Postcardfromjeanne: Missing Málaga

Hi everyone!

I've been traveling again.I went to Spain. And came home. So I suppose this blog should be called "Post-tripPostcard from Jeanne". I traveled with Margaret, a friend from Great Barrington. We were inspired by the fact that we needed to use a couple of plane tickets before July. So we stared at the map of Aer Lingus routes and settled on Málaga. Southern Spain seemed a really good way to recover from a Berkshire winter. Which in fact it was!

Our port of entry was Málaga. There is a local dessert wine there called "Málaga dulce" - Málaga sweet. That's how I feel about the whole city.

One of my favorite pedestrian paths - on the port with plenty of cafés.

It's a port on the Mediterranean, small and pedestrian friendly.

The white structure above is called the Pérgola. At right is a close- up of the ribs. Notice the ferris wheel in the distance.

But one does not need the ferris wheel to get a bird's eye view here. They have the Alcazaba, an Arab fortress dating back to the early 11th century. It sits high above the city. Hamuddid dynasty builders re-used Roman columns that were lying around on the hilltop to construct one of the gates of the outer citadel (there is also an inner citadel). After the Reconquista, the Christian monarchs re-named that gateway the Torre de Cristo - The Tower of Christ. What a wonderful hodge-podge of cultures is this part of Spain!

It was a very long way up.

But a great view from the top. Check out the colored glass cube, which will show up again in a later post.

Margaret at the very top.

View of the Plaza de Toros and the Mediterranean from the Alcazaba.

One sees such interesting things walking around this very walkable city. I loved peeking into courtyards. They looked like islands of cool tranquillity.

Below another pedestrian street musically enhanced by a guitarist.

In many areas we smelled the fragrance of orange blossoms. Seville orange trees lined the streets and scented the parks.

The fruit is supposed to be very tart. Too tart to eat. Only good for marmalade, they say. However, Margaret and I found some very ripe ones and they were juicy and good. Of course, we were very thirsty and walking in the hot sun at the time.

We saw large recycling bins in the streets, as in most of Europe. But I didn't know that they also had them for your organic waste. I love the idea of urban, public composting. I'm guessing they don't need to worry about bears messing it up as we do.