Málaga

We were excited to visit Andalusia. I had been to Málaga before but I hadn’t spent much time there, and it was a first for Ashley so we were happy to get some info about the city and see some different parts of it. We took MSC’s complementary tour of the city which took us through the Roman Theater, the Alcazaba, the cathedral, and down the main promenade. 

Málaga, being a port city in the Mediterranean was controlled by many different groups until it was officially part of Spain. The Moors and the the Romans left their stamp on it. There is an old Roman Theater that was only discovered in 1951 as it had been buried for centuries. If one is a fan of Antonio Banderas, one might be able to find him coming and going from the apartment building, which he owns, directly behind the Roman Theater.

From the Roman Theater you can also see the beginning of the wall that makes up the Alcazaba. It is an ancient fortress wall that used to surround the city to protect from seafaring invaders. Our bus took us up the hill to walk through the old perimeter wall, which offers great views of the city.

We arrived at the cathedral in the morning when the light was still pouring in through the stained glass, which was very pretty. The two most unique things were the enormous organ, and the intricately carved mahogany enclave. One other thing that our guide pointed out was a sculpture that showed a woman’s bare breasts, which is unusual in a Catholic Church - cover those up! 

Our guide, José was very knowledgable and spoke English pretty well, but our favorite part of the cathedral tour was when he was explaining the meaning of a painting, and he said, “God was mad at the people so he sent down an X-Ray to kill them all.” We’re still not sure what he meant in place of X-Ray but I’m pretty sure that’s not God’s method of killing people. I don’t mean to mock José, because I know how hard it is to learn and speak another language, but I’m always amused at the funny things that get mistaken for other words. It makes me wonder what stupid things I’ve said over the years while speaking Spanish. 

During our free time after the city tour we wandered through a cute neighborhood with some cool street art, and naturally we found a spot to eat some local food. We sampled some paella with fresh sea food, some jamón serano, croquetas, and sangria. We managed to find a dessert too. When I lived in nearby Granada I used to love the berliner doughnuts stuffed with chocolate. So much so, that once when an ATM machine stole my credit card and I had no way of getting cash and I only had 3 euros left to my name, I went and bought a 2 euro doughnut with my last remaining money. Ashely wanted to taste one of these worth-my-last-dollar-doughnuts for herself. We found a pretty tasty version and made a mess of ourselves trying to eat it.

We also popped into the Málaga Museum, which had a nice collection of lesser known Spanish and Italian painters as well as some Phoenician antiquities. Our favorite oil painting we came across was called Ya Tenía Corazón (She Has a Heart) by Enrique Simonet. It's a large canvas, about 8x10 feet, and it depicts the autopsy of a prostitute and the doctor is holding her heart in his hand. It was beautifully painted, albeit a bit macabre.

We loved our day wandering through Málaga. Being back in Andalusia reminded me of my carefree days of living in Granada, and Ashley loved the laid back Mediterranean vibe. We’ll have to go back again to Granada and Sevilla for the full Andalusian experience.