Friday April 8: Malaga, Spain
Bob: The last time we had stopped off in Malaga, Spain during Wanderung 19, we had walked around town and in particular spent the day enjoying the old Moorish Alcazaba fortress cum palace that is on the brow of the hill just above the city. So this time we decided to take the Hop On Hop Off bus and use it to get around to other parts of the Malaga we had not seen before. The only difficulty was that the brand-spanking-new cruise ship terminal in Malaga's harbor was still under construction, and as a result the nearest bus stop was down the beach a ways. We were walking along the beachfront promenade, taking it easy, when a Hop On Hop Off bus went rolling by us, so we waved at the driver and started running toward the stop about a block away. And when we arrived, all out of breath, at the stop, who do you think we saw grinning down at us from the top deck of seats but Debbie and Tom from the ship! Paying our 34 Euros, we boarded the double-decker bus and found some seats up on the top deck--better view and no windows to interfere with photography! Plugging in our earphones, we were provided with a running commentary in English about the areas of Malaga that we rumbled through. The top deck was a great vantage point for having a bird's eye view of the passing scenery and for taking pictures although the motion of the bus made photography a bit dicey. Still we took some pictures of the pretty buildings of Malaga, the fortress overhanging the city, and the various traffic circles, squares, and fountains decorating the downtown area. |
Monika: When we were in Malaga a couple years ago during Wanderung 19, we were docked right next to the city. But now they were building a big new cruise ship terminal, and we docked there about 15 minutes from the edge of the city. The ship offered a 6 Euro ticket for a roundtrip shuttle - we found out later, that the city bus right next to the shuttle only charged 3.50. They also offered a 22 Euro service to three different downtown locations. But we knew that for 17 Euros we could use the Hop-On-Hop-Off buses that stopped at a lot more locations. In the brand spanking new terminal they had a small counter for the HoHo bus, where we got a map that showed us the closest stop. We walked along the long, long, new pier past a nice swimming beach. When we were still about 100 feet from the stop we saw the bus with Debbie and Tom sitting upstairs. We started to run, and since there were others who were getting on, the bus was still there when we reached the stop. |
Bob: But when we arrived at the Castillo de Gilbralfaro, which was the newer Spanish castle higher up on the same hill as the old Moorish Alcazaba, we decided to disembark and see it as it would undoubtedly be more crowded later in the day. As it turned out, not only was it uncrowded, but the fare machines at the front gate were also out of order so we were just waved through the entrance for free, which made it a GREAT decision! We decided to do the "walk the ramparts" loop trail and were rewarded by magnificent views on all sides of the old fort. To the South we could see the beach where we had caught our bus as well as the harbor and our cruise ship off in the distance. To the West we could see the bulk of the city of Malaga marching up from the harbor to the hills. To the North we could see the foothills as they merged into a low coastal range of small mountains, and to the East we could see both the northern shore of the Mediterranean Sea with more beaches in the distance. |
Monika: We enjoyed being driven up the streets to the Castillo de Gibralfaro, the fort that sits at the highest point of the city. We first had thought to take one trip around the city and then start getting off, but on second thought we decided to get off at the Castillo early while it was not all that crowded. This proved to be a good thought. Not only could we take nice pictures, but we also got in for free, because the ticket machine was broken (and I guess the ladies in the ticket booth did not want to handle money). We decided to walk once around the fort along the ramparts. This was a lot of fun and we got beautiful views of the city and the surrounding countryside. On one side we saw the walkway that led down to the Alcazaba, the moorish palace in Malaga that we had visited the last time we were in Malaga. The ramparts were so narrow that it was difficult for people to pass, especially with two-way traffic. So we again were happy, that we had stopped, when it was not yet very crowded. We could easily take pictures of the ramparts, the interior courtyard with its beautiful trees and the surrounding city, countryside, and Mediterranean. |
Bob: The interior of the fort was very verdant and green, although I suspect that may not have been true back in its "active duty" years. A museum was located in an old building right inside the entrance of the fort (possibly an old barracks??). I spent some time looking at the exhibits, which were nicely laid out examples of Spanish military dress and equipment from the 17th, 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. It was interesting to see the fairly obvious effect that Napoleon had on military garb for the 19th century as well as the general evolution of both garb and gear over time. |
Monika: We also stopped at a nice little museum in the former barracks, where they had exhibits of soldiers in the uniforms through the centuries. |
