Friday, October 4, 2013

Malaga, Spain: Monday May 13, 2013


Our day in Malaga started fairly early as we were meeting a walking tour at a specific location which we had to find.  Jessie worked as our navigator using maps I had printed out previously.  She did a great job and even found an unintentional shortcut which brought us to the location in record time.

Our tour started and our guide Mariam was giggly and bubbly.  While she was interesting to listen to, Hildy wasn’t particularly thrilled with the fact that she was so giggly when discussing wars and deaths; she felt that she lacked some respect when it came to talking about such heavy topics.  Luckily, Mariam’s friend Marco, who is also a tour guide came along and offered a substantial wealth of knowledge. 

We began in front of Teatro Cervants, a local theater, where Man of La Mancha was written.  This is also where Antonio Banderas was inspired to become an actor.  From there, we moved onto Picasso’s Square and saw where Picasso was born, in the corner house of the square. 

At the forefront of the square, we saw a monument depicting the death of 49 men who fought for Spain (this included one Irish man, who was a pirate). 

We walked up the hill and saw a Muslim castle which was later taken over by the Christians when they took over Spain.  There were plenty of beautiful flowers which Oma appreciated.  As we walked through the promenade, we saw ABC buildings (Academy, Bank, Post Office—Carte). 

Walking into town, we approached the Roman Theater, but opted for a pee break instead (we knew we’d come back later) and then moved onto the cathedral called the “One Arm Lady”.  It was named this because it only has one tower.  The cathedral took over 300 years to build, but was never actually completed because the citizens liked it the way it was, and didn’t want to change anything.

As we walked along the main shopping promenade, we noticed many large brand name stores that we have back home.  Finally, we found the Constitution Square, commemorating Spanish freedom and liberty.  It displayed newspaper spreads on the ground which showed the actual newspaper headlines from that time of independence.  Jessie and I both thought this was a great way to display history. 

We entered the Botanical Gardens and walked through the beautiful smelling paths.  Our guides gave us a bit more history and talked about Spanish life, and then our tour ended.  We said goodbye to our guides,  gave them a tip and then headed back to the Roman Theater and Picasso Square. 

Here, we had lunch, which consisted of sangria and tapas.  It was very enjoyable, especially since street musicians would come up and play beautiful music while we were dining.  The only downside of this was that during our short lunch, we had half a dozen people come by us asking for tips.  You could go broke in this city just by tipping everyone who asked. 

As we walked back to port, we took time to see the roses and gardens.  Jessie and I found a little park and took the opportunity to ride the see-saws… you’re never too old right?!  We visited a nearby beach to put our feet in the water, which was still quite cold and finally we spent some time watching the many cats that inhabited the beach.  Many of them were black and looked like Dilly which made Jessie quite nostalgic. 

After we boarded the ship and had supper, we came back to the room and ordered a movie: Legally Blonde.  Surprisingly, Hildy enjoyed the movie (more than I did anyways).  

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