I heard music, so walked into a concert at the courtyard of Museo de Málaga, a neoclassic building.
I didn't know it was free, but one empolyee asked if I'd like to sit down, and showed me an empty seat. I'm relieved to sit down because I was carrying all my belongs (not much).
Banda Municipal seems to play here regularly. Popular and classical tunes. It made me like Malaga instantly.
Since I am already here at the museum, decided to check it out.
Put my bag into a locker. €1.5 for non-Europeans. Excellent value.
It has everything: archeology, painting, modern art.
Everything in both Spanish and English.
I'm especially interested in learning there're magalith tombs in southern Spain too.
After checking in to my hotel, I walked by the Roman Theatre at the foot of the Alcazaba.
There are stairs to go up for a view of the city.
But no way to access the Alcazaba from the top of the theatre.
All behind the wall.
Both Alcazaba and the Castillo are free on Sundays.
Very busy in Alcazaba.
The reconstructed wall is easy to walk on and by.
A couple of well attended small gardens.
Only one building with a nice Moorish ceiling and one reflection pool.
But enough nook and crannies to keep you occupied.
Good view of the harbor below.
From here, you can see the Castle behind, which you cannot go through.
Have to exit the Alcazaba from the front, and walk around under these walls to get there. A bit of a walk.
No wonder, not many people go to the castillo.
The Castillo de Gibralfaro is higher, so much better view.
But more empty, feels more military. Many walls to walk around.
Stone laid courtyard with nothing in them.
I feel that this should be called the alcazaba.
A small exhibition room (I no longer remember what else is in there) has a relief, which provided me a better understanding of where everything is.
Too bad that the setting sun is blinding the harbor view.
Afterwards, I found a trail getting down due south to the beach, instead of backtracing my original step.
The trail turned strange and rough at some point, going by some residential buildings and garbage dumps.
The beach is blackish, not very pretty, empty (which I like).
Walked the beach front road to the harbor.
It was very lively.
There's Pompidou Center! (I didn't go in.)
A lot of people, booths, restaurants and shops in multiple levels.
A few large yarches who can take you for a cruise.
I didn't see many boats.
Walked back to hotel, passing the Picasso House.
A line outside waiting.
There's another Picasso Museum in the town somewhere else. I didn't bother with either.
After dinner, I walked to Santuario de la Victoria. Google said it closes at 9pm, but when I arrived around 8:45, the guy was eager to close the gate. So I wasn't able to check out its rocco chapel.
Did my 2nd Covid test. It took awhile for the "positive" line to show up, faint though.
12/5, Monday. First (and the only) visit today is the cathedral. Nice ceiling (more Baroque, not Moorish at all), stained glass windows, wooden choir. Again, I was given a QR code to scan for the guide, but no WiFi is offered.
My last day in town. Shopping for souveniors to take home, and also shop for dinner.
Walking to the outskirt of the town for big box stores.
On the way, walked by nice cafes, modern buildings, and a Starbucks!
So many different seafood. Saw such giant "langoustine". Bought 3, and a bag of conch.
My hotel is a studio, so it has a kitchen.
Salad with jambon Iberico, papaya. Boiled giant pawns and conch.
Croissant and bread, beer. Didn't buy another bottle of wine since the sherry.
It rained this evening. Nice.
12/6, Tuesday.
My flight home is at noon. It gave me ample time.
Took a train to the airport. It's very convenient.
Saw this faucet in the airport. Fancy: wash on one side, and dry on the other.
Summary: I really like southern Spain. The two large cities Valencia and Málaga are very liveable, plenty culture activities, each has a few universities, with easy airport acccess. Málaga has more English presense (more expatriates from US and UK). Valencia has to deal with its own language (a dialect of Catalán). Valencia is slightly cheaper. All southern spain is very inexpensive: ~1/3 of Seattle. Being on the coast, hopefully not too hot in summer. I can see myself retiring here :)
