Malaga, pennies and shooters!

We arrived in Malaga on the high speed train from Madrid. Booking right on line with renfe.es is the way to go. We followed instructions from the website www.seat61.com and they have awesome tips. Go through the reservation process in spanish, and then only at the end switch to english, you´ll get 50% cheaper seats! We ended up booking a seat in first class that was cheaper than the tourist class on the english version of the site!

Anyways, the trip was super quick, as the train reached speeds of 300km\hr, which we found to be rather amazing, considering train service is so extremely limited in Canada. On board it, food and all beverages were included. It was like a short flight. The lunch was awesome, whole wheat rolls with a serving of salad, jambon, and blue cheese and mozzarella drizzled with almond slices! To top it off you got a small bottle of olive oil to drizzle it all with. The seats were super roomy and comfortable. It was a treat!

Train Ride to Malaga

We arrived in Malaga and found our way to the hostel. Malaga is similar to Dublin in that there is no metro system, but as there are 550,000 people here, they have an excellent bus system. The hostel is quite nice, but a little cramped. The Hostel is moving at the end of the month into a completly new building, even closer to the beach! I would reccommend this one, I can´t imagine how nice the next one will be! When we arrived we were greeted by George to owner who showed us around, gave us some water and then proceeded to give us a lot of suggestions on where to go...all in French. He treated us to an apparatif while he was making a yummy chicken and potatoe roast while drinking red wine. Not a bad life...

Moorish Castle

The first day we walked around the city, for many hours taking in the sites. We spent a lot of time walking around the old Muslim castle, known as the Gibralfaro, which sits on a ridge that overlooks the city of Malaga. At the bottom of this ridge is the Alcazaba, the younger Muslim palace-fortress. A long rampart connecting the two castles. The Alcazaba was constructed in 1057. The buildings are actually in excellent condition and have been maintained very well. We were some of the few people who were there on the day, so it seemed as though we had the entire fortress to ourselves! The Alcazba was lined with orange trees, Chad tried to get us one but when he reached it it turned to goopy mush in his hands.

The city also has many colorful flowers and trees throughout. It is so relaxing to walk along palm tree lined streets that are filled with purple, white, lavandar and red flowers.

On the walk up to the old moorish ruins/ castle

At night we ended up cruising a few tapas bars while we waited anxiously for it to be late enough to actually eat at a restaurant. We had heard about a great place to go, which in the end was actually only a small hole-in-the wall, with few limited choices of over priced food. Of course, you really don´t know that the food isn´t good until you´re done and have finished paying for it before you fully feel ripped off. Oh well! The end of the night we tried to do some more night touring. We managed to get in a few sights before we had to turn back as we were still wearing our beach clothes. Who would have thought that now 20deg C would seem cold to us!??!

Night walk

Back at the hostel George, the owner, taught us how to play a penny drinking game, where the looser ends up buying a round of shots for all the others who are playing the game. Sometimes you ´loose´, but when you´re playing a game like this, you´re always winning as the shots keep coming!

George making shots after the penny drinking game

Our last day in Malaga, we toured around the Picaso Museum, where this time they were sneaky enough to actually take our camera from us at the coat check and X-rayed Ewa´s bag. I think our stuff will be fully radioactive by the end of the trip the number of times we´re getting nuked. Even travelling by train you have to go through security and a metal detector, we think due to the bombings that happened a few years ago. By the way, in my opinion (Chad), Picaso creates ´art´ that appears to be completed by a five year old, with epilepsy. I am sure there are those who appreciate it, and I can understand he issued in a new era of art, but seriously.

A side street in Malaga

The end of the day was spent blogging, uploading photos on another super slow computer and then back to the hostel. The plan was to read, relax and cook our own supper. However, we ended up meeting some new friends and spent the night socializing and debating many life topics. The night continued into the wee hours of the morning, and we hopped from one bar to the next as they shutdown and kicked us out. The end of the night saw Chad forget his jacket, pockets filled with goodies (camera, our wine opener various other things) at the bar. The next day, although we tried to find it, the shop was closed and we had no luck getting our stuff. Off to catch our bus for Tarifa & our scuba diving adventure!

Malaga, pennies and shooters!

Malaga, Spain