Day 4 - Malaga... part 1 (apparently im using too many pics)

Do these look like the faces of people who know where they are going and what they are doing?

Of course not, they are the faces of two people who work on the theory of.... "shes with me", so it will all be fine, no worries.

We had looked online before we left (ahh tripadvisor, the greatest website ever) and found out a couple of things we wanted to do, what would they be?... well, im glad you asked.. its... wait for it... yes... we are going to see....... a CASTLE.... coz i know that no one gets sick of castles and a spanish castle is an altogether different kettle of fish.

The ever efficient reception at the hotel said.. just up the road and to the right.. is a bus that will take you into Malaga (we guessed about a 40 minute trip). Just a 15 minute wait and the bus arrives, apparently we werent the only people planning a trip to Malaga, as the bus is full and its standing room only..not helpful given Nics ankle, fortunately a few get off at the next town and we score a seat. At this point we realise... we dont actually know where we are going.. or more importantly ..where to get off. I am confident (of course) that the bus will stop in the centre of town and all will be fine... Nic has a slightly less sure feeling.

As we reach the edge of the city the driver pulls over and shouts something in spanish, there is much mumbling and confusion amongst the other foriegners and some people begin  getting off,  the driver continues shouting and adds some arm waving for effect. My highly developed spanish skills now came to the fore, after listening and watching for a few moments, i come to the conclusion that.. the city is blocked off and this bus will go no further... so.. GET OUT AND WALK!.

Nic approaches the driver and tries to get some idea of where we are, where to go... or how far away we are... her spanish.... his english.. and both of their arm waving informs us.. we shoudl walk.. "that way, then left"... phew, glad weve got that cleared up :)

So, we are standing on a rundown street in Malaga with no map, no idea where we are and only my rudimentary (read "non existent" ) spanish to help us. We head off in the direction the driver pointed thinking that with Nics high speed hobbling and our cluelessness this could be an interesting day...by the way.. it was about 11am and already 27 degrees.

one of the great benefits of just seeing what happens was, just across a bridge we happened to come across the Malaga Gallery of Contempary Art. What a bonus, our fave art and it has just opened.. and its FREE!!... in we go... and it was superb, some terrific pieces, some simple, some mind boggling. Some that just looked pretty and others that opened your mind... all you could want from art. we left thinking, well no matter what happens now.. it has already been a worthwhile day out.

We continue walking  hobbling... weve now been hobbling for about 20 minutes (not including time in the gallery) and we still dont seem to be near the centre... Nic asks a  nice Polizia  man if he can guide us, he sadly speak no english however there is one international word that everyone recognises... he makes arm movements suggesting the we should turn right at.. "McDonalds".. another 15 minutes and we find ourselves in the Malaga Square the centre of town.

Its time for lunch and that famous restaurant McDonalds beckons however we fight the urge and instead sit down at the terrace table of a traditional Spanish Cafe', We are delighted with our food and the service by Manuel the waiter is just brilliant.

We have a chat to the tourist office which guides us to a bus stop that will take us to the top of the Hill where the Alcazabar and Gilbrafaro castles are located... a wonderful bus ride at a cost of 1.40 euros each take 20 mins and drops us at the door of Gilbarfaro Castle, this is the younger of the 2 castles.. being only 700 or so years old.

I am almost unable to describe this building, but even more the views from it, it quite simply left us speechless, sitting high above Malaga the views take your breath away, a huge surrounding wall with walk ways all along it mean that every second step seems to open another different sight, from city, to sea, to mountains and a million kilometres in between, at times we just stood, mouths agape and said wow.  It of course had the super thick walls, beautiful gateways and buildings, trees, gardens... everything and all of it under the brightest, hottest sun weve experienced for nine long months, it had now reached over 30 degrees.

Next it was to Alcazabar, the name alone is enough to create images in our minds.

apparently i am using too much space, so will have to go to another post... see you on the next page..