Getting to know Malaga

As per our usual travel habits, we always take a day to first get our bearings in a town, get a feel for the culture and atmosphere, and visit some of the great sights it has to offer. This morning, the call of coffee and pastries drew us out of our nice, cozy apartment overlooking the city, and so once we had fueled up on caffeine and sugar, we continued walking. We headed into the old city, following laneways we had only just glanced upon last night. Curiously, we happened upon a line-up of what seemed like soccer fans, snaking its way from Plaza de la Constitucion. Turns out, there is an upcoming game between the Costa-Rican national team and Malaga C.F., so there is a fan zone set up in the square with the trophies from Euro and the FIFA championships. Also, all these people in line will likely get free tickets to a practice match on Friday night, which I think would have drawn in Mario, too, if we had still been here to attend!

Past the mob of excited fans we ventured, making our way to the other side of town, and the scenic climb up the hill to the Castello de Gibralfaro, the Moorish castle built to protect Malaga. Once filled with soldiers and gorgeous gardens, much like all the Moorish castles in Andalucian, Gibralfaro is, in comparison, a little more barren inside. It reminded me a little of the let-down of the Fort Napoleon in Guadeloupe, though not to such an extent, and it did offer similarly beautiful vistas of the city from above.

We toured the walls, catching views of the Malaga from all angles, then made our way into the centre garden, to learn of the local flora that once filled this area. We also stopped at the cafeteria for some very reasonably-priced wine and tasty snacks.

Insert here a walk down from the castle, where I take Mario to the waterfront for a walk along the Palmeraie. He starts having a panic attack at the sight of so many sunburnt tourists in one place that I have to lead him back into the twisty, turny, alleys of the old town before he calms down again! What an oddball.






Having spotted its multi-domed roof from up in the castle, curiosity got the best of us and we next went to visit the Catedral. Very nicely sculpted, and with more domes than I have ever seen in a church before, the visit was rendered slight less enjoyable due to a rather boring audio-guide, albeit provided in the price of the ticket. When the narrator is 15 minutes deep into an explanation of every single gold-leafed flower carving in a single chapel, and you've got another 7 chapels to go, you know it's time to drop the audio-guide, and go it on your own.

Also included in the price of the ticket was entry into the Palacio del Obispo, the Episcopal palace, now converted into a museum. There was a section of religious pieces, which we had seen enough of in the cathedral, another hall devoted to metal works and African weapons, and a third exhibition on Fernando Ortiz, from Malaga, famous for being one of the best sculptors of religious figures in Spain. And his sculptures WERE amazing - so gorgeous, detailed, and beautiful, with sweeping fabrics and glowing tears. One representation of Jesus had scraped-up knees that were so life-like, I had to look away!

After such a big day, we opted to stop at a Dia grocery store for some food to cook back at the apartment. We stopped en route to enjoying the melodies of a jazz ensemble, performing as part of the Jazz festival happening in Malaga right now, then continued on home.