Nicole King Marbella Moments: Taking Note

I’m going to start with the conclusion: I will do it again and very much looking forward to it, but next time at least I’ll know what I’m getting into.

I’m referring to the Candlelight evenings being held in Marbella and Malaga over the summer.  I went to the Hotel Villa Padierna for the string quartet recital of Hans Zimmer film scores.  For just over an hour we delighted in the performance of tracks from the likes of Interstellar, Inception and Gladiator whilst seated under the stars, surrounded by candlelights.  It was totally enchanting.

The setting couldn’t have been more appropriate, with the Roman-style amphitheatre as backdrop and the musicians themselves outstanding, but I couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed with the overall experience; I had expected so much more, just because of where it was being held I suppose.

The artists introduced themselves, accompanied by light banter, in Spanish.  It was cute but more appropriate perhaps for a school concert than a 5-star luxury hotel venue was my first thought.  As the evening progressed however I started to lower my expectations to actually let myself enjoy the evening.  

One thing that I couldn’t ignore though was how numb my bum felt from sitting on the stone steps.  Albeit nice to recreate the feeling of what it would have been like back in the day we weren’t in ancient Rome.  Note to self: take something to sit on if there’s a next time.

It also seemed to be a shame to let the almost 300 attendees depart straight after the performance. Surely a hotel of that size could have enticed us to enjoy a cocktail or tapa supper within the installations or grounds somewhere whilst they had us all up there.  Just by the nature of the event one would have to assume we were of a certain calibre that could be of interest to the hotel as future guests, even if just for events, lunches or dinner.

Not only a wasted opportunity but also not helpful in dissipating the 300 people all leaving at the same time, all heading for their cars and only 1 pay machine at the very exit to the car park.  This meant everyone simultaneously having to drive up to the barrier to pay, otherwise having to pay again for overstaying the expiry of the ticket.   Can you imagine the chaos?

I personally kept myself calm as I was just following instructions from reception to drive up to the barrier and go and pay; the fact that I was in line for twenty minutes was not of my doing.  Instead of worrying I enjoyed a chat with a lovely lady named Susie, also concerned about the situation which is how we got to talking.  We also shared our thoughts on the evening, which we both thoroughly enjoyed; we both agreed though that the frustration and heat in the car park was perhaps not the best note to have finished on.

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