Nerja . . . and farewell to Spain

Dec 3

We’ve been in Spain for nearly two weeks now.  I can’t say it’s grabbed hold of me the way that England and Scotland did . . . but we’ve enjoyed the time here in the sunshine and soaking up the sounds of Spanish all around us.  I said to Glen the other day that it still takes me completely by surprise when people open their mouths and Spanish comes out instead of English.  Especially the children for some reason!

Cute little garbage cans on the street corners of Malaga.
It seems that when you take your garbage out, you take it
straight to one of three containers like these - they are different
colours based on recyclables, organic and junk.  Only the green
ones seem to have faces!

Plenty of amazing street artists throughout the town.
I often have to look twice as they seem like
statues.  But if you want a picture and pay them,
they usually go into some cute little routine.

Black Friday has arrived in Spain!  They don't have
Thanksgiving the day before though.

In particular, this is for my friend Carol Jones, a master quilter.
This little chair was a favourite in a breakfast place we went
to a couple of times.

One of the choices we made when we arrived was to not rent a car, due in large part to the fact that parking in the area where we are staying is outrageously expensive because of a complete lack of space.  So we’ve done a lot of walking, and have taken a couple of bus and light rail trips to other towns along the Costa del Sol.  It seems to be a very touristy area - lots of hotels and high-rises in the new parts of towns, and it’s been a challenge finding the ‘real’ places because buses and trains go where the majority of people want to go.  We did find some though!

Looked for this place twice and finally found it.  It's a wine tasting room.
Unfortunately, they don't seem too interested in serving you.  The man behind
the counter was "busy cleaning".  We took a picture and left.  I like the cage
that the cash register sits in!

Interesting shutter system on the windows.  When the
shutters are closed, they look like part of the building face.

The little plaza next door to our building.  At the left is a little restaurant,
and to the left of that is our home for two weeks.

This hilarious little bar is across the street from our apartment.  I think there
are 4 barstools inside, and these two outside.  It's almost always crowded - we
arrived at siesta time and I don't think the proprietor was impressed.

Our building - Glen's standing by the door.

We had to step over the door frame to enter.

What I’ve loved about Spain - the way they use marble for sidewalks and benches.  When they don’t use marble, they make the most incredible designs with brick, stone and small rocks.  It’s like walking on art a lot of the time.  I also love tapas - it’s such a sensible way to eat!  The food and wine has been delicious, and reasonably priced.  The restaurant servers are not particularly friendly nor do they generally look pleased to see us.  But the service has been fine.

That bowl of seafood salad in the back and a glass of wine cost about 6
dollars.  Crackers and olives included.  Absolutely yummy and completely filling.

A potato omelette with salad.  2.50 euros.  Enough for dinner.

We discovered these yummy little cookies - wish we could get them at home!

One lovely custom is that of little restaurants along the beach that bbq fish in little aluminum ‘boats’ on the beach. The fish is generally fresh every day, delicious and not at all pricey.

Sea bass and sardines cooking on the beach - delicious!

The view from our patio seat - watching lunch get cooked.

Along the cycling and walking seawall - lots of little restaurants and tapas bars.

2.50 euros.  Plenty for both of us.

We splurged on a full sea bass - BEST fish I've eaten in a long time and the
most expensive meal we had in Malaga at 19 euros

We spent a lot of our time in Malaga just walking around and exploring the fun little shops and tapas bars.  They have a lovely seawall walk that stretches for 7 km, so we walked a good deal of it one day, and rented bicycles another day and went a little further.  It’s a lovely little town, and although the newer part could be many places in the modern world, the old town is a real treat to stay in.

Pretty seawall about 7 km outside Malaga

Close to the end of the seawall.

Beautiful cactus

Found this massive villa at the end of our ride.  Nice spot - quite secluded.

All along the seawall are these 'gym' areas where you can go work out oceanside
for free.  

Our second-to-last day in the area, we took a local bus to a town called Nerja up the coast a bit.  The shoreline there is a bit rocky - if I remember correctly from grade 9 geography, I think this is called conglomerate rock.  There is a cave here, but we saw one in Gibraltar, so didn’t make the trek.  This town seems to be famous for it’s ‘balcony on the world’ - a huge outcropping of rock that they’ve essentially built a huge walking patio on, with a restaurant down below.  Very picturesque little village.  There seemed to be an abundance of English being spoken, so I think there may be a large expat community there.  We did some shopping in the picturesque little lanes, and actually found wedding gifts for some of the special people in our life who are tying the knot New Year’s Eve and next August.

Ramp down from the balcony of Europe.  Absolutely stunning rock work

This rock is so weird.  It looks like you could walk over and pick out a few
pebbles, but not so!  I didn't get a really good shot of how big it is.

Interesting tree.  It must grow this way naturally because
it's on the side of a cliff.  I can't imagine anyone going out
to try and trim it this way.

We had a beverage at the restaurant - with the ever-present olives.  Yum!  

The sidewalk/ramp from above.  

Glen is not happy about this 'mini' beer.  Restaurants in touristy places seem
to charge way more for way less.  Oh well, we only had one.

Seen in one of the shops.  I didn't buy them!

Would I come back here?  Yes, but I’d probably try to stay in a smaller town next time so we could have a car and do more exploring.  The time in Malaga has been wonderful and I’m glad we didn’t miss it.  The weather was kind of like spring in Vancouver - not too hot and not too cold.  The locals all are dressed in winter coats and scarves, so it’s easy to pick out the tourists who are all in short sleeve t-shirts and sandals!

Sculpture in one of the plazas in old town Malaga.  Interesting to look at
from many different angles.

This group of schoolchildren were running around the lanes giving out
free hugs to everyone today!  Loved to see all the smiles on everyones faces.

The entry hall to our apartment building.  Marble everything.
No elevator - we had to lug the suitcases up the stairs.  Fortunately
we were on the first floor!

Inside our apartment.  The patio is outside to the right.

Our patio.  The barred window belongs to the neighbour's apartment.  There are
also windows from second floor apartments looking out onto this.  Kind of odd.
We heard lots of conversations and music, but I have no idea what they were about!

Today is our last day in Malaga, tomorrow we fly to Barcelona where we’ll stay overnight and fly out to Bali on Dec 5.  Hard to believe we’re almost at Christmas!  I’m glad we were here to see all the fabulous decorating this little town does - so pretty.