Thursday, March 02, 2017

Enjoyable Malaga

Malaga only got added to the itinerary because of Carnival. Unlike the more popular Carnival destination Cadiz, Malaga was on-the-way and still had rooms available. Carnival in Malaga was festive but underwhelming, especially for recent correfoc converts; however, compared to what we get at home, it's still three hundred percent more exciting. Again, as in Barcelona, what really fascinated both of is the level of community participation and dedication.

Old town Malaga has an endless number of winding pedestrian streets. The level of paseo and cafe-ing is the highest we have seen so far on this trip, the holiday weekend and nice weather certainly helped. It wasn't until after we left, that we realized how pleasant it was not constantly hearing and dodging cars all day thanks to the metro and underground parking.

Malaga has interesting museums and sites. We took advantage of the free Sunday entries, though we could not get in to half of them because of the long lines. The guidebooks had lead me to think that nobody in their right mind would bother with Malaga! No matter, I have feeling that we'll find ourselves back in Malaga again.

We found a vegetarian restaurant that served magis, a regional specialty of fried bread crumbs, olive oil and garlic.
Malaga, Andalucia, Spain

Children's Carnival Float winners.
Malaga, Andalucia, Spain

Children's Carnival Parade.
Malaga, Andalucia, Spain

The main pedestrian shopping street.
Malaga, Andalucia, Spain

And singing groups perform in the streets.
Malaga, Andalucia, Spain

The drag queen contest drew a big crowd.
Malaga, Andalucia, Spain

Malaga, like all of Spain, has great museums. The City Museum displays this Phoenician grave.
Malaga, Andalucia, Spain

Plus regional artists.
Malaga, Andalucia, Spain

Not to mention the Roman Theater.
Malaga, Andalucia, Spain

An old market house is now the CAC Malaga Contemporary Art Center...
Malaga, Andalucia, Spain

... with a current large exhibition of works by Mark Ryden.
Malaga, Andalucia, Spain

For the regular Carnival night, many folks wore costumes.
Malaga, Andalucia, Spain

Malaga, Andalucia, Spain

And the Adult Float winners were amazing.
Malaga, Andalucia, Spain

Malaga, Andalucia, Spain

Malaga, Andalucia, Spain

And the Battle of the Flowers er confetti.
Malaga, Andalucia, Spain

View of the port from the Gibralfaro viewpoint.
Malaga, Andalucia, Spain

We finally spot the blue-headed men.
Malaga, Andalucia, Spain

The next to last Carnival parade passed directly below our hotel room balcony.
Malaga, Andalucia, Spain

Malaga, Andalucia, Spain

Malaga, Andalucia, Spain

Happy Hour on the hotel terrace.
Malaga, Andalucia, Spain

Wikipedia says Malaga'a Alcabaz (Citadel) is the best preserved in Spain.
Malaga, Andalucia, Spain

Malaga, Andalucia, Spain

Malaga, Andalucia, Spain

Malaga, Andalucia, Spain

The Picasso (born in Malaga) Museum is free after 16:00 on Sundays. The line to get in was very long; we passed...
Malaga, Andalucia, Spain

...and instead went to the also free-on-Sunday-after-16:00 Centre Pompidou Málaga.
Malaga, Andalucia, Spain

Malaga, Andalucia, Spain

The final act of Carnival is to parade the Boqueron (Anchovy) down to the waterfront and burn it.
Malaga, Andalucia, Spain

Malaga, Andalucia, Spain

Malaga, Andalucia, Spain

Malaga, Andalucia, Spain

Malaga, Andalucia, Spain

Our final Happy Hour on the hotel terrace.
Malaga, Andalucia, Spain












3 comments:

Kathy said...

Looks plenty festive to me! Someone on Fodors keeps recommending Malaga. I had my doubts, so interesting to read your take.

DayleInNC said...

Que divertido! Happy to hear Malaga has merits to visit -- I previously thought of it as pretty much a place for partying and nightlife as that is the rep it had from my UK friends who would holiday there. Loved the Carnival photos!

john said...

Kathy, It is your kind of town. Plenty of very good museums (IMO), compact, lively enough. Can't comment on the restaurant scene. I await your report. ;-)

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