Marvellous Malaga

by Eunice Kirby

Last February, our group of four ladies of a certain age went to Porto for our annual ‘girls’ trip. We were very pleasantly surprised with warm sunny weather and spent quite a bit of our time sitting in the sun, down by the river watching the world go by, while we enjoyed the odd cold beverage! This year, then, we again wanted warmth; this limited our choice of cheap flights with the no frills airlines. I eventually told the girls that ‘cheap’ meant Malaga, but it did look to be quite a nice city in its own right - so the flights were booked, a very reasonable city centre hotel was found and off we went. Well, we were pleasantly surprised again! The Hotel Don Curro, which I had nearly disregarded due to it being so reasonable as to be bordering on excessively cheap, was an absolute gem! It was right in the centre of the old city and only yards from the port. My sister and I shared a room on the eighth floor that had the most wonderful view of the Cathedral - an amazing sight when lit up at night. We could not fault the hotel for position, food or decor, and what value! It cost us £137 each for four nights B & B including transfers to and from the airport - at alpharooms.com.

We arrived in the evening, unpacked and had a drink in the hotel bar while deciding what to do the next day. The following morning, after a wonderful breakfast (self-service, with so much choice of both hot and cold), we set off to get our bearings and headed to the port area passing a row of horses and carriages. We thought that these would be expensive, but it was only €40 for the four of us, for a tour of the old city lasting nearly an hour. This was a wonderful way to see what there was and where it all was - we were all surprised to see such a lovely beach area! We then wandered round the old city visiting the Cathedral, or La Maquita (One Armed Lady) as she is known because the north tower stands proudly at 100m (330 ft), while work on its twin tower was stopped in 1783 due to lack of funds and is a forlorn stump. The main shopping area had a good mix of designer and high street shops with a distinct lack of tourist shops – being in a city rather than a tourist resort. We ended the day sitting at a bar on the beach - drying our feet after a paddle!

The following day we caught a local bus along the coast to Marbella where the bus station is situated above the town with no directions or maps or any help whatsoever. We took a taxi down the town, but decided that it was decidedly unwelcoming, so after a drink and a wander along the front we took another taxi to Puerto Banus. How the other half live; we enjoyed seeing the wonderful yachts moored here but said that, even if we all sold up, we wouldn’t be able to afford a dinghy! Still, we enjoyed a very nice meal in one of the harbour side restaurants before getting a taxi back to Marbella bus station and the bus back to Malaga.

The following day we took another bus up to Ronda. Wow - what a gem of a place. The views of the 150m (450 ft) gorge, known as El Tajo, are incredible. How on earth were either of the bridges built? The new one was built as recently as 1788! Ronda is also home to the oldest bullring in Spain which you can visit along with the bullfighting museum. We took a different bus back to Malaga. There are different bus companies and routes; the one we had gone on had taken us along the coast, then up a rather twisty, narrow mountain road through some amazing scenery. It took three hours! The one we took back was a direct, straight and gently sloping road, taking only two hours: a long day, but worth it.

On our last day we went on the ‘hop on, hop off’ bus, so that we knew that we had seen all the main sights of the city, and also because we knew that we could not walk up to the Castillo del Gibralfaro. This principal landmark of Malaga started life as a Phoenician castle which was then reconstructed by the Moors in the 14th century. Its name comes from the Arabic the Jebel al Faro (lighthouse hill), as the Moors also constructed a lighthouse up here. We did a complete circumnavigation of the walls, taking in the panoramic views of the city and port. It also looks down on the Plaza de Toro, and so offers free seating for bullfight enthusiasts. We spent several hours up here enjoying both the views and the weather - we had wonderful sunshine - before getting back on the bus along to Picasso Square, whose real name is Plaza de la Merced. The house where Picasso was born, Casa Natal Picasso, is now a small museum and headquarters of the Picasso Foundation. From here, we walked past the Roman amphitheatre down to the Paseo del Parque where we enjoyed ice creams sitting in the sun. We all enjoyed our visit and were amazed at just how much there is to see and do in Malaga; we only scratched the surface. Most people see it only as an airport serving the Costa del Sol but, if you are in the area, do take time to visit this city as it has a lot to offer. At the moment there is a lot of construction work in progress, both buildings and roads, due to it being the European City of Culture in 2016, but this is mainly near the port and the bus station. The old city is untouched by it all, and is a lovely place to while away a few hours or days. Now - where shall we go next year?

 First published in VISA 91 (Jun 2010)