Destination: Málaga

Back in Málaga again, and still finding plenty to experience in this Costa del Sol city known for being the birthplace of Pablo Picasso and Antonio Bandera...   

Malaka may have been founded by the Pheonicians, but centuries of invasions and name changes left its mark on modern day Málaga. Architectural clues mark the history of Roman, Visigoths, Byzantine, Muslim Arabic reign over the port city found today.

As in years prior, carnival once again overlapped perfectly with our President's Day holiday weekend allowing the opportunity to see how various regions of these Catholic countries celebrate the last days before Lent. Still making up for the time lost between 1937 and 1977 when the people of Málaga kept their costumes packed away and refrained from meeting to practice and enjoy the carnival tunes together on account of the strictly enforced prohibition issued by Franco resulted in loud early hours of the morning for us sleeping Americans. However, the early hours of the morning (like 0900), while the party animals slept the morning away, we explored the sun coming up over the near empty streets.

We didn't get too far until the smell of baked goods beckoned us into a panadería for desayuno in an upstairs window peering out over the street. Convinced by the steady flow of locals pushing their carts to the market and re-emerging filled with fresh produce we opted to take a lap through the market. As in hundreds of other Saturday markets occurring at the same time, vendors sat in their stalls displaying produce, olives, eggs, meat, fish for the shoppers doing their daily shopping.

Fortified with jamon y queso the meandering walk through winding calles lead us the Alcazaba, the old Muslim palace built between the 8th and 11th centuries. Standing on a hill within the city it originally defended the city from the invasion of pirates. Like most of these Islamic fortresses in Andalucía this Alcazaba has a quadrangular plan protected by an outer and inner wall, both supported by rectangular towers. Exploring the pathways, gardens with chirping birds, and exploring the different rooms transported me back to a time before cars, electricity, and the daily fear of invasion was common.

At the base of the hill, I was little more impressed with the "old stuff" coming out from the hill, as it was a 1st century BC Roman theater that was re-discovered in 1951. I'm telling you if it's not thousands of years old I'm just not impressed...Italy totally ruined me! However, as the herds of tourists started to invade on our empty attraction sites we decided it was time to hit the road.

Next stop? Another Roman Theater but WAY up the coast in Cartagena!