Bob: Hopping back on the next HoHo bus, we enjoyed the ride back down the mountain and into the city near the Basilica of the Santa Maria de Victoria, where the bus circled around to head toward the center of the city. There we disembarked at the stop for the Picasso Birthplace Museum just to see what it was like. We were both pleasantly surprised that the museum cost only 1 Euro each (senior rate), and that provided us with these English-speaking commentary devices keyed to some of the exhibits. Upstairs we found a parlor equipped in the style of 1881 when Picasso was born, together with his baptismal gown and a few family mementoes. In the gallery on the same floor they displayed some of his commercial prints (but none of his paintings) and a lot of ceramics. I had not realized that around 1951 Picasso spent a year learning how to do ceramics and then spent the next few years exploring the boundaries of the medium and trying to find a way to effectively mass-produce his ceramic artwork. Who knew? But we only chanced upon the second part of the museum when we were back outside walking around the square, and that was for me much more interesting. The second half of the museum, which we found quite by accident, contained three galleries with a sequence of Picasso's lithographs from 1905 through the 1950s. I appreciated that chronological order very much because I could look at the evolution of Picasso's artistic style over the decades. I am intensely interested in how true geniuses develop their thinking over the years. To me it is astonishing how both great scientists like Gallileo, Newton, and Darwin and great artists like Picasso shift their focal point and energies over the decades. In this case, the 1905-1910 era work showed that Picasso had started out with a rather classical form of line drawing complete with recognizable figures, perspective, and so forth. But over subsequent decades he shifted into his versions of Modernism, and then Cubism, and finally into what I would call an "Abstract Somethingism" in the 1950s. Some scenes or topics were rendered in three VERY different ways. Monika and I had fun debating which of the versions we like the best, but we generally came down on the version which was least extreme, which reflects our bourgeois tendencies, I guess. |
Monika: Malaga's native son was Pablo Picasso. I knew he had lived in Barcelona, but did not know that he was born in Malaga and spent his first ten years here. Of course, the birth house is now a small museum run by the Picasso Foundation. We decided to make this our second stop. Being senior citizens, we only had to pay one Euro each to get in and have an audio guide. The museum came in two parts. Part one was the actual birthplace, were we learned about the family and Picasso's early years. They even had a recreated living room with pictures by Picasso's father who also was a painter and an art teacher and the first teacher of Pablo Picasso. They also had a gift store, where we could not resist two coffee mugs with Picasso's picture of Don Quixote. A little farther on was a small second part of the museum, included in our one Euro admission fee, with lithographs by Picasso. Again an audio guide was included, and explained in agonizing detail what we should be seeing and thinking about 9 of the lithographs. What I did enjoy, were several lithographs of the same subject done in different styles, so I could compare and contrast the different approaches. |
Bob: Hopping back on the HoHo bus, we took it around to the Cathedral stop where we hopped back off to have lunch in the shoreside park. |
Monika: There also was a Picasso Museum a couple streets farther on, but I had enough Picasso for one day and we decided to take the next bus down to the cathedral and the nice park by the waterfront. I had the foresight to bring a couple of hard boiled eggs and make a couple of sandwiches. I also picked up a can of beer and Bob had plenty of water. So our first stop was a nice shady bench in the park, where we had ourselves a picnic lunch. |
Bob: We then checked out the nearby Cathedral. We got some nice pictures of the exterior of the Cathedral, but when we found out they charged a 5 Euro admission we balked, probably because we had just enjoyed a nice museum for only 1 Euro. But later we exchanged pictures with Bill and Sandy, who had actually visited and photographed the interior of the Cathedral, so the Gentle Reader will also get the benefit of their efforts. |
Monika: After that we walked up to the Cathedral, but decided not to pay the 5 Euros to go in. However, Sandy did go in and gave us her pictures. Instead we started to wander through the old town; stopped at a couple of tourist shops and picked up two small Spanish lady's fans for the granddaughters and a spoon rest for myself. |
