella Club‘s beginnings, yet it is precisely how it all began.
Prince Hohenlohe.
A lovely small pinewood on the outskirts of a large olive grove, providing shade to delicious vineyards, 3 miles west of the historic fortified town of Marbella, overlooking the Straits of Gibraltar with the “Columns of Hercules,” where Classical Antiquity believed the world ended, made young Prince Hohenlohe fall in love with this “sleeping beauty” in 1944.
Finca Santa Margarita.
The unusual microclimate, the marvelous light, the exquisite perfume of the air, the dark blue sea full of fish, pristine beaches and, last but not least, the kind nature and friendliness of the local people captivated the Prince to such an extent that he decided to change his vacation plans and begin negotiations to purchase the Finca Santa Margarita, the property on which he and his father had entered for a swim and picnic lunch, and where The Marbella Club is nowdays located.
After constructing his home in the beautiful pinewood, he converted the abandoned farmhouse into a meeting place for the new immigrants, naming it the Marbella Club. It quickly became his ardent determination to preserve this “Garden of Eden” for posterity and spread their discovery throughout the world, fourteen years before the opening of Puerto Banus has also been at the very heart of the growth of “quality tourism” in Marbella.
Elegant Simplicity.
With his style of “elegant simplicity,” he soon erected twenty basic but attractive rooms to accommodate not only transit tourists frantically seeking overnight housing but also all those friends he had convinced to visit Marbella with his enthusiastic descriptions of his “Paradise on Earth”.
Telephone.
However, the often-blamed archaic telecommunications service aided the new Club’s popularity! Because the hotel possessed one of the few telephones in Marbella, neighbors from all over came to the Club to make phone calls and enjoy the other amenities while they waited for their connections. You had to rely on the goodwill and efficiency of the operator to connect you to the line as soon as one became available. While waiting for the connection, the customer had plenty of time to swim, play tennis, have lunch or even play a game of bridge, which generated a joyful environment at the Club – plus more cash!
A double room with an entire board costs 285 Ptas.
Per person per night, or roughly €1.70! It would be incorrect to claim that celebrities, film stars, nobles and politicians only occupied the hotel. If that had been the case, the hotel would have been destroyed in no time! No, there were so many loyal transit visitors who happened upon the Marbella Club by chance when looking for overnight accommodation on their way from Morocco back to France or from Portugal to Granada… They were enchanted to discover such a delightful, clean “Motel” amidst gorgeous gardens, so some remained an extra night, returned the next time for two or three weeks, and indeed told their friends about their incredible discovery – so the news spread by word of mouth.
Celebrities and Aristocrats.
But, without a doubt, the best Ambassador was Prince Alfonso, who enthusiastically told everyone about his lovely hotel throughout his continual excursions across the world. It is not surprising, then, that illustrious members of the European Aristocracy such as the Fürstenbergs, Bismarcks, Metternichs, and Archdukes of Austria, Scandinavian royalty and exiled kings, as well as famous Hollywood stars such as James Stewart, Ava Gardner,.. and beautiful Audrey Hepburn with her husband Mel Ferrer; bankers such as the Rothschilds and Oppenheim’s industrialists stayed in the hotel.
The inhabitants of Marbella couldn’t believe their eyes when they saw celebrities they had only seen on movie screens or in popular publications walking down their little streets.
Count Rudi.
As the Prince’s cousin and a graduate of the Swiss Hotel Management School in Lausanne, Prince Alfonso persuaded Count Rudi to come to Marbella in 1956 and offered him new management practices and high-standard, individualized service to the Marbella Club. It was a difficult challenge to meet the expectations of all those distinguished guests, who were accustomed to traveling from one castle to another in a very plain but attractive hotel. However, by professional knowledge, diplomacy and aristocratic flair, they were able to transform that little “Country Inn” into one of Europe’s Top Hotels, a member of the Leading Hotels of the World and Relais et Châteaux. The worldwide globetrotters quickly considered a stay at the Marbella Club a “must” since they knew how to blend the particular Club environment with interesting weekly parties and excellent service.
Count Rudi and Princess Marie Louise, great-granddaughter of Germany’s last Emperor, and was given many distinctions for his contributions to the city of Marbella, even there is an avenue named after him in Marbella.
Marbella Club Beach Club.
Amusing, regular Tuesday informal dress dinners at the Beach Club, which we pompously called “gala dinners,” encouraging guests to come elegantly dressed but without a tie, added an extraordinary flair to the ordinarily casual atmosphere and gave us evenings to remember, like the night the Duke and Duchess of Windsor tried to follow our dress code, very much against the Duke’s everyday habits of always wearing a tie, even in summer.
