Marbella Celebrity Playground

A sunny coastal town             Quite apart from the established   filled with beautiful           French Riviera and Monaco, this    scenery and hotels,             unpretentious natural paradise,    Marbella is a popular resort in       with its wonderful climate and     the Costa del Sol. Holidays in        earthy ambience, was recognised    Marbella, cheap and expensive,        as a refreshing getaway for a      are popular with all sorts of         carefree Costa Del Sol holiday.    tourists, but the town is most        Marbella soon attracted not only   well-known as a playground for        the European aristocracy,          the super-famous and uber-rich on     business tycoons and beautiful     holiday. Marbella is, these days,     people of the day, but also        internationally recognised as a       Hollywood icons such as Cary       favourite destination for the         Grant, Gary Cooper, Stewart        extremely wealthy.                    Granger and Grace Kelly.                                                                                    But it wasn’t always like this.       Deborah Kerr was among the         Back in the 1950s, Marbella           earliest members of this           holidays were unheard of and the      celebrated ex-pat community in     spot existed only as a small          the 1950s. For almost four         fishing village. All of this          decades, she entertained the       changed, however, when Prince von     cream of Hollywood and attracted   Hohenlohe founded a new hotel in      other illustrious couples such as  Marbella in 1954, the Marbella        Audrey Hepburn and Mel Ferrer.     Club Hotel. Marbella, which had       They bought a Marbella property    been a favourite destination of       here in 1965, at a time when       the Greeks, Romans, Moors and         celebrities emigrating to and      Arabians more than a thousand         taking holidays in Marbella were   years earlier was suddenly            at their peak.                     re-awoken.                                                                                                     In 1970, Sean Connery and his      then new bride Micheline              wild behaviour - often played out  Roguebrune became the most            before the cameras.                emblematic celebrity residents of                                        Marbella, when they bought a          The new jet-set of football        derelict house on the beach near      players, pop stars, models, soap   San Pedro and transformed it into     stars and tycoons may be called    their personal Mediterranean          garish and nouveau riche by some,  paradise.                             but they are the ones who take                                           their Costa Del Sol holidays in    He and Micheline entertained the      Marbella and fill the glamour      likes of Richard Burton, Michael      pages today, pursued by paparazzi  Caine and George Best on their        just as their predecessors were    Costa Del Sol holidays. Omar          before them.                       Sharif loved to visit friends and                                        play at the glamorous old casino      Living in or taking their          in Puerto Banús.                      holidays in Marbella, they share                                         the town with the residents and    But the era of old-style glamour      normal tourists on their cheap     came to a close when, after 30        holidays to Marbella, who are      years, Sean Connery moved back to     still thrilled to catch a glimpse  Scotland, and by the late 1990s,      of them or enjoy a sample of the   the scene had definitely changed.     glamour that surrounds them on     The smoking jackets and tuxedos,      their Costa Del Sol holidays.      De Tomasos and Aston Martins,                                            valet-parked at the old casino,       Some of the old glamour remains,   were replaced by outrageous           now represented most aptly by      designer wear, fast Lamborghinis,     Julio Inglesias, and younger       Ferraris and stretch limousines.      generations on cheap holidays in   Old decorum and discreet              Marbella are much more             promiscuity were exchanged for        enthusiastic about the prospect    of spotting David Beckham, Bruce                                         Willis, Paul McCartney, Lolita        These are some of the new          Flores, Craig David or Isabel         generation of stars whose          Pantoja. Antonio Banderas is          presence continues to give         often spotted in the area, taking     Marbella panache and still         one of his regular holidays in        attract Costa Del Sol holiday      Marbella at his house in Los          makers in their thousands.         Monteros.                              About the Author Daniel Eyre is the Product Manager of Search Travel Online. Search Travel Online is part of the Co-operative Group, specialising in cheap Marbella holiday packages, as well as deals to Majorca, the Balearics, Tenerife, Costa Blanca and more. Published At: www.Isnare.com