Faraway Beach of Bliss (2024–ongoing)
Nearly 30,000 Finns reside in Costa del Sol, Spain—some permanently, others only during the winter months. The majority are pensioners.
Finnish roots in this region stretch back to the late 1940s, when Colonel Reino Hallamaa, a political refugee, settled in Torremolinos with his family. At the time, tourism was nonexistent, and most Finns were tied to their agricultural homes, with travel being a rare luxury. The first organized tours to Spain began in the late 1950s, and as flights became more frequent, Hallamaa, a visionary and land-developer, began constructing holiday homes for Finnish tourists.
By the late 1960s, the Finnish-built village of Los Pacos emerged on the slopes of Fuengirola. Though the height of mass tourism occurred during the 1980s and 1990s, Los Pacos is still known as the "Finnish village." Nearby, the Nuriasol Hotel in Los Boliches has earned the nickname "the largest nursing home in Finland." On a Monday evening in January 2024, dozens of Finns gather at the hotel's bar for a lecture about their pioneer, Reino Hallamaa.
Among the audience is my 77-year-old grandfather, Raimo, a regular in Fuengirola since 2016. Due to health issues, he had been unable to return for several years. Now, his long-held dream of revisiting this faraway beach of bliss has been fulfilled, as I accompany him on this journey, helping him reconnect with the place that has become a cherished part of his life.
