Fun in the Sun: Málaga
I’m officially past the halfway point of my time in Spain, and so begins the downhill stretch! Seville is in a very festive mood, as everyone is preparing for Semana Santa (Holy Week), which starts on Sunday. Seville is a major destination for people who want to see the processions, where people who are members of Catholic hermandades (“brotherhoods”) carry religious icons through the streets of the city in grand, elaborate celebration of Jesus’ last days and resurrection on Easter Sunday. I’m in the process of making plans for this upcoming Sunday (Palm Sunday) as well as Monday, but I already have my plans set for the rest of Semana Santa! I’m going to be taking a solo trip up to the north of Spain to visit the cities of San Sebastián, Bilbao, Oviedo, and Santiago de Compostela. I’m very excited, and I think it’s going to be quite the adventure!
However, this past weekend I went on a smaller-scale adventure! I went with five other girls to the coastal city of Málaga, located in southern Andalucía to the west of Seville. It was a low-key, relaxed trip that included both sightseeing, and also plenty of time relaxing on the beach.
My friends and I left last Saturday morning on an 8AM bus to Málaga. The weather was a bit crummy (cloudy and rainy) along the way, but by the time we got to Málaga, it was very clear and sunny! We checked into our hostel, Hostal Vidamia (which was very nice!) and then set out to start exploring.
We enjoyed churros con chocolate and café con leche (of course) at a place called Casa Aranda, and then continued wandering through the downtown area to check out plazas, statues, and other historic places. One of my favorite areas included the Plaza de la Merced, where you can see the Fundación Picasso and the Casa Natal de Picasso: the house where Picasso was born back in 1881! Just south of that plaza are the ruins of a 1st-century Roman Amphitheater, as well as what remains of the Alcazaba, an 11th-century Moorish fort. The Catedral de Málaga was also impressive (Unfortunately, I think I’m becoming desensitized to beautiful cathedrals, though!) and the Plaza del Obispo opposite the Cathedral was very cute with restaurants and other beautiful buildings. We ate lunch at a restaurant called Taberna Mitjana, dinner at a place named “Noodles & Go” (which reminded me of Noodles & Co. in Missouri!), as well as dessert at Café Lepanto. Other sights we saw during the afternoon included the Hans Christian Andersen Statue (the Danish author of “The Ugly Little Duckling” and The Little Mermaid visited Málaga on a tour of Spain and spoke fondly of it, so the city dedicated a statue to him! Haha.), Teatro Cervantes, the Plaza de la Constitución and the pedestrian Calle Marqués de Larios, the Escultura Ave Quiromantica, and the Iglesia de los Santos Mártires.
Málaga is a popular tourist destination for Spaniards and other Europeans because of its beaches. It’s the largest, southernmost city in Europe, so while it’s still cold right now in other European countries, people on spring vacation who crave time at the beach have an option in Málaga. My friends and I thought it was way too cold to swim, but we really enjoyed relaxing on the beach and exploring the port and surrounding areas. We visited the Plaza de la Marina, La Farola (the lighthouse), the Puerto de Málaga (popular with shipping and cruise ships!), the Paseo de España, Muelle Uno (a touristy section of stores and restaurants along the docks), and the Playa de la Malagueta. I’m usually not too much of a “beach” person, but I had a good time, and this weekend was enough to make me want to go to the beach sometime soon. (Some friends and I are talking about going to Cádiz for a day, or somewhere else nearby so we can get our “beach” fix, haha.)
The next day, Sunday, some of us got up and went to have breakfast at a café we had passed on Saturday that advertised coffee and crêpes for only a few Euros. Then, one of the girls and I went to check out a few museums while the rest of the group went straight to the beach. We first went to the Museo del Vidrio y Cristal de Málaga (the Museum of Glass and Crystal of Málaga!) I had read a bit about this online and was definitely interested, but it ended up being such a great experience and better than I thought it could be. When we arrived, we bought our tickets, and the museum employee told us a tour was about to start, but that it would be delayed a bit so we could watch the procession happening across the street. The museum is right across a small plaza from a church that was having a procession (either as rehearsal for Semana Santa, or just as part of Lent). We went up to the second floor of the Museum and got an amazing view from one of the balconies. We watched as a band marched by, then people dressed in military-like uniforms, and then a life-size sculpture of Jesus on the cross was carried out, followed by the Virgin Mary. From what I understand, this is very similar to how it is in Seville during Semana Santa, but slightly different in some of the details and on an even larger scale. My friend and I really enjoyed the surprise festivities and I thought it was an amazing “sneak-peek” of what’s to come this next week.
