Benamahoma, near Arcos de la Frontera – click to enlarge
The perfect summer … a hot Andaluz afternoon, the Sierra shimmering in the background, the cool blue of the village pool…
Category: Spain Travel
I didn’t like Malaga when I first visited the city a few years ago, but now, several trips later, I think it might be one of the most interesting cities in Andalusia (in fact, along with Cadiz, Madrid, and San Sebastian, I think it might be one of my top four cities in Spain.) Once you get away from the traffic-heavy thoroughfare next to the port, the old town that extends away from the cathedral is a fascinating mix of polished shopping streets, and crumbling alleys and hidden plazas, filled with beautiful people taking life easy and having a really good time!
Here are a few things we would recommend if you find yourself wandering around this classic provincial capital:
1. Have a glass of Malaga Seco (fine local dry sherry) in the Antigua Casa de Guardia, at Alameda Principal 18. Drinks are poured from rows of vast oak barrels, and your tab is written in chalk on the heavy wooden bar top. They really don’t make places like this any more. Careful with the Seco… a few glasses of this can be fatal later! See our Google Malaga map below for directions.
2. Have a drink at the Parador de Gibralfaro, high on the hill next to the Moorish Alcazar. The views over the city (photo above), the port, the sea, and the bullring (photo below), are worth the price of the beer. You can walk up there from the old town, but personally I’d take a taxi up, and walk back (there are two Paradores in Malaga – make sure the taxi driver doesn’t take you to the Golf Parador instead.) If your budget can stretch to it, then sleep up here as well, it’s one of the nicest Paradors in Spain.
3. Not sure where to have dinner? Everywhere looks a bit toursity? Have a plate of Jamon Iberico, fried eggs and chips, at Restaurante Mariano, tucked away in a corner at Plaza de Carbon 2 (see map below). There’s more about this heavenly culinary experience in a previous post.
4. Pick up a twist of fried almonds from the friendly guy outside Cafe Bar Central in the Plaza de la Constitucion. Best damn almonds on the planet!
5. Wander aimlessly through the back alleys and plazas to the North West of Calle Marquis de Larios (see the blue shaded area on our map below). The streets here often seem to have fallen into a beautiful state of disrepair (as strange as that may sound). This must be one of the few remaining places in the world where you’ll find large shops dedicated to selling nothing but buttons, or fiesta dresses, or fans…
6. Head down to the city beach at dusk to eat sardines grilled at a wood fire which, improbably, has been lit in an old wooden boat!
View Larger Map
Do you know the city? What would you add to the list?
I was just coming to the end of my flight booking process with easyjet (off to the UK later in the month), when I was presented with the following message, in Spanish, offering to off-set my carbon emissions for me:
So, for 4.18 Euros per person Marina and I can stop feeling guilty about the 217 kilos of carbon we will each produce on our retrun trip to the UK, by helping to build an energy efficient power station in Ecuador. (I wonder if that figure takes into account the 50 or so kilos the plane must use taxiing half way round the planet to the new runway on the far side of Madrid’s Barajas airport?)
I think this kind of initiative is wonderful and am increasingly convinced that we are screwing up elements of the planet with our reckless use of energy resources. Yet something just feels weird about putting this in the hands of easyjet, and this time I didn’t tick the box. What would you do? Does it make perfect sense to pay off our carbon crimes the moment we buy a plane, boat or bus ticket? Should this just be included in the ticket price anyway?
Marina and I traveled down to Cordoba in May to check out the famous Patios and Rejas competition, when courtyards and windows all over the city are decorated with incredible floral displays.
Further info:
More photos from our trip (flowers galore!) over at Flickr.
Want to make your own salmorejo? Check out our salmorejo recipe and podcast.
We stayed at the simple, and highly recommendable Hotel Marisa and ate and drank wonderful things at Bar Santos, at Magistral Gonzalez Francés 3.
The image above perfectly sums up the horse fair in Jerez: proud men on beautiful horses, huge barrels of Fino wine, and attractive Andalusian women in wild Sevillanas dresses…
Listen to the podcast, see all the photos in Flickr and check out the short video below…
The Feria de Caballos in Jerez (map) takes place every year at the beginning of May. We found details of exact dates at Andalucia.org
. You can also see a Spanish video blog from the event here.
Categories
Off the main road….
Categories
Cadiz: tapas bars, hotel and photos
Photo: Cadiz steets near the market (large version)
Cadiz: surrounded by sea, a city of faded glory conjuring ideas of pirates, bustling streets full of 18th Century traders, and secret assignations in hidden rooms at the top of crumbling staircases. There are kids on scooters with no helmets, white-washed roof tops straight from Morocco, and a regional accent so thick it almost gets stuck on the locals’ palate.
Photo: Men selling octopus (large version)
As promised in our Cadiz podcast, we have now uploaded photos of Cadiz, as well as a video blog over at Notesinspanish.com
Tapas Bars in Cadiz: Cumbres Mayors
Terracotta stone floors, wooded ceilings, and legs of ham hanging all over the walls, this is one of the finest tapas bars I have every visited in Spain. As soon as you step through the door a barman finds you a spot at the bar and presents you with a plate of crushed olives while you decide what to eat.
