The day began early, a little after the sun had risen and we
saw the rugged land scape of the Andalusian Mountains on the coast of Spain, or
at least I think that’s what they were.
Either way they are breathtaking whatever their name.
I was at the morning walk by 8:45am and Gustav, the
instructor from Argentina was our leader once again. He really is just too
adorable for words. He kept us hopping, leaping, bending, skipping, stretching
as well as just walking and our group of about 10 kept pretty good pace with
him. Well not me, who lagged behind at times because I was busy watching for
the dolphins he said would show themselves because the sea was so smooth today.
Alas, I saw no dolphins but I have high hopes for tomorrows walk.
Mom decided she didn’t feel like a walk and met me for
breakfast at 9:00am. We ate with a fun
couple from Torino, Italy. The man is a
mechanic for Fiat and the women, his girlfriend of four years, who is retired
and originally from San Giovanni Rotondo where Padre Pio is from. The town is
not far from where my family’s home town is so she knew Avellino well. And she gave me goose bumps when she told us
her grandfather used to drive Padre Pio around, I guess when he had to go
village to village and she also met Padre Pio when she was very young and saw
the stigmata. You could tell this was a
great memory for her she was simply beaming and her boyfriend who is very funny
also took pleasure in recounting the story.
So these two met 4 years ago, she is a widow and he separated from his
wife who sadly has been very ill since she gave birth to their daughter over 40
years ago and unable to function from what he said and lives in a rest home of
some kind. Anyway, we had a really nice time chatting with them and then I had
to run off to water aerobics with Gustav at 10:30am and mom continued talking
with the Italian lady.
Gustav gave a great class and even more adorable in a
bathing suit. Really, just too, too adorable and married which makes sense
because it would be unnatural for some women not to have snagged him by now.
I bopped up to the spa to do have a little sauna/Turkish
steam/whirlpool time and watched as we pulled into port.
Mom did her thing around the boat. And at noon we had lunch,
small and mostly veggies since we’d just eaten at 9:00am and then off we went
to explore the city. We took the 6.00 euro bus to the center of town, passing
through a youth protest, probably about college fees and observed the most
passionate crossing guard as he tried to control traffic and pedestrians during
the protesters march up the main street. He was hysterically and even had to
chastise a tourist for trying to cross against the light and block the flow of
traffic. It’s nice to see someone perform their job with such zeal.
The first sight we came to in town was the Roman Theatre of
Alcazabilla which is at the foot of the Fortress built in the time of Augusto
and it was in operation until 3 A.D. We didn’t climb up to the top but even
from the bottom the Fortress is impressive and has a commanding presence over
the town.
Malaga is breathtaking with its sandy beaches and beautiful
white buildings surrounded by mountains and hills of various heights. The
people are also so friendly and after walking through town and stopping at the Picasso
Museum for just a quick walk through the book store as we only had a few hours
in town and not enough to do the museum we continued on to the main pedestrian
walking street. Pablo Ruiz Picasso was
born here and they even have a have a Picasso Foundation Birth House Museum.
We walked a bit more to the Cathedral of the Incarnation
which is massive structure built between the 16th, 17th
and 18th centuries, on the grounds of the once Greater Mosque of the
city during the eight centuries of Muslim dominion. Its singular aspect is the origin of its
popular name, “the Manquita” (meaning “one arm” as it is missing one of its
towers.) I found the following
information on the interenet: “The Cathedral of Málaga is a Renaissance church
in the city of Málaga in Andalusia in southern Spain. It is located within the
limits defined by a now missing portion of the medieval Moorish walls, the
remains of which surround the nearby Alcazaba and the Castle of Gibralfaro. It
was constructed between 1528 and 1782, following the plans drawn by Diego de
Siloe; its interior is also in Renaissance style. The north tower is 84 metres high, making
this building the second-highest cathedral in Andalusia, after the Giralda of
Seville. The south tower remains unfinished. A plaque at the base of the tower
states that funds raised by the parish to finish it were used instead to help
the British colonies which became the United States to gain their independence
from Great Britain. Other investigations of the parish registers deduce that
the money may have been used in the renovation of the roadway called the
"Way of Antequera" (which began in the present street Calle Martinez
Maldonado). This unfinished state has led to the Cathedral being called
"La Manquita", meaning in English, "The One-Armed Lady"
From there we walked the main shopping street which has a
mixture of designer and inexpensive shops and its perfectly well maintained and
a charming area to walk around. We came
across the Bertani café on one of the side streets and stopped into to this
tiny establishment for a snack and some coffee for mom. It turned out to be so pleasant and the
owner, was so kind that we stayed almost an hour. Mom had coffee and a Churro
and I had a beef empanada, yum! It is actually an Argentine café and the owner
is from a small town outside Buenos Aries. She moved with her daughter and
husband to Malaga about 11 months ago and opened this café and she seems to be
doing well. Mom said it’s the best coffee she’s ever had in her life. He husband is a physical trainer for a
Spanish soccer team so he travels a lot.
Her friend, Ruben Aranda came in for a visit to chat with her and he
found himself amusing us for at least a half hour. He’s a contractor/engineer
and also from Argentina. Although I was
enjoying just talking with them I knew I had to take the opportunity of her
having free wifi to check email and update the blog which I did as quickly as I
could so I could return to the conversation.
