We are off to Spain….. a few days in Malaga before heading further along the Costa Del Sol to meet up with the family. For now we’ll take a few days in the city. The flight is an easy couple of hours from Dublin starting with the obligatory afternoon beverage in the lounge (that’s the last of the free passes on Aer Lingus for now!!)
We arrive at 9pm so have ordered a pick up through the Airbnb host but it’s still bright and the temperature is just nice. Our apartment is smack bang in the middle of Malaga by the main fancy shopping street… you know this one:
As you’d expect at 10pm in Spain, the place is buzzing so once the host Carmen has given us a bit of info we head outside for a little something…
The Airbnb host gave us some recommendations and also told us that it’s tuna season which is a bit of a thing here… we see there’s a tapa with tuna so try it plus there’s aubergine with honey which I’ve had before and is gorgeous so we try both of those… washed down of course with a glass of the local wine… delish!
of tuna is called Atun en manteca which means tuna in fat… it’s essentially tuna preserved in lard on toast!!!
It’s so nice to sit outside in the warm weather… a great start to the trip.
We have two days of work to get through before we are in holiday mode so it’s up early and laptops on. We nip outside to our local cafe for a breakfast bocadillo…
At lunch we walk to the market which is really impressive to see… so much fish and especially the ham. On the way back we pick up some takeaway empanadas.
Finally I finish calls at 7pm and we can go out… we take a walk along the beachfront.
We’ve decided we’re going to have fish for dinner and Casa Vicente, in an alley between two main streets looks really authentic with old school waiters. Looks perfect for us…
The mixed fish and huge plate of salad is perfect for sharing and really tasty. The rosé is very nice too.
A bit bold for a school night but we’re tempted into another little bar for a nightcap. There are loads of vermouth bars around and this one is particularly nice. Shane has the manzanilla and I have a glass of red.
The nighttime view of our local church is impressive as we walk home.
Friday morning I get out for a run before the work day starts. Yesterday while I was on calls Shane climbed up to Castillo de Gibralfaro and got way ahead of me for the days step count. I’ll be making up for that this morning!
Delighted to have made it to the top…it was tough going
A well deserved breakfast of chocolate and churros this morning post run. So many people order this for breakfast!
It’s a hot day… about 28c. So at lunchtime we put our hats on and go out for a bit of a break.
More tapas for lunch…. croquettes, salad, pork skewer…. All really tasty.
Back to the grindstone but we’re on the home stretch now. Shane is pretty much done as he’s been working since 6am and I have a few hours to do and then it’s out-of-office on, laptop shut and holiday time.
I listened to a travel podcast about Malaga and they mentioned visiting Soho describing it as an edgy creative quarter along the riverside
There’s lots of graffiti and street art…
We find this really cool pub where you can sit in the open window. Love it, it’s really small and serves sangria and all sorts of homemade tapas.
We pass another old looking bar called Hasta los Andares and stop in for one plus a small tapa of Iberico ham. It really is tasty. Four men arrive in and there’s a bit of shuffling of chairs to accommodate them, one is speaking Spanish but I’m sure when he switches to English he has an Irish accent. He does and we have a brief chat with him – he’s from Sutton, lives in Bologna and visiting Malaga with his brother, nephew and German cousin! We try a red wine from Ronda which is really good.
We head toward El Pimpi which is a famous old bar that overlooks the Roman theatre.
Around the corner there’s craft beer bar so we stop in there for one more. The waitress says they have a sidre (ie cider) so I’m delighted thinking it’s something local… alas she brings me a Magners (aka Bulmers) which is clearly labelled Irish Cider!!! Hilarious!
Time for dinner and this is the best meal so far… black rice with squid. I absolutely love it, and it’s all the better that it’s a huge pan for sharing and paired with a crisp cold Verdejo.
It’s Saturday morning and today we are heading to Gibraltar for the day. We make our way to the bus stop (which we sussed out last night) for the 8:30am bus to La Linea, from where we will walk across the border. It’s just over two hours on the bus as we have a few stops along the way, including Marbella and Estepona… the bus will go on to Algeciras but we can see the rock from here so our stop is next…
This is a really unusual border crossing as to pass on foot you must walk across the airport. We pass through the first border control to exit Spain and about 50 metres further another checkpoint to enter Gibraltar. The man is green and we are ready to go.
This is very cool crossing the runway….
Just when we reach the other side there’s an alarm and they are closing the cross way for a plane to take off. We stop and watch… it drives down the runway that we just walked over then turns and takes off in front of us! Very cool.
We walk along Main Street where there are lots of shops especially booze shops as it’s a tax free jurisdiction and we see a soldiers parade.
We stop at Trafalgar cemetery
Then it’s onwards to the cable car. [it’s expensive at £18 to take the cable car and then you have to pay to enter the Gibraltar Nature Reserve so we buy the combined ticket which will cover us for everything and it’s £37.50 each) It’s a long way up so we’ll cable car to the top and walk back down. The views from the top are fab:
And of course we are greeted up there by the famous monkeys…. One of which is a very good friend of my sister Ange 🤣
We continue to the sky walk which is new since I was here last. Again some great views but the actual glass walk way is quite small (it certainly ain’t no Grand Canyon skywalk!)
From here we head to St Michael’s cave and see some impressive stalagmites and stalactites. One of the bigger areas looks like an angel and it’s lit up with bright lights – very impressive.
From here we are going to another attraction in the reserve which is the Windsor Suspension Bridge.
We continue down the rock and have some lunch at The Angry Friar. English grub – I go for a Cornish pasty and chips and have a dry blackthorn cider (it’s donkeys years since I had one of these!). Time to climb up again as we head for the Moorish castle. It’s a long way up… I’m not entirely sure it was worth it but again great views.
Clocking up lots more steps as we go back down and make a break for the border. It’s a quiet walk back across the airport and through the checkpoint.
On the other side we walk to the beach and sit on the wall enjoying the sunshine and resting our feet. We look back at Gibraltar and then go to the bus station for the bus back to Malaga.
We have our final tapas in Malaga as we’re leaving for Benalmadena in the morning. Shane had a peek in here the other day and the waiter seems to remember him.
Hasta luego Malaga!
odohertyelaine 