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<\/a>Here Comes the Sun – on sale this week!<\/p><\/div>\n
My Spanish isn\u2019t that good, but I do know that Costa del Sol<\/strong>, which is the area we\u2019re going to, means something like \u2018sunny coast\u2019, but we are greeted in Malaga (pronounced MAL-a-ga) by a rainstorm.\u00a0 But it\u2019s a light shower that goes away shortly after we get there, so we decide to stretch our legs and go for a walk down to the marina, as Malaga sits on the Mediterranean Sea.\u00a0 It is a Sunday with lots of people out strolling, but very few shops are open.\u00a0 The marina holds one particular boat that gets our attention, named Here Comes the Sun<\/em><\/strong> after the Beatles song, written by George Harrison; it\u2019s simply spectacular AND we discovered that it\u2019s for sale \u2013 only $195,000,000!<\/p>\n Coast line of Malaga<\/p><\/div>\n We’re back at our hotel by 5:00 to meet up with our guide and the 10 other people, some from the U.S. some from other parts of the world, who will be joining us on the rest of our journey.\u00a0 At our meeting we enjoy several tapas dishes and some beer, wine or sangria as our guide, Daniel<\/strong>, who is very entertaining, introduces himself and goes through the travel agenda and some rules for the group.\u00a0 The first rule he mentions is, we are not<\/em><\/strong> going to be on \u2018Spanish time\u2019, which is, if you\u2019re supposed to be somewhere at 7:00, you can show up at 7:30 and not be \u2018late\u2019, and you can even show up at 7:45 and you\u2019re still \u2018on time\u2019.\u00a0 He says we\u2019re going to be more like Germans on this tour, SHOW UP ON TIME, or you will be left behind!<\/p>\n After our \u2018Meet and Greet\u2019, we head across the \u2018No River\u2019 \u2013 that\u2019s not the real name, but rather what our guide called it, because there is very seldom any water in it \u2013 to a hotel that has a rooftop bar 10 stories up.\u00a0 And so we get an excellent view of the city and harbor as we have a nightcap or two, share some stories and watch the sun go down.\u00a0 A great ending to what started out as a rainy day.<\/p>\n One of Picasso’s last paintings<\/p><\/div>\n Monday morning, we met our \u2018local guide\u2019, a delightful, well-informed woman named Lourde<\/strong>s, who knows her way through the narrow, maze-like streets of this city like the back of her hand, while pointing out historical and other interesting sites, with a great sense of humor.\u00a0 Our first stop was a giant food market – it’s fairly quiet because it was Sunday and fishermen do not work on Sunday, but the market was still full of all kinds of fruits, vegetables and meats (mostly pig) and we had a chance to taste some delicious olives and nuts as well as watching a carving craftsman cut razor-thin slices of pork and package them for sale.\u00a0 We also got to see the special carriages created for Holy Week, one holding the Virgin Mary and the other holding the coffin of Jesus.\u00a0 The city\u2019s architecture reflects the interesting history of Andaluc\u00eda with its influence of Roman, Arabic and Catholic culture.\u00a0 The food here is different and amazing; we usually ate small plates of a variety of food \u2013 tapas.\u00a0 Yes, there were times when I hankered for a nice steak or some good pasta, but the food was amazing.<\/p>\n Our afternoon tour was highlighted by the Picasso Museum<\/strong>; as famous, Spanish painter Pablo Picasso was born in Malaga. Our tour guide, Lourdes, was an expert on Picasso\u2019s life and art, so the museum really came alive for us with her as our guide.\u00a0 We finished the evening with another creative, tapas dinner and then at another rooftop bar, just across the river from our hotel, where stories of the days\u2019 activities were shared.<\/p>\n All white Frigiliana<\/p><\/div>\n The next morning, after breakfast, we were on a bus for a day-trip to Frigiliana and Nerja.\u00a0 Frigiliana<\/strong> is one of the most beautiful \u2018white villages\u2019 of Andalusia; no it\u2019s not made up of only white people, but rather every building in this village overlooking the Mediterranean, is painted white as it gets quite hot here and the white color helps deflect the sun\u2019s heat. \u00a0We see homes and shops stacked together on this hillside as we walk through the narrow cobblestone streets of this picturesque village.<\/p>\n Nerja caves<\/p><\/div>\n Our next stop on this day-trip is the town of Nerja<\/strong>, while this city is called the \u2018Balcony of Europe, as it sits on a cliff with a spectacular view of the Mediterranean, the main attraction in the town are the caves.\u00a0 Huge caves that now have stairs in them so that you can go down several hundred feet, but the ceilings are high, in fact this is the home to the world\u2019s largest stalactites.\u00a0 Awesome!! \u00a0I\u2019ll insert a photo here, but I\u2019m sure it won\u2019t do the place justice.<\/p>\n Back to Malaga for our last dinner in town on our own, then get lost in the maze that is Malaga on our way home.\u00a0 But we made it.\u00a0 Malaga has moved into contention as one of my favorite cities in the world.\u00a0 Great food, great wine, great people!<\/p>\n More to come after Memorial Day week<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Bob Sparrow My Spanish isn\u2019t that good, but I do know that Costa del Sol, which is the area we\u2019re going to, means something like \u2018sunny coast\u2019, but we are greeted in Malaga (pronounced MAL-a-ga) by a rainstorm.\u00a0 But … read more![\"\"](\"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Malaga-1.jpg\")
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