The Costa del Sol town that let the tourists eat cake

Thousands of people queued up along the promenade near the lighthouse in Torre del Mar on the eastern Costa del Sol on Thursday 28 August to get a slice of the giant cake that was made to celebrate the town's Tourist Day (Día del Turísta).

For the eighth year, chef Roberto Soler created the cake which measured almost 8.5 metres long and served around 4,000 slices. This year's theme was sport and solidarity and a queue had formed near the lighthouse by 8pm in anticipation of the start of the event at 8.30.

Soler explained that "sport is booming and we know that there are countless sports that can be practised in the municipality. There are many clubs and associations," so this year's theme paid "tribute to all of them".

The chef went on to say that the cake is "a white sponge cake, with a spiced syrup, vegetable cream and peach jam". Regarding the ingredients he explained that he used "approximately 35 metres of sponge cake, with about 70 litres of syrup and about 350 kilos of plant-based cream".

The decorations, which included tennis and padel rackets, swimming floats, chess pieces, footballs and basketball balls, as well as the Torre del Mar logo, were all made from sponge and sugar paste.

While many were happy to wait in the long queue, some walked on by deciding not to bother, like one teenage boy who was overheard saying to his father, "I am not joining that queue just for a slice of cake". The queue was made up almost entirely of Spanish people, demonstrating that Torre del Mar remains a popular summer destination for national tourism. However, there were a number of local residents who also took advantage of the relatively cool evening to participate as well.

A town hall crier was on hand to entertain those in the queue and provide information about Saturday's Noche en Vela (night in candlelight) when the streets and public buildings and museums of Vélez-Málaga will be filled with music, art and other cultural events.

Día del Turísta was organised "to thank tourists for their loyalty to our destination, as well as to involve them in the events we hold throughout the year in Torre del Mar," said deputy mayor Jesús Pérez Atencia.