Image by palmamod via Flickr
We left Granada (after stopping in Sevilla, Corboba and Jaen) and headed toward Malaga. Malaga is the capital of the province by the same name, and was our only planned stop by the sea, which Gioia was particularly looking forward to.
Unlike the previous drives so far in the trip, we decided to avoid the main roads and motorways and headed toward the mountains and the Zafarraya pass. On the way there we stopped by the stunning Embalse Los Bermejales, a reservoir just by Arenas del Rey, a small town in the south-western corner of the Granada province.
We stopped after a short continuation on our journey and had some tapas for lunch in the main square in Alhama de Granada, a spa town 50km from Granada. Historically it played an important strategic role for the Moors as it was on the main route between Malaga and Granada, overlooking the connection between the Spanish territories and the main port connecting the African homelands.
We proceded towards the Zafarraya pass and took the downhill road towards Velez-Malaga, then returning on the motorway along the seaside towards Malaga.
Malaga
We arrived in Malaga on Thurdsay in the early afternoon, and stopped briefly at the Hostel, Villa Alicia. The weather forecast suggested we were by far better off running at the beach as quickly as possible to make the most of the April sunshine, given the following day was supposed to be raining. So we headed to Pedregalejo, the main beach within the city, and just relaxed under the sunshine. We had a fantastic dinner at one of the many bars on the paseo del Pedregal, and just had a nice walk down the beach before heading back for a nice rest.
Needless to say, the following day was indeed raining. We took our time and decided to visit Picasso’s birthplace and the Museo Picasso. It was interesting to see how the Picasso Foundation described Picasso’s early years in Malaga, when he actually left for Madrid and never quite wanted to go back to his home town.
We stopped for lunch at El Pimpi, one of the best known bodega-bar in town, full of celebrity pictures on the wall. We weren’t overly impressed, however, and headed back to the hostel to (of course) check on the Royal Wedding. The rest of the afternoon and evening was spent lazying around, going out again in the centre of town and generally relaxing.
Overall, we can’t really say we liked or disliked the city, we probably spent too little time there and the weather didn’t help. After less than 48 hours, in fact, we were back on the move and headed back to Sevilla.
