Costa Tropical Press Review 2026-08-16

☀️ The Weather

Sunday dawns under a mantle of clouds over the Costa, that grey layer that filters the August light without stealing its warmth. The thermometers will read 30.8 degrees, with a southwesterly breeze so light it barely caresses the tops of the palm trees, while humidity lingers at that comfortable fifty percent. The sea, with waves of barely half a metre, waits patiently. Waking beneath this veiled sky and this serene temperature is an undeniable privilege of this Andalusian corner.

📌 Beach forecast: Our coastline will have a cloudy sky today and an air temperature of 30.8 degrees, ideal for plunging into waters that mark a delicious 26.2 degrees. The southwest wind, at 5.9 kilometres per hour, will barely ruffle the surface, with waves of 0.44 metres. Sun protection is mandatory: the UV index reaches 6.5, a very high level. Clouds are deceiving; radiation gets through.

☕ THE FIRST COFFEE

There is a different silence this Sunday in Motril. The city wakes with the luminous afterglow of its patron saint festivities, with the smell of gunpowder still floating over the Parque de los Pueblos de América, where last night the pyromusical castle put the finishing touch on ten days of celebration. Workers are already dismantling the fairground, the streets are recovering their pulse, and on the terraces the coffee steams more slowly than usual.

But there is another piece of news passing from mouth to mouth this morning, and it is neither about fireworks nor fairs. In Birmingham, the race walker from Orce, María Pérez, has been crowned European champion in the half-marathon race walk, undisputed queen of a distance that will debut at the Los Angeles Games. All of Granada has woken up prouder. And the land, after Friday's warning, has returned to its place. Sunday stretches out lazily, inviting one to stay, to look, to breathe.

📖 FEATURE STORY

The crossing that swims against time: 85 years of Motril looking out to sea

On Saturday, the harbour basin of the Port of Motril once again became a saltwater pool. Hundreds of swimmers took the start at the 85th Puerto de Motril Open Water Swimming Crossing. In the end, two names were etched into the history of one of Spain's most veteran races: Aaron Filmes and Marta Pintanel prevailed on a day that had something of ritual about it and much of tradition.

Eighty-five editions are not completed by chance. Behind each one lie generations of Motrileños who have grown up watching their elders cross the basin with bare-arm strokes, entire families stationed on the dock, the whole town pouring itself into the sea. That continuity turns the crossing into something more than a competition: it is living heritage, a sporting testament passed from parents to children like one who inherits a memory.

The courses, of 1,800 and 500 metres, unfolded entirely among the port's boats, with the castle and the silhouette of the coast as a backdrop. The organisation, led by the Real Club Náutico de Motril with the backing of the City Council, the Port Authority and the Mancomunidad, attended to every last detail. The morning offered a green flag, a calm sea, and a water temperature of around 26 degrees that invited one to stay.

The event also coincides with a golden moment for sport in the region. María Pérez's European victory in Birmingham has put Granada on the international map, and the Crossing proves that this greatness is no accident: it is built in the water, on the road and in the mountains, through the silent effort of those who train every day.

There are events that pay no heed to fashions. The Motril Open Water Swimming Crossing is one of them. Eighty-five years after that first edition, the city still looks to the sea with the same devotion. And the sea, generous, continues to return its gaze.

✍️ INÉS CARMONA'S CHRONICLE

The city that judges while it celebrates

While Motril closed its festivities with fireworks and the music faded at the fairground, a trial hearing was taking place at the city's courthouse that few wanted to face head-on. Two brothers and a woman face sentences of up to five years in prison, accused of an alleged crime against public health. According to the judicial account, the local drug trafficking network operated right on the coast.

There is something profoundly human in that double scene: the city that laughs and the city that judges, separated by barely a few hundred metres. Families waiting in the courthouse corridors while other families enjoy the Ferris wheel. Neighbours whispering familiar names, stories that began as a misstep and ended up in court.

There is no easy moral. Only the certainty that summer does not stop life, neither its lights nor its shadows. And the hope that justice, slow but firm, will return to the city the tranquillity its streets deserve.

🎭 CULTURAL CORNER

The province is preparing a tribute that will cross time. The Provincial Council of Granada is putting the finishing touches on a day of remembrance on the 90th anniversary of the assassination of Federico García Lorca, and it will do so with music: Alba Molina will lend her voice to an event that seeks to honour the Granada poet and, with him, all the victims of the Civil War.

It will be a gathering of emotion and word, of the kind that turn memory into living culture. The event, to be held in the coming days, aspires to bring together the Granada that believes in poetry as shared territory. Because Lorca is not just a name in books: he is a way of understanding this land, its light and its duende.

🗺️ THE TRAVELLER'S CORNER

The promenade that last night was a tribune of fireworks

There is a promenade in Motril that deserves to be rediscovered this morning. The Parque de los Pueblos de América and Avenida Costa Tropical, last night's stage for the great pyromusical castle, surrender today to the calm of Sunday. The asphalt still holds the murmur of thousands of footsteps; the air, a faint smell of gunpowder.

It is the perfect place for a leisurely walk, with the southwesterly breeze caressing the face and the sea offering itself at 26 degrees. From there one can see the entire coastline, from the port to the silhouette of the mountains. Benches to sit on, beach bars for a soft drink, and that cloudy light that today wraps everything in silver tones.

Yesterday this promenade was a tribune of fire and crowd. Today it is a corner for walking slowly, for gazing at the horizon and remembering that beauty also dwells in the calm that follows the celebration.

🍳 CHARLY'S RECIPE

Costa avocado gazpacho

When the heat presses and the body asks for something light, the avocado of our land is the answer. Blend two ripe avocados with a clove of garlic, one hundred grams of breadcrumbs, half a glass of extra virgin olive oil, a tablespoon of vinegar and cold water. The secret: add a piece of mango so the cream gains that sweet touch that makes the Costa unique.

Serve very cold, crowned with small cubes of avocado and a few basil leaves. It is the flavour of the subtropical orchards of the vega, the humble luxury of a land that bears golden fruits. Fresh, creamy and extraordinary. Like this corner of Andalusia.

🌆 AFTERWORK

Sunday fades slowly over the Costa. The clouds turn violet, the sea regains its silence, and Motril gathers up the lights of its festivities with the serenity of one who has fulfilled one more ritual. It has been an intense week: of fireworks, of water, of earth that remembered its strength, and of a woman from Granada who made Europe look towards Orce.

The week that begins will bring new challenges, but also the certainty that this land knows how to rise, celebrate and start again.