Torremolinos (Málaga), (EFE).- Eurovision holidays on the Costa del Sol. Chris lives in Australia, Sven in Belgium and Lizzie in the United Kingdom and the three share their passion for the Eurovision Song Contest, which is held from May 9 to 13 in Liverpool (England), a countdown spent on the Costa del Sol enjoying the good weather and musical performances.
In the week leading up to the festival, one of the events with the largest audience in the world, fifty Eurofans have gathered in this popular Spanish tourist destination to take part in a themed holiday.
The idea came from Chris Jones, a 40-year-old Briton who lives in the Australian city of Melbourne and has attended Eurovision seven times. When it was announced at the end of last year that Liverpool would host the event, he tried to find accommodation there to go again this year, but prices had skyrocketed.
Eurovision, sun, culture and gastronomy
“The problem was that the accommodation was too expensive,” he explained to EFE. He then thought that there are “many fans across Europe who can’t afford it”, and he set out to organize a holiday that was affordable, “under the sun” and with the participation of some Eurovision artists.
He knew the Costa del Sol because he had visited it three times before, and he decided to design a stay in the Malaga town of Torremolinos, one of his favorite cities in Spain because “it has a lot to offer.”
“It is the perfect location, it is very close to the airport and destinations for excursions, it has good food and good weather”, he emphasizes.
This ‘Euro party’ is aimed at those who want to “enjoy Eurovision life but also the Spanish sun, culture and gastronomy”, he points out.
Half a hundred Eurofans have purchased tickets to enjoy the entire programme, from May 2 to 8, although others have also done so occasionally to attend performances by artists such as Surie, who represented the United Kingdom in 2018; Vincent Bueno, Austria (2021); Suzy Guerra, Portugal (2014), or Hera Bjork, Iceland (2010).
An experience to repeat
“It has been a real success so far,” says Jones, who aspires to make this trip to the Costa del Sol “annual” and plans next year to add Seville and Córdoba to the cultural excursion to Granada, which he has already offered in this first experience.
Jones, who works in the administration department of an Australian university, managed to find last-minute accommodation to attend the festival in Liverpool, not far from where his family resides in the north-west of England, and is scheduled to attend a festival next week. ice skating competition in Germany, within its European tour.
The proposal for Eurovision holidays on the Costa del Sol has seduced fans of the festival from different countries, among them the Belgian Sven Boutsen, who, together with a friend, has a podcast website about LGTBQ travel, lifestyle and events.
“One of the biggest events in the world is Eurovision”, so he will also take advantage of these days to interview the participating artists, content that his followers in the Netherlands and Belgium will be able to listen to next month, according to what he told EFE.
Boutsen, who lives in Antwerp, is also a loyal tourist to Torremolinos, a municipality that stands out for its openness to the LGTBQ community and its accommodation offer, such as the Ritual hotel where they are staying, with 189 rooms.
Also a Eurovision enthusiast is Lizzie Minogue, who lives in the UK and still has on her “to do list” being able to attend the festival one year.
exciting moments
Lizzie has a friend and compatriot, Mark Owen, who lives in Motril (Granada). When she saw the announcement of the Eurovisual stay on the Costa del Sol on the internet, she told him about it and they both thought it was a good opportunity to see each other, since he could not travel to his country for work reasons.
Mark Owen, from Blackpool, moved to the Granada coast ten years ago, where he works as an English teacher. As for other Britons, the weather is one of the main motivations for visiting the destination, along with the gastronomy.
Among the artists participating in the program is the Australian Kelly Wilde, based in London, who participated in the 1990 UK national selection “A song for Europe” to choose her representative at the festival.
“It was one of the most exciting moments of my life”, recalls Wilde, a great follower of Eurovision, who confesses that one of her favorite songs of “all time” is “Euforia”, with which Loreen gave Sweden the victory in 2012.
Sweden, Finland and Spain, among his favorites
Kelly also likes the song “Tattoo” with which Loreen is competing again this year at the 67th edition of the festival: “I like the song, she’s beautiful, she’s talented and her voice is absolutely spectacular.”
Of the Spanish proposal by Blanca Paloma, with her “Eaea”, she believes that she can be “in the top ten, why not?”.
One of the main supporters of Spain on these holidays is Mark Owen, who remembers that flamenco music is very popular in Granada, and sees Blanca Paloma rising with the crystal microphone, and the United Kingdom in second place.
Her friend Lizzie also loves flamenco, but her favorite song is “Cha cha cha” from Finland, sung by rapper Käärijä. In this she agrees with the Belgian Sven: “There are people who say that Loreen will win. Maybe it will, but Finland is so much better.”
Sven does not forget to support the Belgian representative, Gustaph, or Spain, who loved it last year, with Chanel’s “Slomo”, and predicts that Blanca Paloma “will be in a good place this year”.
While preparations for the event are being finalized in Liverpool, Eurofans hurry up their vacations on the Costa del Sol, emulating the title of the international hit from the 80s “Walking on sunshine” by the group Katrina and the Waves, which later, in 1997, gave the victory to the United Kingdom with the theme “Love shine a light”. EFE