The spider elephants
Dalí's impossible legs in open bronze.
Diliff — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Unknown authorUnknown author — CC0 · Hernán Piñera from Marbella — CC BY-SA 2.0 · Bernardo Baggio — CC BY 2.0
The Avenida del Mar is Spain's strangest open museum: a short marble promenade joining old town to sea — and along it ten original Salvador Dalí bronzes standing in open air without glass or visible guards: elephants on spider legs, a seated Quixote, the surreal woman of drawers — true Dalí free among passers-by and palms. The collection, a municipal purchase of the eighties, made Marbella keeper of the world's largest Dalí street display — a detail of the town's quiet wealth: you pass it to the beach and pass a museum. Twenty minutes of gazing and photographing connect your walk from Orange Square to the promenade — and night lights the bronze into a small theatre.
Dalí's impossible legs in open bronze.
The famous surrealism with no glass between you.
Avenida del Mar, 29602 Marbella
Chapel of San Juan de DiosA small chapel in Marbella's old town, among the oldest religious buildings in t2 minutes walk4.7
Plaza de los NaranjosThe main square of Marbella's old town, laid out in the late fifteenth century a4 minutes walk4.7
Marbella Old TownBehind the yacht front hides real Marbella: a complete white Andalusian town — n4 minutes walk
Marbella's Arab CastleMarbella's castle is Marbal-la's first witness: a tenth-century Umayyad qasba — 4 minutes walk4.2
Marbella MarinaA yacht marina west of central Marbella — the town's own harbour rather than the8 minutes walk4.3Yes — signed original bronze casts from Dalí's numbered editions, municipally purchased — not tourist copies. Their open display is a town trusting its visitors' manners — so gaze, don't climb; the bases carry the signatures.