The museum itself was very cool, as well. It’s a newer museum, opened in 2009, that’s set up in an 18th-century house. An Englishman and two Spaniards bought the house and opened the museum, and now they run the business, give tours, and even live in the upper rooms of the building! The museum contains 700+ pieces of glass, from cups and china, to more decorative pieces. Additionally, it has beautiful old furniture, stained-glass windows, and lovely paintings. As you move through the house, the rooms progress somewhat chronologically, and a lot of the pieces are very unique or have a cool story behind them, so it was a very fun tour and an amazing experience.
After that, my friend and I moved on to the Museo Picasso de Málaga. As I mentioned earlier in this post, Picasso was born in Málaga. He lived there off-and-on throughout his childhood and as a young adult. Donations from his relatives make up the collection, and the museum itself is housed in a Renaissance-era Mudéjar-style building. However, the emphasis is definitely placed on the artworks themselves, as the building is decorated very simply. I’m not an art expert, and I’m especially not an expert on Picasso, but I don’t think there are any particularly famous/standout pieces in the museum. However, it was great to see so many works that were new to me and experience them for the first time. Some are definitely more contemporary and have Picasso’s distinctive style with vibrant colors and “mixed up” images, while others were more “traditional” in their design. The rooms were organized by some of his “periods” and styles, and also included some of his works of sculpture, which I wasn’t really familiar with until this visit. I really enjoyed it overall. Pictures definitely weren’t allowed, but here are some images of the pieces I really enjoyed that I stole from elsewhere on the Internet:
After finishing up at the museum, my friend and I met up with the rest of our group, then we all went to have lunch. One of the girls and I were incredibly excited to discover that Málaga is home to one of Spain’s limited number of Taco Bell locations. So, of course, we had to go. I know I should be eating classier foods, but it was a mixture of homesickness, and also curiosity about how the Spanish menu would be different that made me want to go. The wait was long (it seemed to be popular with tourists and locals alike!) but in the end it was worth it. Not all of the menu items are the same, and they certainly don’t sell any of the fancy, new “breakfast items” I’ve been hearing about. However, they do sell French fries (really) and they even sell beer (again, really.)
After lunch, we did a bit more exploring before returning to the beach to relax a bit more. When it was time to go, some of the group and I took a train back to Seville, while the rest of the group had made an arrangement through the car-sharing service BlaBlaCar (a website that connects people trying to get to the same places via car.) It seems like an interesting service, and I’ve heard good things about how well it’s run (as well as the prices, sometimes way cheaper than busses or trains), but the idea does make me a bit nervous, as you’re riding with a total stranger, so I opted out this past weekend.
Overall, the weekend in Málaga as a very nice getaway. It was way more relaxing than some of the other trips I’ve taken, as plenty of downtime was allotted, and there weren’t (in my opinion) too many things to stress about trying to see. However, I still got to check out some museums and cultural sites, which gave the trip the best of both worlds. It’s getting to be tourist season throughout Spain, as the weather is getting warmer, so it was fun to see so many other foreigners. I think Málaga is also just generally a popular destination, so things are especially designed well for people stopping off on a cruise or visiting for the weekend to go to the beach. It was just what the doctor ordered, and helped me feel more energized this past week.
Things in general are going well here! My CIEE psychology class ends in a few weeks, so then I’ll only have my direct-enrollment classes at the University of Seville to worry about. I’m in the process of planning several trips at the moment, including destinations like Barcelona, Granada, Valencia, and more. I’m finally starting to really feel some homesickness, and while Facebook and other social media sites are great for keeping in touch, they also provide constant reminders as to how far away and disconnected from everything I am. However, there are plenty of things to see and do, so I should hopefully have enough distractions to hold me over until the end of the semester!
¡Que disfrute la Semana Santa!
kelseygoestospain 