Bob: Afterwards, we wandered westward in the general direction of the market or mercado that we had enjoyed on our previous visit, doing some shopping along the way. Although I did not find the miniature cruise ship I was looking for (the smallest was 3 inches long), we did find little Spanish ladies' fans for our granddaughters. Once at the Mercado Atarazanas we enjoyed the sights, sounds, and smells of the old marketplace. We eschewed the fish offerings, but were sorely tempted by the fresh roasted almonds (Chris and Ruth bought some of those, I believe). We finally broke down when we found a candy vendor selling fresh licorice and bought a half a kilo to take along. By this time it was past 3 p.m., so we walked over the nearest bus stop. But not only did we have to wait a full half an hour for the Hop On Hop Off, but also when it finally arrived it zoomed past the posted stop and we had to run another block to catch up to it! Fortunately again the driver waited for us, but I was getting somewhat tired of running to catch busses. We stayed on the bus until it returned to the stop for the old port (NOT the new one where our ship was located, unfortunately!), and there we once again disembarked to walk along the beautiful shorefront park. The park has wide sidewalks with palm trees arching overhead and was a pleasant, shady way to amble back toward our ship. |
Monika: We went on until we found the mercado where we walked around, admiring the meats, vegetable, olives in beautiful glasses, and , of course, fish. But the real find was a candy stand, where you could buy candy by the pound. We picked up a pound of licorice, since the half pound we had bought in Porta Cruz was gone. Now all I needed was a grocery store for wine and beer, but the only one we found was closed for siesta since by now it was almost three. It was time to get back. We walked to the next bus stop. There we were at a quandary, since the note said, the bus stop had been moved 100 meters. But in which direction? It said "ahead", so we walked in the direction of the sign. When the bus finally came, we found out, that we had guessed wrong and again had to run to catch it at its new spot. |
Bob: Turning right at the end of the park we found a grocery store with a little photo-automat machine in the front foyer. So while Monika shopped I put in the digital key with our pictures on it and selected the ones of Jimena in her lion costume on Roman Night to print out. Monika had thought the pictures might be a nice memento for her, so we paid for the prints and wandered back to the ship. But by this time it was getting late, so I was hurrying and not paying much attention when we entered the cruise ship terminal. Everyone ahead of me was riding up the escalator so I just followed along until suddenly I realized that I was heading for the gangplank of the wrong cruise ship! Oh-oh! Turning around, I headed back to the terminal and found a guy to ask, who waved me around the escalator and on to the Atlantica. I finally got on the (correct) ship with minutes to spare, but as a result had a good story to tell the group at the dinner table that evening! I did manage to stay awake for the crew show that evening, which was an enjoyable conglomeration of songs, dances and other amusing routines from the surprisingly talented crew. Before the show they projected a video on the screen that involved an April Fool's joke carried out by the housekeeping staff. A steward with his arm full of towels stood next to a towel basket and would ask passers-by to pick up a towel on the floor and put it in the basket for him. When the victim did so, a man with a fright wig hidden under the top layer of towels in the basket would leap up and yell "Boo" or some such at the victim, usually scaring them silly. The result of that reaction was fun to watch and reminded me of the old "Candid Camera" clips. The funniest was a chunky lady with a purse who dropped the towel and started to swing her purse as a weapon at what she probably perceived to be a mugger before she realized it was all just a joke. |
Monika: By now it was about 4PM and "all aboard" was 5:30PM. This gave us enough time, to get off at the beautiful esplanade that runs the length of the waterfront and slowly walk back to the ship. It really was a very nice walk. And what made it even better was, that at the end of the street we found a supermarket that was open. I bought the wine and some sangria. This time, I had made sure to bring the bottle opener and we sat down on some stairs to decant the wine into our water bottles. This proved to be unnecessary, since the security check was in the terminal where they were only concerned about weapons, not bottles. There were two ships embarking at the terminal, the "Pearl" and the "Atlantica". I looked at the sign and saw that the Atlantica was embarking at terminal D. So I went ahead through the door and was very surprised when I did not see Bob ahead of me. I thought, wow, he really must have walked fast! When I got to our cabin, there still was no Bob. So I dropped off my things and started to go back to look for a missing husband. But he did appear at the end of the corridor. It seems, he did not read the sign and just followed a throng of people. Only when he got close to a much smaller ship, did he realize that he was about to board the wrong ship! I was just happy, that he noticed his mistake in time, since by now it was 5:15 and I just hate to have our names announced over the intercom as in "Will Mr. & Mrs. Holt please contact the reception desk!". Dinner was another loud, rambling affair. The evening show, was the crew show which had a few very nice young singers from the crew and a group dancing and Indian dance and a Tarantella. Very enjoyable! |
| Index |
| Prolog | Map of Transatlantic Cruise | Map of Drive in Ireland | Epilog |
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