It’s so funny how you just meet great people, have incredible
conversation and then you’re gone and usually never see these people again. But
this time she gave me her card and she has a web site: www.bertanicafe.com
and she has a blog in
the “news” section of her site so I look forward to keeping up with her
success. http://noticias.bertanicafe.com
They also told showed us pictures of the Easter celebration
that takes place at Santos Martires Church down the street from the café. The
celebration is a huge affair and the actor Antonio Banderas who apparently was
raised in Malaga nearby and comes here each year (he owns a home here) and
takes part in the celebration and even helps carry the crucifix in the
procession. Information about the
celebration from the internet: “The soul of a city is especially apparent in
its festivities, and Holy Week, the most baroque, most typically Andalusian
celebration of all, sees Malaga become an enormous stage upon which its entire
populace comes together to remember the Passion of Christ. In the candlelight,
amidst the gleam of gold and silver and the aroma of incense and orange
blossom, the huge processional ‘tronos’, veritable moving altarpieces, paint a
truly unforgettable picture.”
We didn’t have much time left so we decided to head back to
the marina and spend a little time on the beach before boarding the ship. It
was a beautiful walk along the waterfront in a park densely populated with palm
trees and various other foliage. We spent
a little time at the beach walking in
the water and collection a few shells and stones. We even saw four parrots in a
palm tree munching their way through the nuts that were growing at the top. I tried to get pictures but the birds refused
to cooperate, oh, well.
The walk back to the ship was about 10 minutes along a large
promenade where they have a complimentary access to gym equipment. I’d never
seen anything like it; they have outdoor versions of the step climber and the cross
country skiing machines. I was going to
try one but two young girls were playing on it as you can see from the picture.
The Malaga Lighthouse, popularly known as "La
Farola", together with the La Farola of Mar de Santa Cruz de Tenerife, are
the only lighthouses in Spain with a feminine name and is the work of the
engineer Pery y Guzman. Its construction
was completed in 1817, being located at that time at the entrance to the Malaga
Port. It stands 38 metres above the sea
and its light theoretically reaches as far as 25 miles, with 3+1 flashes every
20 seconds. The earthquake that took
place in the city in 1898 left the lighthouse mechanisms inoperative, which
were subsequently reformed in 1913.
During the civil war, on the 28th of August of 1936, La Farola was turned
off by order of the Commander of the Navy, as its silhouette served as a
reference point for the rebel army's naval artillery and airforce. The Central Committee of the Republican Fleet
ordered that i be painted earth colors, with dark and light patches by way of
camouflage. Despite this, it suffered
serious damage, and therefore had to be rebuilt in 1939 with the shape it is
known for today, painted in white.
We came to an amazing sculpture of a dove with a hand for peace. So beautiful. It's by A Rafael Perez Estrada (1935 - 2000) called Ave Quiromantica.
On the final approach to the ship we watched these two
20-something girls walking along the bottom part of the causeway in a
restricted area. We, along with all the other passengers heading toward the bus
watched as well as the girls hit a fence that wouldn’t let them get close to
the entrance to gain access to the boat so instead of just walking the 5
minutes back to the main entrance and to the upper level of the causeway they
decided to climb the rock wall and pull themselves over to where we were. It
was comical at first but then we were all getting so nervous they would fall
and really hurt themselves. The first girl made it up but the second just hung
there for a few minutes and then tried again. Finally some sense came to her
and she started the walk back. The things we do when we’re young that you
wouldn’t even contemplate over 40.
It was a really wonderful day and Malaga is truly worth
visiting and this time of year the weather is perfect not too hot and a
pleasant breeze. Although I found the water a bit chilly people were out there
swimming and as you can see from this picture they also found it rather
peaceful since he looks like he’s taking a nap.
Dinner was exceptional, not because of the food but because
we had several dolphin sightings, some only feet away from the boat and since
our table is right in the back near the large windows we had a perfect view.
There were even baby dolphins leaping in and out of the water, we were all so
excited especially Elizabeth who it was clearly one of the highlights of the
cruise so far. I tried to get a picture but they were just too quick. You can
kind of see the fin of one of them in this picture but you really have to
squint to make it out.
Brief history of Malaga, Costa del Sol, Andalucia
August 9th, 2010
Malaga is the Capital of the Costa del Sol and sits within
the autonomous region of Andalucia. With a population of 568,305 in 2009,
Malaga is the second most populated city within Andalucia and the sixth largest
in Spain. Enjoying the warmest winters in Europe, with averge temperatures of
17.2C during the months of December to February. With a strong maritime
influence from the Mediterranean and protected by the Montes de Malaga, which
act as a barrier against weather systems from the North. It is not hard to
understand why Malaga is one of Spain’s foremost tourist destinations. 
Brief History of Malaga, Spain from the internet:
Malaga is the Capital of the Costa del Sol and sits within
the autonomous region of Andalucia. With a population of 568,305 in 2009,
Malaga is the second most populated city within Andalucia and the sixth largest
in Spain. Enjoying the warmest winters in Europe, with averge temperatures of
17.2C during the months of December to February. With a strong maritime
influence from the Mediterranean and protected by the Montes de Malaga, which
act as a barrier against weather systems from the North. It is not hard to
understand why Malaga is one of Spain’s foremost tourist destinations – Video
of Malaga. 
Malaga is one of the oldest cities in the World with close
to three thousand years of history. The Phoenicians originally founded a
commercial center here in early 7C BC, which they named Malaca. The name is most
probably derived from the word Malac – to salt.
The Greeks and Carthaginians were briefly present and further
established Malaca as a trading post. In 3C BC the Romans conquered the city
and a created a colony that was federated to Rome until AD81, whereupon it
attained the status of a Roman municipality. The city was renamed Flavia
Malacita and quickly grew in importance, with the port used to export oil,
raisins, wine and salted fish and meat. Malaga’s port and the Roman
amphitheatre were constructed during this time.