A Self Guided Walking Tour of Malaga

One of the beaches on my walk.

My first view of the Alcazaba. The Castle of Gibralfaro is further up the hill to the right. 

The bullring from the Castle of Gibralfaro... 

and the port...

and the Cathedral of Malaga.

Doing sentry duty.

Inside the Basilica. 

The beautiful hand carved choir.

The Alcazaba and the ruins of the Roman amphitheatre.

My skewer of sardines being prepared.

Thursday, September 7^th.

I spent the morning getting organized for my week. After the included breakfast I used Google and booked myself a train to Seville for Saturday and then I booked an AirBnB for three nights in Seville.

Once I got that organized I decided to walk into downtown Malaga on a self guided tour. The walk into the main area took about an hour. I walked along all the little beaches and enjoyed the atmosphere, and as I was not in a hurry I took my time.

When I arrived at the port I wandered around the perimeter and saw a cruise ship and saw all the expensive shops and restaurants that service that crowd. I followed the path around the harbour and found the Alcazaba of Malaga. I followed a few other people and began the climb up the hill. There was a series of switchbacks which seemed to get steeper and steeper and since it was 33 degrees I got pretty warm. When I got to the top I was actually at the Castle of Gibralfaro instead. This castle sits on top of a hill that commands a great view of the harbour and environs. It was founded in the 15^th century and was worked on for years after. When I got to the entrance at the top of the hill I found I couldn't pay with my credit card. I told the woman I had didn't have the two Euros and actually had no cash. After a minute she waved my through (how nice is that?). I explored all the nooks and crannies of the castle, before descending back down to the old part of the city to the Cathedral of Malaga. This is an enormous cathedral. Bishop's square in front of it is not big enough to allow people to get far enough back to take a photo of the front of the cathedral. It was built in the Renaissance era after the Moors left. Interestingly, it has two huge towers on the front of it, and the south one is not complete, but it is hard to notice because it is 90 metres up. When I entered they gave me a hand held tour wand and I walked around and listened to the guide. I am always amazed at how much work, time and money goes into constructing these religious structures. It was really beautiful inside and the choir area was incredible. It was the largest carved work of art of the era.

Then I climbed back up part of the hill to go into the Alcazaba of Malaga. This is another Moorish style fortress below the Castle. It is built on a peninsula and the buildings are formed to fit the hill. It contains several buildings and a number of foutains and gardens. Again I explored all the areas of the fortress before descending again to the main part of the old city. At the bottom was the remains of an old Roman amphitheatre with the walls of the Albaazba on the hill behind it. I walked through the narrow streets and visited a number of the squares. A large part of the old city is car free and the streets are tiled of marble.

Then I walked all the way back to my hotel. All told today I walked somewhere around 20 kilometres. I stopped at a supermarket and picked up a few supplies for tomorrow. When I got back to my hotel I changed and walked the two blocks back to the beach. I went for a swim to cool off. It felt great and I just floated and paddled around for a bit. Then I went to a bar/coffee shop on the beach and had a pint of San Miguel and people watched. The sunset was again beautiful. After my beer I walked further to a restaurant on the beach and had another pint, a skewer of 10 grilled sardines and a plate of grilled cuttlefish. It was like a cross between squid and octopus and was delicious. Then I walked back to the hotel to get ready for tomorrow.