Yacht Harbours
In these towns the harbour is the main square and the sea is the front door: arrivals come by tender, and the land is used for walking, eating and buying. Size is irrelevant — a hamlet like Porto Cervo and a cliff town like Bonifacio run on the same order of things.
A marina town is one built around berths, and the berth is the unit of everything — space, price, status and who is allowed where.
The form was invented, and recently. José Banús opened Puerto Banús in 1970 with an Andalusian village built around it and a launch party of film stars; berths plus boutiques plus spectacle has been copied along every coast since. Vilamoura was planned from 1966 around a thousand-berth marina and dug up a Roman villa while doing it.
Conversion is common. Tivat was a Yugoslav naval arsenal until 2006 and now takes yachts up to 250 metres, with two decommissioned submarines displayed where they were serviced.
Geography chose the site, not fashion. Göcek has six marinas because the bay is protected by law and Dalaman airport is twenty minutes away. Fethiye sits under Lycian rock tombs cut in 350 BC.
The town and the marina are different places. Marbella's sixteenth-century old town is eight kilometres from Puerto Banús, and the distance is the point.
Walk the pontoons, then walk inland.