We left a rainy, cool Sevilla on another very comfortable bus from another modern, attractive bus station. As we boarded, we were offered a paper bag containing bottled water and cookies for snacking, and we had a live wifi connection all along the route! As we headed east and south over the green fields of Andalucia, the storm front receded behind us. Within a couple of hours, we crossed over the coastal range into Málaga and into seaside warmth and sunshine.
Málaga is tucked between the mountains and the Mediterranean, on a shallow river plain. It is the sixth largest city in Spain, with all of a half-million people. It is the southernmost city in Europe, and has one of the warmest winters. And it is one of the oldest cities in the world, having been founded by the Phoenicians in 770 b.c., and so offers the usual layers of Spanish history to the interested visitor.
It is also a lovely city, at least in the city center where we were located. The "historic" district of narrow cobblestone streets lies between the cathedral and the modern shopping district, where our "high tech" hotel was located: an old exterior, renovated and modernized and outfitted with ultra-modern utilities and electronics. Unfortunately, it wasn't all that comfortable, having sacrificed comfort for design. But it is near the restaurant district, and we found a delicious modern place for a late lunch of tender grilled calamari.
The waterfront was about eight blocks away, a modern port and pedestrian park lining the well-protected harbour. A huge ferry was pulling in from Tenerife as we strolled along, and stores and cafes were doing a brisk business in the late afternoon A local marching band was practicing in the park for the Semana Santa parades soon to come. (Malaga competes with Sevilla for the biggest and best Semana Santa processions in the country).
We never made it to the castle on the hill, nor to the archaeological museum, but we did see an interesting exhibit of landscape paintings at the Museo Carmen Thyssen the next morning. (Jerome is in the throes of his travel cold, and we wanted to spare him extra exertion.) Then we took a taxi to the gorgeous new train station, where we rented a VW Polo and headed out of town for Almuñecar, our next stop on our Mediterranean tour.
