Malaga, Spain

After our week in Malaga, we have now visited all 4 of the big cities in the Andalucian region of Spain. I suppose I should be expected to name my favorite of Seville, Cordoba, Granada and Malaga. But, no…. I liked them all and I just can’t seem to pick favorites. Malaga is the only town without a UNESCO world heritage site to see but we enjoyed our time here just fine… even without any big attractions. We were able to stay downtown right in the middle of all the actions. Like Cordoba, we again had religious floats being paraded around our neighborhood. Lots of fun.

It seems like all Andalucian cities have an old Moorish palace and a castle. Malaga’s were on a hill within walking distance of the old town so off course we made the hike up the hill. The ruins weren’t as impressive as some of the other towns but the views were. It had great vistas of the city and the Mediterranean coast. Malaga also has some good history and art museums. Picasso was born here so of course we had to visit the Picasso museum.

We have traveled in Spain quite a bit and have gotten used to the customs of eating in Spanish restaurants and tavernas. We now know not to even try to go to dinner until at least 8pm. We enjoy ordering tapas, pintxos or raciones and sharing instead of the “normal” practice of each person ordering an entree. But every region has their own spin on Spanish cuisine and it is fun to try out new things. In Malaga, we found a wine bar with wine and vermouth in barrels. We ordered small cups and they kept track of our tab by writing in chalk on the wooden bar. They also have “Espetos” in Malaga which are grilled Sardines that they cook on small boat BBQ’s on the beach. Everywhere in Spain they have freshly cut jamon. We will probably miss that the most when we leave Spain. If we see the ham leg up on the bar in Spain, we will definitely have order a least a tapa of jamon.

Malaga is the only one of the big Andalucian cities that is really on the beach. We often get to the point in a long trip that it is really nice to stop seeing museums, castles and churches and just hang out on a beach. This town reminded us a lot of Alicante on the Costa Blanca in Spain. Both Alicante and Malaga have a lot of smaller towns that would be great to stay in for a longer non-touristy stay. We checked out a few beach towns that we might return to the day when we finally start “slow travel”. Right now we are still only staying in most European towns a week or so because we really want to “see everything”. The rest of the year we will be trying out “slow travel” a bit more in Mexico.

I have been traveling in Europe since September 1st without any pants. I have 3 pairs of shorts that I rotate through and I haven’t had a need for pants yet. The first week in Dublin was a little cold at night but I persevered because I didn’t want to carry jeans. We like to keep our bags to under 10kg so we don’t have to check anything on flights. We are now heading to Madrid for a couple of nights before heading to Mexico for several weeks. I won’t need pants in Mexico but Madrid is going to be in the 50’s Fahrenheit at night so I the first thing I will need to do is buy some pants. I’m not too happy about it but sometimes you have to accept the weather…. It is getting cold in Europe so it is time to go to Mexico. Our next post will probably be from Oaxaca, Mexico where we will experience Dia De Los Muertos.