CNN
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In 1964, 23-year-old Ramon Martinez Martinez left his job as a struggling painter in Madrid, Spain, and journeyed south to Benidorm in search of new opportunities. In the first half of the 20th century, Benidorm was a small seaside town best known for its tuna fish and orange groves, but by the time Martinez arrived, a budding tourism scene was about to take off, providing him and his family with a ticket to a better life.
Martinez bet on a boom, but even he could not have predicted what the formerly quiet fishing town would become. Today, Benidorm is known as the “New York of the Mediterranean,” a tourist metropolis distinctive for its high density of skyscrapers. Gone are the…
