Day 14: Málaga, Spain

We moved ahead another hour last night, as Spain moved to Daylight Saving Time.  We’re now 7 hours ahead of Texas.  A fellow passenger snapped this photo of Gibraltar as we passed through the Strait last night.

When we awoke, the ship was docking in Málaga.  We left the ship about 9:15 and took a taxi to the Plaza de Merced, where Picasso’s birthplace is. Before meeting our guide, some friendly girls took our picture with Picasso.

Our guide, Maria, was originally from Russia, but has lived in Spain for ten years and is a citizen now.  Her English wasn’t perfect, but we were able to understand most of it. She began by explaining the history of Málaga since prehistoric times. Along the way she pointed out elements from various periods, including its years as a Roman city, a Muslim stronghold, and then after the Christians conquered it.  

We stopped nearby for coffee and churros, which were delicious, especially dipped in chocolate!

Then we saw the exterior of an old church, and Maria explained the Holy Week tradition of the processions of each church’s throne being borne through the streets by many men, as well as the band (like we saw yesterday) and others spreading incense. This church’s arched door shows the Muslim influence.

Then we walked up a steep hill to a viewpoint where we could see the city below and the Muslim fortress above. These flowers were called tiger’s nails, according to Maria and looked similar to our orange trumpet vine.

At the top of the slope, we paused before entering the tunnel beneath the fortress. (That’s Maria on the left.)

Tunnel under the fortress 

The view from the other side of the tunnel was beautiful.

View of our ship from below the fortress

The Alcazaba fortress was built by Muslims beginning in the 11th century and is one of the best preserved examples from that era.  The interior wasn’t open, but Maria explained that the hallways included dead ends and traps, in case the doors were breached.

The Alcazaba Fortress

Then we walked down another path to the other side of the fortress to see a Roman theatre dating from the 1st century AD. It was unearthed in 1951 and has been partially restored.

Roman theater

From there, we walked to the cathedral, which is almost 500 years old, but unfinished. It will ultimately have a second tower like the one on the right.

Approach to the cathedral

Front of the cathedral 

On our way to a restaurant for tapas (and the end of our tour), we had to take a circuitous route because of a Holy Week procession. We were lucky to get a good view, just as it was starting to pass our street.

At the restaurant Maria ordered several tapas for us to share, including calamari, fried anchovies, patates bravas, Russian salad, and potato fritters, as well as spicy shrimp.  We enjoyed it and sent her home with lots of leftovers. She kindly walked us about 10 minutes to find a taxi back to the ship, which cost one-fourth of the fare from the port!

Potatoes times 3:  Russian (potato) salad topped with tuna, potato and ham fritters, patatas bravas

Calamari, bocarones, spicy shrimp

Thankfully, today’s walk was about half as long as yesterday’s!  Fingers crossed we’re able to walk again tomorrow.  That’s all for today.