When the visitors were told of the presence of such a distinguished guest, they decided to discard their elegant informal attire and all the men arrived wearing jackets and ties! The Duke walked into the Beach Club wearing a Hawaiian shirt with an open collar! The Duke flushed and left without the other guests seeing, only to return moments later elegantly clothed in a dinner jacket.
What a surprise for all the other guests, who had relaxed and taken off their ties in the meantime, to be met with this new controversy! Only a magnificent man like the Duke of Windsor could fix the problem by removing his bow tie and throwing it into the pool!
Devoted to work, the Prince and Count Rudi made a perfect partnership, combining their talents and global contacts to construct one of the world’s most iconic hotels. They were able to persuade friends to invest in Marbella, resulting in the creation of luxury complexes and residential neighborhoods with golf courses, marinas and polo fields. It was always our intention to keep the style of this “little oasis” style free of high-rise structures and overpopulation and maintain a garden city where traditional local charm and global style and elegance merged seamlessly.
Arab Kings.
The entrance of Crown Prince Fahd and his brother, Prince Salman, from Saudi Arabia in the late 1970s provided invaluable backing for our philosophy: opulent palaces buried in extensive gardens providing comfort and seclusion. Soon after, other potentates and affluent businesspeople from the Emirates who treasured the company of the Saudi Royal Family followed them. They brought desperately needed petrodollars into post-Franco Spain and validated our conviction that our effort to save the lovely resort for future generations would not be in vain.
Unfortunately, these springtime sensations were quickly buried by an unsympathetic municipal administration from 1977 to 1991, leading to Marbella’s darkest historical period. In addition to this disastrous circumstance, Prince Alfonso’s Saudi partner died and left his shares in the hands of his descendants, who had no other interest than selling the hotel for the highest possible price in the shortest amount of time.
David Shamoon.
All seemed lost until a lucky star appeared on the horizon in the form of David Shamoon, owner of one of the perfect beachfront homes in the Marbella Club’s residential zone, “Santa Margarita,” who realized that if nobody took the initiative to save the flagship, the Marbella Club, all his investments and the glory of Marbella would vanish.
He persuaded a few friends to buy the Club’s shares with him. He invested much in the hotel to restore its former grandeur, renovating and modernizing all facilities and the restaurant to super standards while retaining its unique charm and personalized service. He persuaded Count Rudi to return to the Club to assist him in achieving this goal and partially regaining the famed clientele. And they were successful in this critical move, which helped restore the Marbella Club, and thereby the entire city of Marbella, to its former glory.
Puente Romano Hotel
Suppose you’re seeking a little luxury while in Marbella. You’ve come to the perfect place. The Hotel Puente Romano is a five-star Grand Lux Leading Hotel of the World located directly on the beach and named after a roman bridge. The hotel features three swimming pools, tennis club, many other first-rate amenities, and up to six different restaurants. It even has its exclusive nightclub, Suite. Even without the various exquisite restaurants within the hotel, world-renowned double-Michelin-starred chef Dani Garcia operates incredible eateries beneath the hotel reception.
The Background.
Tulio Pino, a well-known Sevillano property developer, created the project in 1976-1977 to look like an Andalusian town, complete with whitewashed houses, tiled roofs, attractive cobbled plazas and vividly colored flowers. As a result, the hotel currently has a wide area of low-rise luxury rooms stretched across both sides of extensive, sub-tropical gardens that flow to the sea.
The hotel includes 287 “keys,” the majority of which are big studios or one-bedroom suites of the same size. 61 properties were sold for private usage during its first two years, 1976-1978. The remaining units were then sold “en bloc” in 1978 to Syrian-Saudi billionaire Mouffak Al Midani, who founded the Hotel Puente Romano and opened in 1979, along with the premier tennis club in Marbella, located close to the hotel and led to many years by Bjorn Borg.
David Shammon.
Later, in 1995, David Shamoon, a well-known London businessman, purchased the hotel that is still in the hands of his skilled children, Daniel and Jennica, who have completed significant modifications and refurbishments throughout the years.
Landing property in this sought-after neighborhood is easier said than done. Some privately held apartments do, however, come on the market from time to time. You must move fast when they become available, as they are usually scooped up within a week or two.
If you obtain a property within the hotel, you can take advantage of the 5-star services and facilities. Oh, and the sandy beaches are only two or three minutes away. Community fees and maintenance expenditures are eliminated thanks to a notarized agreement between the hotel and the private owners.
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