As some of you may have picked up on, the first week of December often contains a long weekend for all of Spain, with Constitution Day on the 6th and the Immaculate Conception on the 8th. For the past couple of these “puentes” or long weekends, that I have been here for, I have traveled to Athens, Lisbon, and Palma de Mallorca, so let’s just say that they have been well spent, and this one was no exception, as I traveled with a friend to the southern city of Málaga.
Málaga is at almost the southern-most point of Spain (besides Cádiz) and is right on the water while facing Africa to the south. It was a good choice for the month of December because it was still warm (60s!) and had lots to do, including many museums and a nice port area that has restaurants and a Christmas market.
We started our first day with a walk down the main pedestrian street to the Alcazaba, which was an old Moorish fortress built into the hill that leads up to the castle. It was beautifully intricate, like the Alhambra of Granada, and had nice views of the city and water.
Then we continued on to the cathedral, which was quite grand considering that no one ever mentions it when they talk about Málaga. After a quick tour, we went to the Museo de Málaga, which had an impressive collection of Spanish impressionist art, including a series of portraits of the sunset on the sea.
Now, we when think of Málaga, most people immediately think of Picasso, and with good reason–he was born and grew up in Málaga, so of course there are museums and statues in homage to him. First we went to the Casa Natal de Picasso–the house where he was born, which is now a small museum with information and artifacts from his early life. Did you know his father was also an artist? I sure didn’t until I visited there. In the plaza in front of his old house, there is a statue of him sitting on a bench, so of course we had to take some photos.
Málaga’s delightful port area also made for a pretty walk at sunset, with views of the Mediterranean and also, when you walk far enough, of Málaga’s main beach, la playa Malagueta. Check out these views.
The next day we started out with a visit to the Picasso museum, which holds an impressive collection of his work, and also featured an exhibition on women artists in surrealism. This held the biggest surprise for me, as it contained TWO works by Frida Kahlo, which I hadn’t known were there!
We then caught a bus up to the castle and spent the better part of an hour walking along the old castle walls, partaking in dazzling views in every direction. After catching the bus
back down, we swung by the Málaga branch of the Carmen Thyssen museum (there is
also a Thyssen museum in Madrid) which had a very nice collection of art and
similar to the one in Madrid.
Along with the museum art, Málaga also is home to a street full of beautiful graffiti, Calle Lagunillas, and also some famous Christmas lights that have been making the rounds on social media, featured on Calle Lários. They made for a beautiful impression of the city.
Another thing that Málaga is known for are their many teteriás, or tea houses. Although not as quiet as one would expect them to be (Spanish people are loud!) there were number of cool locales to sample teas from around the world. We went to two different teterías while we were there.
Although our time and Málaga had finished, we could have easily spent another day seeing the less important museums, such as the Jorge Rando Museum, filled with works by this artist; the glass museum; the modern art museum; and quite a few others, not to mention visiting the teterías we didn’t have a chance to try.
Málaga could easily be called the unknown gem of Andalusia: surrounded by tourist-heavy cities such as Granada, Córdoba, Cádiz, and Gibraltar, many people skip over this beautiful city in favor of other destinations, but it is definitely worth the visit!
