Almunecar, Spain, sits on the Mediteranean Sea, fringed with palm trees. At first glance, it seemed the kind of place I could have spent a lot of time. Happily. We’d had a busy day along the Tropical Coast, however, and we were running a bit late. Sunset was not far off when we arrived in town. I had mapped out a couple of promising looking spots on the beach to photograph the last light and I was rushing to get checked in to the Hotel Suite Albayzin del Mar. The hotel is a spectacularly mirrored palace with sprawling gardens. When I was given my room key, it came with an elevator number, a floor number and the room number. It seems that each elevator only served about four rooms per floor and there weren’t connecting hallways beyond that. When I arrived at my room, I realized the elevator was not the only thing special about this hotel.

The rooms — no, suites — were enormous. This is just the living room half of my main room with a full dining area to the right, out of frame. I opened one door, expecting to find the bathroom and realized it was a full kitchen, with an extension that served as a laundry room. Another door led to a hallway opening onto a bath and two bedrooms. All along the sea-side of the room was a balcony. I dropped by bags and rushed out to assess the situation regarding the remaining light.

Out on the balcony, the view to the old town was stunning, as were the pools, fountains and gardens of the hotel property.

Looking west, I could see that the sun was already dipping behind a hill, so my time with any remaining sunlight was very limited. I decided to ditch my plans to head for the beach, and I made an executive decision to make what photos I could from the balcony and other parts of the hotel property.

As it turned out, I didn’t feel overly limited in subject matter. I loved this view through the trees of the old church catching the last rays of the sun. That was made from a raised area above and behind the pool seen below.

The pools themselves were amazing. This one had a sunken bar in the middle and a grotto filled with twinkling lights.

I dashed around the property taking time-exposures on the tripod until the light failed and my battery was dead. It wasn’t the evening that I had expected, but it was a productive one and I had enjoyed myself immensely.

The next morning I was up before sunrise and caught some more beautiful views of the old city to the east of the hotel. Not long after, I was back in the van and headed to the next town.