Taking a stroll from la Carihuela up to La Roca repeatedly offers the visitor a timeless aspect of Torremolinos. Behind the emblematic fishermen's town, we can gaze at the magnitude of the tourist trading centre which has been guilt in the last fifty years. This city symbolised during the last era of Franco's regime the modernity, the openness and the modern times. The Cinema was responsible for this, and, of course, the Swedish girls. Now, after half a century, Torremolinos continues to be one of the top cities for national tourism. Its leadership seems unconnected with fashion and times.

From pre-history to independence.
Discoveries at the beaches and in the hills and caves of Torremolinos justify a human presence 150.000 years ago. Ptolemy, a Greek astronomer who was born two centuries B.C., stated that very close to here, in an area known as Guadalmar, the Phoenicians founded a city called Saduce, which had a great influence on the Mediterranean as a river port, but proof of its existence is only evident by the sparse remains left.
However, there are remains of the paved road built by the Romans, which connected Gades (Cádiz) to Malaka (Málaga) and which passed through Torremolinos from one side to the other. On both sides of this paved road, villas and salted fish factories were built.
Towards the thirteen hundreds in the dynasty of the Nazaríes, who reigned in Málaga from the thirteenth century up until the fifteenth century, was built the Torre de Defensa (Defense Tower) located at the end of the commercial San Miguel street. Nowadays, this tower is totally dilapidated inside and it also has facial cracks which make it dangerous. Thanks to the calcareous formation of the mountain ranges and the lands of Torremolinos, springs of pure water emerged from them. The Arabs took advantage of this water treasure to built mills which have been the firts mills to be heard of.
With passing years, military strategies were devised in order to defend, not only the mill industry, but the boats that passed through. Thus, in 1763, the construccion of a castle was began where today the Santa Clara Hotel and the nearby hills of Montemar are located. This castle was used in later years as a carabineers' barracks, and at the beginning of the 1900's, it was bought by Sir George Langworthy. The elderly remember with affection this distinguished neighbour, who they used to call "The young English Gentleman" or "The Peseta English Man" because he used to help the needy and the ill to whom he used to give a silver peseta.

In December 1923, 446 neighbours, the majority of a census of 695 people, requested that the Town Hall of Málaga joined Torremolinos with the capital. The reasons for this were for the large debts incurred with the Exchequer and the scarce 5.13 pesetas, that appeared in the Funds for the Town Hall, which did not allow for the future development of the town. It was "The Peseta English Man" who in 1930 converted his finca Santa Clara into a residence for foreigners, and by doing that tourist centre for the Costa del Sol. Some neighbours followed suit. Carlota Alessandri restored her Cucazorra farmstead, in 1933, to open Parador Montemar (Montemar Roadside Inn). This was followed by La Roca Hotel in 1942.
In 1948 the Restaurant-Discotheque El Remo was opened to liven up the nights in La Carihuela. In 1959 the first luxury hotel for the Costa del Sol, the Pez Espada, was opened. The beaches changed their aspect and the sun loungers and parasols appeared everywhere
The fifties arrived. There was a constant flow of tourist traffic arriving at the airport. Ava Gadner, Empress Soraya, Orson Wells, Boris Karloff and Frank Sinatra, could be seen at the Café Central, at the discotheque El Mañana, at the flamenco bars El Jaleo and El Piyayo...
At the end of the 70's a large citizen movement was formed in Torremolinos to again and independent municipality of Málaga. It was a long and hard nine-year struggle. Finally, the Regional Government of Andalucía granted the independence on the 27th September 1988 and that date has been celebrated every year.

The most international "pescaito"
Torremolinos has more than 250 international restaurants, and amongst them there are many Italian, German, Nordic, American, Indonesian, Chinese, Japanese, etc. However, the cuisine from Málaga and Andalucia is the best represented in the area. Especially, at the beach restaurants, the visitors will find the most authentic dishes and amongst them, the fresh "pescaíto frito" stands out and whose origin name was coined in La Carihuela, back in the sixties. The visitor will also find a type of clam, paellas, fish cooked in a block of salt, sardine skewers and the refreshing and nutritious "gazpacho" (cold tomato soup).