The best thing about eating out in this part of Spain is that you don’t have to buy a huge plate of any one thing. Portions come as Tapas (a small plate), Media Raciones (half a plate), and Raciones (a full plate). So by choosing several Tapas at the ridiculously low price of 1.50 Euros each, you get to try a bit of everything – in our a case fillet of pork with Roquefort sauce and mini roast potatoes, smoked salmon rolled around salmon pate, and Tocino… (more on the last one soon!) A near empty glass promted a ‘No me gusta ver a la gente seca‘ (I hate to see people dry) from the waiter, who quickly refilled our glasses. Heaven.
Cumbres Mayores is at Calle Zorrilla 4, just off the Plaza de Mina (Map)
A good Cadiz Hotel
We stayed in, and highly recommend, the Hotel Las Cortes de Cadiz (Details and Map). A very clean, very friendly 3 star establishment right in the heart of the old town, where each room is named after a famous politician. Internet connectivity in the rooms is excellent if you come with a laptop. Parking however is a bit of a nightmare – speak to the hotel first about getting a place in, and finding, their garage.
From all the amazing shots in our Flickr group last month, your vote went to Fred Shively’s “A town called LanjaroÌn 4: an early escalator“:
You can see more of Fred’s photos over at Flickr. I’d like to add another winner, Steve, with his amazing photo “Fiesta in Gracia“:
It was taken at a local fiesta in Gracia, a neighbourhood in Barcelona, complete with political speeches in favour of the okupas, drummers, 2 dragons, and a group of people firing antique muskets into the air! Steve commented, “I’ve no idea if it’s an Easter thing or not. It seemed very pagan with the devil costumes and dragons.” It seems the pagan and the Christian are often closely mixed in Spain… You can see more of Steve’s photos on Flickr, and at his daily photo blog, bcncamara.blogspot.com
First and foremost, many thanks to all who sent in the 100 entries to our 500 things to do in Spain before you die competition, all of which will end up in the charity book (see below). The quality was excellent, and picking a winner was extremely difficult. But, a winner there must be, and so… the prize goes to…
Rod Brookes! Rod, who blogs at Rods Spanish Stuff wins with this entry:
“Walk through the pine forests of the Parque Natural de la Breña (a few kilometres south of Vejer de la Frontera and west of Barbate on the Costa de la Luz) on a sunny Autumn day, through the distinctive trees that form a bizarrely shaped continuous parasol formed by exposure to the savage wind here. Pass the Torre del Tajo to the mirador which overlooks the sheer cliffs and gives you such a magnificent view, on your left down the coast to Tarifa (and even Morocco on a clear day), and on the right over the Cape Trafalgar lighthouse to where the battle was fought about 200 years ago. At the end of the day, drive down to Trafalgar in the orange light of sunset, walking past the kitesurfers and windsurfers packing up, up to the memorial, around the lighthouse and onto the almost certainly deserted beach.”
Why did this entry win? Firstly, it brings to light a little-traveled corner of Andalusia, a stretch of one of the last unspoilt areas of the coasts of Southern Spain. It’s an area I know fairly well, and one that is exceptional in terms of its wild nature and fascinating landscapes (those wind-blown parasol trees…) Secondly, it was one of several high quality entries sent in by Rod, all of which will go towards helping to make the forthcoming book a resounding success…
What next? The book
We now have a book to put together! The original idea of the competition was to gather entries for a guidebook that will then be sold for charity, with all proceeds going to the Spanish Red Cross. The competition netted around 100 entries, a fantastic level of participation, but that still leaves some work ahead if we are to reach the 500 target. The first job will be for us to organise the entries into categories, to edit and spell check everything, add more information where necessary, and then to start filling in the gaps. We’ll be asking for your help again over the coming weeks. For now, many thanks again to all who sent in entries, and watch this space for details of the book!
Photo above by Rod Brookes
Two days left until we announce the winner of our “500 things to do in Spain before you die competition“, so get those final entries in fast! Remember, you have a chance to win an iPod Shuffle and all entries will end up in a book designed to raise money for charity.
To inspire you I’ve included a few great examples below, the first two on Barcelona from our man in the Catalan Capital, Dave Hall:
“Play Russian Roulette with the Piminientos de Padrón (some are hot, some are not!) along with other truly great quality tapas at the Ciutat Comtal restaurant on La Rambla de Catalunya. It’s always busy so you might struggle to get in, but the food, service, and atmosphere are all definitely well worth it.”
“Go and see the Magic Fountains located between the twin towers of Plaza España and the grand entrance to Montjuic. Aside from the Olympic stadium of course, the fountains were the centrepiece for the 1992 Games and the nightly shows are amazing, combining huge amounts of water and light to make a dazzling effect, and many shows are also set to music. Check the timetables on the internet before you go, for more details, as there’s a reduced program during the winter.”
Katie, who writes at the excellent España Profunda blog sent in this entry on a very appealing hotel near the lost city of Teruel:
“Hang out with trout in the heart of El Maestrazgo. Deep in a valley in the middle of nowhere Teruel, Aragón, you’ll find a lovely hotel surrounded by some of the most spectacular scenery in all of Spain. The Hostal de la Trucha is styled tastefully like an old hunting lodge and sits on the Río Pitarque next to a small fish farm that provides the hotel with trout every morning for the day’s meals. To top it off, there are plenty of well-marked hiking trails in the area.”
Send in your entries (by email only please) while there is still time!
Notes from Spain by Ben Curtis 