Malaga Spain October Arrival
Next: Caminito del Rey
Malaga Beach, Museums, and Nightlife
Oct 8 – Oct 9
Constitution Plaza
Our Lufthansa flight out of Detroit for Malaga, Spain was a at 4:00 p.m. on October 8. The flight would have a 3-hour layover in Frankfurt, Germany. We left our car in Ann Arbor at Emilie’s niece’s house, and then Ubered to the airport from there. With no issues with the flights, and considering the 6-hour time difference, we arrived on-time in Malaga at 11:00 a.m. October 9.
Our hotel reservation via booking.com came with a courtesy private transfer from the Malaga airport to our hotel. We stayed in the Centro district, which was a 25-minute ride from the airport. It probably would have still been 25 minutes had the driver actually dropped us off at the correct hotel.
We were fortunate to be able to check in to the first rate Hotel Larios an hour early at 1:00 p.m. The excellent front desk reception was professional, courteous, and helpful. Like most service professionals in Spain, they spoke English reasonably well. We were armed with Google Translate throughout the trip, though. It especially came in handy when reading menus or historic placards. My rudimentary Spanish is pretty good, and Emilie had been studying intensely with Duolingo, but Google Translate was great to have.
Our room, actually an apartment, was in a separate building from the main hotel on the other side of the same block. We were right on historic Constitution Plaza in the heart of a very bustling downtown. We immediately napped for about 3 hours to help offset the jetlag. The apartment was very comfortable, with a view of the plaza just below.
At around 5:00 p.m. we ventured out. First stop was very close…the rooftop bar of our hotel. There were nice views of the city up here to help us get oriented. After a drink we walked around the area. The weather was beautiful.
We found the Malaga Cathedral almost at every turn…
…and we found the ancient Roman Theater which is just…there.
Around 7:30 we settled down for dinner at a very busy Kraken restaurant, as recommended by the hotel front desk. Without a reservation, we very luckily got a high-top table right away and ate outside on a perfectly gorgeous evening. With a partial view of the Malaga cathedral we enjoyed rice with pork, and pork ribs tapas, and drinks. Considering how busy they were, our service was very good. The food was very yummy.
Antigua Casa de Guardia
After dinner we headed to Antigua Casa de Guardia. This is a very old wine bar established in 1840. It’s located on a tiny side street and is overflowing with patrons and character. Here they serve small glasses of wine poured directly from the barrel.
This is by no means fancy, it’s way better than that. I got chummy with our server who described himself as Danny DeVito’s brother. He definitely looked it! We got cups of a Malaga sweet liqueur wine called Pajarete. I’m not a sweet wine guy, but this was a very good digestif….and hey, “when in Rome”. This was a fun stop. (in the pic, the wine being poured from the barrel is our wine)
An equally good digestif was at our next stop…Lucciano’s, for Gelato.
Then off to bed…still a bit jetlagged, but well fed and spirited!
Oct 10
Pablo Picasso Museum
This day was planned as an exploration day in the city. We started with breakfast. The hotel offered breakfast at 22 Euros apiece…we opted for a nearby cafe at 7 Euros apiece.
Malaga is a large city, but staying in the Centro district we were able to walk everywhere we wanted to go the whole time we were there. First, it was off to the nearby Pablo Picasso museum. Along the way, we got our first close up of Malaga Cathedral. Very cool!
We hadn’t realized that Pablo Picasso was born and raised in Malaga. Certainly explains why there is a Pablo Picasso Museum here. We waited about 5 minutes in line before getting our tickets, and entering. This is an excellent museum which, according to Emilie, is the “perfect size”…not too big but plenty of works to see. Many cool early Picassos with interesting history. We really enjoyed this place. There was also an exhibit of ancient ruins in the basement of the museum.
Malagueta Beach
After about an hour at the museum we headed toward the beach. We used Apple Maps almost continuously on this trip. It worked great.
We stopped at the hotel first. Em packed her swimsuit, and a hotel towel in our wet bag. I was wearing my shorts that I also can use to swim in. We walked about 20 minutes to Playa de la Malagueta, on the Alboran Sea, which is part of the Mediterranean Sea. It was a beautiful day to swim and relax on the beach. There were plenty of people laying on the beach, mostly locals. However not many went in the water. We were two of the small number who did. After walking about 1/4-mile along the shore, and frolicking along the jetty, we settled on a spot on the sand and went for a swim.
The water was quite salty, and a bit cool but it felt great. We laid on the beach on our large hotel towel for about 30 minutes after the swim. Em changed back into her clothes right there on the beach. Considering the skimpy swimsuits most of the women were wearing, nobody took notice of Emilie changing undercover of the towel.
We headed back to the city streets along the palm tree adorned beach promenade. Not too far along, on a whim, we detoured up towards the Gibralfaro Castle perched almost directly above us. This was a precursor to the trek we would be making to the castle two days from now, when we had pre-purchased tickets. The ascent started out steep, then it got steep, stayed steep, but luckily it ended on a steep note. OMG…no wonder so many tourists take the shuttle bus.
The views of the sea, coastline, and city were spectacular all along the way, and of course at the top.
Near the gates of the castle was a Parador Hotel…nothing else nearby, just the castle and the forested hillside. We stopped in at the Parador for a late lunch, and drinks on their impressive stone porch overlooking the city of Malaga and the sea. This was a well-earned, elegant pit stop.
Parador Hotels are owned and operated by the government of Spain. All major cities have a Parador Hotel. The hotels are repurposed historic sites and buildings, and are always in a great location. We stayed in a Parador in Salamanca and in Ronda Spain (which appears later in this “Southern Spain” blog journal.) Both of those stays had killer views.
After about 45 minutes we pried ourselves away from the comforts of the Parador and began the walk down towards town and our hotel. We stopped at a small grocery near the hotel to buy milk, cereal, yogurt, and beer. On days with early starts we planned to eat breakfast in the room.
After a short rest in the apartment, we went back out to find a bite to eat. The nightlife in Spain is always so active with locals and tourists alike. This video captures that essence.
Em was not in need of any food after the Parador late lunch but I wanted something more. So, we figured a nice rooftop bar with tapas would work. The rooftop bar at the H10 hotel, about 10 minutes from the hotel was perfect.
Off to bed
Next: Caminito del Rey
