against Berber pirates. In 1502, the town (or the 25 Christian families resettled from northern Spain) received its first charter. However, it was governed as an administrative district of Marbella until 1729. Philip V of Spain then granted Estepona its own town charter. As the 20th century began, Estepona had 9000 residents, mostly farmers and fishermen. In 1973, a culvert was built to allow the Monterroso river on Estepona's western edge to run underground. Transport Gibraltar Airport is the nearest international airport serving Estepona. It is 45 km away and has direct flights to Manchester, London Heathrow Airport, London Gatwick and London Luton. Málaga Airport is the next nearest international airport serving Estepona and is located approximately 80 km away. Estepona is served by the Autovía A-7 which runs along the Costa del Sol. There is also a toll road, referred to as the Autopista AP-7, which provides faster travel along the route between Málaga and Estepona by-passing many of the urban areas along the route, such as Marbella. There are two toll stations en route and toll charges vary throughout the year. Normally you can travel from Málaga to Estepona for less than 10 euros in toll charges for a normal size car. The Costa del Sol railway is planned to link Málaga to Estepona via Marbella. Estepona Port Estepona Port and Marina is a working fishing port offering restaurants and bars. The port features daily auctions for a wide variety of seafood. The port is also the location of the Estepona street market - a collection of stalls selling numerous textile and leather goods mostly. The market is usually in Estepona on Sundays but it travels around the Málaga province to areas like Puerto Banús, Marbella, Casares, Torremolinos, Fuengirola and more. Climate Estepona has a subtropical Mediterranean climate (Köppen: Csa) with very mild, humid winters and hot, very dry summers. The summers are hot and very dry, with normally stable temperatures but temperatures above are not rare. Winter temperatures are very mild, with average daytime highs around and lows around . The annual average temperature is over . The city gets more than 300 sunny days per year, and it gets between 2,800-3,000 sunshine hours on average. Places of interest Puerto Banús is an upscale community about 30 minutes drive away from Estepona Port with a large number of designer stores. Selwo Safari Park is styled after African