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Published: July 29th 2012
Well, we arrived in Malaga on the 21st, and had such a great time that we decided to stay until the 25th! We made some pretty awesome friends at the hostel we were staying at, so that also influenced how long we wanted to stay. Malaga is a fairly small town, but we made the most of it.
After having a low key day and night our first day which included a trip to the beach, we decided to go out and do a walking tour of the city on our second day. Our guide Brian who is from New York, showed us some hidden areas that were great for overlooking the city and port. We started in Plaza de Merced, the main plaza in town, Teatro Romano a ruined Roman theatre, Malaga´s 16th century Cathedral (La Manquita) which is still unfinished, Picasso´s home where he was born, as well as several other churches and viewpoints. It was definitely a great tour and gave us a better idea of the city and of the history of Malaga. After our tour, we went back to the hostel and walked up to Castillo de Gibralfaro, which was quite a vertical hike up
but well worth it. Here is a blurb from Andalucia.com:
The magnificent Castillo de Gibralfaro sits on a high hill overlooking Malaga city and port, and dates back to the 10th century. The image of Gibralfaro is well known: you can see it in both Malaga city and province's seal and flag.
The hill where the Gibralfaro is situated forms part of the Montes de Malaga mountain range, located to the east and north of Malaga city - this land is protected by the Montes' natural park status.
HISTORY
The castle was built in 929AD by Abd-al-Rahman III, Caliph of Cordoba, on a former Phoenician enclosure and lighthouse, from which its name was derived - gebel-faro (Arabic and Greek, meaning rock of the lighthouse). Yusef 1, Sultan of Granada, enlarged it at the beginning of the 14th century, also adding the double wall down to the Alcazaba.
The castle is famous for its three-month siege by the Catholic monarchs, Ferdinand and Isabella, which ended only when hunger forced the Malagueños to surrender. Afterwards Ferdinand occupied the site, while his queen took up residence in the town. Interesting historic fact: this was the first conflict in which
gunpowder was used by both sides.
We spent the majority of the day there, and enjoyed some lovely iced coffee at the cafe in the castle that had ice cream in it! Definitely refreshing after spending 3 or 4 hours in the sun! We had fun taking some silly photos and enjoying the beautiful panoramic views from the surrounding walls. got some groceries and made some dinner - you guessed it couscous with veggies! We also had started chatting with the receptionist Anna, and hit it off quite well, so when her shift ended at midnight we decided to go out that night. We also became somewhat friends with 8 Frenchmen so we met up with them for drinks then one of them came with the three of us to a dance club. It was a pretty good night, and little did we know the first of several in a row! We ended up being out until about 5 or 6am! We came back and passed out and Sasha didn´t wae up until 2 or so. I woke up around 10 and couldn´t get back to sleep.
On our third day, we didn´t get going until around 2
or 3pm. We decided to once again head to the beach and enjoy the sun and surf. The beaches aren´t as nice as some of the other places we´ve been to but we were successful in finding one stretch of beach that was really calm, and had nicer sand - wasn´t as dirt/ground up cement looking. Once again, we headed back to the hostel around 6 or so and then took a nap until about 9 or 10. We decided to go out again this night because there was a pub crawl going on with the same guy who hosted our walking tour. We started at Picasso´s Bar, were we were introduced to Tinto de Verano; red wine with lemon juice in it (lighter than Sangria) that tastes like juice. Definitely goes down very easily and is very refreshing! We then headed to a second bar, then concluded the pub crawl at a nightclub that we had gone to the night before. The club was so much fun! Had live dancing performances, and live music, followed by DJs after. We were there with our 8 Frenchmen as well, and they were crazy so it definitely made for quite an experience!
We then decided that it was way too hot and that we were all going to go night swimming! The 10 of us walked all the way to the beach and enjoyed a dip in the ocean at about 4am. We got back to the hostel around 5 but stayed up chatting with Anna and a few of her friends who work at the hostel until about 6 or 6:30am. Another late night but definitely well worth it!
Fourth day comes, and we were feeling a bit sad, as we´ve become quite good friends with Anna and some of the other people at the hostel and didn´t want to leave in the morning. So we decided to prolong our trip by an extra day and continue enjoying our time in Malaga! Anna had the day off, so after a late rising (2pm seems to be the norm) and late lunch, we got together with her that evening and proceeded to go out again! Considering we hadn´t been out on the town since Ireland, we felt like we were doing pretty good! Anna showed us some more local spots that she likes, and we even went to this bar called
Cheers - named after the TV show, that is located right across the plaza from the Cathedral. So beautiful at night, and we enjoyed free tapas and a free round of Tinto de Vernano because Anna was friends with one of the employees. We spent quite awhile there before heading out to a few other clubs and then concluding our night at the same nightclub, where Anna knew the manager and he happened to be in, which was a bonus for us, because he was having us try every exotic shot under the sun for free! We even tried the tasty Black Vodka, it can stain your skin on the outside so it´s kind of crazy thinking what color your insides could be turning. We made our way back to the hostel, and proceeded to stay up looking at photos of Prarie Dogs (who knows, Anna thought they were HILARIOUS), and chatting with a few people who were up. Anna soon left to go home, and Sasha and I headed up to be around 7 in the morning!
The fifth day was definitely a relaxing one. Sasha slept in until 2, I once again woke up at 10, read
a bit, ate some food, and we just bummed around the hostel all day. We ventured out to buy some wine and cheese, and some instant noodles for dinner. What a combo! We also started chatting with a girl Audrey from Iowa, who we became friends with that night, and enjoyed sharing travel stories and laughing the night away. Anna unfortunately was feeling worse for wear so we didn´t end up going to the beach earlier in the day as planned, but we still had a nice night in chatting with Audrey, Carlos and Tony (two hostel employees), and a guy who was staying in the room we were in. Carlos entertained us with some magic tricks and we enjoyed just having a relaxing night in for once. It was much needed! We headed to bed around 3am, and woke up around 9. Anna was working that day, so we were glad to see her before we headed out to the coach station to catch a bus to Marbella. We chatted with her for quite a bit, and she gave us ideas of places to check out in Corfu, Greece - she lived there for awhile, so it was nice
to have an idea of cool locations and hidden beaches to go to! We´re still trying to convince her to meet up with us somewhere in our travels! After some sad goodbyes, we made our way to the coach station, and caught the hour long bus to Marbella, getting in around 3pm.
We headed to our hostel looking forward to enjoying the beaches and tapas that we´ve heard so much about!
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Nancy Passe
non-member comment
what is a tapa?
So, what is a tapa? Is it like a wrap? Thinking of you. love, Mom