Malaga

Day 16

Cruise Day #12 -  Malaga, Spain

Ok here we go...sorry about the delay but the days are getting busier all the time and finding the time to blog is usually limited to the evenings.... when the evening goes late the blogging suffers :-)

The ship docked within a 15 minute walk of the waterfront and it's many restaurants, bars and shops that lined the inner harbor. It was beautiful, clean and very modern compared to most ports that we entered. The port was also expanded over the years by reclaiming land from the ocean and this was a fairly commom theme from what we observed.  The lighthouse below use to be at the tip of the breakwater but now was the centerpiece to a roundabout for cars heading to the cruise ship dock.

We walked the tree lined Paseo Del Parque that stretched down the main avenue and bordered the inner harbor. Our initial goal was to head up the top of the hill to the Gibralfaro Castle and check out the views but we opted to walk along the parkway and past city hall and other buildings.

City Hall

La Alcazaba on the left and the Castle to the upper right.

 With our original destination in view we had some trouble finding the entrance as we wanted to start at the bottom and work our way up. Sounded like a good idea but it turns out the bottom section called La Alcazaba was a separate section that required a small fee (2 Euro) to enter. It was well worth it and we enjoyed the beutiful gardens and terraces. Unfortunately we had to retrace our path down in order to exit. At one time you could exit up to the Castle section but it was closed due to erosion.

Kelly gets ready to enter La Alcazaba.

 We managed to work our way through the streets to the tunnel that crossed under the former access point to the upper reaches. (Love saved Google Maps!) Just past the tunnel exit we found the path upwards and started our trek. Best to get the hard hiking done early in our day! We walked the steep incline up to the Gibralfaro Castle and after paying another 2 euro we entered the castle grounds. We enjoyed the panoramic views that lay before us while the energy slowly returned to our legs!

Kelly photobombs my pano :-)

Great view!

Looking north from the castle walls.

Going down was much easier as we headed back down and through the tunnel to the Plaza De La Merced. This nice little square was home to an obelisk which was placed here by the town hall in 1842. The main attraction is the small restaurants and drinking establishments that line the square. The one we had hoped to go to was suggested by our son Kris who was in Malaga three months earlier who found a kraft beer outlet that had an amazing selection. It's called Cerverseria Arti & Sana and tragically it was closed when we arrived! We settled on a neighboring establishment to quench our thirst from the hike up the hill! We also grabbed a geocache that was located in the square... how convenient:-)

 We continued our trek around the city and found numerous points of interest. The Cathedral Museum was spectacular to see with it's amazing architecture.

Cathedral Museum

 Our walk took us down the main shopping thoroughfare of Marques De Larios with it's polished walkways. Many shops beckoned and Kelly finally unloaded the poor credit card on some new boots:-)

We returned to the ship via the waterfront with it's fountains and beautiful walkway along and around the inner harbor.

Marina Fountain

Walkway and cover along the edge of the harbor.

A quick dip in the pool before dinner with our fellow cruiser then some blackjack to practice up for our next tournament :-)

Both Kelly and I agree that this city was very nice, clean and easy to get around even if your walking. We would not hesitate to come back and explore it again.

We are in Cadiz, Spain tomorrow.