A short trip to Spain, June 3 - 8/2016

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Malaga

Finding our apartment in the Calle de Molina in Malaga wasn't the easiest part of our trip. It turned out to be located just at the edge of the centre of the city. Not quite touristic but still quite authentic. Just around the corner we found a little cafe with tens of tapas: anchoveta, pulpa, tomato, serrano ham, an endless series of the most delicious finger food.

A Spanish family joins our table: Antonio and Anna and of course the little Antonio, who looks at us with his big Spanish eyes. They hardly speak English and we hardly speak Spanish. But we understand each other completely. We talk and drink and drink and talk. Shake hands, rub shoulders as if we are friends since our youth.

Nerja

Next day we leave Malaga and drive with our rented car along the coast to Nerja. It's a short drive. Nerja is not as touristic as the rest of the Costa de Sol, we read in our guide. Still it's full of tourists. White houses, little streets, everywhere bars and restaurants. There is a beach but no one is in the sea. Too cold. We visit the Museum to find information about the Cueva de Nerja, the cave which has been inhabited by prehistoric man 30,000 up to 12,000 ago. They left some paleolithic cave art on the walls: fishes and wild goats. We heard the cave would even have been inhabited by Neanderthals. Unfortunately we cannot find any information about that. Though it's possible to visit the cave, the part with the cave art isn't accessible. So the replica at the museum will do.

At night we visit 'Bar el Molino' at Calle San Jose. There is a guitar player who plays flamenco. We cannot stop moving our feet. The rhythm pushes us. Some Spanish couples begin to dance. Proud and slow movements full of tension. It goes on and on till late midnight.

Sierra Nevada


Highway A44 is a quick connection to Granada. But when you are not in a hurry the A4050 across the mountains of the Sierra de Almijara is far more beautiful. In summer it seems to be a dry region, but now it's full of flowers. We find a road hotel at the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. The same day we make a little hike across the mountains of the Sierra Nevada.

Alhambra

We are astonished when we see only a little queue at the Alhambra. We buy our tickets and find out we have to wait two hours before we can enter. Once inside it becomes clear, that we can enter the most beautiful part, the Nasrid Palaces, only four hours after we entered. Meanwhile we visit the Generalife, the Palace of Charles V and the Towers. So it is not as bad as you might think.

Granada

Granada it self is a nice city. We only visited the San Jeronimo monastery and the Cathedral. The same day we drove back over the A44 to Malaga. And next day morning we flew back to Amsterdam.

It was only a short trip. So we decided to come back soon. To see more of Andalucia, to visit Sevilla and Cordova and to make a big hike across the Sierra Nevada.

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Comments

[Femmy Lagerwaard]

Ja... het is een geweldige streek, en ze schenken er goeie koffie. Zeker meer dan één bezoek waard. Granada is prachtig, maar ook de andere grote én kleine steden zijn mooi.