Europe in our bags: Málaga in our bag

It’s time to go from east of Europe to south of Europe. Let’s discover Andalucía and especially Malaga where I was born and tried to make Isak feel home. Well Andalucía is divided in to eight provinces and we will talk about some of them at following posts.

Malaga is married with the sea, a sea full of “boquerones” (little delicious fishes to eat at the beach). It’s the ancient Malaka (not the Greek word) where Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Romans, Muslims and Christians fought to get this wonderful city.

Famous Malagueta beach

If you come from the airport, you can take train, bus or taxi. I recommend you to take the bus because it’s straight to the city center and it takes 40 minutes to arrive to the center. If you come from the bus or train station, there are many buses to go to the city center every 5 minutes.

The first place that you can see in the city center is “Alameda Principal”. It is an important street decorated with huge trees and these trees are protecting you in a rainy day. In Alameda Principal you can buy a bunch of roses for your love.

If you continue this road, you will arrive to “Paseo del Parque” and it is easy to recognize it because there are no trees. There is a big park with tall trees and a nice garden with flower beds. Also, you can find little stands where people sell bracelets, necklaces, bags, sweets, traditional food, clothes… but they are not permanent, so I hope you are lucky to find them because there are many interesting things.

I found a stand with Turkish delights!

Next to Paseo del Parque you can go to the new port, called “Palmeral de las Sorpresas”. You can have a nice walk, near the sea where boats are resting after a long trip. There are many different restaurants, cafes and bars, so you can enjoy the view while you are having delicious food.

Port and Cathedral

Let’s have a tour between the narrow streets and traditional squares. The main street in Malaga is “Calle Larios” with several shops and cafes. In calle Larios take place all the events during the year (Christmas, Carnival, Holy week, Fair, etc). When friends or families want to meet in the city center to go shopping, business or just spend time together, they do it in Larios street.

Larios street welcomes you to the Fair

Then you will see a big square, called “Plaza de la Constitución” where the Christmas celebrations happens, there is a tall Christmas tree and impatient kids are waiting for the Three Magic Kings to give them their letters. In Fair days, the square is full of people drinking alcohol like Sangria or Cartojal and eating Spanish omelet, paella, Spanish cheese or Serrano ham.

Funny moments in Christmas

In Malaga there are many narrow streets with little new and old shops and you can find whatever you need. My grandparents walked in the same streets and bought in the same shops where I do. This is one of the reasons because I like this part in Malaga. It makes me remember the time when I was a child and the moments I shared with my grandparents. And other positive thing is that you will not have problems if you are hungry because in every corner there is a restaurant or a café with traditional food or you can try in a “Teteria”. They are like cafes where they serve different kind of teas, natural smoothies, crepes and waffles and normally the environment makes you feel like you are in Morocco.

Atarazanas market

Delicious tea in a teteria

Malaga, like every Christian city in Spain, there are a lot of churches, approximately 25 in the city center. But I will mention the Cathedral named “La Manquita”. I had not the chance to go inside with Isak but the next time we will do it. A characteristic in this cathedral is that instead of two towers, it has only one. The reason is that the money to construct the other tower was used for other things and nobody knows the real one. But in my opinion it was good not to build the tower because now this Cathedral is well known because of a curious fact.

Now I will tell you about my favorite place in my city. It was built in the XI century by Muslims. This fortress, constructed on a hill, it is easy to recognize it at night thanks to the lights. Its name is “Alcazaba de Málaga”. It’s a fantastic place because you can go to the top of the Fortress and have really nice views of the city. Alcazaba is open every day and the normal ticket is 2.20 euros and on Sunday is free since 14:00. I suggest you to visit it because it worth and you have the possibility to learn a little more about the history of Málaga.

Alcazaba and Roman amphitheatre

Beautiful view from Alcazaba

Over Alcazaba, there is a castle called “Gibralfaro”. For me it is not more beautiful than Alcazaba but the view is amazing, you can take really good photos of the city, the sea and the beaches. There are 2 options to arrive here; you can take the bus number 35 in Alameda Principal or if you feel with energy, you can climb the hill till the top. It is not so easy, especially in summer at 15:00, so don’t forget a bottle of water. In the way, you can find a viewpoint where you can see perfectly the bull arena, the Alcazaba and the parks.